TX tW^y \ J !§S§SJi«i«SS!SSi^^ ^^-^yyyi/^'^^' sciEiCE m FirtimG, A TEXT-BOOK OF The Elements of Agriculture, InclRding Agricultural Chemistry. BY R. S. THOMPSON. Printed oil Heavy Tin fed Pajyei', .Elef/antly Bound in Clothe Price by Mail, Post-imid, $1,00. The book hns been written in response to the widely ex- pressed desire for a text-book of tiie kin i tliat should be thor- ough and complete, and yet within the comprehension of all who are willing to give a reasouable degree of study to the subject. The chanter on Chemistry is thorough and complete, and fits iha student for the comprehension of other scientific writings. Tlie otlier ciuipters consider the soil nnd the aii'; how the plant grows an I how the animal live.*; the composi- tion, character, and uses of foods; the laws of feeding; results of experiments in fencing; prop^^r combination of foods for difft-rent purposes; methotls of saving and using fertilizers; valuation of food?, fertilizers. The book cont;dns a great number of valuable tables, many of which can be obtained in no other book. The book is one of Great Practical Value to every intelligent farmer. The tfiblcs of the valuation of different measures will alone be worth many times the price of the book. SCIENCE IN F.4SMIN(t is by no means a book of mere theory. It contains the results of tlie latest experiments and inve.^tigations, by the ablest agriculturalists of the day. It should be in every farmer's library. Address all orders to THE FARM ECONOMIST, Springfield, Ohio, THE VT AND ITS IMPROYEMENT. ^ > n. BY A CORPS 0? Y\rRITERS: I RtsrTHOMPSON, MRS. M. D. KB WISH, ''BE TH sample;' ''HA ZLE 7T," MAGGIJ: J. HENDERSON, MRS. CLARA D. OLNEp, - PCTBLISHED BY XnE FaRMEES' AdVAJTCS, SPRINGFIELD, OHIO. 1883, 2^01^4-^ K" av, ^A!^ COI'YRIGHT, ly83, BY K. S. TUOMPSO: A Series of Practical Talks With Farmers, — BY— "Waldo F. !Brovia-i, One of the Most Popular /^gricuitura! Writers in the United States. Handsojtiely Printed on Heavy Tinted Faper and Elegantly Bound in Cloth. i' The Book is Well Arranged and Systematized, and Full of Practical Common Sense. PBICE, by 3fail, Postpaid - - ONE DOLLAR, Published by The Farm Economist, Springfieid, 0. WHAT IS SAID OF " SUCCESS IN FARMING." Two Chapters Worth More than the Price of the Book. I have rect ived Succkss in Fahming, and 1 luivtA r<^ci'ived from two cliripteifs — " Kami Biiildini; " und " Hired Help " — benefit worth far more than the price cf the book. Frankfurt, Ohio. A. B. Clixe. Every Mariner Ought to Have It. I have read Success IX Farmi.vg, and every farmer oneht to have it Ic Kur(^indowsill. Another band may be stitched across the curtain ten inches from the top. The best and most tasteful way to hang such a cur- tain is to buy the pole and rings, kept at furnishing or dry-goods houses, for that purpose. The cheapest of these poles will cost one dollar or one dollar and fifty cents. They are easily fastened to the window jam by means of screws, and the curtain, which is made just long enough to clear the floor an inch, is fastened to the rings at equal distances. One necessary piece of furniture for the hall is a lamp. The handsomest for this purpose is a hanging globe, l3ut if this is too expensive a side bracket lamp will be quite as useful. One of these latter, with a reflector that can be turned in any direction may be had for the small sum of a dollar and a half, and if lighted regularly after dusk will add much to the cheerfulness and comfort of the house. A door from the hall leads into the parlor. It is a cheery room where the sun comes in at the windows, and where in winter time a bright fire is burning on the hearth. In summer it is kept cool and free from flies by closed shutters and wire window- screens, and WITHIN DOOfeS. S3 at any season of the year it is the place the family naturally gather when the heavier work of the day is done. Mother and daughter bring their light sewing' here, and the farmer looks forward to his noon in the par- lor where hi© easy chair and newspaper await him. The snnny faces of the children are found there at al- most any hour of the day, and, while they are as merry as crickets, they understand that here their play is never to be boisterous or troublesome in any way to others. They obey, too, the rule which per- mits a limited number of playthings and ^only those which will not cause much disorder in the room. If such a parlor have nothing better upon the floor than a home-made carpet, and nothing more by way of furniture than a few plain chairs, a comfortable lounge, creton curtains of dainty design, a shelf with a few books, a table with a good lamp, the latest news- paper and magazine, and the rule which govern all who enter, be love to his neighbor, it will become the spot of all the neighborhood where people like to go. But if the farmer is able to lurnish the parlor better, why not gratify the taste of his lamily and himself? being careful in the furnishing, however, to avoid in every particular all that might look flashy or be only for show. An exceedingly pleasant parlor in the house of a well-to-do farmer had the floor oiled to the width of tAVO and a half feet around the edges and the center covered with an ingrain carpet in shades of brown, with a dark red border. The windows looked toward the east, and, with true artistic taste, the walls had been papered with a delicate buff. In summer the window curtains were creamy cheese-cloth, hung from poles, and in winter they were replaced by warm 34 THE HOlsrE ON THE FARM. looking ones of dark red felt. The latter had been lined, by the deft fingers of the farmer's eldest daughter, with canton flannel of the same shade. The piano cover was of brown felt, trimmed with a band of plush matching the curtains in color, and a scarf table cover was like it, with only tlie addition of a red fringe. Open bookshelves, about four and a half feet in height, ran across one end of the room, and the top was covered with a scarf of dark red felt. Here the ornaments of the room — and they were few — Avere placed. Among them was a large bronze colored vase filled with purple asters or red chrysan- themums, as the season might be. Beside the vase, on a small easel, was the photograph of a youthful Juno, which had as an appropriate and beautiful background, an immense fan of peacock feathers. Of the two framed pictures which the room boasted one hung above the bookshelves and the other over the mantelpiece. The latter was a good engraving of " The Holy Family," by Knaus, and the beauty of the virgin mother's face, and the sweetness of the child angels who pressed about her, and the wonder- ful babe on her knee seemed to pervade the atmos- phere of the already lovely room. Another parlor, equally pleasant and restful, and where one was always sure ta meet cheery friends, whether the evening were a sultry summer one or snow lay thick on the ground, was more plainly fur- nished. During the winter the floor was covered with a good ingrain carpet of some geometrical pat- tern in shades of gray, brightened by a few lines of red. A warm red rug lay before the open fire. The sofa was covered with rep of the same shade, and a cushion for the sewing chair and a footstool repeated WITfilK DOORS. 35 the color. On a small table, drawn near the fire, were kept the latest newspapers, a small work basket and a polished student lamp. There was a larger table in the room which held the inkstand and other writing materials, and where, on winter evenings, the simple tea was occasionally served. After the tea things were removed, the chil- dren, with a lamp to themselves, would gather around the table with their games, their drawing or their books. In summer fragrant white matting took the place of the carpet. A linen cover was put over the warm looking sofa, and the white muslin window cur- tains, with only a simple trimming of bullion fringe, were fresh laundried, without starch, and tied back with ribbons. Three small hanging shelves were snfficient to hold the few well read books that had found their way, one by one, into the house, and over the mantel shelf hung another refining influence — a large and fine engraving of Sir Joshua Rejniolds' "Angel Heads." It was the first thing to greet the eye upon entering, and its gentle influence seemed to follow one's going out. As a little country girl said, "she felt happier every time for looking at it." One rule to be remembered in fitting up the parlor and all other rooms of the farm house is, that while one should furnish as loell as his means will allow, he should, on the other hand, never g) beyond the limits of his purse — that is, nothing should be bouglit that cannot be renewed, without great eff"ort, when worn out. In curtains and carpets quiet colors are always in good taste, although they may not be just at the hight of the fashion. But if bright colors are liked better, they should incline toward the richer, darker shades. Rooms looking toward the south require cool II 36 THE HOME ON THE FARM. colors, such as grays, and even bine is sometimes suitable. But perhaps the best hangings for the south (or for the east) are the medium shades of olive green now so plentifully manufactured. They light up very cheerfully, too, when decorated with bands of light yellow or lemon color. Rooms with a northern aspect are more pleasing if the walls have a faint red flush, or the hangings are of red or some other warm color. The present fashion of dark wall papers tends to lessen the apparent size of a room, while light coloring on the walls en- larges it. The best plan is to have the wood work (if it is painted instead of being oiled) somewhat lighter than the carpet, and the walls a little lighter still. If the shade or color desired cannot be found in wall paper, calcimine may be used. The less of decided figure in a wall paper, the better background it becomes for pictures — and of these, let us hope, there will be as many in the new farm house as can be afforded. By pictures to hang upon the walls we do not mean photographs of the family or of our friends. It is true that they are very dear to us, but that does not make them so to every one. Many of them are beautiful to us, too, but Ihat does not make them the less gazed upon with idle curiosity or unspoken criticism by others. Let the dear faces and figures then, some of them in the garb of past years and some in that of more modern times, be kept for our own room and for ourselves. See this fan-shaped cluster of faces arranged above the carved bracket? We loved them every one, and they loved us. This picture on the slender easel, WITHIN DOORS. 37 which stands upon the dressini^-table, is that of the sister who journeyed into that '' far country " so many years ago. How^ often she has brushed her long, fair hair before this very mirror! How many times her quiet voice has sounded in this room ! Olr, we may be pardoned if we stop often to look closer at the pic- ture through our tears. And if we sometimes lay a cluster, freshly gathered, of the flowers that she liked best, beside the faded picture, who is by to think it strange, or wonder at it ? Yes, let the dear, familiar faces, that are so much more lovely to us than to any one else, be kept out of the general sitting room — and something hang on the wall in their place — something that will be a pleasure to all. But what to choose is the first question. The best inexpensive pictures are photographs of paintings that have received time's and tlie world's verdict — good. But if a knowledge of these is lacking, the best plan is to have recourse to some friend whose advice may be relied upon — and if possible let the critical friend be the purchaser. A photograph from an etching by Aufrej^ called " Trees and Water " and "The Mill "by Rembrandt are beautiful. ''Mother and Child," from the Sistine Madonna, one will never weary of, and Heber's '^Madonna of the Deliverance" in photograph form is worth possessing. Landseer's " Red Deer of .Chillingham," and liis ''^Wild Cattle " are just what one wants for a dining room. But in pictures which can only be procured in smaller photograh form — that is, when mounted on cardboard, measuring no more thaji 11x14 inches — one can scarcely go amiss if he ask for those of Mil- let, the French peasant painter, while ''The Willows" 38 THE HOME ON THE FARM. etched after Corot's painting, and Ruysdael's " Trees and Water " bring spring and summer into the house in midwinter. However, in selecting pictures, as in all other orna- ments and furnishings, let the choice bo those that will give the most general pleasure. In one's own bedroom individual taste may reign supreme, not only in the style of furnishing and in choice of colors, but in the matter of pictures and knicknacks. One glance into such a room usually tells the story of the ocupant's character, and often it is the room that has cost less money and more thought that is most inviting. According to the taste or fancy the Hoor may have a large rug or drugget in the center, with an oiled bor- der of almost any width, or there may be several smaller rugs, or the floor be entirely covered with matting— solid red matting being handsome, if it can be obtained. For an example, the very dainty room of a young lady has the entire floor oiled, and before the dressing-bureau and table are laid spotless white rugs made from the fleece of Cotswold sheep. The toilet articles are of blue and white and the curtains of sprigged muslin are tied back with broad blue rib- bons. A small table has a scarf cover of dark blue felt, w.th a band of lighter blue finished by a shaded fringe. Several clear glass vases of graceful form, and two pictures — one of Sir Joshua's Strawberry Girl and the other a landscape of Euysdael — on sil- vered- wire easels, stand on the manteJ -shelf, and show clearly against a broad band of blue that is made by covering a very thin two-foot board with dark blue canton flannel. In winter, curtains of canton of the sanje shade of WITHIN DOORS. 39 blue, and double faced, take the place of tlie white summer ones, and another rug, in blue and brown, is laid before the fire, and the chairs, which are of willow, have cushions added of blue wool goods. But before the daughter of the average farmer begins to think of adornments for her rooom, she must usually set her wits to work to know how comforts and even necessities can be obtained. First of all there must be a bedstead, a dressing-table, or bureau, and a washstand. Happy, is she who with a full purse can buy just such a set, of oiled and carved walnut, as she wants. But hapi)y too is she who with a more limited purse is still able to contrive that which will serve as well. It is true a bedstead cannot be made ^y her own hands, but the dressing table may be, as well as the washstand. If possible, let the bedstead be of the modern kind, tolerably low, and so that the covers can be neatly tucked in. Let it be spread up smoothly — let the sheets be smooth and white, the blankets fresh and clean, and the comfort soft — of figured print, or of dark blue orjpink cambric. Over all the covers comes the white spread and then a comfortable bolster and two square pillows. But oh, let there be no ruffles, no tucks and no shams ! Let the bed be neat, well aired and unpretentious. It is for comfort and rest, and not for show. If one have a bureau, all that is needed to fit it for use is a few toilet articles — mats, a pincushion (and, by the way, the present style of resting the pin- cushion on an easel of silver wire is convenient as well as pretty), a fancy bag to catch scraps and a good comb and brush, etc. But if one have no bureau, the sensible way is to make one of the old-fashioned 40 THE HOME ON THE FARM. duchess dressing-tables by covering a suitable sized store-box with paper-muslin, of the desired color and shade, and to put over it a full curtain of plain or dotted Swiss. A large looking-glass should be hung above it, and a veil of the Swiss, fastened at the top with a large ribbon bow, fall gracefully at each side to the floor. When complete, there is no other dress- ing table so pretty and so suitable for a country bed- room. The washstand can be made in the same manner, and a wash-bov.d and pitcher, soap-dish, tooth-brush stand, etc, must be bought for it. Of all things let personal neatness be in every way made pleasant and easy. Sets of white iron-stone china do not cost much and there is a great amount of com- fort in them. But if such ab?iolutely cannot be afforded, one at least can have a tin basin and pitcher, a sponge, fresh towels and a nail and tooth brush. Curtains for the windows are cheaper, if of ordinary materials, than shades, and are certainly more pleas- ing. Such a room as this bed-room might have them of cheese-cloth — which costs not more than six or ten cents a yard — but the}'- must hang in plentiful folds. Lonsdale muslin makes the most durable of curtains, and if trimmed with bands of cambric matching the lining of the dressing table and the toilet articles, are very prett3^ A certain room that had the woodwork painted a peach-bloom color, and the toilet articles and the bands on such muslin cur- tains matching it to a shade, looked a little paradise. Creton curtains for a bed-room are always beauti- ful, provided the design be upon a light ground — as, for instance, pink daisies on a white ground, or rose buds upon light buff or cream Qolor — ^nd if ottomaijs WITHIN DOORS. 41 and lounges are covered ^Yith the same material the room becomes a little bower. Chairs for such a room should be light, durable and tasteful. A willow chair of graceful form is all three in one, and with a knot of ribbon harmonizing with the leading color in the room it soon comes into fa- miliar relationship with the rest of the furniture. Continuing the matter of comfort in a bed-room — and comfort here means liealthfulness, mention must be made of warmth in winter time The cheeriest way is to have an open grate, or stove, where the fire can be lighted as often as wanted, but the most labor- saving, and that whicli insures a more regular tem- perature, is have a large stove — say a base-burner — in the hall, and to keep the doors of the various bed- rooms open so that the chill will be dispelled. If the bed-rooms of all the members of the family are in the morning and evening about 58 or 60 degrees Fahren- heit, there will be no possible excuse for a w^ant of neatness in person or dress. The daughter cannot come down to breakfast with unbrushed hair and the apology, " It was too fear- fully cold ! " And the young men will only have to confess, shamefacedly, to laziness if they make their appearance minus neck-tie or collar. Another plea in behalf of warmth is that the sleeping-rooms them- selves can be kept so much more neatly if it is not with tingling or aching fingers that the shivering housewife makes the beds and sweeps and dusts and puts all in order. For the sake of the housoAvife, too, there are a few little conveniences that should not be neglected in any bed- room. Among these are bags or boxes for soiled clothes, made as plainly or as fancifully as 42 THE HOME ON THE FARM. one may choose, and bags for slippers and shoes. The former should stand or hang in the closet, if •there be one opening from the room, and the shoe bag, made of bed- ticking, or of dantier manufacture, may be tacked upon the inner side of the door. But enough of up-stairs. Let us descend to the dining room. Here the colors should be rich and warm, and the furniture substantial looking. If the household purse be plump enough to aiFord a polished side-board of walnut or oak, on which to display hand- some china, well and good, but do not let the display be too great — to under-do is better than to over-do. If there is no side-board there should be a side-table with a colored cover — say of red felt — if that be the predominating color of the room — on which plates, knives and forks and extra dishes may be kejpt in reserve. A three-shelved bracket too, in this case, may hang upon the wall, and if a lining of dark red, (for we will decide upon that as the color for the room) be placed behind it, cups of a delicate patern and crystal de- canters, "wisely kept for show," will appear to their best advantage. A curtain of double-faced canton- flannel or one of soft wool goods, through which the sunlight casts a glow upon the walls, can be hung from poles and rings, or be shirred upon a slender rod and this tacked up to the window. The large dining table should have a soft canton, of the same color 5 and when the table is laid for dinner, if it so please the house- mother, it may be left under the usual white one and will be found to have a very quieting effect upon plates, cups and spoons. A stand, having two or three shelves, and kept conveniently near the dinner-table is useful if plates are to be changed for WiTEm DOORS. 43 dessert. Those used first can he piled, together with the vegetable dishes, upon the lower shelves of this dumb-waiter, and thus save some member of the family leaving the table Of chairs in the dining- room it is well to have two a couple of inches liigher than the others. These are for the head and foot of the table, and enable the host and hostess to perform their part of serving with greater ease. Just above the dining table, which stands in the m ddle of the room, should be suspended a hanging lamp. Let it be a good one (for these are the safest) and the hook which supports it be firmly screwed into the joist aboA^e, and the family will never regret the four or five dollars expended for the lamp. There will be no more dazzling light thrown into the eyes of per- sons who sit at tea, and there will be no more danger and uneasiness on account of children gathering around. In fact, good and s^fe lights are a luxury country houses cannot afford to do without. Hanging lamps, or the cheaper side-bracket lamps, are good for the general lighting of a room, and with them there is no danger, from romping little folks; but for reading and sewing, the student lamp, perfectly safe, and giving a strong, clear light, is by far the best. After the dining-room we come to the kitchen, which, if neatly and conveniently fitted up, will make the tasks to be perfoimed there seem much less bur- densome. The floor and woodwork should be oiled, or painted in some neutral tint, the walls receiv- ing a somewhat lighter tint. Thick shades, of a brown or green color, that can be raised or lowered at pleas- ure, should be hung at the windows, and, in addition, in summer-time, frames covered with wire fitted into 44 THE HOME ON THE FAR.1\t. the Avindows. The expense of these frames is triflhig in comparison to the comfort of having a kitchen free from Hies, and yet light and airy. If the wired li-ames cannot be bought, a very good substitute is a home- made one, covered with dark green mosquito netting. Such a Irame, too, can be made for the door, and, although it may lack spring hinges, still with careful closing it will serve as good a purpose as a wire one. One of the greatest labor lighteners in the kitchen is a dresser or cooking table. It should be placed within WITUIN DOORS. 45 easy distance of the stove, so that in going back and Ibiih all the steps possible ma.y be saved. The cut on the preceding page shows one of these dressers. No. 1, against the chimney, is a broom and mop closet, reaching from the floor to the top. The flat top of the table proper is 2 feet 8 inches from the floor. At the left is a small closet (No. 2) for kettles, and just above this closet a deep drawer (No. 3) for bread. The bread knife and slicing board are kept in the drawer in order to be at hand. No. 4 is the bread- board that has narrow raised sides, front and back, and slides in like a drawer. It is deep enough to hold the rolling pin when closed ; and when dfawn out, by means of the handle, and laid on top of the table, is all ready for use. Below is another closet for kettles (No. 5) and at the right of this still another door (No. 6), which, on being opened, shows the flour barrel. In the top of the table, just above the flour barrel, is a lid (No. 7), which is opened when flour is to be added to that in the barrel, or to be taken out for use in cooking. The baking pans hang in the closet beside the barrel. The floor of the kitchen forms the floor of the table. The flrst shelf is nine inches from the level top of the table and is supported by two wooden bitickets. This shelf (No. 8) does not extend the entire length of the table, but is short enough to permit the raising of the lid to the flour bin. The upper shelf, or closet (No. 9), however, extends the whole length, and its top is a good place for lamps, match box, taper stand and cookery books. Both of the shelves are closed with doors (a, a, a), and pepper, vinegar flasks, spice box, coffee mill, cups, knives and the numerous articles that are in constant use in a cooking room are kejjt within. 46 THE HOME ON THE FARM. Every kitchen should have a sink, but if this is utterly impossible, a table cie voted exclusively to the washing of dishes may take its place. This table should have one or more drawers, in which tea towels, soap and mops can be kept. A mop made of twine, fastened to a slender and smooth handle, is much more tidj^-looking than "ye ancient disli cloth," as well as pleasanter to liandle. Another comfort that ranks even higher than the mop, is a dish basket. This should be of ordinary size and nearly a foot in depth ; and the handles, or places for lifting, be woven into the ends, so that a tolerably heavy weight can be lifted without danger of a crash following, and the housewife's soul being thereby vexed. Such a basket saves an infinite number of steps in carrying dishes to and fro from dining-room to kitchen, and it keeps the dishes in close, room -saving, as well as neat shape, if they cannot be v>^ashed at once. A constant sound of footsteps over the floor becomes unpleasant in any work room, and a strip of thick, and if possible bright, carpet spread before the dish table and dresser will do away with the noise in a great measure. It will give the room a cozy air, too, which may be increased by a little rocking chair cfraAvn up beside the window, where a pot of ivy is growing fresh and green. The tired mistress can often find five minutes of rest there, wlien she would not dare to leave the kitchen to seek it elsewhere, lest the cookies burn or the bread get too much browned. The kitchen plays as important a part in the home fe as any other room, and a clieery kitchen, where mother in a great apron and white cooldng cai) rolled the pastry and WITHIN DOORS. 47 made delicious custards, or roasted the potatoes for dinner, will be remembered by the little folks of the house more vividly, and be recalled, in after years, with almost more pleasure than any other. From kitchen to cellar there should be an easy descent, and a slender iron rod fastened to the wall, to serve as a hand-rail, is a great assistance in maldng the usually dark and narrow stairway, such. A model cellar was that of a certain old Quaker lady. The steps that led down into it were as neatly painted and as guiltless of dust as her own neatest of kitchens, and the grout floor was equally clean. The cellar was cool, and not too moist, for the narrow windows were open and a breath from the lately cut grass fields stole in. "■ Come this way and I will show thee the vegetable room," said the little Quak- eress, and we, following, came into a room with rows of bins against two sides, partially filled with the autumn harvest, while swinging shelves were laden with long-necked, succulent squashes. We came next to the fruit cellar, and here in sep- arate bins and boxes lay the apples— Russets, Genitans or spicy Winesaps. In this room were also two cup- boards, or closets, made by nailing strips of wood upon the frame and leaving narrow, open spaces between. This aiforded sufficient air, and yet made the cupboard dark enough to keep well the canned and preserved fruits that were stored there. Such a cellar, of course, is that of a house where a large amount of provisions must be stored, but a much smaller one can be arranged on the same ph^n, by dividing it into two or three compartments, so that butter, milk or lard need not be forced intj too close neighborhood with fruits and vegetable o. In every 48 THE Ho:,rE on the farm. cellar there ought to be a safe — home m ami fact ii red, if none other can be had. A square frame of wood, covered with a close wire netting, and having on two opposite sides wire covered doors, that close securely, is perhaps the most convenient. It looks, when closed, like a square wire box, and is an excellent place to keex) cooked meats and vegetables. On this account the safe should never stand neai the milk or butter ; if there is but one room they should be placed as far apart as possible. The smaller a cellar, the more useful a swinging shelf, which can easily be made by any farmer if he has a sharp saw, a good hammer, boards and patience. After he has succeeded in this he will feel encouraged to put uj) two or three shelves, one above the other, against the wall — a good i)lace to put the apples that are to be used first, or to lay the Hubbard squashes and sugar pumpkins. Excepting as an economy of space, there is no actual need of a swinging shelf in a good cellar, for in a gt)od cellar there is no necessity of defending one's self against rats or mice. A grout floor and, in summer- time, wire frames in the wmdows, insure safety. Besides keeping out vermin and darax)ness, a solid floor is an aid toward cleanliness, which of all things is to be desired in a cellar. Let there be air and light, and every spring give a coat of whitewash on the walls, and have a constant care to keep everything neat — never allowing decayed vegetables or fruits to remain. If in a small house there is a good cellar, and in the kitchen such a table as above described, a pantry is not actuall}^ necessary. But in many resjDects a pantry is a great convenience, especially where pro- WITHIN DOORS. 49 visions are bought in large quantities, as is usual in a country house. But ii" one does not have both the table and the cellar, a pantry is indeed a necessity. Drawers divided into compartments are more con- venient than bins for holding sugars, coffee, rice, hominy and so on, and the drawers will occupy less space Above the drawers should be shelves, and here one sees already, in imagination, the turkey, ready dressed for roasting, a long array of pumpkin and mince pies, spiced pickles, canned fruits and pre- serves — for there is a promise that Thanksgiving shall be celebrated in the new farm-house in the good cld- fashioned way. But, perhaps, the proportion of farm houses is large where means to carry out even the foregoing sugges- tions are wanting. However, if the home be poor? poverty need not lessen the relinement, and neatness may be everywhere — the panes of a small window can shine as clearly as those of a larger one, and a pot of pansies smile as cheerily from the sill as though in a conservatory. Perhaps the house is a very old one and is built of logs and roofed with clapboards. There is a best room and, opening from it, a small bed- room ; back of both is a lean-to kitchen built of boards, and above that portion of the house built of logs is a loft, to which a narrow corkscrew stairway leads. The mistress of such a house wants it to look pretty and inviting, but how can this be accomplished with- out the aid of many magic dollars ? She cannot afford a carpet, but the floors of the best room, bed room and kitchen are all neatly painted a fawn color. And she makes two large rugs for the front room by cut- tju.?, bright bits of woolen goods into narrow bias 50 THE HOIME ON THE FARM. pieces and drawing the variously colored strips in loops through the meshes of a coffee sack that has previously been stretched upon a quilting frame. This takes some time and patience, but the result is a really durable, as well as a very pretty, mottled rug. There is a table in the room, and she is guilty of a little extravagance in spending a dollar and a half for a yard of dark, olive green felt for a cover, but she is economical in lining the cover with the remains of a much worn woolen dress. A lamp, always kept filled, and shining with neatness, the latest newspaper and two or three books, find their places on the table, and a little splint rocking chair is drawn temptingly near. The two windows of the best room and the single one of the bed room have long been her pride. It is true, they are curtained with nothing more than ordinary muslin, but she has been wise enough not to ruflle them, but to make a plain hem instead, and to have them long enough to hang almost from ceiling to floor, and to loop them back with white bands. They are always laundried without starch, and so fall in soft, white folds that sway in and out with the light breeze, and now catch, now lose, the shadow of the rose leaves that cluster about the windows. There is a lounge between the windows of the front room. It is made of rough boards, like a broad, low box, having a lid on hinges. The lid is stuffed ani then covered Avith Turkey red calico, and thus forms the seat. The side and ends of the box are hidden by a wide puff, or curtain, of the same goods, and a back to lean against is made by a board, of the same length as the box, being stufied or covered with the red, and then carefully screwed to the back of the now really pretty lounge. A round pillow is made for each ena WITHIN DOORS. 51 by covering; two narrow feather pillows with Turkey red and gathering the ends with strong thread and hiding the gathers by large, black buttons or rosettes. The pillows are, of course, as long as the couch is wide. As time goes l>y, a few more comforts and luxuries will find their way into this living room ; there will be an easy cliair, and there will be a few books, and, perhaps, two or three pictures. Good pictures, too, they must be, something that the family in the cottage will not soon weary of. And if they do not know what is best, and will wear longest, why not go frankly to some one who, they are sure, does know, and asking, it will be answered to them more abund- antly than they expect. The tiny bed-room has but two or three pieces of furniture. A bedstead has cost no more than four dollars, yet it is neat and white, and always smoothly made up. A small square stand, or table, has a white muslin cover with a fringe around the edge, and on it are kept the bowl and pitcher, soap dish, and tooth brush stand. The pitcher is filled with fresh water every morning, and towels, in use, are hung upon a rack fastened again*t the wall near by, while asui)p]y of fresh ones are in the table drawer. Above the stand hangs a small, square looldng-glass, and to the right of this is a wooden bracket, or shelf, where are kept a hand-glass, a comb and brush and a lamp, ready for lighting, if the toilet articles are required at any time after dark. Two seats for the room are made by fastening lids on soap boxes (procured from a groceiy), with com- mon hinges, and then cushioning the tops and cover- ing the boxes, cushions and all, with Turkey red. The lids, on being lifted, show the space within to be 52 THE HOME ON THE FARM. neatly lined with newspaper. One of these ottomans thus serves to hold soiled clothes, and the other is a most convenient shoe box. A wardrobe, or clothes press, is made by putting four shelves across one cor- ner of the room. The lower shelf is about four feet from the floor, and under it are several hooks which serve to hang dresses upon. Over the front of the whole is hung a full curtain of the Turkey red, trimmed with a six hich band, at top and bottom, of black Avoolen goods, fastened on with briar stitch in red cotton thread. The loft is furnished in much the same way, excepting that the curtain to the ward- robe, and covers of the ottomans, are of fawn colored cotton damask, with borders of blue cambric stitched on, and when these are soiled their place is taken by covers of flowered print of a pretty pattern. Instead of a bedstead (on account of the lowness of the roof at the sides) folding army cots are used. A mattress made by tacking two worn cotton comforters together and covering with bed-ticking, or unbleached muslin, knotted with bright worsted, is needed to make one of these cots comfortable in v/inter-time, but in sum- mer even this is unnecessary. Dining room there is none, to this small house, but in winter-time dinner and tea are served in the front room, while breakfast is eaten in the cheery kitchen. In summer-time, when the weather will permit, all three meals are spread out of doors on a stationary table that is made of rough boards laid upon a criss-cross trestle. The table is placed under a rustic arbor, which is overrun with wild grape vine, and when spread with a red cover and set for tea, or breakfast, is certa-nly very inviting, as well as picturesque looking. iJo not say this is a fancy picture, for it is not. We ourselves WITHIN DOORS. 53 have sat under this grape vine, and have drank coffee, and eaten honey and white biiiscuit at this table. Of course, every varying condition of the farmer's income, and the circumstances that surround him, will influence the arrangement of his home ; but neatness, cleanliness and refinement may be had. The manner and management of the Iiome will afford an indication of the character of the mmates, and in return the mental and moral characteristics of the inmates will be influenced by the character of the home. HOMESICK FOR THE COUHTRY. I'd kind o' like to liave a cot, Fixed on some sunny slope, or spot; Five acres more or less With maples, cedars, cherry trees. And poplars "whitening in the breeze. 'Twoiild suit my taste, I guess, To have the porch with vines o'erhung. With bells of pendant woodbine swung; In every bell a bee ; And round my latticed vrindow spread A clump of roses, -white and red. To solace mine and me, I kind o' tlnnk I should desire To hear around the lawn a choir Of wood-birds, singing sweet; And in a dell I'd. have a brook Where I might sit and lead my book. Such should be my retreat; Far from the city's crowd and noise. There would I rear the girls and boys, (I have some two or three). And if kind Jieaven would bless my store With five, or six, or seven more, How happy I would be. Anonymous. CfiAPTER IV AROUND THE HOUSE. The inflnence exerted by men, upon each other by their intercourse, is a fact few would question. That every man creates an atmosphere about him- self that is a power for good or evil, is also true. But perhaps the influence of Sxlent things is not so evident to every one; nor the atmosphere they create, as often recognized, and j'et these, too, are real and powerful. And he who wishes to make life as true and beau- tiful as he can, with the means at his command, will find in nature a large source from which to draw, and this store-house will furnish material to create about his home an atmosphere that will be educating and refining. The mind is naturally employed with the things seen day after day, and a yard which is disfigured with weeds, dead leaves, decaying fruit and discarded tinware, through winter and summer, cannot suggest pleasant thoughts and will not be a source of refine- ment. The yard should be one of the sources of education in the home, and by its beauty rest and refresh the miud. The labor necessary to secure this, will not 56 THE HOME ON THE FAKM. make the pleasure less, but more, addin"; to other re- turns for the work honest pride, that riglit of ever}'^ successful worker. Whatever the size, shape, or peculiarities of any yard, one thing is necessary for all, and without it, little progress toward beauty or comfort can be made. This ifoimdation for all the rest is order and clean- liness. Let the work of cleaning and putting in order be once thoroughly done, and the improvement will be in itself an inspiration to keep it so. A yard already full of trash attracts more, and an orderly one invites every member of the household to main- tain the order. The most neglected yard can be put in order if the work is begun with a determination to succeed. Perhaps the best point to begin the attack, is the wood pile, as this must be the place to put all scattered boards, sticks and rails. The pile should be straightened and the chips around it raked up ; then the wood gathered from the yard will not be moved from one place of disorder to an- other, but will be in place. All scattered tools, or pieces of broken ones, should be put away. Barrels and boxes, if whole, put in some place of safety ; if unlit for use, put on the wood pile. Broken fences, gates and trellises should be mended, and, if the cleaning is done early in the spring, rose bushes and vines should be trimmed, edges of walks straiglitened and the whole 3'ard raked and the rak- ings burned. This work ought to be as faithfully done in the back 3^nrd as in the front, and to keep the kitchen doorway looking well, no sweepings from the house AROUXD THE HOUSE. 57 should be left there, but,taken up in a dust pan and burned. When the dandelions, plantains and other weeds begin to show, they should be cut out, and if the grass cannot be kept short, but is left until tall, and cut for hay, it will be less unsightly if free from weeds, though close cut grass is much the prettiest, and more easily kept free from weeds. When spring comes again, recalling the work of the year before and the satisfaction it gave, an im- p.ulse to renew the work will set in motion plans for greater inprovements. The first cleaning having been kept up through the summer and winter, will have made that work much lighter, and, with more time, something more can be attempted ; a new arrangement of walks, tlower beds, or fences may be needed, and in doing this, beauty and convenience will be the aim. Each yard wiL need a plan of its own, though the same materials will be useful for all, AVhat is the idea that has been given shape in the front yard ? Why are not houses built with the front doors opening on to the highway? Back of the cus- tom of leaving a space between the house and -the road there must be some reasons great enough to ac- count lor the fact. What are they ? Seclusion from dust, noise and the intrusions inci- dent to nearness to a traveled way must have .been strong reasons, and the security of an exclusive right to the doorway would be felt as another. For these reasons the houses were set back from the road. Then the question naturally suggested itself, How shall this strip of ground be used ? Some settled it by making it a continuation of the 58 THE HOME ON THE FARM. barn yard and allowinfj; hogs, cattle, horses, geese, ducks and cliickens to take possession of it ; others, more thrifty, grew potatoes, cabbages, onions and other vegetables for the table on this plot of ground. But the farmers' wives, lacking the absorbing pleas- ure of gaining and handling money, planning to add more acres to the farm, build new barns, buy cattle, horses and machinery, felt instead a longing for some- thing to brighten and beautify the days, and the first result was a row of broken crocks or old cans filled with flowers and standing on the window sill or on a bench. This attempt to beautify the yard was con- fined to such places because of wandering hogs or calves. But the idea grew that beauty is worth striv- ing for— one of the blessings at our very doors that we may have and welcome. And such people as the " Miss Asphyxia Smith," Mrs. Stowe describes, who toss a child's wild flower treasures into the fire as trash, and think all time wasted that is spent in such enjoyment, became fewer. Man like Dr. Holland taught that simple pleasures should be heartily enjoyed, and that it is the privilege of ever}^ one to have a play-time without a thought of W'^rk or a shadow of care, or duty, to mar it, and the idea of a pleasure ground came into the form of the yard. A large extent of grass where children could romp without running into flower beds or breaking plants, and giving room for games for older people grew from this idea; and included a good sod, as cleaner than bare earth, and short-cut grass that dried soon after heavy dews or showers, and did not trip running feet in a tangle of weeds. Around the houses of many AnOUND THE HOUSE. 59 farmers to-day there are yards that embody these ideas of use, beauty and enjoyment. Studying the details of such yards we find trees, shrubs, vines, flowers and grass are the materials combined to produce the atmosphere that surrounds these homes. To tliose who are laying out new yards or remodel- ing old ones, the selection of trees, shrubs, flowers and vines is interesting and important, and their ar- rangement after selectmg them, no less so. In plant- ing trees, the fact that they will grow for years must be remembered and room for growth allowed them. Unless they are intended only for temporary shade until other trees are large enough to take their places, they should not be planted less than thirty feet from the house. The most suitable tree to give shade for a lifetime is the elm ; it has been called the American tree and the emblem of our liberty; under its branches some of the stirring deeds of our early history were set in motion. It is a tree that will bear any wind less than a hurricane and grows in symmetrical shapes. The hard maple and the ash are suitable shade trees, tough of fibre, neat and compact in growth and hav- ing one merit the elm lacks — beautiful autumn foliage — and if planted near each other the scarlet of the maple is a fine contrast for the yellow ash. Soft maples make a rapid growth and are suitable for temporary shade, but break too easily in a strong wind to be suitable for a permanent shade. A group of pine trees on the north or west of the house will give a sense of comfort and protection in winter; and a resinous fragrance when putting on new growth in summer that will at least partly off- set the annoyance caused by the constantly falling 60 THE HOME ON THE FARBL cones. The lower branches should be trimmed to al- low the sun and rahi to reach the ground below, or the grass will die, leaving a bare, unsightly spot under each tree. Tiie Scotch pine and the Norway spruce are two of our best evergreens. The larch is an ornamental tree, having ihe needle-like foliage oi evergreens, but shedding its leaves in the fall. Having planted enough trees to shade the house, others, and a greater variety can be planted from year to year at a greater distance, always keeping in view the final effect. Young trees will respond to generous treatment as readily as corn or any farm crop, and will show neglect or careless planting as much. If a newly planted tree is to grow rapidly it must be transplanted with as little breaking of roots as possible, put in good, well mellowed soil and for three or four years given culture and care ; a very good plan is to make a flower bed around the young tree, until it begins to shade the ground; the flowers will not suffer and the tree will be much the gainer. A tree in the center of a bed made rich enough for pansies will grow marvelously fast, and is a source of pleasure even when small, because of its thrifty ap- pearance. If a flower bed is not wanted, a space of ground around the tree should be kept mellow and free from grass or weeds. Shrubs may be left out of many small yards to their advantage, as they take up room that should be given to grass. In larger yards a i'ew can be planted with good efl'ect. A group of native shrubs including Dog- wood, Service berry and Red-bud could be effect- ively arranged and blooming at the same time would make a contrast in color and shape of flowers that would be very pretty. AROUND THE HOUSE. 6l For growing a variety of shrubs a large bed where they can be cultivated is best. The plants should be set far enough apart to admit of hoeing between them, or they will become a harbor for weeds from which their seeds will spread over the whole yard. The ar- rangement of tire shrubs must be according to their growth ^ the taller ones in the center and others around them, or what is more, after the pattern Nature sety, the tallest shrubs at one side with varying sizes through the bed. A few hardy rose bushes in such a bed can%e trimmed or allowed to grow any size that is wanted. Among low-growing shrubs the Deutzia is one of the prettiest, the Holly is evergreen and shrubby. Japonica grows four to six feet high and among the taller shrubs are the Smoke Tree, Barberry and Syringa. All these have showy flowers, except the Holly ; its little yellow flowers are surpassed in beauty by the foliage of the shrub. The Barberry is valued for its red berries that suc- ceed the very fragrant yellow blossoms, and hang on all winter. Almost every one has some favorite among shrubs, and a list of all that are of value would include many not mentioned here. The error to be avoided with most care, is putting too many shrubs in a small space. More vines may be planted, for the presence of a vine presupposes something larger than the vine on which it is to climb, and climbers assume graceful forms so naturally, it is not easy to rob them of their beauty as long as they are thrifty. They will richly repay for the care in cultivating and training them. A house where every doorway is shaded has not too many vines.^ 62 THE HOME ON THE FARM. Climbing roses, Clematis vines, Five-leaved Ivy and grape vines over the doors will protect the house from heat and give a variety of beauty and fragrance from early spring. The many tender vines that do not bear our winters can be used with these with good effect. The woodshed can be covered with vines and posts well set will support roses, honeysuckles^ or annual climbers and show their beauties to good advantage. An old stump with enough irregularities to have a gnarled beauty of its own, covered with vines, and if hollow, having some good foliage plant or showy bloomer planted in the top, will be a real ornament. Avery pretty| arrangement of vines can be made by stretching a wire between two trees high enough to be above a tall man's head, and training on this hardy vines. The Clematis is one of the best, as it rarely shows any dead branches and the feathery seed pods are beatiful long after the blossoms are past. The Five-leaved Ivy grows rapidly and will need little care after it is well started. If planted to climb the trunk of a large tree it will soon cover the trunk and in autumn hang out a torch of fire in every leaf. The flower beds, if there is room for any in the yard, should be at the side of the house or bordering, but not crowding the walk. These beds should not contain too many varieties, and the flowers ought to harmonize in color. A scarlet salvia growing beside a red chrysanthemum destroys all pleasure in the beauty of either, when if they were jjlanted in differ- ent beds each would show its own merits, or if one of the flowers was white the contrast would be pleasant. AROUND [the house. 63 Every tree, shrub and flower in the yard should have plenty of room ; enough so each may develop to its natural size and enough to allow the sun and rain to reach its roots. With space enough, too, between trees, shrubs and flower beds to give each an individ- uality. Many very pretty front yards are ornamented only with large trees, vines and close cut grass. The side yard may have a few floAver beds, or these may all be in the back yard. Where if they are not so showy when in the higlit of their bloom, neither do they show much th^ir dead and dying leaves as fall ap- proaches, or in a dry season. A flower bed near the kitchen windows will be en- joyed more by the housekeepers, than if they must wait until the work is done and they have leisure to sit where the flowers of the front yard can be seen, lor too often then they will be too tired to enjoy their beauty and so the mission of the bright blossoms for them fails. An outlook from the kitchen, as the churning is being done, the dishes washed, or the bread moulded, that shows a clean yard and thrifty, growing pansies, verbenas, or portulaccas, will make the work seem lighter, and though the influence is unnoticed, it will giv^e something of the grace of the flowers to those who enjoy them. In a large yard arbors and rustic seats look well if they are kept in repair, but usually are not sources of as much comfort as they are intended to give. An arbor if well shaded will be damp after rains when the yard is dry ; and the grass will not grow where the ground is so shaded ; depriving the arbor of the best carpeting nature makes. Eustic seats being left out 64 THE fiOJfE ON THE FARM. doors in all weather, unless nnusually well made, soon become dilapidated and are often, even in their best days, very uncomfortable seats. If an arbor does not fulfill its purpose as a pleasant shaded place to sit, and if rustic seats fail to be com- fortable, something that will fulfill these purposes had better be substituted. A pleasant grassy place on the shady side of the house under a tree may serve for an arbor, and com- fortable chairs from the house and a hammock make restful seats. Vines might be trained on tlie west and south of such a place to add to the shade; these would allow the morning sun to dry the ground, and shine on the grass to keep it growing, and would give shade and shelter in t!ie afternoon and evening. Trunks.of trees, large stones and stumps in the yard are sometimes white-washed or painted; unless this is necessary to kill the larvae of insects it should not be done, or even in that case some colorless wash might be applied, and the white-wash and paint avoided al- together. The natural coloring of the tree trunks and stones forms part of the quiet beauty of nature ; cov- ering them with white-wash or paint destroys their beauty, giving an element that does not harmonize withihe surrounding colors. If it is necessary in or- der to preserve them to paint stumps, urns or flower pots, the color should be neutral and show as little as possible. The chief beauty of a yard and that on which all the adorning depends is well kept grass. A good sod must be secured in order to have good grass, and the even growth of the grass will depend much on the grade being good ; if there are depressions that hold AROUND THE HOUSE. 65 water after a rain tlie grass will grow rank there, or if wet too long will be killed out. In grading a new yard or regrading an old one, there is a choice in the time of doing the work; if the house is unoccupied it can be done in the fall, but if occu- pied spring will be the best time, as a muddy jard through the winter will be avoided. If graded in March or April a good growth of grass will cover the ground before mid-summer. The slope of the grade must be enough to cnrry off all surplus water after rains, but near the house the fall should be almost imperceptible, about six or eight inches in fifty feet. The yard must be plowed and made evenly sloping from the house. Where it is necessary to fill depres- sions, the ground must be allowed to settle after the fill is made, for a week or ten days when it will be ready to fill again ; where a rise has been cut down leaving subsoil on the surface a dressing of good soil must be given i-o that the grass may grow on these spots. A dressing of fine manure or bone meal on the whole yard will be of benefit. When a perfect grade has been secured the surface should be well pulverized, the grass seed sown and covered lightly. The best mixture of seed to sow will be blue grass, timothy and oats in the propor- tion of two bushels of blue grass, one-half bushel of timothy and two bushels of oats to the acre. The oats will cover the ground in a few weeks and protect the young grass. As soon as tall enough the grass should be cut and as often through the summer as the growth will permit. In this way a good lawn can be made in one season and it will last a lifelime if the work is done with care and thoroughness. To preserve it year after year, frequent mowing and an 6Q TfiE HOME ON THE FARM. occasional application of bone meal or well-fined manure will be necessary, and if weeds gain a foothold they should be cutout with a hoe or knife. All this may be done for beauty and comfort, but if the yard lacks conveniences it will be sadly incom- plete ; wood and water should be near the kitchen door. The woodshed may open into the kitchen, and if kept filled with good wood and a supply of kind- lings, will lighten the work of the kitchen and im- prove its quality. A poor fire is the cause of much sour bread, tough steak, heavy cake, poorly ironed clothes and many cross faces. The stove itself wears out faster when the draughts are choked with the ashes of rotten wood. A pump in the kitchen will save much time, and if so arranged as to avoid slopping the floor it is one of those homely luxuries, that by adding to the comfort of every day do so much toward making living a pleasant thing. If the cistern cannot be under the kitchen it should be] near the door, and sheltered, if only with a shed of rough boards, so that going for water will not mean exposure to the hot sun of mid- summer, the rains of all seasons and the cold and snow of winter. . Both cistern and well should be carefully guarded from impurities. A cistern both bricked and cement- ed will admitnothing through its walls and with a tight fitting cover nothing need find its way into the cistern but pure water. In some sections cement alone will be enough to make the cistern secure from the water in the ground. A good spring is often considered a great advantage on a farm. Often it is, in fact, a great drawback. We AtlOUND THE HOtJSE. 6t have often seen houses put in a most inconvenient place, just because " the spring was there," and on some farms, even of well-to-do farmers, no well or cistern is provided, because there is a spring within a few rods of the house. And through summer's heat and Avinter's cold, the farmer's family must go down the hill to the spring and back up the hill carrying a load, for all the water that is used. It is wretched economy. Let good, pure water be so abundant and convenient that it can be liberally — even lavishly used. The walks about a house will tell much of the thrift or unthrift of its occupants; if well made and well kept they will tell well for the inmates of the house, but if overgrown with weeds in summer and muddy in winter they will tell of something lacking in the household. It may sometimes be health and strength, but if so, when these return the walks will take on a new aspect. The front walk can often be ar- ranged to add to the beauty of the yard by giving it a winding approach, or if there is a drive-way at the side ot the yard, a walk directly from that to the front of the house will save in the lengtli to be cared for and give a good effect. A walk near to nature's pattern is the most suitable and one made of gravel or stone is as near like a nat- ural path as can be made to fulfill the needs of a con- stantly used walk, but brick, plank or tanbark are often easier to obtain and make a dry, clean path. The fence around a yard should be neat and incon- spicuous. In some of the newer States the yards are not fenced, but in Ohio fences still surround the yard with but few exceptions. Very neat iron fences are supplanting boards to 6S THE HOIME ON THE FARM, some extent and are strong and durable. A hedge fence riglitJy grown and cared for is very pretty, but if left untrimmed for weeks at a time it is only a source of annoyance. It will be better not to attempt a hedge than to have one and neglect it, for it soon grows up and shuts out the view, and gives the yard a gloomy, as well as an untidy appearance. Whatever the fence may be, it should be kept neat and in order. Broken boards or loose pickets should be repaired at once. A few minutes will repair a break when first made, but if the matter is left for some time, it ripens into a big job. Strongly made and well-hung gates will complete the boundary line and we may step outside and look at the yard complete, and note where it has fallen short of the ideal, and where it has surpassed the original plan. In all endeavors to mnke the surroundings of the house beautiful, it should be remembered that the objects are, refinement, comfort, and healthy pleasure. Some of our ideas of what is of value and really worth working for are but little better than those of a colored woman, who owned and exhibited with pride three silk dresses, but she lacked wholesome food and comfortable clothes, and died of consump- tion ; cared for by charitable neighbors during her sickness. The dresses were good in themselves, but no one will question the tolly of preferring them to the neces- saries of life, and a yard adorned with all the beau- ties of trees, flowes, and shrubs is only a mockery if the household lacks the beauties of truth, purity and AROUND THE HOUSE. 69 loving-kindness. The outward beauty should sym- bolize the beauties that are unseen but powerfully felt. The trees should tell of strength and protection, the grass of vigorous, healthy every day life, and the flowers and shrubs should speak of all the sunny gladness and all the joys of happy home life. FLOWERS. Spake full well in language quaint and olden One who dwelleth by the castled Rhine, When he called the flowers so blue and golden Stars that in Earth's firmament do shine. Stars they are wherein we read our histories, As astrologers and seers of eld, Yet not wrapped about with awful mystery Like the burning stars which they beheld. Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous, God has written in those stars above. But not less in the bright flowerets under us Stands the revelation of His love. Bright and glorious is that revelation, Written all over this great world of ours. Making evident our own creation In these stars of earth, these golden flower*. Gorgeous flowerets in the sunlight shining, Blossoms flaunting in the light of day; Tremulous leaves with soft and silver lining. Buds that open only to decay. In all places then, and in all seasons Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings, Teaching us by most persuasive reasons IIow akin they are to human things. . And witli childlike, credulous affection We behold their tender buds expand ; Emblems of our own great resurrection. Emblems of the briink spring ^LOWERS FOR THE HOME. 85 beauties ; the whole having a charm as long as the flowers keep bright. A fragrant bouquet, and as del- icate as sea shells, can be made with only wild Crab blossoms and lillies of the valley ; the shell like pink of the crab blossoms and the pure white of the lillies make an exquisite contrast. A tumbler filled with fresh white clover blossoms suprised me by their beauty into asking what they were. Sweet Allysum and rosy pink geranium blossoms make a beautiful small bouquet. Sweet scented geranium leaves. Fuchsias, Heliotrope and rose buds make an exquis- ite com])ination. When all the old fashioned roses. Garden Heliotrope and Deutzia are in bloom their blossoms can be ar- ranged together, and the yellow rose buds, creamy, half blown white roses and graceful Deutzia bells sur- rounded by the fragrant Garden Heliotrope, make a pale, delicate bouquet, suitable for a place on an ebonized shelf or near dark walls. Bouquets may contain a large variety of flowers, if care is taken to select harmonizing tints and colors, and to separate blossoms that might conflict in color, by placing be- tween them something that harmonizes with both. A bouquet may contain blue, pink, red, and yel- low, if an abundance of white is used. Some of our prettiest bine flowers for cutting are Gillia tri- color, and Gillia capitata, Phacelia, Ageratum Eutoca, and Columbine ; for white flowers. Clematis Vir- giniana gives a soft creamy cluster, the Ferrenial pea a pure waxy white, and among Verbenas, Sweet Peas, Gillias, Asters, Helichrysums, Geraniums, and roses, are found pure white flowers ; pink and purple, scarlet and crimson, are abundant among annuals and perrenials. 86 THE HOME ON THE EAllM. The prettiest yellows, are foimd among roses and pansies, but Antirrhinum and Xeranthemum give clear, j-ellow blossoms, and Zinnias thongh stiff, can sometimes be used for yellow in bouquets. Flowers, for the decoration of platforms or pulpits, should be large and pronounced in color, with pure white and deep green, for a back ground, and setting; Calla lillies and their leaves, spikes of Gladiolus, bright Geraniums, Columbines, roses, ani the blos- soms of flowering trees and shrubs are suitable. Long sprays from flowering vines can be arranged with good effect, to droop or twine above such a bouquet. Those who delight in gathering flowers, for the decoration of the house, will find material for their pleasant work in garden, field, and woods. Sprays from blackberry vines, clusters of Elder blooms, leaves from the rag weed, and the whole plant of the caliums or cleavers, will be seized upon and woven into graceful combinations, and every season will unfold new materials and new ideas for floral decora- tion. The liberty to give the rarest and sweetest flowers, to those who will be gladdened by them, is one of the pleasantest possibilities of flower culture. Bright flowers sent to sick rooms, or to those who love them, but are too busy to grow them ; or thrifty plants given to some one beginning the culture of flowers ; all these will give as much pleasure as those kept to enjoy and share with the household. Among plants, whose foliage is their beauty, are Ferns, Coleus, Begonias, the Rubber plant, the Cen- tury plant, and curious growing cactus plants, these, as well as others, can be used very eflectually for decoration, but in ornamenting a room with plants, FLOWERS FOR THE HOSIE. 87 care should be taken to place them where they will not take room needed by something else, or annoy any one with constant fears for their safety. Plants may be taken from the pit during mild weather and used to ornament parlor or sitting room, and returned for safety when mercury sinks. Watching their growth and blossoming, seeing how much neglect they will survive, how they will grow in hard, poor soil, and how generously they will re- spond to better conditions, we may learn many lessons for our own lives ; and from the beauty and fragrance of the flowers with which the earth is ad- vanced, learn something of the work of the Master builder, who is preparing for us, mansions above. TRUE GREATNESS. Not he alone is great Whose voice commands where battles rage and roar, Nor lie who guides the counsels of a State Safe through the storms of war. Not by the work you do, Nor by the number who can speak your name, Can you establish greatness real or true, Or prove your right to fame. Great are the ones who give To humblest work, the best of heart and brain ; Who not for self, but for their loved ones live. Shall crowns immortal gain. CHAPTER yi. HOUSE KEEPING. In studying housekeeping as a subject, it should always be borne in mind that housekeeping is not an end to be attained, but a means toward an end, that of home making. The difference between the two is great, although at the first thought one may consider them identical. To realize how great this difference is, let a person spend a few weeks in a crowded hotel where all the work is thoroughly done, where the table is fastidiously set and every thing that money can buy is provided, then let him go to his own home, wiiere is liberty and friendly interest and welcome not gauged by the depth of the pocket- book. Wherein lies the difference ? In one, the good house keeping is simply a means for making money, in the other it is (or should be) the means by which those dwelling in the same house become more " kindly affectioned one towards another." Let us keep this, the highest standard of housekeeping, al- ways before us. THE WORKERS AND THE WORKED FOR. In the farm house the worker is pre-eminently the 90 THE HOME ON THE FARM. mother. Ah a bride she takes up the work of house- keeping, as years go by her work increases, her cares double, the demands upon her time multiply ; it is her life-work from which there can be only a tem- porary release and never an entire freedom from care. She works for husband and children, and their health and happiness are due to her skill, patience and in- dustry, and a failure to do her part well, may be the cause of irreparable mischief But while she is the greatest, let it never be supposed that she is the only worker. Father and children are in various ways helpers, and while they are helping her she is work- ing for them, and she is also working for herself; a fact which many grumblers about the slavery of housework seem to forget. So, except in the care of very young children, invalids or aged people, the workers are those for whom the work is done. In view of the fact that the mother is the most im- portant worker in the house, it is but justice that the work should be arranged in such a manner as to be most convenient for her to do. In machinery great care is taken that there is no friction on the propel- ling power; the shaft of the water-wheel and the pis- ton rod are kept well oiled, for any false bearing here deranges the whole machinery. Equall}'^ as good care should be taken that the housework does not vex, fret or annoy the mother, for any friction here is sure to jar through all the revolving wheels of the family circle. One of the things necessary to insure easy work is that tlie mother's will must be the law of the house- hold. Whatever work is done must be done at such a time and in such a manner as she shall decide. This may sound arbitrary and to many may smack HOUSE KEEPING. 91 of woman-riglitsism, but to all fair-minded people it is only plain common sense, and the only way by which the work can be done without jar or annoy- ance to the diflerent members of the family. For in- stance, the family prefer, so she has always made salt- rising bread. Some other worker, perhaps a hired girl, refuses to make salt-rising and makes yeast bread to the annoyance of the whole family. This does not prevent the mother from trying new, in the hopes of finding out better ways, for all our im- provement are at first new things, but having tried various ways and orders of work, and having decided which is, in her case, the best, both for herself and her family, the mother should be allowed to pursue her own course undisturbed by others. But as the motlier's will is to be the law of the househeld, it is necessary that her will should be ex- ercised with good sense, intelligence and kindness. If she says a thing should be done at a certain time, when it is apparent to every member of the family that it is not the best time to do it — if, when ordering work done, she says any way to get through it, re- gardless of the best way ; if she orders the work, regardless of the health or convenience of the other workers— she makes a great failure ; she fails to merit the respect and confidence that rightfully be- long to her. TUE BEST WAY. There is nothing so important to the mother as know the best way to do her work, and then be able to do it in that way. Perhaps it is expected that I shall lay down plans by which any woman can do 92 THE HOME ON THE FARM. her work easily, rapidly and pleasantl}^, and save time and money. It is impossible. I have seen such plans in print, but never saw one successfully carried out. There are so many things to be considered in making i)lans, and in no two houses are things just the same. The size of the house, the number of mem- bers in the the family, their health, ages of the children, care of aged people, amount of money that can be used in housekeeping, number of hired helpers, are all subjects to be thought of in planning work. So it follows that no one set of plans can suit everybody, but each woman must make her plans to suit her circumstances. THE MONEY QUESTION. The amount of money that can be used in house- keeping is one of the first questions to be settled. Nine-tenths of all the articles written on household matters condemn miserliness in the house as the greatest of all sinning, and to read these articles one would call us a nation of misers. This is far from being the fact. American extravagance is proverbial and where one family is injured bj'- parsimony, ten ar.e harmed by extravagant liberality. It is so pleas- ant to have our houses w^ell furnished, the chairs and tables substantial as well as pretty, the carpets and curtains of good material and in good taste, an organ or a piano and an abundance of good books and pic- tures in the rooms, the table well set with silver and china, and no thought of saving in the butcher's and grocer's bills. All these things help to make home attractive, and the tendency of the times is to con- demn every person who goes without them simply ttOtfSE KEEPING. 9o because they want to save the money which such things cost But all these things do cost money ; and many a young couple on beginning housekeeping, rather than face this condemnation have furnished their houses well and burdened themselves with debt and cares for years. Public opinion, on the subject of housekeeping, is all in favor of extravagance, so it becomes very easy for a family to live beyond their means ; but it requires a good deal of moral courage to live strictly within their means. Before deciding on what to buj'-, find out how much there is to buy with. If there is money enough to buy a range, cost- ing from $50 to $100, buy it ; but if there is not, there are stoves costing from $12 to $15 that will cook just as good dinners. If there is money to buy solid silver spoons and forks, get them ; but if there is not, plated will do just as well. But let no house- keeper be ashamed of her cheap stove or spoons; rather let her be ashamed of running in debt when she cannot see how the debts are to be paid. It is no disgrace to dress and live plainly, but it is a disgrace to run through all the property one has, and then cheat your creditors out of all you can borrow. So economy becomes one of the first things to be considered in ordering housework. Now, what is economy ? It certainly does not consist in buying the poorest material that can be bought simply because it costs the least money. Economy is getting the greatest benefit from the amount of money expended, be it much or little. If one table-cloth costing three dollars will last longer than three costing one dollar each, it is economy to buy the three dollar cloth. If one gingham dress costing 124 cents a yard will wear as long as two calicos costing 8 cents a yard, it is u THE HOJEE ON THE FARM. cheaper to buy the gingham. The best — that which will wear the longest — is always cheapest. There is an extravagance of time as well as money. It is not economy for a woman who does her own work to spend three or four hours in preparing some choice dish that will be consumed in a few moments. Neither is it economy to prepare a dish and have it so poor that it cannot be eaten, in which case, both the materials used and the time employed in making it are lost. It is not economy to spend days over the ironing table, ironing elaborately-made garments, when an hour over plainl3^-made clothes will do just as well. It is not economy to spend hours every morning in sweeping and dusting every room in the house, whether they are occupied or not. Neither is it economy to allow them go so long uncared for that it doubles the work. Wastefulness is always the very worst kind of extravagance, either of time or money. It is not economy to attempt to do housework without conveniences to do it with. When a woman attempts to do a large washing with only one tub and a pail, she need not expect to get it out in half a day, and the perplexity and vexation caused by working with so few conveniences, cost her more than another tub or a pounding-barrel would. When a woman ties her coffee up in a rag and pounds it with a flat iron on the stove-hearth, instead of buying a coffee mill, she is not practicing economy, for she wastes more coffee in a year than a mill would cost. It is not economy to try to do a large ironing with only two flat irons, for they must be changed so often that they cannot remain on the stove long enough to be well heated, unless a larger amount of fuel is used. It takes nearly tiOTTSE KEEPING. 95 twice as much fuel to do an ironing with two flat irons as it would to do it with four. TIME. There are but twenty four hours in a day and night and no amount of stretching or crowding can make more than that. When a woman finds she has a great deal to do, and daylight is too short for her to get through it, she is very apt to take part ot the night. She gets up at four in the morning and works until ten at night, and thinks she is saving time. A greater mistake was never made. It is true she may have more work done at the end of the first week, possibly she may at the end of the second, but after that she grows nervous; little things vex her, she wonders why she is so petulant when there is apparently no cause for it, then she becomes listless and cannot set herself to work without an effort ; she is weak and goes to the doctor for a tonic, which perhaps will re- lieve her because he says she must stop work. So, in the end, the two hours which she daily takes from sleep, are two hours lost, and she has lost far more than that — she has lost her cheerfulness and that con- fidence in herself that comes from a nervous system in repose. Make it a rule, when hurried with work, to take plenty of time to eat and sleep. Nothing is ever gained by hurrying through a meal and rushing back to hard work. Eight hours of the twenty-four should be given to sleep, and when a little out of health, more than that. Then divide the remaining sixteen in such a way that they will cover all the work to be done that day. Give four hours to getting breakfast and doing up the 96 THE HOME ON THE FARM. work, three to getting dinner and washing the dishes, two to getting supper and preparing for breakfast. Tliis gives barely seven hours for other work. But few housekeepers are satisfied with this division of time. It does not give them time enough for the work of the day, so to make more time for that, they slight many parts of the daily work and clip the time for preparing meals as short as possible. The result is, the housework is slightly neglected, the table is plainly set, but the sewing, knitting and mending, rag-carpet making, canning fruit and making bedding are well kept up. If, on the other hand, she keeps her daily housework uj) to the highest standard, giv- ing it all the time necessary, her sewing, knitting, visiting, letter- writing, etc., become sadly neglected. If she tries to keep her work in all its branches all done, and well done, she is met by the twenty-four hours in the day, which no amount of hurrying can overcome. So, as this limitation is always upon her, let her choose which she will do, and not complain because one alone cannot do the work that it would require two to do thoroughly. Perhaps the best choice that a woman can make is to do well the things that she is obliged to do, and not attempt to do that which cannot be well done. She is obliged every day to wash dishes, sweep and dust, make beds, set and clear tables, get breakfast, dinner and tea ; then there is the weekly washing and ironing, the baking, and Saturday's cleaning. It is better to do each piece of work thoroughly, than to slide through it any how and hurry on to something else, only taking care that the surface work — that which shows — is decent, and so, at the end of the week, be able to boast of the amount of work gone HOUSE KEEPING. 97 over. The annoyance of eating on dislies lialf washed, of sleeping in beds just thrown together, of wearing clothes dingy, and harsh, and smelling of soap, of eating sour bread and drinking sloppy coifee, is greater to most peojjle than the satisfaction obtained from a great amount of extra work shuffled over. Do the little things the best they can be done and then be satisfied with your work. As the first of the week is universally admitted to be the best time for the washing and ironing, we will begin accounts of particular kinds of work with washing day. WASHING AND IRONING. The object of washing is to get the clothes clean. If persons were to listen to the talk of half a dozen housekeepers on washing day afternoon, they might doubt this, they would think the only reason why washings were done was to see how early the clothes could be put out. Of course, it is pleasant to have the washing out as soon as possible, but no amount of hurrying them on to the clothes line can make uj) for half done washing. Because a woman has her clothes all on the line at ten o'clock, on Monday morning, is no sign she is a good washerwoman. The real proof of her skill in washing is when the clothes are taken from the line, or when they are taken from the closet to be worn. If, when taken from the line they are stiff and harsh to the touch, if the bands of skirts and underclothes, and the bottoms of white shirts are grey because they were not rubbed clean, if children's white and light colored dresses and aprons are drab in front : "all stained up" is the ex- 98 THE Home on xHfi farSi. cuse; if dark dresses are a shade lighter in'front, with every trace of the original pattern gone, same excuse ; if the coarse clothes are brown and stiff, the dish towels slippery with grease, if the colored clothes are streaked, not with the color of the garment, but a compound of every color in the wash, if everything in the wash smells soapy, the washing is not well done, and tiie one who did it should be ashamed to boast of getting it out before ten o'clock. To be sure, there are housekeepers who do not get their wash- ings out before two o'clock in the afternoon, who do not do them well, but the chances are they will be done as well as if put out two hours after breakfast. The first requisite for doing a washing, is plenty of soft water and good soap. After trying a good many kinds, I am satisfied that there is nothing better for all kinds of washing than home-made soft soap. This is better the older it is, and if it can stand a year without being used, it can then safely be employed on the most delicate colors or flannels. Next to this is the hard soap, made at home with concentrated lye or potash, of which there are many kinds in the market. The best of tliese are those put up without any rosin or wax, as a laundry soap should contain nothing but alkali and grease. Rosin in soap ruins flannels by fulling them and making them stiff, it also, unless they are carefully rinsed, gives them, and all clothes washed with it — a strong, soapy smell that is disagreeable to most people. To do washings easily, as well as thoroughly, al- ways soak the clothes over night. If the washing must be done on Monday, when the work is done up Sunday morning get a tub of w'arm suds, and as fast as the clothes are changed, gather them up and put Mouse kEEPmG. &9 tlieni in it, putting the dirtiest at the bottom of tlie tub. Be sure there is water enough to cover them well, and no further care is required until the next morning. On Monday morning put on the wash boiler before breakfast, so as to have plenty of hot water to begin with. As soon as you can after breakfast, put enough hot water into the tub of clothes to make it comfor- table for the hands, put on the wringer, and giving them a little rubbing wring them out. Then get a tub of clean, warm water, and rub the clothes clean. This will not be so very hard after soaking over night, but clean them thoroughly. Do not leave any streaks or spots of dirt, thinking they will boil out ; clean the coarse clothes as thoroughly as the fine ones. If there is anything that will not rub out, soap it before putting it in to boil. Do not put too many clothes in the boiler at once, only enough so they can be worked easily in the water, for it is the motion of the boiling suds through the clothes that cleans them. Do not boil more than five to ten minutes. When taken from the boiler drain out all the suds — dipping them in a basket set over a pail is a good way — then rinse them through a tub full of clear water, wringing with a wringer, then through another tub full of water slightly blued, wring again and they are ready for the clothes line. Much of the success of the washing depends on these two rinsings. If they are thrown into the tub in a lump, just covered with water, then tucked into a wringer, a corner at a time, and pulled through by the motion of the wringer, you need not expect they will be white and clean. You have lost your labor, that is, if you wash to be clean. They should be 100 THE HOME ON THE FARM. soused up and down in the water, shaken out and rubbed a litt e, so that the clear water touches every part of tlie cloth, then wring dry from each tub. In no other way can the soap be all washed out, and if not all out, the clothes will become yellow after a few washings, and no amount of scrubbing will make them white. Before putting them on tlie line, starch the collars, shirt bosoms, and whatever needs starch- ing. To make the starch, dissolve from a half to a teacupful of starch (according to the size of the washing) in a little cold water, then pour over it boiling water until it is well scalded, and dip the clothes in it while it is hot as the hands can bear. Many dissolve a lump of tallow in it, or stir in a spoonful of kerosene. Rub the starcli in thoroughly while hot. Now come the colored clothes, which are really the horror of washing day. The white clothes can be soaked, boiled, or bleached, but nothing of the kind will do for colored clothes, and yet they show good washing as much as the white. Soap and water and elbow grease are all that can be put upon them. In the first place do not wet them at all until the white clothes are all out, for the longer they are in the suds the more they will fade, and by all means have a pounding-barrel to put them in first. After pounding them well in plenty of water, rub them clean and rinse them well in two waters, starch and dry them in the shade. If there are any that are in- clined to fade, or colors run, put a handful of salt in the last rinsing water, or if you have hard water rinse in that. If one objects to putting the clothes to soak on Sun- day, it can be done on Monday to better advantage. HOUSE KEEPING. 101 Put the clothes in the pounding barrel with suds enough to cover them, pound well and wring out ; then empty the barrel, put the clothes back, the whitest at the top, pour over enough strong hot suds to cover them and let them stand over night. In the morning pound them a little and wring them out. The most of them will be ready for boiling, as but few of the very dirtiest will need any rubbing. There are a great variety of things in the market that are warranted to wash clothes clean without much labor, but having tried the most of them I am satisfied that nothing keeps the clothes so white as this method of washing. There is no part of housework tliat can be slighted with so little annoyance as ironing ; that is, much of it need not be done at all, but what is done it pays to do beautifully. There is no satisfaction in putting a dress on a child that looks as if it just come through a clothes wringer, and had had only a glimpse of a liatiron after, nor in setting a lable with a table cloth as rough as a field after the potatoes are just dug. Let all the ironing, where the ironing shows, be nicely done, but many of the coarser clothes, such as kitchen and dish towels and underwear, if smoothly folded from the line, will need but the least rubbing with a hot flatiron. Nearly all the wrinkles in the clothes are those made by cramming them into the basket when taking them from the line, £0 avoid these by folding them. Of course, if one has plenty of time it is well to iron every piece beauti- fully ; but if the ironing is slighted it will not add to your work next week. Always sprinkle your clothes over night, tpking care not to have them too damp, and keep the flatirons as hot as they can be without 102 THE HOME ON THE FARM. yellowing the clothes. There is no economy in trying to iron with cold flalirons. WASHING DISHES. "Come, girls ; now see how quick you can wash the dishes, " is said to girls ninety- nine out of every hun- dred times they wash dishes when beginning to do housework. I sometimes think this is one reason why they are so slow about it, and why they always hate it A better way is to make it such nice work that they will like it, or else do it yourself. Instead of being dirty work make it clean work ; have a clean dish pan, keep the water clean, at least the rinsing water, and above all things, have a clean towel to wipe them on. The dirtiest of all dirty things is a black, stiff, sour, greasy dish cloth to wipe clean dishes on. First put the glasses in clean, hot water, with a very little soap in it, and wipe them dry ; then the silver, and cups and saucers ; after this put in more soap and wash the remainder of the dishes, rinse them in clear, hot water, and wipe them dry. It is some- times a great help to drain dishes instead of wiping them. A rack set over a sink with the dishes piled in it from the suds is a good way, then pour over them a tea kettle-full of boiling v\^ater. The disadvantage of this way, is that unless they are piled carefully the hot water will strike only the outside dishes, the bot- toms of the plates and cups, while the inside of the dish is just as it came from the suds ; also, the water once running overdoes not heat them enough to dry them. The best way for draining dishes is to pile them all right side up in another dish pan, then fill HOUSE KEEPING. 103 the]'pan with hot water, let them stand a few minutes, pick them out and turn them edges up on a clean cloth folded in the bottom of a basket or wooden bowl. By the time everything else is done they will be dry enough to put away. Steel knives and forks should be washed and wiped immediately after polishing, and all tins and kettles rinsed and dried before putting away. The last thing, get a little clean, hot water in the dish pan, and rinse the dish towels thoroughly, wring and dry out of doors. MAKING BEDS. There is every morning, in every bed room that has been slept in, a large quantity of waste, dead matter. It is a well known fact that dead animal matter, if some means are not used for its preserva- tion, will become putrid and poisonous. It is diffi- cult to convince most people that such matter exists in bed rooms because they cannot see it, but it is there nevertheless ; the air is full of it, the bed clothes are saturated with it, and if retained they become pu- trid and offensive. This matter is the waste that passes off from the pores of the skin and air cells of the lungs of every living human being. There are three ways of getting rid of it ; fire, water, and fresh air. No house- keeper w^ould care about burning all the bed clothes from a bed room, say, once a week, neither would she care about putting them through the wash as often, so it follows that fresh air is the most available means, but why, oh ! why is it, that so many housekeepers are afraid to use it ? Make it a rule to open the bed room windows every morning as soon as the rooms are vacated ; then take 104 THE HOME ON THE FARM. the bed covers from the bed and put them on a chair and sliake up the bed thoroughly. Do not throw everything from the bed in one great stack on the chair ; the air can never circulate through it, but spread them a piece in a place as much as possible so that the fresh air can blow over them. By ten or eleven o'^^lock they will be aired and the bed can be made. If the old-fashioned straw and feather bed is used (and rightly taken care of it is as good as any), first even the straw, then the feather bed, turning it daily ; and always over this put a thin blanket before the sheet is put on. Have the under sheet well tucked in at the head of the bed, and the upper sheet, as well as the blankets, securely turned under at the foot. Nothing is more disagreeable than to have your feet project through the bed every time they are moved on a cold winter's night. It is a good plan to, at least once a month, put all the bedding on the clothes line one day. Take a bright sunny day, with but little wind, and they will be as fresh as if just washed. Avoid too much heavy bedding, comforts weighing five pounds are harder to keep clean than lighter ones. Old worsted dresses Avashed and pieced together in strips or large pieces and tied, or coarsely quilted with about three pounds of batting make excellent bedding. It does not pay to piece up minute scraps of calico into bed quilts when calico is only seven cents a yard, and good spreads and blankets are as cheap as they are now. SWEEPING, Pust is the pest of sweeping. It is too much wprk HOUSE KEEPING. 105 to take up and clean carpets once a month, and if not cleaned as often as that they will accumulate a great deal of dust, that only awaits the least touch of the broom to fly through the air dimming everything it touches and irritating sensitive eyes and nose, throat and lungs. It is a question which is the most annoy- ing, dirty floor or dirty air. Then the work of dust- ing is no slight task, especially if there are little arti- cles of fancy work about the room, many of which are ruined by dust. A carpet sweeper is one of the best things for avoiding dust, but there are many places that cannot be swept with a sweeper, and many who have them give their rooms one good sweeping a day with a broom. In sweeping with a broom always keep the broom damp. Have a pail of water in some convenient place, dip the broom in, and shake off all the water ; then give it two or three smart raps, making every particle of water that will, fly oil'. The dust instead of rising in the air will adhere to the broom, and as soon as it is so loaded that it will hold no more, dip it in the water again. Care must be taken that no water will drip from the broom, otherwise the surface of the carpet will be covered with a thin coating of mud. The trouble with this kind of sweeping is most people have the broom too wet. Another thing to be remembered is, always take the dirt up on a dustpan and burn it up. If the litter from the kitchen is swept out at the back door, the yard soon becomes strewn with scraps from the house, recjuiring extra labor to clean it, or else it is tracked back into the house again. A large family makes a great deal more sweeping than a small one, ibr every time a person enters the 106 THE HOIVIE ON THE FARM. house more or less dirt is brought in. One sweeping daily is enough for a small family, while three or more will hardly do for a large one. A great deal of trouble may be saved to the wom- en of the house, and the carpets and furniture kept from much injury, if mats are provided at the outer doors, and the family are taught to carefully clean tlieir shoes before entering the house. A great deal of dirt is tracked into houses that might be avoided by the provision of mats and the exercise of a little care. KEEPING FraES. Another thing requiring good management is the fires. In hot weather it should be a study how to have as little fire as possible. Have everything ready for breakfast the night before, so that as soon as the fire is built it can be put on ; put the dish water over before breakfast and have plenty of it. Arrange the work so that all the baking, ironing, and other work needing a hot fire shall be done in the forenoon, so that as soon as dinner is served the fire can go out. Then have no more during the day except a very lit- tle for making tea. If cold tea is liked by the family make it at noon, so there need be no fire at night. If the reservoir is filled just before dinner, it will be warm enough for washing dishes after supper ; and if there is no reservoir a large kettle filled and kept cov- ered will keep hot quite as long. In winter, the object should be to keep the house warm, with the least time spent in building fires. For this always use coarse, dry wood, as a large stick will keep a fire much longer than a small one, and it HOUSE KEEPING. lOt takes no longer to put it in the stove. Use dry, well seasoned wood, at all times of the yeiir, as it never pays to burn green wood. For sheet iron, drum, or other heating stoves, large chunks of hard wood are the most convenient as well as the most economical. An idea has prevailed in some sections that green wood is economical. There is no doubt that it is pos sible to waste dry wood more rapidly than green, and that the family will sometimes do without the fire they need rather than struggle with poor green wood, but to obtain a given amount of heat, a larger amount of greoji wood is required than of dry. In fact, in burning green wood, a large part of the wood is burned simply to dry the other part. Wood split too fine often occasions waste. Some of such wood should always be on hand for kindling fires, but for keeping ui) a steady heat it is always extravagant. irorSE CLKANINd. The first thing to be done towards house cleaning, is to decide what you want to do ; how many rooms need new paint, paper, carpets or curtains. The next thing is to luive everything ready to work with before the work is begun. Have lime, paint, paper, carpet tacks,scrubbing and whitewash brushes, soap and ?and ammonia and carbolic acid ready, also copperas, for all places that need cleansing, like sink, drains or pools. Then secure your help, and be sure you have help you can depend on all through. Have as many at work at a time as you can v/ork to advantage, and do not tear up every room at once. Have three good meals every day so that when it is done the next thing vvill uot be to go for a doctor. 108 THE HOME ON THE PAtlM. A little ammonia in a basin of water is better for cleaning paint than soap ; it also is useful for clean- ing combs, brushes, grease spots oif from many kinds of clothing, silk, laces, and handkerchiefs ; and a bot tie of it should always be kept in the house. For cleaning kitchen tables or other unpainted wood, (and kitchen tables should never be painted) the best way is the old way, soap, sand, hot water and the broom. The scrubbing brush does very well for ev- ery day, but for quick, thorough work, take sand and the broom. Do not sleep in bed rooms until well dried, neither put carpets down on damp floors^ Many people seem to think that the more water they can slop or throw around the cleaner the house will be. It is a mistake, all the cleaning the water will do is while it is passing over the wood. For cleaning varnish take equal parts of linseed oil, spirits of turpentine and vinegar, mix well and rub with a flannel cloth. Use whiting for polishing metals or glass that you do not want to put water upon. After the house is well cleaned do not shut it up, to remain air tight until the next house cleaning comes around. Open it every day and let in the fresh air and especially the sunshine. It will smell musty in a few weeks if kept closed, no matter how carefully cleansed. If there are carpets that the sun will fade, si^read a few old newspaper-s over them, then let tiie purifying sun in. If housekeepers were as careful of the health of their families as they are of tlieir carpets and curtains, they would have more sun shine in their houses, and pay less money for patent medicines. Sunshine is also one of the best of disinfectants. HOUSE KEEPING. 109 and a house that lias plenty of air and light will usually be a clean house. HIRED GIRLS. I cannot close this chapter on housework without saying a few words on the subject of hired girls. I know it is a delicate point, one that cannot be dis- cussed without meeting prejudices on both sides, but it is necessary that there should be a better idea of the relations of the two parties than usually exsists in a farming community. The relation between the hired girl and the woman for whom she works is simply a contract. The woman agrees to give a certain sum, say .|2.00 for one week's work to be done by the girl. There is usually noth ing said in the contract about what the work shall be, so it must be understood that the work is to be that which the woman would herself do if she were doing the work. If the girl simply gets the breakfast, din- ner and tea, does the daily work, then works for her- self the rest of the day, she is failing to fulfill her part of the contract as the woman would be were she to withhold a part of the stipulated payment. She has agreed to give one week's work for her two dollars, and must give a full week's time. On the other hand the mistress has no right to ex- act of the girl other work than that usually done by the woman of the house. She has no right to send her to the barn to milk when the woman of the house never does the milking; she has no right to send her out to work in the garden, to gather fruit, or biiiG grain, or any other work that is not a part of the or- dinary woman's work of the family. Any girl is 110 THE HOME ON THE FARM. justified in refusing to do such work ; but when her re- fusal would cause the mistress of the house to do it herself or remain undone, it becomes her duty to do it. The girl has a right to demand her pay as soon as her term of work is completed, and if it is refused she has a right to require interest on the sum due. But beyond the simple strict business understand- ing of what may be demanded from a hired girl, and what she may demand from her employer, there is nothing in the way of a business relation, in which there is greater opportunity for the application of the golden rule, than in this. If the girl can see that you are intent only on getting all the service from her that you can for the money ; if she sees that her com- fort, her convenience, her happiness are absolutely nothing to you ; if she finds that you regard her sim- ply as an animated machine for doing housework, her nature will be very unlike other human nature, if she does not regard you as simply a hard task master and consider that her chief concern in life is to see how lit- tle she can do without losing her place. So much for the business relations ; now for the so- ciety. The question is often asked, shall we as far- mers' wives receive our girls into our families as members of the family ? My answer is, it depends entirely on who the girl is. If she is a girl of upright, moral principles, if she is intelligent, industrious and pleasant to have around the house, patient with the children and respectful to all, I say, yes; by all means. No family is ever harmed by making such a girl one of themselves, and it may be the means of recovering to yourself a friend and helper, who shall stand by you through sickness and health when all other help shall fail, but if on the other hand you HOUSE KEEPING. Ill detect the slighest trace of loose morality, let her know that she cannot be one of you, and the reason why. Where there are children in the family too great care cannot be taken that the girls employed are of the very purest moral character. As a closing word I will say, if you expect kind- ness and consideration from your girls you must first treat them with kindness and consideration, and nine times out of every ten you will get it in return. All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. CHAPTER VII. MANNERS. There is an old proverlj which says manners make the man ; or, as a German writer puts it, " A man's manners, for the most part, marry him, and he, for the most part, hiiarries manners.'' We can see the truth of this in our every day life, for we form opin- ions, perhaps unconsciously, of those we meet by their general deportment; and these opinions are favorable or unfavorable to the person thus judged in proportion as his manners are pleasing or other- wise. In business, in social life, at home or abroad, the keynote of success and popularity is good man- ners. It is but natural that this should be so, for one's manners ai'e a truer index of his character than his words. Our words are governed by the will, while our manners are a part of ourselves and largely involun- tary. In olden times the members'of a family who boasted a coat of arms, were entitled to *■' the grand old name of gentleman " or ," lady.'' Nowadays the title de- pends on something more than family position, wealth or education, for one ma}'' claim all these and yet fail of being a gentleman or lady. Wealth con- duces to good manners only so far as it is a means of obtaining education and culture, which broaden and 114 THE HOME ON THE FARM. develop the mind, giving additional strength to the character, as well as increasing our capacity for en- joyment and tending toward the growth of whatever natural refinement we may possess One sometimes hears expressed the sentiment if not the words : " You must not expect too much of us, we are only farmers^ you know ! " as if being farmers shut them away from the ways of civilized life ! Be- ing a farmer is certainly no excuse for lack of good manners, for good manners can be as readily acquired on the farm as in the city, and whether rich or poor, college bred or home taught, farmers' children not only have a right to be ladies and gentlemeit, but they owe it to themselves and those about them, to be such. True politeness is only the outward manifestation of the inner life that is " first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy, with- out partiality and without hypocrisy." It is a feeling of kindliness towards all the world, with a desire to please and be pleased. It is alwaysjconsiderate of the wishes and feelings of others, charitable toward their failings, lenient towards their faults ; " se.eketh not her own, is not easily provoked." It is, in a word, ex- emplifying in our lives the principle of the Golden Rule, and "doing unto others as we would have others do unto us." Good nature and good sense will teach us the ele- ments of politeness, but there are many little delica- cies established by custom, which go to make up good manners and which can be acquired only by practice. Whoever would become mannerly must put what- ever knowledge of the rules of good society he pos- sesses into active, daily use, and if he lives up to all he MANNERS. 115 knows, he will find that knowledge constantly increas- ing. Be always gentlemanly and ladylike at home, because no one in the world is so justly entitled to courtesy at your hands as the members of your own family. There is a further reason in the fact that only by so doing can we make our good manners so much a part of ourselves that they will become a kind of second nature. Be particular about the most trifling matter, for the little things are, after all, the most im- portant. Many persons seem to have an idea that the careful observation of these little points of etiquette is a sort of silly affectation by means of which the wealthy and fashionable try to raise themselves above " common people," and consequently they sneer at and reject them. A very slight examination of these rules of etiquette will show that even those which appear most trifling are founded on common sense, and there is some good reason for their use. At any rate no one can afford to neglect or ignore any of the forms of good manners, or anj^ opportunity of perfect- ing himself in their use. Quiet, smooth manners at home, will give ease and self-possesion in company, and prevent the feeling of constant anxiety, lest the next moment you may do or say something awkward or ridiculous. Greet each member of your family with a pleasant " good morning," say it as if you really wished them good and not as if it were an unpleasant duty that you wish to have over as soon as possible ; and don t for- get the " good night" as you separate at the close of day. Cultivate a habit of accompanying any request, no matter how small, with " if you please," and be sure to say " thank you " {not thanks) for every favor done for you. Learn to say " excuse me " or " I beg 116 THE HOME ON THE FARM. your pardon," without stammering or hesitation. It costs nothing to say these things except a little efibrt and thought on your part, but it will make a vast difference in the feelings of those about you. Go about the house quietly ; don't go up and down stairs as if you were a whole regiment of cavalry. A woman should always go up and down stairs slowly and easily from motives of health as well as decorum. Don't slam doors, and when you are in search of your mother, look for her with your eyes instead of your tongue. Don't talk, laugh or sing at the top of your voice while in the house ; don't indulge in '•' horse laughs " and don't giggle. Anything that is bold or coarse, either inmannners or speech, is a violation of good manners. Don't worry, either about what you can help or what you cannot. There are a thousand little annoyances in our everyday life which will keep us in state of a constant irritation if we allow ourselves to look out for and fret about them, and make us, and every one about us, exceedingly uncomfortable. Above all things learn to keep your temper. No one can be truly a lady or gentleman who has not enough self- control to keep tongue and temper within bounds. Put away all selfishness, it is even more than the love of money "a root of all evil," and should hav« no place in any home circle. Think of the interests and pleasures of others and not that alone which relates to " me." Do not allow yourself to get into awkward positions. vSit down squarely in a chair, not on one side, or just on the edge as if afraid it will not bear your weight. Keep your feet in front of you, do not move them uneasily about nor sit with them under you. Let your hands, if idle, lie ([uietly in your lap, not fussing with a button on your clothes, "MANNERS. 117 nor playing with a watchguard, nor twisting the fingers nervously ; it shows too plainly a want of self-possession. Study the art of talking well. It is a gift which few possess naturally, but which may be attained by effort and perseverance. A good talker modulates his voice so that it will be clear without being un- necessarily loud, speaks distinctly, is particular in his choice of the simplest words with which to express an idea, and has something to say. This last is per- haps the hardest to acquire, where one has not the natural gift of saying the right thing at the right time ; but it can be done, and the earlier one learns to think of something to say, the better. Don't mo- nopolize a conversation, nor talk about subjects that are interesting only to yourself. Learn to talk of something higher than neighborhood gossip, and don't "lug in the weather by the ears" too often. Speak as grammatically as possible ; persons who are familiar with all the rules of grammar, often speak incorrectly through carelessness. Don't use long and high-sounding words, or words from a foreign lan- guage, unless you are sure you know their meaning and can pronounce them correctly, and that those to whom you are speaking, will also understand them. Avoid common and inelegant expressions, such as, "I ain't got none," "I haven't went," "I would have like you to have gone,'' " them molasses," etc. Say "I have none,'' " I have not been," ""I would have liked to go," " that molassess." Molasses is one individual article, and to apply to it a pronoun, mean- ing two or more, is plainly wrong. Don't allow any coarse or vulgar expressions to pass your lips, and don't use slang. Don't say that John 118 THE HOSfE ON THE FARM. Henry is "' all broke up " on Susan Ann, nor that she '' has an awful mash " on him. Don't emphasize a statement with " and don't you forget it " or " you just bet." Such expressions may be very forcible, but they are equally low. Never permit yourself to repeat anything to the discredit of another, and don't discuss private family affairs, much less the personal affairs of any one else, with strangers. Do not insist on your own views as being right, and be careful not to express an opinion or differ with another in such a Avay as to give offense or wound the feeling. Neither be over-ready yourself to become offended. The per- sons who alw^ays seem ready to find cause for offense, are generally troubled with an undue appreciation o their own ideas, opinions and selves. Learn to listen as well as to talk. Give attention to what is said to you, and appear interested, even if you are not. It is not hypocrisy to do so, and it is pure selfishness not to do so. Never interrupt or con- tradict one who is speaking, and should you do so accidentally, apologize at once. It is rude to whisper in company, and also to talk or laugh about something the others do not under- stand, or in such a way that any one may think he is being made an object of ridicule. Give especial attention to your table manners, for in them particularly, does good breeding, or the lack of it, manifest itself. There are many nice points about the manner of eating and drinking, little in themselves it may be, but which make our daily per- formances at the table either one of the fine arts or simply a " feed," like any other of the domestic ani- mals. Do not come to the table with an untidy dress or disordered hair, nor with face and hands not per- MATTERS. 119 fectly clean. Sit erect, do not lean back in your chair nor forward on the table. Do not put your elbows nor your arras on the edge of the table, and when your hands are unoccupied, let them lie in your lap. Don't play with your knife, lork, napkin ring or any article which may be near you. Begin eating as soon as you are helped, not waiting until all at the table have been helped, having first unfolded your napkin and laid it in your lap. Do not express a preference for any particular dish or portion of fowl, unless asked to do so, then reply at once. When a dish is handed to you, help yourself from the contents, if you wish any, before passing it to another, and when you pass a dish have both hands empty. When soup is served, sip it quietly from the side of the spoon, moving the spoon from you as you dip it into the soup. Do not tilt your plate for the last spoonful of soup, nor scrape any dish for the last morsel. Keep your tea cup, sauce dishes, whatever is for your own use, near your plate ; do not reach for anything, par- ticularly do not get up from your chair to reach any- thing, ask to have it passed to you. Accompany any request with " if you please," and accept or de- cline what is offered to you with " I thank you." Do not pour tea or coffee into the saucer, but drink it from the cup, laying your tea spoon in the saucer while doing so and also if you pass your cup to be re-filled. Never blow your tea or coffee or a mouthful of food to cool it, and don't mop off your plate with a piece of bread to get every drop of gravy, etc. Use your knife to cut up your food, but don't con- vey food to your mouth Avith it ; let the fork and spoon be used for that. Using the fork in the right 120 THE HOME ON THE FAKM. hand may seem awkward to one not accustomed to it, but a piece of bread Jield in the left liand will be of assistance and a little practice will enable one to use the fork as easily as the knife, and far more grace- fully. In passing your plate to ])e refilled, keep your knife and fork in your baud or lay thera on a piece of bread, never on the table cloth ; when you are through the meal lay the knife and fork side by side on your plate, handles to the right. Do not take a dish out of the hands of a waiter, let him set it on the table. Eat slowly, for the sake of both health and manners, and do not make a noise with your mouth in eating or drinking. Look down while drinking; not around you over the top of your glass or cup. At home or at a private house, fold your napkin at the close of a meal and lay it by your plate ; at a hotel lay it on the table without folding. At a hotel or public table you are at liberty to leave the table when you choose ; at home do not leave before the others, or if obliged to do so, always ask the hostess to excuse you. Let every motion be quiet ; don't rattle your knife, fork or spoon against your plate. Never put your own knife or spoon into the butter, or any dish not intend- ed solely for your own use. Don't take large mouth- fuls, it looks greedy and it is decidedly awkward, should a remark be addressed to you, to be unable to answer it without choking. Break your bread and biscuit instead of cutting tliem with a knife, and lay a piece of bread on the edge of your plate to spread it. Don't handle the slices of bread or cake when they are passed to you ; take tlie piece that is nearest to you. MANNERS. 121 When you have visitors make them feel at ease from the moment of their arrival, by every means in your power; though you should not appear to exert yourself. If one can learn to entertain company — especially unexpected company — without apparent eifort or fuss, it would save a wonderful amount of fatigue, and be less uncomfortable for the guests. Do not insist that your guests must " make them- selves at home " so repeatedly that they will wish themselves truly there. Do not absent yourself unnecessarily from your visitors, but when obliged to leave them to them selves do not apologize so profusely as to make it seem as if you doubted either their power of self en- tertainment or honesty. Don't spend the greater part of your friend's visit in the kitchen, preparing innumerable dishes for the edifying of the inner man. It is supposed your guests come for the pleasure of visiting with you, not merel.y to judge of your skill as a cook. Don't load the table with a great variety of eatables, nor urge your guests to partake of each dish and seem oifended if they do not. Don't apologize for your dinner, your house or your OAvn appearance ; it sounds as if you were fishing for complimentary re- marks, or else it calls attention to what would other- wise probably pass unnoticed. If, as sometimes hap- pens, the guest be one whom you may not like, let your courtesy be none the less unfailing. It would be unpardonably selfish to allow personal feeling to interfere with your duty as hostess. The old Scots had a custom the spirit of which is worthy of imitation in this age. They did not ask the name of the strang- ger who claimed their hospitality lest, finding he be- longed to a hostile clan, they might be lacldng h\ 122 THE HOME ON THE FARM. the courtesy which they thought due to every guest. When yourself paying a visit to a friend try to occa- sion as little extra work ns possible, but do not assure your hostess a dozen times that she must not go to any trouble for j'^ou. Once stating the fact is enough, a repetition sounds as though you rather expect some special effort for your benefit. Show that you appre- ciate every effort made to give j'^ou pleasure, and at the same time try to be entertaining and agreeable yourself; do not act as though your presence was suf- ficient compensation for any trouble your friends may take for your sake. Do not be over officious in help- ing your hostess. Offer your assistance if there seems to be any occasion for doing so, but do not insist if it be declined. Do not follow j^our hostess from one part of the house to another as she goes about her work, unless invited to do so. Do not handle little ornaments about a house, nor open closets or bureau drawers without permission, nor be needlessly inquis- itive in any way, for these things are exceedingly an- noying, as well as ill mannered. If your visit last through several days, do not an- noy your friends by being late to breakfast, or by keeping any me;'l waiting through carelessness on your i)art. Keep your room neat, don't leave your clothes lying about on the chairs, nor neckties, collars and cuffs, &o., on the bureau, washstand or floor. Above all don't stay till you wear out your welcome, and on leaving be sure to express your thanks for the kindness shown you, and the pleasure you have re- ceived. Before going from home on a journey, provide your- self with hairbrush and comb, papers of pins, and jiny toilet articles that are sacred to your owa use, MAITTERS. 123 Avoid everything in a traveling dress that will soil or muss easily, and that is conspicuous. Light dresses and bonnets, lace collars and showy jewelry are not suitable for a traveling costume. Go to the station in time to get your ticket and have your baggage checked before the train whistles. Put your ticket where you can find it when the conductor asks for it, so you will not have to keep him waiting while you search x)Ocket, satchel and purse for it, and at last find it inside of your glove. Be calm and self-pos- sessed, don't get excited when the train comes, excite- ment and nervousness always betray the inexpe- rienced traveler. Don't fret and worry if the train should happen to be late ; it will only add to the dis- comfort of yourself and those near you. Do not, by spreading yourself and baggage over three or four scats, occupy more room in the car than rightfully be- longs to you, and then look ferociously at any one who looks as if he thought of coniestingyour right of possession. If you have a friend in another part of the car, do not shout back and forth at each other to the annoyance of every one else in the car. Loud talking and laughing are an abomination at all times and particularly so in a railroad car. Do not narrate every detail of your family history to any stranger with whom you may enter into conversation, and do not be too free to make acquaintatices iu travelling. At the same time one need not be unnecessarily off- ish, for while any familiarity should be instantly checked, one may be sociable with one's travelling companions without any loss of dignity. A young girl traveling alone cannot be too careful of her ac- tions in attracting attention. Young girls at the pin- feathery age are apt to think it fun to attract 124 THE HOME ON THE far:m. attention of strangers, and to encourage rather than repel any tendency toward a "flirtation.'" AVhile in many cases this may be done simply in fun it is both silly and vulgar, and may lead to more se- rious consequences. No girl or woman can afford to do anything at home or abroad that will in any way compromise her womanhood, or lessen her self re- spect or the respect of others for her. There is a practice in vogue in the country, and not so very far in the country either, which cannot be too strongly condemned: the practice of indiscriminate hugging and kissing In many localities the sole amusement at evening parties consists in a series of kissing games, played by grown up young men and women. This cannot but be destructive to good mor- als, and while not strictly indecent, it destroys all the sanctity of what should be sacred to near relatives or those between whom is an engagement of marriage. Let your deportment, on the street, bequietor lady like, as the case may be. Don't talk or laugh loudl5% nor make audible comments on the people you meet. A lady recognizes an acquaintance with a smile and inclination of the head, if she meets the same person again the same morning or afternoon it is not neces- sary to repeat the bow ; a smile is sufficient. A gen- tleman raises his hat, not merely points his linger to- ward it, on meeting a lady acquaintance. If he shake hands with a friend, a cordial clasp of the hand (not a grip and pump handle shake) is enough. The greet- ing ''how do you do ?" should be replied to with the same words; it is simply a formal salutation, not in- tended as an inquiry as to the state of your friend's health. That comes afterward, if you are interested in knowing about it. AfAifNERS. 125 A lady is never demonstrative in public, but keeps her feelinjrs of joy or sorrow to herself. For tliat rea- son the habit of kissing when two lady acqnaintances meet on the street, in churoh or any public place is not one to be followed unless under exceptional circumstances. Never turn around to look after any one you have just passed. If a gentleman has a cigar in his mouth lie should remove it when speaking to a lady ; though a gentleman does not use tobacco in any form, not only because of its injurious eftects upon the health, but because of its intolerable filthiness. When a lady and gentleman are walking together on the street, it is not necessary that the gentleman be always on the outside, and thus be obliged to ''change sides'' in going from one side of the street to the other. It is usually best for the lady to be on the right hand side of the gentleman. In crossin'^ the street it is necessary to go singly, or in passing through a crowd, the gentleman always precedes the lady. A gentleman offers to relieve a lady with whom he may be walking, of whatever parcels she is carrying and should her hair or dress become disarranged in any way, it is his duly to inform her of the fact, should it escape her notice. In going into a store or house, a gentleman accom- panying a lady, holds open the door or gate and al- lows her to enter first. A gentleman precedes a lady in going up a flight of stairs, but allows her to pre- cede him in going down. When you ask for goods in a store say ''will you please to show me such and such goods?" or "I would like such and such if you please,"' not "I want so and so." Do not comment upon goods or their price, and never try to ''jew down" the iS(> THE HOStE ON THE FAtlM. price of an article ; it is an insult 1o the storekeepei* to ask him to let you have an article below its marked price and shows your own want of good breeding. If the price is too high do not take it and let that be the end of the matter. If you expect courteous treat- ment at the hands of a merchant or his clerks, and it is always expected, let there be equal courtesy on your part. It is sometimes said of Americans, by way of ridi- cule, that they will not allow two strangers to be to- gether without introducing them to each other. Un- necessary introductions, then, are to be avoided ; as if you are in company with a friend, and meet a sec- ond friend, unacquainted with the first, there is no need of introducing them unless for some special rea- son. In performing an introduction take pains to speak the names distinctly. Let the old custom of saying, " I'll make you acquainted with so and so " die out. Say, Miss Jones, allow me to introduce my friend Mr. Smith, or Mr. Brown, let me introduce you to my Mother ; the gentleman being introduced to the lady, the younger person to the older. Gentle- men usually shake hands with each other, but merely bow to ladies when introduced. Ladies bow to each other, and to gentlemen ; but rarely shake hands with the latter, unless it should be an elderly gentleman, or a particular friend of some member of the family. A gentleman never offers to shake hands with a lady, the first movement in that direction should come from her. A bow should be simply a forward incli- nation of the head, slowly and gracefully ; not the exaggerated bending of the whole body forward. That is reserved for the dancing school and stage. Let neatness and taste govern your dress. There MANNERS* I2t is too great a want of thought about the dress of the average woman, not in quantity of thought, but thought in the right direction. A dress to be in good taste should be at once becoming, suitable and con- sistent; that is, it should harmonize with the appear- ance of the wearer, it should be suitable for the occa- sion on which it is worn, and it should be in keeping with the means of the wearer. A little thought upon these points, will lead to happier results than if the sole object be how to make the biggest show with the least money. Too much thought, or too little, about dress indicates a weak mind, but it should be the aim of every woman to look as well as possible at all times ; remembering .that she is best dressed when everything is in such accord that one does not remember any detail of her appearance. A tall, slen- der person does not look well in clinging garments, a fleshy one does not look well in much draped or flounced skirts, while large figures, plaids and stripes are unbecoming to both. Light colors have a tenden- cy to increase one's size, dark ones diminish it. Heavy materials are not suitable for a slight, slender figure, while a large person is ridiculous in light, del- icate garments. A fair complexion, with light hair, may wear any of the light shades of color with good efl'ect, while a dark complexion with dark hair needs rich, bright colors. High, glaring colors, should never be chosen for a dress under any circumstances, nor should too many colors be used in the same dress. A cheap dress much be-ruffled and be-flounced is not in good taste, but however cheap the material may be, let it be neatly made and well fitting. Some judgment should be used in selecting a dress, as well as in making it; for many materials that are 128 THE HOME ON THE FARM. appropriate for city streets are as much out of place for riding over country roads as are (rained skirts. Don't put on a blue silk dress (if you happen to possess one) to wear on the ears, nor a white lace bonnet and white kid gloves when dressing for a country fair, or similar gathering. Such things have their place, but that place is an evening party or entertainment, and not in the dust of travelling or a mixed crowd. When well dressed don't act as if you were conscious of it all the time, nor hold your head and hands primly as though a move would dislocate some part of your costume. Have every button, pin, hook and eye, and hairpin properly and securely adjusted before lerving your own room, and then try to forget all about how you look ; to be fingering your hair or neck ribbons, or looking to see if your overskirt hangs just right, gives an air of self consciousness, as though you im- agined yourself the observed of all observers. Let your dress be neat and tidy, your gloves whole, your collar and handkerchief fresh and clean, and you will be always sure of looking well. Nothing is more untidy than soiled collars, and mussed neckties ; they spoil any dress. Your clothes should always correspond to your means, and like- wise in keeping with your home. It is a false pride to put all one can earn into fine clothes, regardless of the shabbiness of the home with which these are brought into contrast, and worse still if that home is unpaid for. Your social position is neither gained nor retained by the clothes you wear. Be as partic- ular about the neatness of j^our appearance at home, about yoor work, as if some stranger were present, and you will thus be prepared for strangers coming unawares. A dress the worse for wear and grease, no MAISTNERS. 129 collar, your hair falling about your neck as if any thing were good enough for home, is disrespectful to your family and yourself. Carlessness soon becomes slovenliness, and she who is slovenly in her dress is so in her housekeeping and cooking. Keep your hair smooth, your whole person perfectly clean, your finger nails trimmed and your teeth well bnished. Don't use salt or charcoal to clean the teeth, they are injurious to the enamel, and are apt to cause sore gums. Plenty of soap and water at least once a day, is necessary to keep the teeth from decay, and the breath sweet. Don't anoint yourself with hair oil ; it is not cleanly, and except in rare cases, a vigorous use of the hair brush, morning and night, will make the hair smoother and more glossy than any oil. Don't scent your handkerchief with strong perfumes ; they are never in good taste, and are exceedingly disagreeable to many persons. If you have a good complexion thank fortune tor it and don't spoil it by the use of powder and paint. If it is not good, outward applications will not usually help it. A sallow or muddy complexion can ordinarily be improved by frequent bathing and attention to the diet, eating regularly and avoiding greasy meat, strong cofiee, hot bread and other indigestible food. Face powder, at best, fills up the pores of the skin, making it ihick and rough, while the use of flake white or other preparations containing white lead is a slow poison. Don't wear cheap jewelry. Far better, not wear the slighcst ornaments than the heavy earrings, massive necklace and bracelets whose very size proclaims them to be only sham. In all things avoid "loudness" and display. The 130 TfiE HOStE ON THE FARM. true lady or gentleman never tries to attract atten- tion by the conspicuousness of costumes or peculiari- ty of manners. Anything in manner, speech, wear- ing apparel or jewelry that seems to say, "'look at me" is vulgar in the extreme. The best of manners and the most fastidious etiquette may become vulgar, if they are exhibited in such a manner as to cause the person to appear to be proclaiming superiority over those around. While it is not necessary in all things to accept the maxim, "When in Rome, do as Rome does," it is nevertheless always well to avoid calling attention to the fact that we are superior in manner or education to those around us. We would not like to have others do so with us, and it is, therefore, a vio- lation of the first rule of all good breeding, to do unto others as we would they should do unto us. In conclusion, there can be no positive rules of action laid down, as the instructions in a "complete letter writer" are given, so as to have some guide for any possible combination of circumstances. Do the best you can under all circumstances, and whenever you have an opportunity to study the manners of good society take advantage of it and put your knowl- edge faithfully into practice. Do not imagine that you can use your manners as you do your Sunday clothes, keep them stored safe away in a closet and only put them on for the bene- fit of company or on state occasions. Manners, to look well, must be easy, natural and graceful, and they cay only become so by constant use at home in the family. The person who is rude at home will never feel at ease in company, and every observant individual will see that his manners are not a part of himself, but something put on for the occasion. Manisters. 131 Keep mind and heart so full of what is good and noble that there shall be no room for evil, and keep ever before you the best rule for all conduct : Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. THE GOLDEK SIDE. There is uiany a rest in the road of life If "\ve only would stop to take it, And many a tone from the better laud If the querulous heart would make it. To the sunny soul that is full of hope, And whose beautiful trust ne'er faileth The grass is green and the flowers bright Though the wintry storm prevaileth. Better to hope, though the clouds hang low, And to keep the eyes still lifted; For the sweet blue sky will soon peep thro' When the ominous clouds are lifted. There was never a night without a day, Or an evening without a morning; And the darkest hour, as the proverb goes, Is the hour before the dawning. There is many a gem in the path of life Which we pass in our idle pleasures That Is richer far than the jeweled crown Or the miser's hoarded treasures; It may be the love of a little child, Or a mother's prayer to heaven. Or, only a beggar's grateful thanks For a cup of water given. CHAPTER VITI. LEISURE HOURS. An evening at home is a delightful treat to me now, since I have left that sacred place to go out into the world and with the multitude, engage in the endless wearysome battle for money and self-support. An evening at home ! IIow pleasant the thought, and how that thought carries us back again to the years of our careless childhood, when, with parents and brothers and sisters, we all gathered about the little old-fash- ioned fireplace in that happy country home. Memo- ry brings back some sad and gloomy evenings, but many more X)leasant and agreeable ones. It was a time that brought us leisure hours. Many there are who have gone out from our coun- tiy homes, seeking some easier road to wealth or fame, and have found that amidst the rush and hurry and excitement of business, those leisure hours never come again, and those happy evenings in the country home must evermore be but memories. I do not wish to begin too gloomily, but my dear country girl or boy, if my pen could write words which would convey to your minds any idea of how precious and valuable are the leisure hours of a quiet evening on the farm, I would feel repaid for all my toil and weariness. These hours are of untold value to you and should l?e 134 THE HOMB ON THE FARM. spent iu such a way as to recuperate the strength of body, invigorate the mind, and strengthen the entire system for coming duties. Leisure hours are some- times idly and unprofitably spent, but we woukl not have our readers infer that our hands should be em- ployed in labor every hour. There are times when it is a positive duty, claimed by nature, that we should sit down and fold our hands and let mind and muscle rest ; rest not only from labor, but from care and thought, if possible ; and our Creator knowing that some of us would not give ourselves the nece.-sary rest, provided against general self-destruction by causing night with its unspeakable blessing of sleep to succeed each day, thus compelling us to obtain the rest we need. There are two great classes of people in America. One class consists of workers; the other of idlers, and both classes terribly overdo themselves in their chosen vocation. The workers work too hard, and the idlers rest too hard, and both classes get wrinkled and gray long before Nature meant they should. A sensible medium between the two extremes would bring a general blessing to humanity. It would cer- tainly develop muscular strength if the idlers would exercise a little more actively during the day, and it would save muscular power if our workers would cherish andiniprove the leisure evening hours. When these hours do come, and they always will in our country homes, let us make them a time for special enjoyment in the family or social circle. I believe in going early to bed, but nine o'clock is quite earlj'- enough, and the intervening hours between dusk and bed-time should be hours of such high social enjoy- ment in the family as to leave an impression ef pleas- LEISUBE HOUBS. 135 nre, which will last through all the succeeding years. Reading aloud is one of the surest ways for spending an evening at home pleasantly, providing we make a wise selection of what to read, and do not read too much at one time. Atone time we were planning to make some improvements in our home, in regard to which the diifercnt members of the family were all divided in opinion, and whenever evening came, and we were gathered about the fire, any mention of the subject was apt to bring about a warm contro- versy, and one of us would immediately get an inter- esting book and begin reading aloud. It seldom failed to secure quiet and good attention, but we always tried to select books or stories, which were both amusing and instructive. AVe read Samantha Allen's Works, "My Wayward Pardner," "Samantha at the Centennial," "Helenas Babies" and numberless stories from the Youth's Companion, which were so entertaining that every one became interested, and mirth soon chased every frown away. The evening seemed short while listening to the laughable speeches of dear old Saman- tha Allen, and we received manj" a valuable lesson by her quaint and sage advice. Her "Wayward Pard- ner" was so exactly the type of every other wayward pardner that the very life likeness is amusing. Light reading fills a need of all our lives, which solid reading never can supply. Solid reading matter requires an effort of the brain and memory while light-easy flowing sentences rest the brain, and that is what we need. We are opposed to all trashy nov- els, but all novels are not trashj-, and we do think that every parent should hesitate a long while ere he ban- ishes from his library the better class of novels. Let your sous and daughters read Dickens' novels, Mrs, 136 THE HOME ON THE FARM. Stowe's quaint stories and many other kindred ones. It will do the young people much good and not one bit of harm. But with this there should be some more solid read- id, or at least valuable reading. The long winter evenings are the opportunities for storing the mind with useful knowledge, broadening the ideas, and ac- quiring habits of thought. Such books as Irving's Life of Washington never lose their freshness, or their value, and are as fascinating as a love story. Works on ancient or modern history, the researches of the Holy Land, explorations at the North Pole, or in Africa, some of our books on popular science, all these, and many others, may be read with both profit and interest. Do not be in too great a liurry to ''get through" the book. It is not the number of pages read, but the amount jof information gathered, and the impression made on the mind, which is valuable. Make it a rule that any member of the family shall have the right to interrupt at any point where a statement is not un- derstood, and have it discussed till it is understood. ''Talking over" a book is often of as much benefit as reading it. While one member of the family reads, let another have a dictionary convenient, and when- ever a word is read, the pronunciation or meaning of which is not certain, let the dictionary be called into recquisition, and the matter settled before reading proceeds. Do not tliink that the use of the dictionary is a con- fession of ignorance. One of the best teachers and best educated men in Ohio once said, that his meas- ure of a person's culture was the amount of use he made of the dictionary. If he had uo/culture, he had LEISURE HOUBS. 137 no lite for a dictionary, if he had a great deal of cul- ture he made constant reference to it. Only by a knowledge of the exact meaning of words, and the shades of distinction between them, can we get the full meaning of the writer, whose works we read, or express ourselves with elegance or accuracy. Those who read aloud should endeavor to do the work w^ell, avoiding a vsing song tone, and equally avoiding a wearisome monotone. He should en- deavor to catch the meaning of the WTiter. The only good style of reading is the natural style. Let it be understood that each member of the family has the right to kindly call attention to any errors of manner or pronunciation, not in the spirit of criticism or fault finding but that of kindly help to improvement. Remember that there are many items of intelli- gence in the columns of your weekly newspapers, wdiich will make your families more awake to the matters outside of the family circle, if read and talked over in the family. Read of the earthquakes and talk of the countries where they occur, and of the sup- posed cause of their occurrence, and thus your little children will become acquainted with the wonderful workings of Nature. Read of prairie tiros and describe their cause and results. Read of the beauties of our beautiful American country, and get your children to love the beautiful in Nature as well as in art. If \ou have but few school advantages you can have your families as w'ell enlightened and instructed as any College graduate, for books and newspapers are won- derful educators if read aright. A book in poetry comes in well, now and then, and if well read and well studied, is powerful in develop- e 147 TUE nOIVIE ON THE FAKM. ing a taste for the beantifiil and in cultivating higher sentiments. Books like Holland's "Bitter Sweet," or Tennyson's "Enoch Arden," cannot but have an en- nobling ellect on the mind and heart. But it should be remembered, that poetry, if badly read, is simply intolerable, and that the finer the poem the less it will bear poor reading. Will Carleton's poems should be in 'the home of every farmer who can alFord them. He is our farmer poet, and in his writings he touches so directly the country heart, and teaches so many plain, wholesome truths, that his poetry should mingle and blend with our country lives. Don't allow the children, who are attending school, to spend the entire evening poring over the lesson of the Ibllowing day. It is not much study, but proper study which develops the brain, and alter six hours of study in the school room, the evening should be de- voted to lighter work, or else put aside work alto- gether, and engage in some enjoyable game. The idea of games being sinful is a false and foolish one. A certain amount of fun is necessary in every per- son's lifetime, and young people must and will have it. If you banish games from your home your sons and daughters will seek pleasure elsewhere, perhaps in a less pure atmosphere. Many a boy has been driven from a pure home to the association of card and billiard players and drinkers, simply because home was too dull a place for his fun loving, rollick- ing nature. He must have fun, and it home is dull and gloomy, there are plenty of attractive places in the nearest village, and be sure of one thing, "the farther your boy is from home the nearer he is to harm." LEISURE nOURS. 139 The need for family amusement has jriven rise to so many delijihtful litile games, that in this respect no home need be ]ackinn much good. Checkers is an old home game, but a good one still, and I well re- member how pleasantly excited Ihave frequently be- come while playing a game of checkers w^ith an ex- pert player. It is these little games which concen- trate all the faculties of the mind upon the game, and, for the time, exclude every earthly care, which tend to do us good. Many a night we girls have played "fox and geese" with father from dusk till bedtime, and his skill as a player has taught us many a lesson in regard to the power of tact and skill in business. He was a strong Methodist and frowned teiTibly at the mere mention of dancing or card play- ing, but would get enthusiastic over a game of "fox and geese," and took a perfect delight in penning our multitude of geese in a corner of the play board with his one fox, and I believed we sometimes enjoyed being penned. Our mother never joined us in our games, but she gave us time to play, and never hunted up work to put us at to keep us from them. I must confess that I for one spent hours over the check- erboard when I might have been sewing or knitting, but we have grown to years of maturity, with a love 140 THE HOME ON THE FARM. for work as well as play, and not one of us bnt would work ni^lit and day for the sake of the parents, who were wise enough to save us from slavery in our childhood. I know there is an "endless significance in work" to man or v^'oman who has care and trouble, but an "endless significance lies in play" to the grow- ing girl or boy. The Poet says : " He liveth long wlio liveth well, All else is being flu"g away; He liveth longest who can tell, Of true things truly done each day. Waste not tny being; back to him Who freely gave it, freely give ; Else is that being but a dream Tis not to be, but just to live. "Fill up each hour with what will last, Buy up the minutes as they go; The life above when this is past Is the ripe fruit of life below." Oh! there is a wonderful meaning in this idea of living life well. It means happiness, love, enjoyment and play, as. well as trouble and care and work. " Buy up the moments as they go;" fill them full of sunshine and fun, if possible. Remember, every hearty laugh drives away a wrinkle from the brow, or eases a heartache. Fill the home with music, if possible, for there is a charm in music which will win the wayward boys and girls back to home and virtue, even though they may have strayed awhile. An organ, or piano, or other musical instrument ought to be in every country home I have sometimes thought a musical instru- ment is as necessary as a sewing machine, or as a mowing machine is on the farm ; it is such a help in LEISttRE nOUKS. 141 the entertainment of your friends, and to be able to entertain your friends in an amiable manner is some- thing to be proud of. The time has passed when company, coming in to spend an evening, must be supplied with an extra supper, as in our mothers' younger days. All we have to do is to make them enjoy an agreeable, social evening. If we happen to have a supply of apples or nuts, or have the facilities for getting up a nice dish of ice-cream, in a hurry, all the better ; but if we lack these eatable entertainments, we can please them with a song and lively music. We can bring out our checker-board and croquet table ; we can get our game of '' Authors," which will at once engage our guests in animated conversation, and your ensuing talk of these authors and their writings will exclude many a, temptation to talk of a neighbors faults or errors ; and anything which does this is a blessing in a neighborhood. Your company is best entertained when you can bring some art, or music, or game, or talk of a subject, which will make them Ibrget every- thing disagreeable and, for the time, thoroughly enjoy themselves. " Our lives are albums, written through With good and bad, with false and true; And when the recording angel reads the record of our years, God grant he read the good witli smiles, and blot the bad with tears." CURED m AR IRREGULAR WAY. Deacon Rogers he came to me, "Wife is agoin' to die," said he; " Doctors great and doctors small Haven't improved her any at all. Physic and blister, powder an' pill, Bound to conquer and sure to kill." Mrs. Rogers lay in her bed. Bandaged and blistered from foot to head. Bottle and saucer, spoon and cup, On the table stood bravely up. Physics of high and low degree, Calomel, catnip, boneset tea ; Everything a body could bear Excepting light and water and air. I opened the blinds ; the day was bright, And God gave Mrs. Roger.s some light. I opened the window ; the day was fair, And God gave Mrs. Rogers some air. Bottles and blisters, powders and pills, Catnip, boneset, sirrup and squills. Drugs and medicines, high and low, I threw them as far as I could throw. Deacon Rogers he came to me "Wife is gettin' health," said he. "All the people have poohed an' slurred — All the neiglibors have had their word. 'Twere better to perish, some of 'em say, Than be cured in such an irregular way." "Your wife," said I, "had God's good care, And His remedies, light and water and air. All the doctors, beyond a doubt, Couldn't have cured Mrs. Rogers without." CHAPTER IX. HEALTH IN THE HOME. The word "health" and (he word "whole" origi- nally had the same meaninjr. Hence, we so often lind in the Bible the statement that a sick man was "made whole." Health is wholeness of body — a per- fect body complete in all its functions, all the various organs doing their work correct ly and easily. The human body may correctly be said to be a ma- chine, a wonderful machine, a mysterious machine, but still a machine. It is the function of tliis machine to furnish a habitation for the soul, and a means by which the soul may accomplish its purposes. It must also provide a source of power for the accomplish- ment of its own ends. This machine, like all others, is constantly wearing out, but unlike machines made by men, it posseses the power of as const antl}"- repairing itself. The source of all power in this machine is the food. Not only does the food supply the materi-d for growth, and repair, but it also furnishes the power by which the machine is operated. The stomach and digestive organs take the food and reduce it to a condition suitable for the use of the sys- tem. It is then called blood. The heart, with its never tiring pump, forces this blood to every 144 THE HOME ON THE FARM. portion of the body, from whence it returns to the heart, which then sends it to the lungs, where it absorbs oxygen from the air, and again returning to the heart, begins the great circuit over again. In this great circuit the blood performs three different kinds of service. It first carries material to the body to repair the waste that is constantly going on. It also carries away the waste and worn out material, and disposes of them through the proper outlets, which are the lungs, the skin and the kidnej'^s. And thirdly, by absorbing oxygen from the air, it keeps up a constant combustion, by which the heat of the body is maintained, and the energy needed for all the functions of the bod}'' is generated. It follows, then, that if the body is to be healthy (whole), in other words, if this machine is to be kept in perfect working order, performing all its functions easily and well, that the following conditions are nec- essary : 1. There must be a sufficient supply of food. 2. This food must be of a kind that contains the material needed for the use of the body. If it is de- ficient in material for the repair of the body, injuiy must result even though the food might be abundant in quality. 3. The food must be of such a character, and in such a form that the digestive organs can readily con- vert it into blood. 4. The removal of waste material must not be in- terfered with, or the blood will become so loaded with it as to be unable to perform its proper functions. 5. There must be a sufficient supply of air to the lungs, or the blood will not be able to absorb a i HEALTH m THE HOME. 145 sufBcient quantity of oxygen to keep up the process of combustion, by which the heat of the bod}'- is main- tained, and the energy required produced. When the blood cannot get a sutficient supply of air, the ef- fect is precisely the same as when the damper to a furnace is closed — the engine begins to run slowly. Disease is simply want of health. The body is not whole, the machine is not in good order and does not perform its work perfectly. The ancient idea of dis- ease was that it was some sort of evil or demon that had gained possession of the body. Much of our com- mon language is based on this idea. We speak of an "attack" of fever, of "getting rid" of a cold, of "break- ing" the chills. Much of the pQ|)ular treatment in sickness is based on the idea that this evil "thing" is to be driven out. Yet the idea is entirely without foundation. When a person is sick the fact is simplj' that the machine is not working perfectly, and as all parts of the machine are so wonderfully connected, and mutually depend- ent, if one part works badly all will do so. If the di- gestive organs do not furnish good blood, of course the wear and tear of the machine cannot be repaired, and the requisite supply of energy cannot be obtained. If the lungs do not their duty projjerly, the blood can not be supplied with oxygen and the waste will not be properly removed, and if the skin does not do its duty, that of removing waste matter, it is plain that the blood wdll soon be loaded with waste, that no part of the body can be w^ell — that is, "whole." The causes of imperfect work on the part of these various organs are imperfections in the conditions that have been named as essential for their perfect work. 146 WIE lIOBiE on THE FARM. A very high authority once said that disease Tvas never a "dij^pensation of Providence ;" it was simply a "blunder." Kecognizing the fact that Providence works through law, and overules human blunders for the accomplishment of wise ends, it j^et remains true that from the human standpoint disease is simply a blunder. It may not be our own blunder; it may not be the blunder of an\'' one living, but it is a blun- der. To understand the causes of disease, we must there- fore consider the food, the condition of the skin and the supply of air. FOOD. • We have seen that it is essential that food should be sufficient in quantity and of a proper character. It might be added, that it must not be excessive in quantity, for a mill will do as badly if choked with excessive grist, as if insufficiently supplied. There has been a popular health idea that starving was the remedy for all disease and the infallible guide to health. The idea was introduced after ages when gormandizing had been the rule and modera- tion the exception ; when many of the diseases with which mankind were afflicted were the results of over- feeding on rich foods. In the treatment of persons in such condition a restriction of their diet was one of the most beneficial things that could have been adopted. It was as though a furnace had been crammed with coal until it was choked; the best treat- ment would be — ''less coal " But to imagine because restriction of diet was beneficlTl after a course of over- feeding that therefore habitual starvation would be wise, was as absurd as to imagine that an engine ilEALtH m THE HOME. 1i1 could do good work unless supplied with a sufficien- cy of good food. Pestilence has always followed in the wake of fam- ine; and starvation, whether as the result of necessity, or a mistaken abstemiousness or from the use of food unadapted to the needs of the system, always results in physical weakness, and ultimately in dis- ease. The first essential then is food in sufficient quanti- ty, and as a general rule, the unperverted appetite, an appetite not spurred up by stimulants, or condi- ments, is the safest guide. If a healthy man eats at regular intervals wholesome food, and eats slowly, his appetite will tell him when to stop. The appe- tite was given for that purpose. Food taken after the appetite ceases to call for it is always food in ex- cess, whether much or little has been eaten. Food must be of the right character. The human system needs different kinds of food for different purposes. For repairing the waste of the system food such as meat, milk, eggs, cheese, and other foods that are called nitrogenous are alone of value, but for furnish- ing the enegy needed, and for keeping up the ani- mal heat, starch and sugar, and foods rich in these substances are nearly as valuable as the nitrogenous foods, and fat is for this purpose much more so. One pound of pure fat, if digested, will furnish more material for mainlainingtheheat of the body and fur- nishing a source of physical energy, than several pounds of the best lean beef. On the other hand, for repairing the waste of ani- mal substance, and for giowlh, fat and starch are ab- solutely without value. A man fed 'on pure fat and pure starch would die of starvation as surely as if he 148 THE flOSER om Tlffi FARM. had no food at all. Children are sometimes actually starved by being kept on a diet of arrow-root, tapioca, sago and similar foods. Fed on such a diet the child may appear fat, but the flesh will lose all substance, become flabby and doughy, and if the diet is not changed, the child at last dies of starvation. The true diet should contain a fair proportion of all these various kinds of food. People who live on food that is chiefly starchy, such as potatoes or rice, lack physical vigor. Those whose diet are chiefly meats and fat are liable to become coarse, and finally dis- eased from the excess of nitrogenous matter. Children need food richer in nitrogenous matter than grown people; it is necessary to enable them to make healthy growth. After the growth has been attained, a larger pro- portion of the food may consist of starcli and fat. The food must be digestible. Food taken into the system and not digested not only furnishes no strsngth to the system, but disorders the digestive organs, and deranges the whole economy. Haifa pound of food that is all digested will be of far more value than a pound, only half of which is digested. We said that for certain purposes fat (if digested) was the most concentrated food that could be used, but if not digested, fat becomes only a source of irritation to the digestive organs. Strong, hearty men with vig- orous stomachs, and who exercise much in the open air, can often eat fat food largely and keep healthy on it, but persons who are not blessed with strong stom- achs and who do not perform a large amount of out-door exercise, cannot digest fat in quantity. Any food that is readily and completely digested is good, if of the right character, but if the stomach is HEALTH IN THE HOME. 149 loaded ^vith food it cannot digest, the effect is the same as choaking a mill by craming into it material it cannot grind. The machine becomes disordered, the man says he is sick and begins to look around for some powerful substance to put into his already over- loaded stomach to " drive away the disease." If that same man were feeding a mill and should get it out of order by putting in material it could not grind, he would probably overcome the difBculty by being more careful what he fed to it. When a man has dyspepsia he has simply put something into his vital mill which it was unable to grind. Com- mon sense would seem to indicate the remedy. AIR. We have already seen that the human machine needs plenty of air to keep it in successful working order ; it is as essential to human life and vigor, as it is to th© sucessful working of a furnace. Whatever restricts the supply of air, whether it be a close room or such restrictive clothing as i)revents a person from taking full and free breath, must interfere with health. Farmers, working on the farm, usually gf-t an abundant supply of air in the day time, but at night this supply is often sadly restricted. An adult person requires GO cubic feet of air an hour. A bed-room 8 feet square and 8 feet high would, therefore, furnish just sufficient air, supposing it could all be used, for one person eight hours. Yet it is not uncommon for two or more persons to sleep in such a room, with the windows closed, and complain in the morning that they don't feel well; they must take some medicine to 150 THE HOME ON THE FARM. " drive away the disease." AVhy, the trouble is sim- ply that the conditions J'or physical health,or "whole- ness," had not been complied with. The amount of oxygen necesssary to keep up the vital energy had not been provided, and the wasle material Irom the blood which should have been thrown off through the lungs had still been retained, making the head heavy and the whole body sick. Without plenty ot pure air, health is simply an impossibility. THE SKIN, One of the chief functions of tlie skin is the removal of waste and dead material from the body. This pro- cess is going on continually, and the amount of dead and waste animal matter thus removed in the course of a day is quite considerable. If the matter thus thrown off is left upon the skin, two results follow: First, the skin is unable longer to do its duty in removing waste from the body, and, second, a portion of this decaying matter is re-absorbed into the blood, which, now loaded with impurities is incapable of carrying proper nourishment to the dif- ferent organs of the body and they accordingly are unable to do their pai'. The man is sick and must take some medicine, pour other indigestible material into the stomach and blood, to "drive out the disease." He would not do so with any other machine he might be managing. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS. From the facts already explained it follows that if finy person would be healthy (whole_) the conditioQS HEALTH TX TIIE HOME, 151 for successful u'orking of the machine must be com- plied with. Nature is strict, and visits a penalty, 89oner or later, on every violation of her laws, often vis"ting the iniquities of the father on the children unto the third and fourth generation. Healthful food must be adapted to the needs and work of the individual. FOR THE GUILD. Tlie most perfect food ever made is pure milk. For theunweaned infant it is the only food that is exactly suited. Experience and science alike agree that no substitute can be found for it. Unfortunate is that child whose mother cannot supply with nourishment from the natural fount, and unwise is that mother who deprives her infant of this nourishment if she can pos- sibly provide it. The chances for life are against the infant that has to be " raised by hand.'' Next to mother's milk the milk from healthy cows, diluted and sweetened, is the best food. Arrow-root, corn starch and other foods consisting chiefly of starch are totally unfit for the support of a growing infant; they lack the material for formation of bone and muscle, and if the child lives at all he will probably have flabby flesh, weak bones, an enlarged abdomen and impaired digestion. After the child begins to eat, his food should be plain and nourishing. No better diet can be provided than good, new milk with none of the cream removed, and good, well-cooked Graham bread. P'or moat, beef, mutton or poultry, but not pork, which taxes the digestive pouters of the strong mau. The child should be fed regularly ; as he grows older 152 THE HOME ON THE FARM. the time intervening between food may be increased, but for younfr, growing children it is not always best to wait the whole time between breakfast and dinner, and dinner and supper. Children should never be coaxed to eat. The natural appetite of a child will always induce him to eat, if good food is furnished and he needs it. The child who comes in between meals " almost starved " and, on being offered good bread and butter, or a bowl of bread and milk, replies he is hungry for cake, but not hungry for bread and butter, should be informed that he can wait till the next meal. Abstinence is one of the best remedies for an appetite that needs tempting. Good, ripe fruit is very seldom injurious to chil- dren or any one else, unless it contains an excess of acid, when it may derange the stomach. Fruit that is not ripe, or that is over- ripe and in any way tainted, is dangerous to any one. It were far better for parents to deprive themselves of articles of diet which they enjoy than to place them on their tables to the ruin of their children's health. GROWN PERSONS. The adult individual can profitably use more starch foods and more fat than the child. A pound of fat pork, if it can be digested, contains more material for the support of life than a large amount of bread or vegetables, or even beef. There is, in fact, no food so economical for the man who works hard in the open air, and who has a good, strong digestion, as fat pork. It must be remembered, however, that the value of fat pork as a food is limited by its digesti- bealtti in the home. 153 bility, atid if not digested it becomes not only useless, but extremely harmful. White bread, we suppose, for a long time will con- tinue to be the " staff of life."' Why it was ever invented or introduced is hard to tel). Much of the most valuable nutriment of the wheat has been ex- tracted from it. The whole wheat is nearly a perfect food, and whole wheat flour makes a bread that is both wholesome and nutritious. One unfortunate circumstance is that many persons w^ho can make excellent white bread fail entirely when they attempt to make bread from Graham flour, and the flour is often condemned because the cook was not well informed. A very esFential point with bread of any kind is that it should be thoroughly cooked. The farmer judges the condition of his soil by taking a lump in his hand and squeezing it. If it remains in a solid mass he knows it is not in good order The same rule might be applied to bread. If a mass of it squeezed in the hand becomes a sodden mass, you may be sure that when squeezed between the teeth the same re- sult will ensue, and the bread will enter the stomach in j^^doughy mass, unmixed with the saliva, and in a condition in v.hich the digestive fluids will have diffi- culty in attacking it. Oatmeal is a perfect food, and it wood be well if it were far more extensively used by our farmers. A dish of well cooked oatmeal, served up with sugar and cream (not skim milk), furnishes a iiet that is wholesome and capable of building up the most per- fect physical frame. It is a good diet alike for chil- dren and adults. Vegetables — such as peas, beans, corn, roots, etc.— 154 THE HOME ON THE FARM. do not usually contain a great amount of nutriment^ but what they do contain is of the best, and their liberal use tends to promote a healthy condition of the digestive organs. Fruit is not nutritious to any very great extent, but like vegetables is valuable as food, and the family that makes fruit and vegetables a large proportion of their regular diet will have but little to imj to doctors and apothecaries. MASTICATION. One of our great American sins is rapid eating. To see an ordinary American family sit down to a meal, one would imagine that each was afraid the others would eat all there was on the table before he could get his share. Such a style of eating is not only an outrage on good manners, but w^kat is even more important, an outrage on our health. The teeth were made to be used, and we cannot expect our human machine to work properly if we deny to one part of the machine an opportunity to do its proper work, and compel another portion to d > double duty. Moreover, there is a portion of the work of digestion which is performed by the admixture of the saliva with the food, and this cannot be properly done urrless the food is chewed thoroughly and slowly. Many writers on health have much to say against the habit of drinking at meals, and it is undoubtedl}^ injurious to take liquids in excess while eating ; but if the food is thoroughly chewed, there will not be a demand for the excessive quantity of drink. REGULARITY. There are few things which cause more dyspepsia HEALTH IN THE HOME. 155 than irregularity in hours of meals. Nearly every good farmer knows that his stock will not thrive if not fed at regular hours, yet he will treat himselt and family in a manner that he knows would be ruinous for cattle or pigs. There is probably no class, so many of whom are totally indifferent to the matter of regularity in meals as the farmers, and while the abundant exercise in the open air often saves them from immediately feeling the effects, it often falls heavily on wife and children. If you would be healthy, have regular hours for your meals, dividing the day as evenly as possible, and have your meals at those hours. EATING AT BED TI3IE. The " Wise Men " tell us that we should not eat anything just before going to bed. Dio Lewis, who says a great many good and sensible things, is forever advising his patients to do without their sup- pers. Another person (perhaps not so wise) once remarked that a man was the only anim 1 who could be trained into going to bed hungry. Among what are commonly called "'dumb brutes,"' we see that they uniformly eat till they go to sleep, and go to sleep as soon as they are through eating. We are of the opin- ion that the dumb brutes have the advantage of us in this matter, and that while a man who eats a hearty supper at 7 o'clock, and goes to bed at 8, would be very foolish to eat a lunch just before getting into bed, yet that a person who is up and working four or iSve hours after supper will be wise in taking some light food before going to bed. We do not mean by this that he should eat a half 156 TUE II03IE ON tUE FAK3I. mince pie, and a large piece of fried pork. Persons who take lunches of that kind, at bed time or any other time, may expect to have dyspepsia. But a litt e bread and butter, or a ghiss of milk and a few crackers, will seldom disiuib the stomach, if taken before retiring, and will often induce qui^t and pleas- ant sleep. Some persons of delicate digestive powers complain that milk disagrees with tiiem 'f. instead of drinking the milk in qiiantitv, they will sip it slowly, "chewing ir," as it were, or eat it with bread or crackers, they will often find the difficulty removed. VENTILATION. "We have seen how important fresh air is to health, and the means of receiving it are no less important. Many persons seem to have the idea that ventilation is of importance in summer, but not in winter. The truth is exactly the reverse. In summer ventilation is almost certain to be attended to, but in winter, when the doors and windows are closed and every crack is stopped to keep out dralts, the ill effects of lack of ventilation are felt. Rooms are kept closed, and the poisonous air breathed over and over again. Many farm houses are built with the upper sashes fastened in. As the impure air that has been breathed is warmer than the Iresh air from out ot doors, and consequently lighter, this rises to the top of the room and it is almost impossible to get it out unless the window can be let down I'rom the top. It remains in the upper part of the room, and the dead, poisonous animal matter it contains is absorbed by curtains and HE.VLTH IN THE HOME. 157 plastering till at last the room gets a "stuiF}%" close smell. THE NOSE. This organ of the body was not given us merely for ornament, as some seem to suppose. It is one of our most valuable means of protection — one of the keenest observers of danger. The horse and the dog start in terror when an odor which they know means danger salutes their nostrils, but mankind seem to have for- gotten the purpose for which the nose was created. Whenever the nose detects an unpleasant odor, you may know that the air of that room is impure, and therefore dangerous. The nose will grow accustomed to any odor in time, but if, after you have been out some hours in the pure, fresh air of the fields, you go suddenly into a bed room or sitting room, j'ou will readily perceive whether the air is pure or not. Take care of your nose ; don't spoil it with tobacco or snufl ; don't accustom it so long to close, ill savored atmosphere that it will lose its power of discrimination, and then use it as a means of testing the air of your apartments. A room heated by a stove is more likely to be ill- ventilated than one heated by a fire-place. In fact, if the fire-place has a good draft, ventilation is almost certain. This is the principal reason why so many people complain that a stove gives them the head- ache. It is not the stove, but the lack of ventilation. Provide some means for the escape of the impure air from the upper part of the room. Open wide the doors and windows of every inhabited roam once a day and let the pure air blow through and hunt out 158 THE HOIVIE ON THE FARM. the poisonous matter that has accumulated in them. MOISTURE IN THE AIR, Air that has been heated by a stove acquires a great power of absorbing moisture, and dries the lin- ing membranes of the throat and lungs, producing a sense of suffocation and interfering with the proper work of the lungs. When a room is heated by stove, means should always be provided for keeping the air moist. The vessel containing the water should never be allowed to get dry, and the water should be changed and the vessel washed frequently, as it will gather impurities from the air and become a source of disease itself. CLEAiaiNESS. Most people would be shocked at the suggestion that they were not cleanly, and yet as regards health they may be sadly lacking in this respect. We have already seen that the dead and waste matter of the body is constantly being thrown off by the skin, and that if not removed it is partly re- absorbed, producing injurious effects. The underclothing also becomes saturated by it, and the warmth of the body causes it to undergo still further decomposition. To provide the conditions for successful working of the human machine this waste matter must be removed from the skin, and this can only be done by the liberal use of soap and warm water. In summer the whole body should be washed once a day, and in winter not less frequently than once, or better, twice a week. The clothing worn during the day should be taken HEALTH rs- THE HOME. 159 off at night, particularly that which is worn next the skin, and thoroughly aired. If it can be hung in front of a good fire, so much the better. Make it a rule never to wear at night any garment that has been worn during the day, and never to wear during the day any garment that has been worn ^t night. Underclothing that has been worn at night should not be promptly rolled up and tucked away in the morning, but should be thoroughly aired. These rules are not rules laid down by mere fastidi- ous niceness, but are rules which serve the conditions for pure blood and successful worldng of the human machine. Many persons complain of dullness, heavi uess, pains in their limbs, dull headache, and think they must take some medicine, when all that is needed is the complete removal of the waste matter from the skin, so as to allow it to perform its proper work. Soap and warm water, liberally applied externally, followed by a rinsing with pure, soft, warm water and a good rubbing with a coarse towel, is a better blood purifier and complexion beautifier than all the syrups of Sarsaparilla, Stillingia and Yellow Dock that have ever been manufactured. A bath room and big t>ath tub is a ver}'' convenient thing in any house, but not everybody can have a bath room ; nor is it necessary. A bowl of water is all that is needed, if the application is repeated with sufficient frequency. If a man goes a month or more without washing himself, he may very likely need to be put to soak. Much is said of the virtues of cold water for bathing. Cold water, if the person is able to stand it, acts as a tonic ; but for the removal of the waste matter from 160 THE HOlvrE ON THE FARM. the skin water that is at least tepid is preferable, as the matter to be removed is alwaj'-s somewhat greasy. In winter it requires a strong constitution to stand the eflects of a cold bath. Every woman knows that warm water has more cleansing powers than cold. Do not use strong, coarse soap. Soft soap may be good for washing clothes, but it is not good for human skin. Much of the cheap toilet soap sold is worse than worthless— made out of rotten grease, and the smell covered by strong perfumes. If you cannot afford a really nice article of toilet soap, get some of the purer articles of bar soap that are now made. Every mother knows what a soothing effect a good bath has upon a nervous, fretful child. Its effects are almost equally magical on tired, worried and nervous humanity. A good bath is an excellent treatment for a nervous headache. SUNLIGETT. The influence of light is not absolutely essential to the health of animals or to plants, but it is a matter of great importance. The farmer and his family are less likely to suffer from the effects of dark rooms than the dwellers in cities and towns ; but even they sometimes lose their health in a measure from trying to exclude the sunlight from their dwellings. If you would be healthy, build your houses so that the sun can shine into every room in the house, and then pull up the blinds and let him shine in. OTHER CAUSES OF DISEASE. Recent scientific investigations have revealed the HEALTH nST THE HOME. 161 fact that a great number of diseases, perhaps all con- tageons diseases, are due to the seed germs of micros- copic plants. These are taken into the system either through the air we breathe or the water we drink, and, entering the blood, grow and propagate them- selves. It is, therefore, important, if we would be well, to know how to avoid these seed germs. Keep the house dry. Wherever you can detect mustiness or mouldiness, there is probability that there seed genns are forming and will be taken into the lungs through the breath. If the weather is pleasant, open wide the doors and windows and let the air circulate. If the weather is damp and chilly without, build a good tire within and keep a window partly open. Let in the sunshine. The direct rays of the sun are a more powerful disinfectant than any sold in the drug stores. Sun the bedding now and then, and after the carpets have been taken up in the spring, do not put them down again until they have been thoroughly sunned, and the floor on which they are to be put is thoroughly dry. Watch the cellar and see that vegetal)les are not left there to decay and poison the atmosphere of the house. As early in the spring as the weather will permit, open the celhir windows and let in the light and air, for a few hours at least, and take advantage of the light to remove every trace of dirt or decaying matter. Allow no slops or dish water from the house to be thrown out and saturate the soil. Many a case of typhoid fever has come from dish water thrown out at a back kitchen window. The slops from the house, and dish water, and wash water, will all be useful, if carried by some means to the compost heap, or 163 THE HOlSrE ON THE FARM. garden, where they can be quickly mixed with an abundance of soil. On no account allow a portion of soil near the house to be saturated with these wastes. IMPURE WATER. Many diseases, especially dyphtheria, are spread by means of impure water. The water from a well may be bright and sparkling and pleasant to the taste, and yet deadly. Every well is, in its very nature, an underdrain, and if the soil is porous it will draw water from a surface supply at quite a distance. The well should, therefore, be located at a safe distance from any barnyard, cesspool, or other source of con- tamination. Thousands of lives are sacrificed every year by drinking contaminated water, and, though much has been said and written on this subject, the people are not yet as fully informed or as careful as they should be. If a well cannot be so situated as to be absolutely safe it were better to prepare a well cemented cis- tern, into which the rain water could be turned dur- ing winter and kept for drinking in summer. Water that is even quite dangerous may be made harmless by boiling, as this destroj^s the living or ganism, which is the source of danger. Persons who are suspicious of the source of their water supply may thus avoid all danger by drinking it only after it has been made into tea and coffee. TREATMENT OF DISEASE. Those who must resort to drugs must look to other books for their instruction. Here we shall only give HEALTH rX THE HO^IE. 163 gome hints on treatment without the use of medicine. The first treatment of any disease is the removal of the cause, the second, the removal of all hindrances to recovery, the third, attention to all matters that will improve the general health. DYSPEPSIA. When a person puts food into his stomach which it cannot digest, or puts in more than it can digest, the undigested portion undergoes decomposition, giving oft' gases which cause pain and discomfort. Part of this undigested matter is absorbed and the blood be- comes loaded with impure matters deranging the whole system, and causing headache, stupor, bad health, heartburn, pains in the chest, liver disorder, biliousness and a multitude of other evils. This is dyspepsia. If this continues long the digestive or- gans become so weakened that even light food occa- sions trouble. The remedy is to carefullj^ watch the diet, and find by experiment what food is digested without trouble, and restrict the diet to that. When the digestive or- gans begin to gain strength, other food may gradually be taken. Oat meal, tender lean beef boiled — not fried — rice when properly cooked (not reduced to a soggy mass), boiled wheat, well baked bread, new milk, are usually easy of digestion. What exactly suits one person may not suit another. Fruits well cooked are often good. Tea and coffee are often the source of dyspepsia. Food of any kind should be taken but sparingly at first, but the dyspeptic should by no means starve himself. Frequent warm baths, with friction of the skin, are useful in dyspepsia as in most 164 THE HOME ON THE FARM. other complaints. They enable the blood to unload its impunities through the skin. The dyspeptic should eat regularly, and not go so long without food as to cause a sense of weakness or exhaustion. A cup of hot water drank just before eating often causes relief. The dyspeptic should seek the sunlight, breathe plenty of pure air and exercise moderately, but not overdo himself. FEVERS. The old idea that a patient with a fever should not be allowed to drink water or have it applied to his skin, was the very refinement of cruelty. For fevers of any kind, water is Nature's own remedy. It would probably not be good for a fever patient to drink at one time all the water he could — particularly if he had for some time been deprived of any drink — nor perhaps would it be wise to plunge a patient with a fever into a tub of ice water, but water to quench the thirst, and water to soften the parched skin is no longer denied by intelligent physicians. Nothing relieves a fever more than a tepid bath in a room warm enough to prevent a chill. Many fevers can be cured entirely by simple attention to diet, use of cool- ing drinks, and by keeping the skin moist and cool by frequent bathing or sponging of the whole surface of the body. Let it be remembered that a fever is simply the effort of Nature to through off through the skin poison- ous matters that have found lodgment in the system. These poisonous matters may be organized germs, such as recently described, or may be waste matter of the system which has not been removed through DEALTH IN THE HOBIE. 165 the regular cliannels, or, not having been removed, has been re-absorbed. The "' feverish health " is due to the eflbrt of the system to throw off through the lungs that which should be removed through the skin. The writer of this chapter is frequently exposed to malarious influences and sometimes during summer and fall will feel the premonitory symptoms of ague. Instead of trying to "• kill the ague " with drugs, he tries to relieve his sj'-stem of the unnecessary burden which is getting the human machine out of order. He regulates his diet, selecting easily dii:ested and rather laxative foods, such as oat meal and fruits, and aids the removal of whatever causes the difficulty by fre- quent bathing. In many years he has nev( r had this treatment fail. It takes a little time, and must be thoroughly and carefully canied out in all its details, but it leaves the system free from poisonous drugs. By bathing, in this case, we do not mean simply moistening the ^kin with cold water, but such a wash- ing of the skin with warm soft water and soap, per- formed in a warm room, as will remove from the skin everything that will interfere with the proper per- formance of its duties. THE HOUR OF OUR DIHHERS. O hour of all hours, the most blessed upon earth, Blessed hour of our diunersi Tlie laud of his birth; The face of his first love; the bills that he owes; The twaddle of frieuds and the venom of foes; The sermon he heard when to church he last went; The money he borrowed, the money he S})ent; — All of these things a man, I believe, may forget, And not be the worse for forgetting; but yet Never, never, never ! earth's luckiest sinner Hath unpunished forgotten the hour of his dinner! Indigestion, that conscience for every bad stomach, Shall relentlessly gnaw and pursue liim with some ache. Or some pain; and trouble, remorseless, his best ease. As the Furies once troubled the sleep of Orestes. We may live without poetry, music, and art; We may live without conscience, and live without heart; We may live without friends; we may live without books; But civilized man cannot live without cooks. He may live without books, — what is knowledge without griev- ing? He may live without hope, — what is hope but deceiving? He may live without love, — what is passion but pining? But where is the man that can live without dining ? CHAPTER X. BREAKFAST. DENTSIER AND TKA. Our food is cooked that it may be more palatable, as well as more digestible. But a small part ol" the products of the earth can be used to sustain the life of the human family, until subjected to the action of heat in some form. Those so called scientists who advocate iinel}^ drawn theories about the liuman race drifting away from mother nature, and claim that we should eat all food just as it comes from her hand, are greatly in the minority ; not only among the common people, but among scholars as well. We have learned that savages are not the only interpreters of nature's laws of life ; that the highest life is as much a |)artof nature as the lowest ; that food skillfully cooked is as necessary to the civilized human being as the raw flesh is to the savage. But if food is cooked to make it digestible and palatable, it must be well cooked, or ii is neither. Who is there that has not suffered ior hours from indigestion, caused by wretchedly cooked food, and who has not tried to eat of some dish whose naturally fine flavor was ruined by poor cooking? There is but little merit in any cooking except the best, and if there is any disgrace in being a cook, it is in being a poor one. 168 THE nOSIE ON TBE FAR3I. A woman cannot learn to do good cooking all at once ; it is a slow process requiring patience and perseverance. One great difBculty is to know where to go for instruction. In cities there are cooking schools and professional cooks who teach those who wish to learn, but larmera' wives have no such opportunities I'or a culinary education. Wha' they know must be learned from each other and from reading And j'et they, as well as all other classes, need this education. The assertion has been made, and loudly re-echoed through the agricultural press, that jarmers' wives are the best cooks in the country. This is a mistake. There are many women living on i'arms who know how to do good cooking, for good cooks are not confined to any one class of people. But, as a rule, they are not as good cooks as the women who live in towns and cities. The principal reason for this is that farmers' wives have so many more cares and so much more work to do, that they cannot devote the time nor attention to perfecting everything they ccok that the women ot cities can. For instance, when a faimtr's wife gets up in the morning, there is not only the breakfast to get, but the milk to be skimmed, usually the cows to be milked and food to be prepared tor calves, pigs and chickens, so how can she stand all the morning anxiously watching the coffee-pot, that it is just as hot as it can be without boiling, but does not boil, to make perfect coffee ? Another reason is that country people have not acquired the fastidious taste that comes from dainty feeding, so do not demand the very choicest dishes. If a dish is cooked as well as they are accustomed to having it, they are sati;siied And ask uo better. Still, farmers' wives Breakfast, din^tir amd tea. 169 ought to be better cooks than they are; they ought to know how to cook perfectly everything that their farms produce. But where can they get this knowledge ? As before stated, they must obtain the most of their information from reading ; po one of the first things a good housekeeper should have is a good cook book. In selecting a cook book do not get one that gives the greatest number of receipts, but one that gives the best receipts. If there are ten different receipts for making yeast, you do not want to try them all to find out which is best. You want just one rule that is sure to be good every time. You want a book that will tell just how everything is to be put together, as well as what ingredients are to be used. Then the book should not all be given up to cakes and "pies. A book lately examined showed, for soups, thirteen pages; for pickles, thirt.y ; for vegetables, twelve pages; for puddings and pies, fifty ; tor dishes for the sick, six pages; for cake, forty-four. To tell how to make cake and pie seems to be the great object of most cook books. Avoid such books. What we most need to know is how to cook common dishes well, our potatoes and cabbage, in fact, all our vegetables ; hoAV to make soups, how to cook meats so they shall be tender and juicy and retain all the meaty flavor, how' to make simple relishes and salads, and, above all, how to make good bread. This is the most important item of all, and is often the most neglected. There are families all over the country eating poor bread and calling it good, simply because they do not know what good bread is. They think that if it is white it is good, not considering that, being white, it may at the ItO THl: HOME ON THE FARM. same time be sour, hard and dry, three qnalifications that will ruin the whitest bread. The most essential qualification in good bread is that it shall be sweet, no taste of the yeast or rising, nothing but the pure wheat llavor ; then it should be light ; heavy bread is alwa^'S poor bread ; then let it be moist and tender, not dry and crumbLngin the mouth. If you can have all these, and at the same time have it white, very well ; if not, do make brown bread and let the white alone. Country housekeepers often do not use the cook books they have, because so many of the receipts require ingredients that are not at hand. In cities, where it is but a few steps to the market or grocery, or no distance at all by the telephone, it is an easy matter to have everything needed to make out a bill of fare ; but in the country there must be full supplies on hand, or else when they are needed an extra trip .to town must be made — or go without. It costs no more to keep a large amount of groceries on hand than it does a small amount, provided the same quantity is regularly used ; and the satisfaction of having it in case of the unexpected arrival of company is greater than all loss from shrinkage. The country housekeeper who has watched the arrival of a load of company when she is " out of everything," and has experienced the chagrin of inviting them to a thinly set table, should remember her resolve to always have something in the house to get up a good meal with. Then, having the book to guide you and the materials to be used, try one receipt over and over again, until you can make an acceptable dish. Then try another receipt, and so on, until you have learned to make a sufficient variety. Do not think you must BREAKFAST, D1:NNER AND TEA. 171 Bucceed every time, or that you must learn to make everything in the book. Then having succeeded in making a new dish, try and succeed in having the family like it. It makes no diflerence how well a dish may be cooked or served, if it is not relished by those who eat it, it is not a success, and better, as nearly everyone does, go back to the o'd ways. Have the table neatly set. Do not use the table cloth and napkins until they are offensive ; you ruin the flavor of the best dinner by so doing. Colored ones are more apt to be so used than white; so don't buy them. Have dishes enough on the table so that everything, meat, vegetables, sauce and all, need not be piled on the same i)late. Have everything put in order in even rows and straight lines, or in groups. If your napkins are too good for every day wear, and must be kept for comjtany, cut up an old table cloth into napkins, and with red marking cotton work an initial of each member of the family into different napkins, so that each will know his own. and then never set the table without them. Do not have too great a variety of food on the table at once. One kind of meat, and a vegetable, one kind of fruit or pickle, and a dessert, is enough for any except a largo company dinner or breakfast. A few good dishes are better than a great many poor ones. A good meal does not consist in the number of kinds on the table, but upon the excellence of each particular dish. THREE MEALS A DAY. While invalids and people who do not labor can do very well on two meals a day, it is a fact proven by common experience that heal thy laboring people need lt2 Tirt; HOJtE ON THE FARM. three meals each twenty-four hours. ^ And let it be remembered that there should be three separate and distinct meals, not the same meal served in sections. If the same dishes served in the same way are put upon the table each time, the third time they appear they cannot be very tempting. Then, if the same meals come back again the next, day, and the next, and the next, they become in time an annoyance to the very best appetite. To illustrate this : Many people have a habit of cooking a thing, perhaps making a cake, and putting it upon the table the next meal after it is finished, which is generally dinner. A few pieces are eaten, and what is left appears again, just as it left the table, for supper. The next morning, diminished l\v a few pieces, it comes back for breakfast, ditto for dinner and supper. The next day it goes much slower, for, "Seen too oft, familiar with its face," one good look is enough to satisfy the most of those at the table. So it goes, until the last piece disap- pears and something else is made to take its place. Don't arrange your meals in this way. Have some dishes that are designed i^articularly for breakfast and serve them then and at no other time. Have others that are for dinner, and for tea the table should be set with something that has not been upon it before that day. By so doing you can keep up a variety with sn« all resources. Of course, bread and butter are to be on the table three times each day, and meat and potatoes come for both breakfast and dinner, but they need not be cooked exactly alike each time. If meat is used for tea, let it always be cold meat. Try to have two kinds of vegetables for dinner, and for breakfast also, if you have a sufficient BREAKFAST, di:n:nt;r and tea. 173 variety ; but do not, except in the case of potatoes, have the same kind on the table twice a day for weeks in succession. breakfast. Perliaps no meal is so different in different parts of the country. Some people are satisfied with a cup of coffee and warm bread; others add an egg or a bit of meat, while others want as much on the breakfast table as would be necessary for both dinner and breakfast. Most people prefer a substantial break- fast, something more than a bit of toast and a cup of coffee ; yet it is not necessary to have a loaded table. So wliat shall the breakfast bill of fare be ? Coffee, of course ; meat, potatoes, warm bread, cookies or other plain cake, pickles or fruit. The meat must be something that can be quickly prepared; potatoes can be cooked in almost any way in the time that it takes to prepare the rest of the breakfast, and there is such a great variety of breakfast cakes, biscuit, griddle cakes, etc., that it is sometimes hard to choose from so long a list. As our space is limited we can give receipts for only a few dishes of each kind. First in the list comes COFFEE. When we consider the excellent coffee, good coffee, common coffee, poor coffee, wretched coffee, that people drink, we are satisfied that there are a great many ways of making coflee. There are perhaps more ways to make poor cofiee than to make cood coffee; yet all good coffee is not made just alike. 174 THE HOME ON THE FARM. It is usually maie by boiling, yet the very finest flavored cofFae is not boiled. The boiled coflFee is more stimulating, and those who love coffee, but can not drink it because it makes them nervous, will do well to try drinking coffee that is not boiled. They may find that they can drink it without injury. One coffee cup full of ground coftee, one egg well beaten, mix with one pint of cold water and pour into the boiler; pour in two quarts of boiling water; let all boil fifteen minutes, then set the boiler off and pour in a tea-cupful of cold water. Allow two heaping table-spoonfuls of coffee to a pint of water. Let the water be boiling when it is poured on the coffee. Cover it as tightly as possible, and let it boil one minute; then let it remain a few moments at the side of the range to settle. My own way is to wash and wipe the cofiee-pot dry every time it is used. Put into the coffee-pot one table- spoonful of cofiee for each person ; pour on enough boiling water to fill the coffee-pot, or as much as will be drank, set it on the back part of the stove, where it will be as hot as it can be without boiling, but does not boil, and let it stand about thirty minutes. Be sure the water boils when it is poured into the coffee-pot. But, whatever way jou make the coffee, alwags empty all the old grounds from the coffee-pot before the new is put in. MEATS. Of meats for breakfast, let us begin with a few receipts for cooking pork; an article which, in spite of the reproach heaped upon it by hygienists, is BREAKFAST, DHOITR AND TEA. 175 still a favorite dish on the farmer's breakfast table. One of the best ways to cook fat, salt pork is to slice it thin, lay it in a fryin"; pan and fry it brown ; then pour off every drop of the fat and pour over it a cupful of thick, sweet cream. Let this come to a boil. Then take from the fire, and it is ready for the table. This is a very nice breakfast dish during the summer. Do not freshen the pork, as the salt is needed in the cream. Many farmers' wives think they cannot afford to use cream, because they want to make butter to sell. Better go without something you want to buy, for nothing can be more healthful, for children especially, than cream. Another good way is to slice the pork in thin slices, freshen it a little and roll it in Hour. Put in the frying pan a small lump of butter, and when it is hot put in the pork and keep the pan as hot as it can be without scorching, turning the pork frequently. It should be eaten as soon as it is done, for standing until it is cool spoils it. Breakfast bacon should be over the fire for about three minutes in a very hot frying pan. Ham needs but little cooking, the fat more than the lean. The best way to cook beefsteak is to broil it over the coals ; yet it €an be cooked very well in a hot frying pan. Put the frying pan over the fire (and make sure beforehand that it is a very hot fire), when it is hot grease it with a bit of lard or beef suet, then lay in the steak which has been well pounded. It should cover every part of the frying pan, for the uncovered parts will scorch and give a bitter flavor to the beef As soon as it begins to brown on one side, turn it, and keep turning it until it is evenly 176 THE HOJIE ON THE FARM. browned on the outside and of a reddish color inside. Take it out into a hot platter in which is a little melted butter, sprinkle on a little salt and pepper and send to the table. Beefsteak and onions is a good dish for those who like onions. Peel a few onions and slice them, then when the steak is put into the frying pan cover it with the onions, then put on a tight cover to keep the steam in. Cook longer than you would the steak alone. Add butter and salt and pepper immediately before it is taken from the fire. Hash is another good breakfast dish. Chop the meat very fine, then add the potatoes, but do not chop them as fine as the meat. Have one half as much meat as potatoes, and let part of the meat be fat. Put into the frying pan a large Jump of butter, when it is melted add the hash, then salt and pepper it and pour on hot water enough to moisten it. Milk is better than water, but is more apt to scorch. Cold corned beef makes the best hash, but any kind of cold beef will do. Eggs are alwa3''s an excellent addition to the break- fast table. The.y are cooked in such a multitude of ways that it would be impossible to give but a frac- tion of them here, so we skip them all, only saying don't cook them too hard. POTATOES. One of the most popular cook books of the day gives sixteen different receipts for cooking potatoes ; yet of this number but three or four are used in farm- ers' families. The simplest way, that of boiling with the skins on, is the most common of all, and where BREAKFAST, DESWER AND TEA. 177 the taste for it is acquired it is relished the best. The essential points in a well boiled potato are that it shall be dry and well done, no hard lumps in the mid die, and not watery on the outside. Put them into well salted hot water, and let them boil until nearly done, then pour oft' the water all but a spoonful or two, set the kettle back on the fire, cover it closely and let them finish cooking by the steam. They should be eaten as soon as done, for, no matter how carefully cooked, they are spoiled by standing. This is particularly true of baked potataes, so unless you are sure the family can come to the table as soon as the meal is read}^ do not bake your potatoes. For mashed potatoes, take small potatoes and take oft a very thin peeling, as the best part of the potato lies under the skin. Boil until just done, then pour oft' the water and return the kettle to the fire, as it is necessary that the potatoes be kept hot while being mashed. Add hot milk, butter, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly before taking from the fire. Another way to cook potatoes is to pare them,wash and wipe them dry and drop them into a kettle of hot lard, and when done take them out with a spoon, drain, and let them cool a little before you bring them to the table — or look out for burnt tongues. WARM BREAD. If warm bread is to be eaten at any time during the day, let it be for breakfast. That it is not as health- ful as cold bread is very certain, yet iew people can re- sist the temptation to eat warm cakes on a cold winter morning. Indian meal, buckwheat, middlings and Graham all cau be made to do good service on the 178 THE HOaiB ON THE FARM. breakfast table, and pach family has its preference. We can give only a few receix)ts of a kind and begin with BUCKWHEAT CAKES. Scald two gills of Indian meal in one qnart of boil- ing water. Add a little salt. When cool add a gill of yeast, and stir in enough buckwheat flour to make a thin batter. Let it rise overnight. If, by chance, it is a little sour just before cooking, add one-fourth of a tea-spoonful of soda dissolved in half a cupful of boiling water. Pancakes made with bread crumbs are very good. Soak the bread crumbs over night in not very sour milk. In the morning add one egg and flour to make a thin batter, a little salt, and the last thing a little soda. Every farmer who takes wheat to mill to be ground into flour for his own use, has a quantity of the coarse flour called middlings. But few farmers' wives know that this coarse flour makes delicious breakfast cakes, being superior to buckwheat or Graham flour. Take one-half sweet milk and one-half buttermilk, or if the buttermilk is not very sour take all buttermilk, put in a little salt and soda enough to make it light, but do not stir the soda in. Then stir the middlings in as rap- idly as possible, and as soon as it is stirred in enough to wet it all, stop stirring and do not move the spoon again except to dip it out upon the griddle. If they are stirred too much they will be ropy and quite spoiled. Make the batter a little thicker and bake a little slower than for fine flour cakes. Toast is always a good thing for breakfast, that is, BREAKFAST, DDWER ANT) TEA. 179 provided it is well made, and a dish of toast, docs not come amiss for the tea-table. Old bread makes better toast than new, but if obliged to toast the new, put it in the oven with the door open for ten or fifteen min- utes. Bread should always be toasted slowly, so that the inside oi the slice is dried through. Toast that is scorched on the outside and. sticky in the middle is poor stuff. After the bread is toasted put over the fire a pint (or more) of sweat cream, with a tea- spoonful of salt in it, and. when it boils pour it over the toast. Let it stand a few moments before eating. Or, have a basin of hot water well salted, and dip the pieces of toast in and out as quickly as jjossible, put it on a hot plattfr and let each one at the table butter it to suit himself. Of corn breakfast cakes there are many varieties, but the most of them are variations of the old formula : " One cup sweet milk, one cup of sour, Two cups of meal, and one cup of Hour." This is better if mixed over night, and in the morning just before putting in the oven stir in the salt and soda. HOE CAKE. Pour enough scalding water (or milk) on corn meal, salted, to make it rather moist. Let it; stand an hour or longer. Put two or three heaping table spoonfuls on a hot griddle, greased with pork or lard. Smooth over the surface, making the cake about half an inch thick and of a round shape. When browned on one side, turn and brown on the other. Serve very hot. FRUIT FOR BREAKFAST. There are farmers all over the country who have 180 THE HOME ON THE FARM. fruit on their farms going to waste, who do not have it on their breakfast tables one quarter of the morn- ings during the year, unless it is a very little in a pie. This certainly should not be so, when so many of the common fruits are so easily prepared. Stewed apples, baked apples, fried apples, tomatoes, both cooked and raw, peaches and grapes, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, cherries and currants, and melons, are all as well relished for breakfast as at any otlier meal. During the cold months when fresh fruit cannot be had, and more fat meats and grease are eaten, pickles of any kind are a good addition to the breakfast ta ble. Receipts for a few kinds of plain cake, suitable for breakfast, will be given at the end of the chapter. DINNER To know how to make a good soup is an accom- plishment to be proud of. An idea seems to prevail among those who do not know how to make them, that they are very hard to make, that there is some myster}^ connected with their composition that is not for common cooks to know. On the contrary, they are very easily made, the only difficulty being that they must be commenced a long time before dinner; the day before is best, and country housekeepers gener- ally prefer something that can be made in about half an hour. They look over the receipts for soups in their cook books and imagine they are designed for grand company dinners, and altogether too good for a common farmer's dinner. Don't think so ; don't think anything is too good for the farmer's table. Still tiiere are dishes that it takes a great deal of iBREAKFAST, DINKER AXB TEA. 1^1 lime to prepare that are hardly worth the trouble when done. Every farmer's wife should know how to make one or two good soups, so we begin with one of the simplest and best of all. POTATO SOUP. Cut off four or five slices of salt pork, with some lean meat on it. Have them one-half an inch thick, and then cut each slice crosswit^e into half inch pieces. Put these into cold water (always use soft water for soup), with four or five cloves, as many whole black peppers, and a little summer savory, and boil for an hour and a half, dipping off'all the fat that rises on the water, then add four sliced onions, and after they have boiled a few moments six sliced po- tatoes. Have just enough water to cover them, so that when they are done they will be nearly dry, and let them boil until the potatoes are boiled to pieces. Take the potato masher and mash them fine, setting the kettle olf so they will not be scorched. Then take a pan of morning's milk and pour into the ket- tle, all the cream and enough of the milk to make about two quarts of soup. Set it back over the fire and let it come to a boil, stirring occasionally ; taste to see if it needs any more salt or pepper, and you have an excellent cream or potato soux^, just as you wish to call it. BEAN SOUP. Soak a cofi*ee cup full of be^ns over night, and put on next morning with a knuckle of veal. ij After four hours boiling take ofl' the liquor and strain it; pick oiF 182 tHE HOME ON THE FARM. a few shreds of veal and return to the lire. Thicken with bran llonr, and flavor with ground spices, such as allspice, pepper and cloves. Slice a couple of hard boiled eirgs, a couple of slices of lemon in the ureen, then pour in the souj). ^'The meat should be fresh and lean and juicy, to make the best soup. It is put into cold, clear water, which should be healed only moderately for the first half hour. The object is to extract the juices of the meat, and if jt be boiled too soon the surface will be- come coagulated, thereby imprisoning the juice with- in. After the first half hour, the pot should be placed at the back of the stove, allowing the soup to simmer for four or five hours." Let this stand and get cold, then take off all the grease. This forms the founda- tion for a great variety of soups all named from the different ingredients added to it. That most common- ly made is to add potatoes, onions, two or three cloves, a little parsley or summer savory, salt and pepper and boil until the vegetables are done. MEAT AND iTlGETABLES For dinner can be cooked in ways that require more time than in cooking breakfast meats. Roast beef, boiled corn beef, boiled salt pork, poultry of all kinds, mutton, and boiled ham, and, as the advertisements say, other dishes "too numerous to mention.''' Then through the whole list of vegetables there is nothing that cannot be used on the dinner table. Now it is not possible to go over all these, but only give a hint here and there. In the sprinp' when the fresh meats of winter are gone, and salt meats are the principal ones used, Breakfast, cnfiifER and tea. 188 corned beef becomes a choice dish. Put it over in cold water, skim it often, and let it boil until thor- oughly done. Carrots are the best vegetable to boil with corned beef, although potatoes are used oftenest of any. Do not throw everything you have into the kettle with the beef, potatoes., onions, cabbage, tur- nips, carrots, and when done heap them up all on the same great dish, and think you have a good dinner! Always have some kind of a sour relish to eat with corned beef, horse-radish, made mustard, catsup, or else have chow-chow, or other sour pickles on the ta- ble. At no time is horse-radish so good as in the spring when the new growth is starting, and at no other time in the year is some kind of an ncid so much needed in our food as when the warm weather begins. Salt pork is boiled the same as corned beef. It is best eaten cold with a catsup. Dandelion greens should be on every farmer's ta- ble once a week, once a daj^ all through the spring would be far better. But when a woman must go all over the door yard and meadows, to find them, it is too great a task to gather them every day. A dande- lion bed that will grow all that is wanted would be a great convenience. They should be boiled very ten- der in well salted water, or water in which meat has been boiled. Fish should come on the table about as often as they can be obtained, which is not very often in the country. Salt fish can be had at any time and are a good summer dish, cod-fish being liked perhaps the best of any. A good way to cook cod-fish is to pick it up in small pieces and soak in cold water for half an hour. Put some new milk over the fire in a stew pan and when i^i THE HOSiE ON THE J'ARit. it boils press all the water out of the cod-fish and throw it into the boiling milk. Let it boil a minute, then thicken with a table-spoonful of flour and add a large piece of butter. Mashed potatoes or toast are the best accompaniments for cod-fish. As the summer comes and vegetables are more abundant, they should form the principal part of the dinner, although meats should not be entirely given up, especially by those doing hard work. Those who have access to a good market do not lose anything by getting a good steak or roast occasionally. It is far better to keep up one's strength during haying than alcohol. Dried beef can be used to better ad- vantage now than at other times, and chicken should be on the table at least once a week. To boil a chicken, always put it into boiling water unless you want to make a soup of it, when it should be put into cold water. Boiled vegetables retain their flavor better by drop- ping them into hot salted water. Never try to boil peas or beans in hard water. If you have no soft water put a few pieces of charcoal into a pan of water overnight; make a little filter by breaking the bot- tom out of an old jug, turning it upside down in a pan, filling the neck full of cotton batting and the jug half full of charcoal. A sufficient amount of wa- ter will drain through this during the night to cook the vegetables next day. As the cold weather comes heavier meats or greasier dinners can be eaten. Meat pies are relished now if ever; a good receipt for which is as follows: Cut cold cooked meat into quite small dice; add pepper and salt, a little nutmeg and two or three sprigs of chopped parsley, also a little thyme and a bay leaf BREAKFAST, DmNER AND TEA. 185 if you have them, but the two latter herbs may be omitted. Put a little butter into a sauce pan, and when hot stir in a table-spoonful of flour, pour in sev- eral table-spooufals of hot water, mix well; then in- troduce the meat dice, stir all well over the fire, cook- ing thoroughly. Just before taking it up stir in two or three eggs. It should be quite moist, yet con- sistent. Put a thin pie crust into a pudding dish. Fill in a few spoonfuls of the mixture, then lay on a very thin strip of bacon ; continue these layers until the dish is full. Now fit a piece of crust over the top, turning the edges in a fancy manner, and make a cut in the center. Take a strip of pie crust, makea tie or knot, wet the bottom and pla-^e it over the cut so as not to obstruct the opening. Bake. But whatever your dinner is and at v/hatever time of the year do not have too great a variety on the table at once. Spend the time that it would require in ijreparing the greater number in perfecting tliose that you do cook. One kind of meat is enough for any dinner, and if you have two well cooked vege- tables, it is about all that will be eaten. DESSERT. It is strange that most housekeepers always in- sist on having pie for dessert when there are so many kinds of simple puddings that are easily made. One reason is supposed to be that a number of pies can be made atone time, and but one pudding. Of course a newly made pie of any fresh fruit is an excellent finish for any dinner, but at times of the year when fruit is not fresh, and when the pie happens to be two or three days old — give us something else ! Any good 12 186 ftiE aosrE on the farm. cook book can teach you how to make a dozen diffef^ ent puddings that are not expensive and yet are ex- cellent. Perhaps the best of all is that old favorite, a bread pudding, for which the following receipt is the best: Two slices of bread soaked in a quart of milk and mashed fine. Add four well beaten eggs, three-fourths of a cup of sugar, a little salt, and one cup of stoned raisins. Bake one liour and a half, stirring it occa- sionally the first half hour. A dish of fresh fruit is a good dessert for a meat dinner ; but whatever your dessert is alwaj^'s have clean dishes to serve it in. TEA. Bread and butter, cold meat, any kind of stewed, baked, canned or preserved fruit, cake, and tea. In many places a hearty supper of meat and vegetables is prepared at the close of the day, but after eating two warm meals this seems to be unnecessary. For the preservation of health always eat a light sup- per. Directions for making bread are given at the close of the chapter. Country people are always supposed to eat good butter, as they make it themselves, still it is a sad fact that a great deal of poor butter is eaten, in the country homes. As a rule, however, more good butter is eaten in the country than good bread, for good butter has a moneyed commercial value, while good bread has not. The result is that there is a con- stant improvement in butter making that the highest price may be obtained, while bread making goes on in the same old round. BREAKFAST, DUvTITER AND TEA. 187 The bread and butter on the tea-table should be the very best than can be obtained, for they form the principal part of the meal — all the others are side dishes. In making tea always throw out all the old grounds and scald the tea-pot, before the tea is put in. Then be very sure that the water in the tea-kettle is boiling before it is poured on the tea. Many a good cup of tea is ruined by neglect of this simple rule. During the summer cold tea is an excellent drink. Make it at noon, pour it all off the grounds into a clean earth- en teapot or pitcher, and set in a cool place until tea time. It should be very cold. GKEEN TOMxiTO PICKLES. Take half a bushel of green tomatoes, wash and slice them with one dozen onions, a few blades of garlic and half a dozen green pepper pods; sprinkle them in layers Avith a little salt and let them stand all night. The next morning rinse and drain them well, then mix well together one ounce pulverized ginger, one ounce allspice, one ounce mace, one ounce celery seed, one ounce mixed mustard, and one pound of sugar. Tut a layer of tomatoes and a layer of spices alternately in a kettle, cover with very strong vinegar and boil until tender. cnow-cnow pickle. Ingredients: One peck of green tomatoes, half a peck of ripe tomatoes, half a dozen onions, three heads of cabbage, one dozen, green peppers and three red peppera. 188 THE HOilE ON THE FAR5I. Chop them any size you choose, then sprinkle half a pint of salt over them. Put them into a coarse cot- ton bao; and let them drain twenty-four hours. Put them into a kettle with three pounds of brown sua;ar, half a teacupful of gi ated horseradish, one tablespoon- ful each of ground black pepper, ground mustard, white mustard, mace, and celery seed. Cover all with vinegar and boil until clear. FRIED CAKES. Put a sufficient amount of flour, about three pints, into a pan, then put in two teacupfuls of sugar, a lit- tle salt, two well beaten eggs, and last a teaspoonful ot soda. Into a p'nt bowl put four tablespoonfuls of thick, sour cream, and fill the bowl up with butter- milk, pour this into the pan with the other ingre- dients and mix all together. Roll out, cut in strips and twist into rings and fry in hot lard. PLAIN COOKIES. One cupful of butter, two cupfuls of sugar, one cup- ful of milk, two eggs, about a quart of flour, three teaspoonfuls of baking powder, or one teaspoonful of cream of tartar and half a teaspoonful of soda. SOFT YEAST. Peel, boil and mash five or six^ood sized potatoes, and stir them into the quart of w^ater they were boiled in ; then add a pint of water in which a large handful of hops have boiled about five minutes. Stir thoroughly, adding two-thirds of a tea-cupful of white BREAKFAST, DD7NER AND TEA. 189 or light colored sugar and a little ginger. When so )cool as not to scald it, add two well soaked yeast cakes or a tea- cupful of good soft yeast. Keep warm until light, then stir in one-half a tea-cupful of salt, and when it rises again it is ready to put away in a a jar in a cool place. WHITE BREAD. Take a quart of hot water, not so hot that it will scald the Hour, stir in flour until it is quite thick, add one tea-cupful of soft yeast and keep in a warm place until it rises. Then knead in Hour until it Vvill not stick to the board. Let it stand until it is very light ; if mixed at night it can stand until morning. Then knead once more, and when it is light again v. ork into loaves and put it in bread tins, and when it rises a little, bake in an oven hot enough to have small loaves well done in forty-live minutes. BR0W:N BREAD. To one quart of light white bread sponge add one- half a cup of warm wf 'er and half a cup of molasses. Add sifted grnham flour until it is as thick as it can be stirred willi a spoon. Put this into two deep bread pans, and when it is very light, in a hot oven. GOOD nop YEAST. To make good hop yeast that will keep the year around: take two handfuls of hops, boil them in one quart of water till the strength is out, then strain the W^ter oil' of the hops into a pint and a half of flour 190 THE HOME ON THE FARM, to make into a batter ; if too thick, add more water; if too thin, more Hour; put in half a table-spoonful of SiUt, and half a teaspoonful of pulverized alum, and have ready a tin two-thirds full of good hop yeast ready soaked ; .turn it into the batter and stir it weE then set it in a warm place to rise ; when it has risen, etir down and let rise again, then have ready enough corn meal to turn the rising into it ; knead it well so as to form a stiff dough, so that you can cut it with a knife into cakes, about halt an inch thick, then lay it on a clean board to rise in a warm place, as soon as risen set in the open air to dry as soon as possible. This is excellent yeast. KALSOMEsE. To give one room two coats requires: Ten pounds whiting dissolved in boiling water, one-fourth pound of glue (put to soak the night before in one pint of water) should be melted slowly now on the back part of the stove. Two ounces of ultra-marine blue and one ounce of Venetian red must be mixed separately with cold soft water, and then strained through a thin cloth each into a separate vessel. Stir, now, the whit- ing well, and if too thick add more hot water and strain through a flour sieve into a good sized pot. Add some of the blue and red alternately till the desired shade is obtained. This may be ascertained by put- ting a little on a piece of paper and drying before the fire. When the shade is satisfactory, pour in the glue, mixing well. Apply the wash to the walls while hot. Brush in any direction, as it looks better than if done tJftEAKFAST, DIXK-EK AXD TEA. 191 too carefully. On \yhite walls two coats Avill be necessary. If the mixture is to be used again the next day it must be repeated. A paper border is used to finish the room. A BRILLIANT STUCCO WHITEWASH. Take clean lumps of well-burnt lime, slack in hot water, in a small tub, and cover it to keep in the steam. It should then be passed through a fine sieve in a fluid form to obtain the flour of lime. Add one- quarter of a poitnd of whiting or burnt alum, two pounds of sugar, three pints of rice flour made into a thin and very well boiled paste, and one pound of glue dissolved over a slow fire. It is said to be more brilliant than plaster of Paris, and will last fifty years. It should be put on warm with a paint brush. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS "l 014 182 062 A