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HOME COMFORTS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 Things Worth Knowing in Every Household,- 
 
 BEING A DIGEST OP FACTS ESTABLISHED BY 
 
 Science, Observation and Practical Experience, 
 
 BESPECTINO THK IMl'ORTANT 
 
 ART OF LIYING WELL AND CHEAPLY, 
 
 PRESERYIiNG HEALTH AND PROLOiNGLNG LIFE. 
 
 J ^ >■ EDITKD BY 
 
 EDWIN T. FREEDLEY, 
 
 AS A COMPANION VOLUME TO HIS "COMMON SENSE IN BUSINESS.' 
 
 Ji 
 
 S. A. GEORGE & CO., 
 15 North Seventh St., PHiLADELririA. 
 
 9- 
 

 
 Copyright, 1878, by Edwin T. Freedley, in the United States and in 
 France ; also entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England. 
 
TO 
 
 EVERY YOUNG WOMAN 
 
 WHO ASPIRES TO BE 
 
 A GOOD WIFE AND CDOD HOUSEKEEPER, 
 
 AND WHO BELIEVES THAT 
 
 TRDE WISDOM CONSISTS IN KNOWING WHAT IS BEST WORTH KNOWING, 
 
 THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED, 
 
 IN THE HOPE AND 6EUEF THAT IT CONTAINS FOR HEK WORDS FITLY SPOKKN, WHICH 
 SOLOMON COMPARED TO 
 
 "Aj}ples of gold in pictures of silver," 
 
/ A' 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 fHE title of this book is so comprehensive, that an 
 explanatory preface must be superfluous. It may, 
 , however, be stated that, inasmuch as the success or 
 failure of men in business is often so intimately dependent 
 upon the influences that surround them in their homes, the 
 editor's work, entitled " Common Sense in Business," 
 seemed incomplete without a companion volume on the 
 Art of Living comfortably, yet economically. Moreover, 
 so many books have been written on Domestic Economy and 
 Hygiene — most of them containing very few grains of 
 wheat to the bushel of chaff — that there is apparently an 
 urgent need for a Digest of what may be called well-estab- 
 lished facts in Housekeeping. This volume contains hun- 
 dreds of such facts, each one of which, if worth anything 
 at all to the reader, will be worth much more than the cost 
 of the book. 
 
 The greatest part of every work of this kind, as Dr. 
 Johnson observed even in his day, is made by transcription, 
 and any attempt at originality, except in arrangement, is a 
 
 5 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 fault. The editor has accomplished all that he pro- 
 posed, if he has succeeded in selecting from "the crude 
 and undigested mass of suggestions " those which are true 
 and reliable, distinguishing between assertions and facts; 
 and if he has done this, those on the threshold of life, who 
 use this book aright, will have at their command an 
 amount of practical knowledge, every day useful, which 
 most persons in a lifetime of experience do not acquire. 
 
 Among the works partially digested, or extracted from, 
 in this volume, are Beecher and Stowe's " Domestic Sci- 
 ence;" Bellows' "Philosophy of Eating;" Beeton's 
 " Englishwoman's Cookery Book ; " Prof. Blot's " Lec- 
 tures on Cookery ; " Chase's " Recipes ; " Dr. Chavasse's 
 "Advice to Wives and Mothers;" Dr. Delamere's 
 "Wholesome Fare;" Devoe's "Market Assistant;" 
 Dwyer's " Economic Cottage Builder ; " Eastlake's " Hints 
 on Household Taste ; " Freedley's " Opportunities for In- 
 dustry;" "The Gas Consumer's Guide;" Harland's 
 " Common Sense in the Household ; " Dr. Hall's " Health 
 by Good Living;" Dr. Hufeland's "Art of Prolonging 
 Life ; " liyman's " Philosophy of Housekeeping ; " Eus- 
 kin's " Lectures on Art ; " Savarin's " Physiology of 
 Taste ; " Dr. Strange's " Restoration of Health ; " " Scien- 
 tific American ; " Soyer's " Culinary Campaign ; " Mrs. 
 Warren's " Home Management j " and numerous works on 
 Cookery and Hygiene. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ELEMENTS OF COMFORT. 
 
 The most interesting of studies — Where corafort is worshipped as a 
 deity — Meaning of house-thrift — The rich as well as the very 
 poor often have no homes — Why few have comfortable homes — 
 An English manufacturer's remark — Soyer's remarkable calcula- 
 tion — Ignorance of good cookery — Men as cooks — The health of 
 cooks carefully guarded — Dr. Johnson's plan of making a cook- 
 book — The French as cooks — McCullough's observation — A good 
 wife a fountain of comfort — How to promote health of women — 
 Walking in the open air recommended — Care in ventilating 
 chambers — Importance of thorough ablution — Meagre breakfasts 
 condemned — Importance of sleep — A surprising statement as to 
 the drinking habits of young ladies — Value of cook-books to house- 
 keepers — American women excel in fancy cooking — How to cul- 
 tivate cheerfulness — How a Quaker mastered his temper — Causes 
 for jealousy to be guarded against — A good wife something of a 
 physician — A lad in the wilderness and the two fairies 33 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ON PLANNING, PAINTING, AND PAPERING HOUSES. 
 
 Elements of good taste — A well-planned house essential to domestic 
 comfort — Points to be observed in erecting or selecting a house — Best 
 site for a country house — Aspect of a house — Time should be taken 
 in planning a house — Where the kitchen should be located — The 
 stairs — The cellar — The windows — Sills of windows should be 
 low — Defects in English palaces — Chimneys should be curved — 
 
 7 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 Ceilings only moderately high — "Where the sleeping apartments 
 should be located — The best woods for finishing — A good protec- 
 tion against fire — Rubber-lined tubing for water-pipes — Defects in 
 water-closets — An abundance of room-closets recommended — Im- 
 portance of trapping drain-pipes — Dwyer's plan for heating and 
 cooling rooms — Suggestions on painting and papering rooms — An 
 artist's idea for decorating mansions — Selection of paper governed 
 by the light and size of rooms — Suggestion on buying ivaU-paper 
 — How to make a small room look large — How to clean paper- 
 hangings — A recipe for a permanent whitewash 44 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE ART OF HOUSE-FURNISHING. 
 
 Modern furniture condemned by art critics — The fashionable woods 
 a century <igo — Uses of different woods — What to avoid in buying 
 furniture — A salesman's opinion of beauty not to be regarded — 
 Tendency in upholstery to run into curves — Chairs and sofas so 
 curved as to be uncomfortable — Tables and sofas should be strong 
 and comely rather than light and elegant — Usefulness the first 
 qualification — Size should be adapted to the dimensions of the 
 apartment — Comfortable and elegant parlor chairs difficult to find 
 — Selecting dining-room chairs — Cane seats unsuitable for bedroom 
 chairs — Drawers in bureaus should not be too deep — Bedsteads — 
 Novel articles in combination furniture — Pictures a7id picture- 
 frames — Oil pictures should not be hung with water colors and 
 engravings — Picture cords should correspond with the wall-paper 
 — Framed pictures should not be suspended from one nail — How 
 to select marble-top furniture — How to extract stains from marble — ■ 
 Recipe for marble cement — How to take bruises out of furniture — 
 How to clean mirrors — How to clean and tighten cane-seat chairs — 
 How to take oil or grease from cloth — To remove stains from tables 
 — How to cement broken china — Carpets — First point to be re- 
 garded in buying a carpet — The cheapest floor-covering that can 
 be made — The most desirable quality in a carpet — What colors to 
 avoid — Large patterns to be avoided — The best carpet for an ordi- 
 nary drawing-room — For bedrooms — Most economical way to lay 
 down carpets — What to do when a carpet begins to wear — Hoxv to 
 sweep carpets — How to preserve brooms — How to destroy moths in 
 carpets — How to clean and brighten Brussels carpets — Selecting oil- 
 cloths — How to clean oil-cloths — Moths in furniture — Only efTectual 
 preventive known 55 
 
CONTENTS. 9 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOUSEHOLD CONVENIENCES NOT IN GENERAL USE. 
 
 Housekeeping art — Novel mode of shelling beans — Importance of 
 kitchen conveniences — Why there should be an abundance of 
 kitchen cloths — Conveniences in a cook's galley — Articles to be 
 found in a well-kept kitchen — What kind of tinware should be 
 bought — Novel articles — The stock-pot a standard fixture in French 
 kitchens — Whitewood boards preferable to tables — The Dutch 
 oven higlily commended — The French bain-marie a very useful 
 utensil for stewing — Faults of modern frying-pan — Scales and 
 weights should be in every kitchen — Pasty-pans useful articles — 
 Revolving gridiron — A novel egg-boiler — A bronze egg-steamer — 
 Different kinds of egg-beaters — Best kind of coffee-pot — French 
 turn-spit preferable for roasting meat — Warren's cooker commended 
 — Apple and peach parers save labor — Ingenious invention for slic- 
 ing potatoes — A new machine for shelling peas — A tendon sepa- 
 rator a boon for bad carvers — How to choose refrigerators — Table 
 gas-stoves useful — Rotary knife-cleaners save time — A griddle- 
 greaser of recent invention — The best clothes-line protector — How 
 to remove rust from knives, forks, etc. — How to prevent rust on iron 
 or steel articles — Novel mode of sharpening edged tools — How to 
 prevent lamps from smoking 69 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE ART OF MARKETING HOUSEKEEPING HINTS. 
 
 Dr. Kitchiner's rule for marketing — How to choose beef — What 
 parts furnish the choicest beef — Sirloins — Why so called — Porter- 
 house steaks — Where the tenderloin is taken from — How the rump 
 is divided — Beef-^-la-mode — What the chuck contains — What the 
 brisket-piece is used for — Which are the best beef's tongues — How 
 to distinguish good beef's liver — How to cook a beef's heart — 
 Points in good veal — How the hind-quarter is divided — Veal cutlets 
 — Most economical piece of veal to buy — Calves' sweet-bread a delicacy 
 — How to tell when a calf's head is fresh — How to buy calves' feet 
 — How to select mutton and lamb — Appearance of poor mutton — 
 What the two loins are called — Points of good lamb — Usual weight 
 of a quarter of lamb — How to distinguish good pork — Measly pork 
 — How to select good hams and bacon — What are the best sau- 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 sages— How lard is adulterated — How to keep meat from spoiling 
 — How to tell when chickens are fresh — How to tell a younf/ turkey — 
 Ducks and geese — How old pheasants may be known — Old part- 
 ridges, wild fowl, hares and rabbits — How to choose venison — What 
 vegeiablef are appropriate to different meats — How to select 
 potatoes, turnips, tomatoes, cauliflowers, celery, egg-plant — 
 How to distinguish bad from good mushrooms — Where potatoes 
 should be kept — How cabbages and celery are best preserved — liow 
 to keep apples — How to keep oranges, lemons and cranberries all 
 winter— How to test seeds — How to distinguish /resA^sA. — How to 
 judge whether oysters and clams are fresli — A hint to oyster-eaters 
 — How to buy lobsters, crabs and terrapin — How the Chinese catch 
 fish — Best mode of buying Jlour — Indian meal to be bought in small 
 quantities — Rye and buckwheat should be kept in covered kegs — 
 Sugars should not be bought by the barrel — Coffee and tea may be 
 bought in considerable quantities — Difficult to get good indigo — 
 Saleratus should be kept in glass bottles — Salt should be kept in 
 the dry — Where to keep oils and molasses — How to keep spices — 
 How to test nutmegs — W^hich Ls the best cheese — How to preserve 
 eggs — How to test coal-oil 80 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ON FUELS AND FIRES, SAVING GAS, ETC. 
 
 Great waste of fuel — Principal substances used as fuel — What is 
 charcoal, coke, peat — Different kinds of woods — Which is the best 
 — Advantages of black birch, white oak, maple — How pine and 
 chestnut may be made useful — Best trees make best fuel — What 
 kind of ivood most profitable to buy — When wood is cheapest — Coal 
 as a fuel — How to judge hard coed — How coal-dealers judge coal — 
 How to kindle a coal fire — How to remove clinkers from stove 
 grates — How to use coal economically — Experience of an old 
 housekeeper — Good coal thrown out as cinders — How to measure 
 coal — Gas as a fuel — Improvements in gas-stoves — How to regulate 
 and save gas — Different kinds of burners— Importance of good 
 burners — A good regulator economizes gas — Novel method of 
 enriching gas — The best way to regulate flow of gas— How to 
 extinguish fires and prevent conflagrations — Fire-proof buildings 
 a failure — Every building sliould be provided with fire apparatus 
 — A reorganization of the fire department recommended — Hoiv to 
 preserve life when clothing is on fire — What persons should do at night 
 
CONTENTS. 11 
 
 when they discover smoke in the room — How to use kerosene oU 
 safely — Tricks of sellers of patent oils — How to save a person on 
 fire — Best remedy for burns 105 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ABOUT EATING AND ARTICLES OF FOOD. 
 
 Animals directed by instinct to the right food — Food of the Esqui- 
 maux — Classes into which food may be divided — What kinds of 
 food produce heat, muscle, brains — Mistakes made in eating — 
 Infinite variety of articles adapted for food — Wheat contains all 
 the elements of the human system — Mye valuable to persons pre- 
 disposed to constipation — Qualities of Indian corn as food — Oatmeal 
 promotes muscular and mental activity — What rice should be eaten 
 with — What vegetables are the most nutritious — Peas more easily 
 digested than beans — Value of potatoes, carrots, turnips, etc. — 
 Meats as food — Pork suited for cold weather and veal for warm — 
 Value of beefsteak — Fish said to contain food for the brain — 
 Chickens and poultry as food — What parts are the best — Best meat 
 in birds — What oysters are good for — Food makes the man — One of 
 the most important discoveries ever made — What kind of break- 
 fast for students to eat — For laborers — What every one can test for 
 himself — What to eat before going out in the cold — What to eat 
 in summer — All kinds of food wholesome under certain circum- 
 stances — Dr. Bellows' remarkable statement that rattlesnakes may 
 be eaten — W^hat kinds of foods are the most digestible — How and 
 when to eat — What suppers are the best — Dangers of nightmare — 
 How Cornarro prolonged his life 121 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CHEAP LIVING AND ECONOMICAL FOOD. 
 
 To teach art of living the greatest charity to the poor— Why 
 American cookery is extravagant — How thousands of Frenchmen 
 live — What may be done with ten cents a day in New York — 
 Thoreau's experiment — Cost of keeping prisoners — What is 
 actually needed to sustain life — Soyer's cheap soups — Value of 
 grits or crushed wheat — Where the nutriment in wheat is — Food 
 thrown to pigs exactly suited for children — Nutritious qualities of 
 beans and peas — Cheapest of all food — How to cook pork and beans 
 — Baked beans — Indian corn nutritious and cheap — Mistakes in 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 grinding and boiling it — How to make corn bread — How to make 
 Indian pudding — How to cook hominy — How they cook rice in 
 Italy — How to make rice pudding without eggs — Utility of lentils — 
 Kecipe for farmer's rice — Oatmeal said to contain the most mate- 
 rial for hard work of any known grain — Recipe for oatmeal por- 
 ridge — What are the most economical meals — Wliat is tlie best 
 corned-beef — A cheap and excellent bee/stew — A good and economi- 
 cal breakfast dish — How to fry rashers of bacon and poach eggs — 
 Eoasted ox-heart stuffed, a savory and economical dish — A genuine 
 pepper-pot — English celebrated for cold-meat cookery — What can 
 be done witli cold roast beef — Cold mutton — Cold veal — Cold poultry 
 — Mixed coffees the best — Wheat and coffee afford an agreeable 
 mixture — Peas used largely to adulterate coffee — Excellence of 
 sturgeon, veal-cutlets, and vegetable beefsteaks 131 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 VALUABLE SECRETS KNOWN TO GOOD COOKS. 
 
 Bad cooking is waste — The regret of Mrs, Warren's friend — Value 
 of family kitchen maxims — What comprise the essential opera- 
 tions in cookery — How to bake meats — Should meat to be boiled 
 be put in cold or hot water — How to boil cabbages — What is the 
 most important thing in broiling — Sliould a beefsteak be turned 
 once only or often — Soyer's opinion — What the French understand 
 by frying — How to test the heat of fat in frying — What careful 
 cooks do with their frying-fat — How to roast meat — Slow roasting 
 the best — How veal, fowls and rabbits should be roasted — Use of 
 covering with bacon fat — What fire is best for stewing — The proper 
 rule for seasoning — Wash greens in warm water — What a cook 
 should be — Cleanliness in kitchen utensils a cardinal requisite — 
 A good cook regards appearances — How punctuality in meals can 
 be assured— How to avoid waste — Cooking-aprons with bibs desir- 
 able — How to treat frying-pans— Few cooks can make good bis- 
 cuits — How to neutralize acid in fruit pies — How to make good 
 family bread — Marion Harland's directions— Miss Leslie's recom- 
 mendation — How to make stale bread or cake fresh — Convenient 
 uses of bread dough— Soyer's recipe for good buttered toast — How 
 to fry ham and eggs — Blot's beef-broth and soup — How to boil eggs 
 — How to boil potatoes — The Irish method — What may be done with 
 cold potatoes — How to boil sweet potatoes — How to boil turnips — 
 To make cabbage digestible — To cook onions without smell — To make 
 
CONTENTS. 13 
 
 maccaroni cheese — Lyman's method of cooking mackerel — Wliat 
 good cooks do with cold veal — To boil bacon — Novel mode of 
 making coffee — Cabbage made digestible to all — Should coffee 
 be ground or beaten — Professor Blot's method of making tea — 
 Soyer's plan — Hints about chocolate — How to prepare salads — Bill 
 of fare for the sick — Food for young children — Food suited to deli- 
 cate persons — Standard breakfast dishes — Sunday dinners that save 
 cooking — Dr. Lamlort's bill of fare of brain-making food 150 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DAINTY DISHES FOR DAINTY PALATES. 
 1. Domestic Cookery. 
 
 In what the art of cookery consists — Higli-class cookery — How to 
 roast beef English style — Proper fire for roasting beef — Length 
 of time required — How to roast canvas-back ducks — How to extract 
 their fishy flavor — Lady St. Clair on roasting game, ducks, part- 
 ridges, woodcock, etc. — How to barbecue rabbits and squirrels — 
 To broil pigeons or squabs — Roasted guinea-fowls richer than 
 cliickens — Harland's recipe for baking salmon-trout — How to cook 
 brook-trout — Broiled reed birds a dainty dish — Charles Lamb on 
 roast pig and apple-sauce — How to make mutton eat like venison — 
 Best mode of broiling oysters on the sliell — Finest way of cooking 
 oysters for company — How to dress chicken as terrapin — Soyer's 
 French pot au feu — Eggs and cheese a favorite dish — Professor 
 Blot's recipe for French omelets — Good cheap omelet — How to 
 make a Swiss rarebit — A genuine Welsh rarebit — Good sauce for 
 every kind of fish — The Harlem river boatmen's recipe for clam 
 chowder — Tom Riley's clam bakes — Soyer's wholesome summer 
 salad — French method of dressing salad — Parkinson's recipe for 
 strawberries with orange juice — A delicious custard — Very fine cold 
 cup custard — The queen of puddings — A pleasant fruit dessert — A 
 delicious apple sauce — A nice breakfast dish — Dainty dish for 
 farmers — Green-corn fritters and pudding — Buckwheat short-cakes 
 — The nicest pie ever eaten — A rare strawberry short-cake — 
 National French cake — An exquisite marmalade — Saratoga fried 
 potatoes — Philadelphia fried potatoes — An exquisite mince pie — 
 
 How to make superior ice cream 179 
 
 2 
 
14 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 DAINTY DISHES FOR DAINTY PALATES. 
 
 High-class cookery — Large salaries paid to head-cooks — Ex- 
 pense of banquets in fashionable restaurants — Cost of flowers — 
 Admirable arrangement of kitchens — Dinners that are marvels of 
 culinary skill — Costly bills of i'are — A Nevada senator's bill of 
 fare engraved on silver — Recipes of dainty dishes invented in 
 Dehuunico's restaurant and furnished by the chief cook — A menu 
 "or twelve persons — How to make Creme d'asperge — How to cook 
 orook-trout — Duchesse potatoes — Fillet de boeuf, salvandy — Fillets 
 of chickens h, I'aquitaine — Force meat — Salpicon — English snipe 
 — Ananas a la Bayration — How to make Sorbet au kirch — Parfait 
 au caie and numerous French and other dishes belonging to high- 
 class cookery 206 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS ON CLOTHING. 
 
 Chesterfield's opinion on dress — Siiakspeare's ideas on proper apparel 
 — Buying cloth — What should be kept in view — Advantages of 
 a frock coat — What may be made from old clothes — How to 
 CLOTHE children — What should be worn next the skin in child- 
 liood — Clothing should be free and loose — An expensive custom 
 in men's clothing — Advantages of laying woollen garments 
 away a while — What suits a gentleman should have — Best goods 
 for business suits — What should be avoided in striped trousers- 
 Plow to cleanse broadcloths — How to treat a wet hat, or coat, or 
 boots — How io render cloth water-proof — How to obtain easy boots 
 or shoes — How to preserve boots and shoes — A cure for squeaking 
 shoes — Women's clothing — Tbe first rule in buying dress goods — 
 Advantages of chintzes and calicoes — How to choose calicoes — How 
 to select silks — Tlie best way to test their quality — Utility of black 
 alpaca — What style of women look well in plaids — In stripes — 
 In flounces — In shawls — Bonnets— Selecting colors that harmon- 
 ize with the complexion — What colors become blondes — Brunettes 
 — Hints to wearers of kid gloves — How to wash chintzes and summer 
 dresses, including buff-linen, pique, cambric — How to judge 
 LINEN — Healthfulness of flannels — When to take off and put on 
 
CONTENTS. 15 
 
 flannels — Proper method of washing flannels — Washing clothes 
 made easy — Advantages of refined borax — How to preserve the 
 lustre of silks — How to protect woollens, furs, etc., from moths — 
 The test of good furs 216 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE SECRETS OF THE TOILET. 
 
 Cleanliness a test of civilization — The two great enemies of beauty of 
 form — How to reduce corpulence — Excessive corpulence is a disease 
 — Stock-raisers know how to fatten or reduce flesh in animals — 
 Banting's experiments in reducing corpulency — What he was 
 allowed to eat and what was forbidden — The efiect in a year — 
 How ladies may reduce excessive development of the breast — Sir 
 James Clark's advice for increasing its development — How to cure 
 leanness — What to eat and drink — Beauty of complexion — Impor- 
 tance of keeping the pores of the skin open — Cosmetics that are not 
 injurious — What to do to prevent sunburn — How to cure freckles 
 — Recipe for removing tan and sunburn — How to remove birth 
 marks and moles — To prevent wrinkles — Eecipe for curing tetter — 
 A novel cure for ringworm — The hair — Favorite colors — Kules for 
 securing a beautiful head of hair — How baldness may be cured — 
 A wash for dandruff" — How to darken the hair — How to secure 
 beautiful eye-lashes — Hands and nails — Wearing kid gloves im- 
 proves the appearance of the hands — What water should be used for 
 washing and why — How to treat the nails — Cures for chapped hands 
 — Best ointment for the hands — How to remove warts — Caee op 
 THE EYES — When to use spectacles — Best remedies for inflamed eyes 
 — How to remove cinders from the eye — Squinting may be cured — 
 White veils injurious — How to preserve the teeth — What to do to 
 avoid having decayed teeth — A safe tooth-powder — Infallible cures 
 for tootliache and faceache — Bad breath — Causes of offensive 
 breaths — Best remedy for bad breath — How the taint of onions may 
 be removed — Care of the feet — How to keep feet in good condition 
 — Remedy for tender feet — Treatment of chilblains — Astley 
 Cooper's remedy — To relieve feet itching from frost bites — How to 
 prevent frosted feet — A remedy for cold feet — Cures for ingrowing 
 nails — Proper ways of cutting nails — Causes of fetid feet — Cures 
 for odorous feet — Corns and bunions — Origin of, and how they may 
 be speedily cured — Corns cured in ten minutes — A capital oint- 
 ment for bunions — How to reinove body vermin — Peculiarities of 
 
16 CONTENTS. 
 
 these insects — Simple remedies for their speedy destniction — How 
 to drive away roaches — How to banish flies from a room and from 
 horses, etc. — Bedbug exterminators — How to destroy rats — Humph- 
 rey Davy's infallible rat poison — How to drive them away alive — 
 What ants do not like — How to banisli_/Zea from houses and from 
 animals — How to get relief from musgiiiloes — What a smart editor 
 does — Kemedies for bites of insects 240 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE FAMILY MEDICINE CHEST. 
 
 Sickness one ot the great burdens of society — The best room for a 
 sick-room — Advantage of sun-light — Well-aired bedding essential 
 — Best night-light — How to purify the air in a sick-room — Dr. 
 Smytlie's recipe for preventing infection — Colds and coughs — 
 Treatment recommended by the regulars — What Dio Lewis recom- 
 mends — How to avoid taking cold — Sir Astley Cooper's preven- 
 tive — The best and cheapest cough-syrup ever made — Dr. Che- 
 vasse's advice not to stop a cough in children — Asthma — A cheap 
 palliative — Dr. Finley's prescription — What has cured asthma and 
 ■what is considered a specific — Ague — Dr. Chase's prescription — 
 A novel cure for ague — How to prevent fever and ague — Experience 
 of the French Creole planters — How to prevent bleeding from the 
 nose — How to arrest bleeding from the lungs — A cheap blood-puri- 
 fier — A remedy for bruises and black eyes — Remedy for pinched 
 fingers — Cure for chilblains and frosted feet — Proper treatment for 
 diarrhoea — Hints for travellers — Dr. Locock's remedy for dysentery 
 — Warm bath recommended — Raw minced beef found effective — ■ 
 Dyspepsia or indigestion — What is the first essential element 
 in the cure — Secret of the New York doctor who charged five htm- 
 dred dollars for each case — Voltaire's remedy — HowMrs.Swisshelm 
 cured her dyspepsia — A remedy for the indigestion resulting from 
 overeating — Earache and deafness — Best treatment for remov- 
 ing concreted wax — Several remedies for erysipelas — What to do 
 when a person faints — How to cure a felon in six hours — Recipe 
 for felon ointment that lias been sold for ten dollars — Remedies for 
 headache — How to cure heartburn or waterbrash — Remedies for 
 hysterical fits and nervousness — Preliminary treatment of pleurisy 
 — Relief for liver complaint — The most successful treatment for 
 piles — Dr. Hariman's sure cure for blind or bleeding piles — Reme- 
 dies for sore throat — The best gargle — Smoking muUen leaves 
 
CONTENTS. 17 
 
 recommended — Smal'l-pox or variola — A Californian's 
 remarkable statement — Dr. Getchell's opinion that sraall-pox 
 may be utterly exterminated — How to prevent 'pitting in small-pox 
 — What a person should do who has been bitten by an animal 
 supposed to have been rabid — A cure for scrofula — Sprains — A 
 French remedy for sea-sickness — Simple remedy for curing ringworm 
 and barbell's itch — How to prevent curvature of the spine — Uses of 
 cold water in disease — Value of alcohol as a medicine — Opinions 
 of Surgeon-General Hammond and Mrs. Swisshelm — Why ammonia 
 should be kept in the house — What may be done with chlorate of 
 potash , 266 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CHILDEEN AND THEIR DISEASES. 
 
 Macaulay's remark — Healthy children a monument of their parents' 
 thrift — Proper food for infants — Dr. C!ombe's observation — Dr. 
 Clarke on animal food — When should an infant be spoon-fed — 
 Advice to sucklitig mothers — The proper period for weaning a 
 child — Good pap for infants — A good breakfast dish for infants of 
 twelve months old — Good porridge — What to do when a baby cries 
 — Character of the cry indicative of the nature of the trouble — Cry 
 of earache — Bowel-ache — Bronchitis — Croupy cry — When tears 
 are a favorable indication in illness — Proper treatment of infants — 
 Treatment during teething — Importance of fenders around a stove 
 in nursery — Cause of weak ankles and curved legs — Proper clothing 
 for infants— Infantile diseases — Remedy for red gum — For 
 vomiting — How thread-worms may be removed — The best vermi- 
 fuges — Value of onions — Diseases of the mouth — Treatment of con- 
 vulsions or fits — What to do in remittent fever — Croup — Promptness 
 in treatment essential — An English doctor's recommendation — 
 What to do for child-crowing or spurious croup — Measles — Little 
 medicine required — The nurse more important than the doctor — 
 Mumps — Treatment for — How they may be removed in four or five 
 days — Palliatives for whooping-cough — Dr. Dailey's prescription 
 — A remedy for soreness in the chest — Dr. Delamere's quick cure for 
 whooping-cough — When a change of air is beneficial — W^hat to do 
 in clu)lera-morbus or summer complaint — How to treat diarrhoea in 
 children — A specific for all bowel complaints — Dr. Newell's treat- 
 ment of diphtheria — How two hundred and ninety-three cases 
 were treated without losing a single patient — Instant relief for 
 
18 CONTENTS. 
 
 EARACHE — How to treat burns, scalds, etc. — Kecipe to cure 
 itching feet from frost-bites — Cheap cure for tlie itch — Dr. Chase's 
 ointment for the seven years' itch — Dr. Bird's prescription — 
 Cure for tetter — A remedy for hiccouc/h — Scarlet fever — How 
 to distinguish scarlatina from other eruptive diseases — Dr. Che- 
 vasse's treatment of scarlet fever — Best external application for 
 the throat — What he regards as a specific for scai-let fever — 
 Food to be eaten in scarlet fever — Gartland's scarle* fever 
 disinfectant 305 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SLEEP AND ITS APPLIANCES. 
 
 Napoleon's remark on sleep and death — Shakspeare's beautiful 
 tribute to sleep — What is the proper length of time to sleep — For 
 children — -For adults — For women and students — What kind of 
 BED is best — Dr. Strange's opinion — What is the best mattress, 
 and which the cheapest and most economical — Domestic mattresses 
 — Best springs to put under mattresses — Best covering for beds — 
 Blankets — Treatment of — How to wash blankets — Cotton sheets 
 preferable to linen — Best pillow-slips — How to sweeten sheets — 
 Hair pillows better than feathers — How to ventilate sleeping 
 apartments — A doctor's objection to the present method — How 
 long should bed-room windows remain open — Fires in bed-rooms 
 — What can be done to produce sleep — Which side is best to sleep 
 on — Sleeping on the back — Should food betaken just before going to 
 bed — What Dr. Strange recommends — Digestion goes on during 
 sleep — A nap after dinner recommended — Coffee and tea for sup- 
 per considered — What narcotics are unobjectionable — Onions 
 soporific — Franklin's art of procuring sleep — Two beds are 
 recommended for invalids — When all rules for procuring sleep 
 will fail 333 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 
 
 Chronology of early ages was not the same as at present— A remark- 
 able statement — Methuselah's age reduced to two hundred— Eras- 
 mus Wilson's remark — What things tend to shorten life— What 
 errors students commit — How cold bathing may shorten life— What 
 
COjS^TENTS. 
 
 19 
 
 things tend to prolong life — What remedies to employ in case of 
 suffocation — Cut the rope — The tepid bath useful — Conveying air 
 into the lungs — Kubbing with a cloth or flesh-brush — How to restore 
 persons struck by lightning — The earth bath recommended — How 
 to restore persons frozen — The two great antidotes for poisoning- 
 Best antidotes for arsenic or corrosive sublimate — How the old may 
 prolong their lives — Heat essential — What old people should eat 
 — Regularity in all natural operatioHS — Danger of indulging in 
 violent passions — Old folks should associate with children and 
 renew their life 344 
 
HOME COMFOETS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTEODTJCTORY. — ELEMENTS OF COMFORT. 
 
 "There is no more intensely interesting subject, among tlie many 
 questions of the day, tlian the great problem of Domestic Economy. 
 How to live well and comfortably, and yet cheaply, without descending 
 to niggardliness, is, and has been, the study of wise men and philosophers 
 in all ages." — Anon. 
 
 COMFORT has been called the principal household god 
 of the English people. Home and Comfort are cer- 
 tainly the two most significant words in the English 
 ^ language. In countries where the air is genial 
 throughout the year, and to bask in the sunshine imparts 
 health and pleasure, the dwelling and its management may 
 be matters of secondary consideration ; but in England and 
 the United States a comfortable home is the first essential 
 element in the art of living happily. 
 
 Home comfort is the result of knowing how to manage 
 the details of a household in the best manner, so that its 
 machinery will work smoothly, without jar or friction, 
 and applying that knowledge daily, which is sometimes 
 called House-thrift. Wealth, though it can purchase lux- 
 ury, cannot buy comfort. The rich, as well as the very 
 poor, are often without homes, or have homes that are not 
 
 33 
 
34 . HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 homes. When the spirit of domestic disorder or unthrift 
 enters the door, whether it be of a mansion or of a cottage, 
 all the good angels fly out of the windows. So when the 
 genius of Good Management comes within a household. 
 Comfort follows soon after, erects her shrine and distributes 
 daily blessings to every member of the family. 
 
 It is remarkable that though the ambition to live com- 
 fortably is so general as to be almost universal, yet very few 
 attain the object of their wishes. Those who have made 
 their fortunes are wheedled into the meshes of fashionable 
 society, bound with silver chains, and delivered over into 
 the hands of the most remorseless of taskmasters. The 
 middle classes sacrifice comfort in their attempts to imitate 
 the rich in their style of living, and involve themselves in 
 debt and its attendant vexations. Even among the work- 
 ing classes, their daily meals are often miniature banquets. 
 Living to eat, rather than eating to live, they consume the 
 nest-egg of independence and wonder there is no increase. 
 An English manufacturer remarked that he could not 
 really afford to buy spring lamb, and green peas, and sal- 
 mon, and new potatoes, and strawberries, for some weeks 
 after his hands had been feeding on these delicacies. 
 
 Some one has naively remarked there is nothing so ex- 
 pensive as living, except, perhaps, it be dying and employing 
 a fashionable undertaker. Alexis Soyer, one of the noted 
 authorities in gastronomy, in order partly to magnify the 
 importance of his calling, has attempted to compute the 
 quantities of food which an English epicure probably con- 
 sumes, if his life be prolonged to threescore years and ten ; 
 and takinp; for the basis of his calculation the averagce or 
 medium consumption at daily meals, he estimates that a 
 moderately good liver consumes 300 oxen, 500 calves, 
 lambs, pigs, etc., 1200 fowls, 1000 ducks, turkeys, etc., 
 
ELEMENTS OF COMFORT. 35 
 
 3600 birds of various kinds, 500 hares and rabbits, 40 
 deer, 120 Guinea hens, 360 wild fowl, 5000 smelts, 4000 
 other kinds of fish, not counting whitebait, 30,000 oysters, 
 1500 lobsters or crabs, 300,000 prawns, shrimps, sardines, 
 etc., 500 lbs. of grapes, 360 lbs. of pine apple, 240 melons, 
 some hundred thousand ajjples, pears, plums, etc., and 
 some millions of cherries, strawberries, currants, and other 
 small fruit, as walnuts, chestnuts, and figs ; 5475 lbs. of 
 vegetables of all kinds, 2434| lbs. of butter, 684 lbs. of 
 cheese, 21,000 eggs, 4^ tons of bread, half a ton of salt 
 and pepper, and near 2 J tons of sugar ; and that he will 
 drink 2736 gallons of water, 2394 gallons of coffee and 
 tea, 1368 gallons of beer, and 4200 gallons of other 
 liquids. This calculation, if only approximately accurate, 
 demonstrates most forcibly how great is the cost of our 
 daily subsistence, and how important is that knowledge 
 which enables us to select and prepare these vast quantities 
 of food without loss or waste, and in accordance with the 
 laws of health. It is undoubtedly true that the greater 
 part of human labor is directly employed in producing 
 materials for human food. 
 
 Another serious drawback to the attainment of Domestic 
 Comfort is ignorance of the elements of comfort, especially 
 of good cookery. In the princely establishments of Europe 
 and the mansions of the wealthy, where a dinner is not 
 merely a necessity, but a luxury, all the great chiefs of the 
 kitchen are men. The Francatellis, the Soyers, the Blots, 
 and the GoufPds, whose names are familiar in both conti- 
 nents, are simply by profession male cooks, but they are 
 also men of genius, and deservedly take rank with 
 artists, for it requires as much talent to prepare a modern 
 banquet as to paint a modern picture. In the homes of 
 
36 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 luxurious living the health of the chief cook is a most 
 important matter, and is guarded with assiduous care, 
 because when there is any aihnent in the body the palate 
 cannot be relied upon. Some enthusiastic gourmand 
 recommends an employer to feel tlie pulse of his cook 
 every morning, and examine his tongue, for he says if his 
 system be out of order, and "the cook's palate is dull, 
 his master will find the ragouts and sauces too highly 
 seasoned." 
 
 It is the conceit of some philosophers that men are not 
 only the best cooks, but the only fit persons to write books 
 of cookery. The oldest and one of the best books in this 
 class of literature, known as " Mrs. Glasse's Cookerv," was 
 written, it is said, by Dr. Hill. " "Women," said Dr. Johnson, 
 "can spin very well; but they cannot make a good book 
 of cookery." The learned doctor himself thought of 
 writing a book upon the philosophy of cooking, and said that 
 as " a prescription, which is now compounded of five in- 
 gredients, had formerly fifty in it, so in cookery, if t\\Q 
 nature of the ingredients be well known, much fewer will 
 do. Then, as you cannot make bad meat good, I would 
 tell what is the best butcher's meat, the best beef, the best 
 pieces ; how to choose young fowls ; the proper seasons of 
 different vegetables; and then how to roast, boil, and 
 compound." 
 
 In France, all classes, the men as Avell as the women, 
 study the economy of cookery and practise it ; and there, 
 as many travellers affirm, the people live at one-third the 
 expense of Englishmen or Americans. There they know 
 how to make savory messes out of remnants that others 
 would throw away. There they cook no more for each 
 day than is required for that day. "With them the art 
 ranks with the fine arts, and a great cook is as much hon- 
 
ELEMENTS OF COMFOET. 87 
 
 ored and respected as a sculptor or a painter. The conse- 
 quence is, as ex-Secretary McCullough thinks, a French 
 village of a thousand inhabitants could be supported lux- 
 uriously on the waste of one of our large American hotels, 
 and he believes that the entire population of France could 
 be supported on the food which is literally wasted in the 
 United States. Professor Blot, who resided for some years 
 in the United States, remarks, pathetically, that here, 
 " where the markets rival the best markets of Europe, it is 
 really a pity to live as many do live. There are thousands 
 of families in moderately good circumstances who have 
 never eaten a loaf of really good bread, nor tasted a well- 
 cooked steak, nor sat down to a pro[)erly prepared meal." 
 
 But in American households it is not the fashion for men 
 to concern themselves with the details of the kitchen. The 
 wife is the prime minister in the administration of the 
 household, and within the limits of her jurisdiction her 
 power over the fortune and well-being of her subjects is 
 more absolute than that of t'le most despotic sovereign. 
 If she be ignorant of the arts of frugal management, or 
 wilfully extravagrant, or carelessly indifferent, not only the 
 exchequer but the health of the family will suffer. The 
 wife is the central figure in the household, and the secret 
 or philosophy of Home Comfort consists principally in 
 getting a good wife, who knows the things worth know- 
 ing in household management, or is teachable and 
 willing to learn. 
 
 The Qualifications of a Good Wife. 
 
 A good wife, it may be remarked, is not a natural growth, 
 springing from the soil without care or cultivation. Some- 
 thing undoubtedly is due to parentage and example, but in 
 the main a girl is trained to be what she becomes. Writers 
 3 
 
38 HOME COMFOETS. 
 
 on physiology and hygiene, as well as those on morals, have 
 had a good deal to say on the education of women, but 
 probably no one has written so much that is practical and 
 useful as Dr. Chavasse, in his little books entitled ^'Advice 
 to Wives" and "Advice to Mothers." 
 
 First of all in tlie list of qualifications that fit a woman 
 for marriage, and above all others, he, in common with 
 most other sensible writers, places Good Health. Life 
 without health is a burden ; life with health is a joy and 
 gladness. It is a fearful responsibility both to men and 
 women to many if they be not healthy, and the result 
 must, as a matter of course, be misery. How needful it 
 therefore is that all necessary instruction should be im- 
 parted to every young wife, and the proper means shown 
 by which she may preserve her health. 
 
 How to Preserve a Wife's Health. 
 
 In order to maintain health, a young married woman 
 ought to take regular and systematic out-door exercise, so 
 far as it can be done without interfering with her house- 
 hold duties. Walking expands the chest, strengthens the 
 muscles, promotes digestion, and exhilarates like a glass of 
 champagne, but unlike c!iam[)agne, it never leaves a head- 
 ache behind. " If ladies would walk more than they do, 
 there would be fewer lackadaisical, useless, complaining 
 wives than there at present are ; and instead of having a 
 race of puny children we should have a race of giants." 
 
 In order to preserve health a young married womar 
 must attend to the ventilation of her house. Ninety-nine 
 out of every hundred bed-rooms, doctors assert, are badly 
 ventilated ; and in the morning after they have been slept 
 in they' are full of impure and poisoned air. " I say ad- 
 
ELEMENTS OF COMFOBT. 39 
 
 visedly impure and poisoned air, for the air becomes foul 
 and deadly if not perpetually changed — if not constantly 
 mixed, both by day and by night, with fresh, pure, external 
 air. Many persons, by breathing the same air over and 
 over again, are literally poisoned by their own breaths. 
 This is not an exaggerated statement — alas, it is too true!" 
 For ventilation open the windows both at top and bottom, 
 that the fresh air may rush in one way, while the foul air 
 makes its exit through the other. This is letting in your 
 friend and expelling an enemy. 
 
 In order to preserve health a young wife should icash 
 her body thoroughly evevy morning. "There is nothing," 
 siys Dr. Chavasse, " more tonic, and invigorating, and 
 refreshing than a cold ablution. Moreover, it makes one 
 feel clean and swe3t and wholesome ; and you may depend 
 upon it t;iat it not only improves our physical constitu- 
 tion but likewise our moral character. A dirty man has 
 generally a dirty mind." 
 
 In order to preserve health a young wife should have a 
 nourishing diet, and especially a substantial breakfast. She 
 must frequently vary the kind of food, of meat especially, 
 as also the manner of cooking it. Where a lady is very 
 thin, good fresh milk, if it agree, should form an important 
 item of her diet. The meagre breakfasts of many young 
 wives, eating scarcely anything, is one cause, the doctor 
 thinks, of so much sickness among them, and of so many 
 puny children in the Avorld. A woman who has no appe- 
 tite for her breakfast is not in perfect health, and should 
 consult her medical adviser. 
 
 In order to preserve health a wife should have seven or 
 eight hours of sound, refreshing sleep. " Sleep is of more 
 consequence to the human economy than food. Nothing 
 should therefore be allowed to interfere with sleep. And 
 
40 HOME COMFOETS. 
 
 as tlie attendance on large assemblies, balls, and concerts 
 interferes sadly, in every way, with sleep, they ought one 
 and all to be sedulously avoided." Early rising, not later 
 than six in summer and seven in winter, is also recom- 
 mended, as it imparts health to the frame as well as gives 
 animation to the household. "The early risers make the 
 healthy, bright, long-lived wives and mothers." 
 
 In order to preserve health it is necessary to avoid the 
 use of alcoholic stimulants, except as a medicine. " It is 
 surprising," says Dr. Chavasse, " the quantity of wine 
 some young ladies, at parties, can imbibe without being 
 intoxicated ; but whether if such ladies marry they will 
 make fruitful vines is quite another matter; but of this I 
 am quite sure that such girls will, as a rule, make delicate, 
 hysterical, and unhealthy wives. The young are peculiarly 
 sensitive to the evil effects of over-stimulation. Excessive 
 wine-drinking with them is a canker, eating into their very 
 lives. Time it is that these facts were proclaimed through 
 the length and breadth of our land before mischief be done 
 past remedy." 
 
 Other Qualifications of a Good Wife. 
 
 A good wife is not only a healthy woman, but one who 
 thoroughly understands household duties. In Sweden, it is 
 said, the young ladies of wealthy families esteem it a priv- 
 ilege to be permitted to cook the family dinner ; and in 
 France every woman can cook, hence good cookery is with 
 them the rule, while with us it is the exception. It is true, 
 as Dr. Johnson remarked, that a man is in general better 
 pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table than 
 when his wife speaks Greek. But it is also true that a 
 good house-wife is of necessity an educated woman, learned 
 not in the dead languages, but in the physical sciences. 
 
ELEMENTS OF COMFOET. 41 
 
 She is a chemist, technologist, and a physician. On the 
 Avails of her laboratory are hung texts of practical wisdom 
 for the instruction of her domestics, and in an appropriate 
 corner, within convenient reach, is a small but select library 
 of books on Household Science, Domestic Economy, and 
 Common Sense Cookery. " The practical value of cookery 
 books," says Delamere, " consists not so much in the in- 
 struction they afford to persons totally ignorant of the art, as 
 ia their suggestiveuess to heads of households who do know 
 something about it, A lady is puzzled how to vary agree- 
 ably and economically her day's bill of fare. She consults 
 her books, and there are many good ones ; and without 
 slavishly following their indications, adapts them to her 
 own tastes and circumstances. A clever housekeeper, with 
 only half a hint, will improvise pleasing culinary novel- 
 ties — novelties, that is, to the habitual diners at her own 
 f miily table, whereas without the hint she might have gone 
 ]>lodding on in a wearisome routine of roast, boiled, and 
 cold. 
 
 A good wife not only knows the details of household 
 duties, but the secret of economical management. There 
 are many women who have the disposition to do, and suc- 
 ceed tolerably well, provided they have plenty of means ; 
 but their management is inordinately extravagant. They 
 throw away as remnants what would suffice a good cook 
 for a meal. They cook more than is required and allow 
 tiie surplus to spoil. They spend the time in making iced 
 cakes which should be devoted to making good bread. It 
 has been said of American women that there are more who 
 can furnish you with a good ice-cream than a well-cooked 
 mutton-chop ; a fair charlotte-russe is easier to gain than a 
 perfect cup of coffee ; and you shall find a sparkling jelly 
 to your dessert when you sighed in vain for a v>'cll-cooked 
 
42 HOIfE C03IF0BTS. 
 
 potato. They forget that to do common things perfectly is 
 far better worth our endeavor than to do uncommon things 
 respectably. 
 
 A good wife also cultivates cheerfulness, and placidity of 
 temper and disposition. Nothing disturbs digestion and 
 consequently injures health so much as a fretful, easily 
 ruffled temper. "Our passions," says Dr. Grosvenor, "may 
 be compared to the winds in the air, which, when gentle 
 and moderate, fill the sail and carry the ship on smoothly 
 to the desired port ; but when violent, unmanageable and 
 boisterous, they grow to a storm and threaten the ruin and 
 destruction of all." Fortunately temper is susceptible of 
 cultivation, and may be controlled. A Quaker, who was 
 remarkable for the mastery he had acquired over his temper, 
 was asked by one, who had roundly abused him, the secret, 
 and he replied that in his youth he was also hot and irri- 
 table, but having observed that those who got into a passion 
 elevated their voices he resolved never to allow his voice 
 to rise above a certain pitch, and that was his secret. 
 
 A good wife, moreover, avoids giving cause for jealousy. 
 There are some women who delight to test their husbands' 
 affection by flirting with others and mean no harm, but 
 jealousy is too dangerous a passion to trifle with. When 
 aroused it is rarely ever allayed ; it grows by feeding on 
 apprehension, and magnifies mole-hills into mountains. 
 Trifles light as air 
 
 "Are, to the jealous, confirmations strong 
 As proofs of Holy Writ." 
 
 Lastly, a good wife is something of a physician, and in 
 the minor ills, and especially infantile complaints, the best 
 of physicians. She knows the proper remedies for cuts 
 and bruises, mumps and measles, as well as the best cos- 
 
ELEMENTS OF COMFORT. 43 
 
 metics for the complexion, and pomades for tlie hair ; and 
 is an expert in destroying bugs and banishing fleas. All 
 the information contained in the subsequent pages of this 
 volume is in substance familiar to a properly educated 
 woman, though we may wonder 
 
 " That one small head could carry all (she) knew." 
 
 It is related that a lad who had been brought up in a 
 wilderness by a hermit, and had been kept from the sight 
 of women, saw by chance two girls walking, and inquiring 
 what they were, was told they were fairies. Long after- 
 ward, when he was asked what was the pleasantest thing 
 he had ever seen in all his wanderings, he replied, " The 
 two fairies in the wilderness." So a man who has known 
 a good wife or mother treasures her memory as the 
 pleasantest recollection of his life. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ox HOUSE-PLAXXIXG AXD SELECTIXG "WALL-PAPER. 
 
 " Taste — which has been cle:=cribed as the finest ornament and purest 
 hixurv of a land— is a thing of culture, and to its full enjoyment we may 
 not hope to attain till the eye has been trained as well as the mind. 
 Everything that is strained, forced or unnatural, is repulsive. An excess 
 of color, an elaboration of carved ornaments, or extravagance of any 
 kind, in matters of taste, should meet a well-merited censure." — Mason. 
 
 XE of the fuiKlamcntal principles or elements of do- 
 mestic comfort is, for most persons, a convenient and 
 well-planned dwelling. ^lucli has been written on 
 the subject of house-building, but a digest of it 
 would probably be of very limited practical value. Those 
 who intend to build for themselves will be likely to study 
 the works specially devoted to architecture; those who 
 have already built do not need to be told what mistakes 
 they have made, and those who have not the meaus to 
 build for themselves must take such houses as they can get. 
 There are a few points, however, that have such an impor- 
 tant influence upon economy in housekeeping, that they 
 they should be borne in mind when erecting or selecting a 
 house. 
 
 Points to be Observed in House-Planning. 
 
 In building a house in the coimtry tlie first consideration 
 is a selection of a site or location, and this should always 
 be, if possible, on dry, gravelly boil, iiiodcratcly elevated 
 44 
 
HOUSE-PLANNING. 45 
 
 and slightly declining on every side to afford good drainage. 
 Trees upon a site always improve it, but they should not be 
 too numerous or too near the house, or they will make the 
 rooms gloomy and injure the w^alls and roof by their con- 
 tinual shade and dampness. 
 
 With regard to the aspect of a house, all architectural 
 writers concur that the principal front should be towards 
 the southeast. Mr. Repton remarks, " I consider the aspect 
 of infinitely more consequence to the enjoyment and comfort 
 of the inhabitant than any prospect whatever ; and every 
 common observer must be convinced that in this climate a 
 southern aspect is most desirable ; but few are aware of 
 the total difference in the effect of turning the front of the 
 house a few points to the east or to the west of south, be- 
 cause, although the southeast is the best, the southwest is 
 the worst of all possible aspects, for this reason, that all 
 blustering winds and driving rains come from the south- 
 west, and consequently the windows are so covered with 
 wet as to render the landscape hardly visible." 
 
 With regard to the plan of a proposed house, it is de- 
 sirable to spend a good deal of time during the winter in 
 discussing and considering it, and it is well to take counsel 
 from an intelligent woman. Women generally have a 
 much better idea of what constitutes real comfort in a 
 house than men ; and on all points connected with the 
 relative arrangement of apartments, so as to save labor on 
 the part of servants, we Avould far sooner take the opinion 
 of an intelligent woman than that of the cleverest architect 
 who ever handled drawing square and pencil. The follow- 
 ing points deserve careful consideration in any plan that 
 may be adopted : 
 
 1. Let the kitchen if possible be on a level with the 
 principal floor, and for strong light and free ventilation it 
 
46 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 should have wiudows on opposite or nearly opposite 
 sides. 
 
 2. The pantry, or dish closet, should be between tlie 
 kitchen and dining-room and easily accessible from either. 
 
 3. There should be a set of easy inside stairs from the 
 kitchen to the cellar, and also an outer set into the cellar 
 for admitting barrels, hogsheads, etc. 
 
 4. Every entrance, except the one to the kitchen, should 
 be from an entry or hall, not only to prevent the abrupt in- 
 gress of cold air and for proper seclusion, but to prevent 
 the too common evil of passing through one room to 
 enter another. 
 
 5. Let the partitions of the upper floors stand over those 
 of the lower, as nearly as may be, to secure firmness and 
 solidity. 
 
 6. If possible arrange that the "windov/s be placed 
 diagonally to the four cardinal points, so that at no lookout 
 will a living or sleeping room be all day deprived of the 
 sun's rays, nor all day be exposed to them. 
 
 7. Let the sills of the windows be low^, so that while 
 sitting you can easily, without effort, see out; say not 
 much exceeding two feet. 
 
 8. Avoid having too many doors opening into an apart- 
 ment of moderate size.* 
 
 * Mr. Hiiggins, in the "London ideas of domestic enjoyment to the 
 
 Building News," remarks :" I have winds that ride rampant throush 
 
 noted plans of recently erected tliem. At one of Her Majesty's 
 
 noblemen's and other mansions, residences, if it be not belied by the 
 
 showing four or five doors opening engraved plan of it, scarce one of 
 
 into one room of but moderate di- the rooms contains a snug corner, 
 
 mensions, sometimes two of them in so numerous are the doors opening 
 
 the same wall with tlie fire-place, into them from every direction, 
 
 which must render freedom fi-om one-half of which might be built up 
 
 draughts impossible, and give all with great advantage to the place." 
 
HOUSE-PLANNING. 47 
 
 9. The chimneys shouhl be curved gently in the form of 
 an S, instead of having them perpendicular. By this 
 means tlie draft will be good, the heat having a longer 
 passage through the wall, and the wind outside cannot puff 
 the smoke down further than the bend. The inside sur- 
 face should be perfectly smooth, which will prevent the 
 accumulation of soot. 
 
 10. The ceilings should be only moderately high, as it 
 is difficult to heat rooms with high ceilings, except with an 
 enormous expenditure of fuel. 
 
 11. The bedrooms should be roomy, not less than twelve 
 by twelve feet if possible, with ceilings at least eight feet 
 high, and well ventilated. Sleeping apartments should 
 never be placed on the ground-floor when it is possible to 
 avoid it. The unwholesome exhalations which affect the 
 atmosphere are more concentrated near the surface of the 
 earth. Dr. Rush observed, during the prevalence of 
 yellow fever in Philadelphia, that those who occupied 
 apartments in the third story were far less liable to attacks 
 tl)an those who resided lower. 
 
 12. The best woods for the different apartments are: 
 oak, ash and yellow pine for the kitchen ; oak for the 
 dining-room ; butternut for the sitting-room, parlor and 
 library ; oak and black walnut for the main hall ; curly 
 maple for the bath-room ; chestnut for the principal 
 sleeping room, and ash, maple and birch for the other 
 cliaiubers. A very handsome wainscoting may be made 
 from alternate strips of light and dark curly maple. 
 
 13. As a protection against fire lay a flooring of thin 
 sheet iron over the joists and the wood upon that, and 
 sheathe the stairs with the same material. This is the ad- 
 vice of the eminent sculptor, Hiram Powers, who says that 
 dip'ing the thirty-four years of his residence in Florence, 
 
48 JEI03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 Italy, lie never knew of a single house being eonsumed by 
 fire, because there all the floors, above and below, arc 
 covered by thin brick tiles, which prevent ventilation, and 
 a fire cannot rise and burst into flames. A Boston chemist 
 recommends that in all Avooden buildings, the wood should 
 be covered with coarse mortar. He says the fire fiend 
 craves light wood-work, loosely arranged, and full of draft 
 cliannels. Let him find everything plugged solid with 
 mortar. 
 
 14. Have your water pipes made of rubber-lined tubing, 
 which, though patented, is furnished at a very reasona- 
 ble price at the Paschal Iron V^orks, in Philadel])hia. 
 "Deceive ourselves as we may," says Dr. Bellows, ^^ there 
 is no uxitcr incapable of acting on lend, or zinc, or copper 
 under some circumstances, and these metals should never be 
 used for or connected with service pipe; and the sooner 
 the people fully understand this fact the better. But how 
 shall we protect ourselves in the meantime ? It takes a 
 long time for the most palpable truths to get control of 
 corporations, proverbially conservative. Meantime we 
 should never use water to drink or for cooking that has 
 stood for any length of time in the pipes, and never use at 
 all for these purposes water that has come from a leaden or 
 zinc-lined cistern." 
 
 15. Inside water-closets should be connected, by means 
 of a pipe, with the flue of a chimney, which will carry off 
 their gases and prevent noxious exhalations. If this be 
 not practicable, they should be placed again.st the outside 
 wall, where there is a Avindow which opens into a yard or 
 unobstructed space. This window should be loft partly 
 open at night, for it is then, even more than during the 
 day, that tlie close, unhealthy air from a water-closet per- 
 
HO USE-PLANIflNG. 
 
 49 
 
 varies a house, unless some aperture for escape is pro- 
 vided,* 
 
 16. Have a closet wherever a recess in the masonry may 
 aiford space for one. A dwelling can hardly have too 
 many closets, and women especially appreciate the comfort 
 and advantage of having plenty of these convenient recep- 
 tacles for old clothes and dirt. 
 
 Lastly : It is an important precaution to have all the 
 drains properly trapped, not forgetting rain-water pipes 
 where they enter into underground drains. These are a 
 frequent source of bad smells and malaria, and from a 
 neglect of this precaution, and the want of cleanliness in 
 
 * Man's ingenuity seems to be 
 equal to the achievement of most 
 difficult things, except the proper 
 construction and arrangement of 
 necessary houses and water-closets. 
 
 In the country these conveniences 
 are generally located so far from 
 the dwelling that they are decidedly 
 inconvenient, and women are com- 
 pelled to trudge to them through 
 storm and exposure, to the injury of 
 their health and the loss of their 
 modesty. Many for this reason do 
 not attend to the demands of nature 
 with that regularity the mainten- 
 ance of health requires, and thus 
 the stupidity of country designers 
 is often the cause of much suffering 
 and probably the loss of many 
 lives. 
 
 In the cities, water-closets inside 
 of dwellings become, from faulty con- 
 struction, decided nuisances. Tiiey 
 are continually out of repair, and 
 often emit a noisome odor that is 
 4 
 
 far from being wliolesome. Within 
 a few years it has been discovered 
 that dry earth possesses the remark- 
 able property of not only deodoriz- 
 ing the refuse of the human body, 
 but converting it into an inoffensive 
 material that can be handled as 
 earth. Advantage has been taken 
 of this discovery for the construc- 
 tion of EARTH-CLOSETS, which dis- 
 pense with the machinery of water- 
 closets and the vaults of privies. 
 The apparatus resembles a com- 
 mode, with a vibrating hopper, on 
 wliicii the pulverized earth is 
 placed, and a movable hod to re- 
 ceive the deposits. They are made 
 either fixed or movable, and circu- 
 lars giving directions for their use 
 are easily obtainable in the princi- 
 pal cities. Those who have used 
 them commend them highly, and 
 they seem a valuable addition to 
 the resources for promoting comfort 
 in the household. 
 
50 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 cellars, many a princely mansion has proved to be a pest- 
 house to its owner. 
 
 Novel Method of Heating and Cooling Rooms. 
 
 Among the most important and desirable objects to be 
 observed in the erection of a dwelling-house is a constant 
 supply of pure and wholesome air. Mr. Dwyer,* an Amer- 
 ican architect, recommends a Reciprocating Furnace and 
 Befrigerator, by means of which rooms may be warmed in 
 winter and cooled in summer. He says, " The principle I 
 would apply is the well-known philosophical law of tem- 
 perature, viz., that warm air ascends and cold air descends. 
 For this purpose I would construct a furnace in every 
 cellar, surrounded with an air chamber with a current of 
 water circulating through it to prevent its becoming too 
 dry. The air thus purified and warmed, I would convey 
 to every room in the house it was desirable to warm, by 
 tubes leading to a refrigerator in the attic. These tubes I 
 would close in the middle opposite each room, with an 
 opening both above and below it. Supposing it is winter ; 
 I would unfasten the lower opening and aduiit the warm 
 air from the chamber in the cellar, until the room was of 
 an agreeable warmth. In summer I would close the lower 
 opening and open the upper one. In the refrigerator in 
 the garret, I would place a quantity of ice daily, the cool 
 air from which descending the tubes, would enter the 
 rooms and keep them at any requisite temperature. Thus, 
 in the warmest days in summer, a refreshing coolness can 
 
 * Mr. Dwyer has made a spe- cumstances. He furnishes designs 
 
 cialty of economic cottage building, for log houses that could be erected 
 
 and has published two books to aid at an expense not much exceeding 
 
 Western pioneers in the construe- fifty dollars, 
 tion of houses suited to their cir- 
 
SELECTING WALL-PAPER. 51 
 
 be maintained at the daily expense of a little ice — the fur- 
 nace in the cellar and the refrigerator in the attic recipro- 
 cating with each other." 
 
 Suggestions on Wall-Paper and Interior Decoration. 
 
 The ornamenting of apartments with hangings and 
 coloring involves so many points of nice consideration and 
 artistic effect, that very few painters or paper-hangers un- 
 derstand them. Where expense is not an object, a genuine 
 artist should be called in that the owner may have the 
 benefit of a trained and cultivated taste. If a master in his 
 profession, he will have a preference for God's favorite 
 colors, green and blue; and for the dining-room of a fine 
 mansion he will probably recommend that the carpet be of 
 ultramarine blue, with a broad border of green oak leaves, 
 and that the walls be covered with dark green velvet in 
 panels; and the carved oak chairs covered to match. Each 
 of the princij)al rooms, he will probably suggest, should be 
 decorated and furnished according to some dominant color, 
 that it may be known by a distinctive title, as the green 
 room, the crimson room, blue room, etc. 
 
 But as we are not gathering information for the benefit 
 of the wealthy and luxurious, but for those who are satis- 
 fied with comfortable homes, we would remark that the 
 first consideration before purchasing wall-paper for any de- 
 scription of house, large or small, is to note the supply of 
 light in the rooms and their dimensions. If the view be 
 north, northeast or northwest, or due east, the general tone 
 of coloring should be positively warm. Blues, greens, and 
 all shaded colors which involve any predominant use of 
 blues, must be avoided. In such aspects the choice should 
 tend towards reds, and all their various combinations 
 
52 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 with yellow. As the aspect approaches east and west, so 
 the color should verge towards yellow rather than red 
 tints. In an eastern aspect tints of light yellow, lemon 
 colors, etc., are always effective and cheerful.* 
 
 Another point to be looked to, and which has an im- 
 portant bearing on the selection of wall-paper, is whether 
 it is to form a decoration in itself, or whether it is to be- 
 come a mere background for pictures. In the latter case 
 the paper can hardly be too subdued in tone. Very light 
 drab, silver gray, and dark maroon (with a pattern of the 
 same color glazed running through it), and two shades of 
 the same color are all sufficient for one paper. AYhere 
 water colors are hung, embossed white or cream color, with 
 a very small diaper or spot of gold, will not be amiss. As 
 a rule, the simplest patterns are the best for every situation, 
 
 * A writer in the London "Athe- 
 n?etim " remarks : "The supply of 
 liglit, the size of the room, and its 
 purpose, appear to be tlie chief cir- 
 cumstances which ouglit to regulate 
 the strength or depth of the colors 
 to be used. Where the light is 
 strong, unobscured and plentitul, 
 the tone of the coloring may be full ; 
 on the other hand, where the sup- 
 ply of light is small, the tone of the 
 coloring should be light. Under a 
 strong and abundant light, full- 
 toned colors preserve their bright- 
 ness and distinctive character, but 
 wiien the light is feeble and the 
 supply of it limited, they become 
 dull and gloomy. Full-toned colors 
 lessen the apparent size of the room ; 
 light coloring enlarges it. If you 
 wisli to make your room appear as 
 
 large as possible, then exclude dark 
 coloring not only on the large sur- 
 faces, but even in the patterns of the 
 paper-hangings, and in the mould- 
 ings and ornamental parts. Tlie 
 nature of the use to which the room 
 is applied should also influence the 
 decision as to the tone of the color- 
 ing. If the room is used mostly by ar- 
 tificial light, which, being less pure 
 than daylight, materially modifies 
 the appearance of most colors — 
 much or little, according to their 
 strength — then keep tlie coloring 
 light. If on the other hand it is a 
 room for occupation during day- 
 light, then the tone of coloring 
 must be deep. Red and green with 
 black appear dark and grave ; with 
 white they appear gay." 
 
SELECTING WALLPAPEB. 53 
 
 but where the eye lias to rest upon tlie surface of tlie wall 
 alone, a greater j)lay of line in the patterns may become 
 advisable. 
 
 Paper-hangings, according to Eastlake, should in no 
 case be allowed to cover the whole space of a M'all from 
 skirting to ceiling. He says, " a ' dado,' or plinth space of 
 plain color, either in paper or distemper, should be left to 
 a height of two or three feet from the floor. This may be 
 separated from the diapered paper above by a light wood 
 moulding, stained or gilded. A second space or frieze left 
 just below the ceiling, and filled with arabesque ornament, 
 painted on a distemper ground, is always effective, but of 
 course involves some additional expense. The most dreary 
 method of decorating the ^A'all of a sitting-room is to cover 
 it all over with an unrelieved pattern of monotonous 
 design." 
 
 Nothing is more difficult than to estimate the effect and 
 intensity of colors, when spread over a large surface, from 
 the simple inspection of a pattern-book. The purchaser 
 will frequently find that a paper which he has ordered will 
 look either darker or lighter when hung than it appeared 
 in the piece. For this reason it is advisable to suspend 
 several lengths of the paper side by side in the room for 
 which it is intended, and it is only by this means that a 
 correct idea of the ultimate effect can be arrived at. 
 
 How to Clean Paper-Hangings. 
 To clean paper-hangings, take small pieces of stale bread, 
 about two days old, commence at the top of the room, and 
 with the crust wipe lightly downward about half a yai'd at 
 each stroke, till the upper part of the hangings is completely 
 cleaned all around, and so continue until the whole is gone 
 
64 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 over. Tins operation, if carefully performed, will frequently 
 make old paper look almost equal to new. Great caution 
 must be used not to rub the paper hard, nor to attempt clean- 
 ing it the cross or horizontal way. The dirty part of the 
 bread must each time be cut away, and the pieces renewed 
 as often as at all necessary. 
 
 How to Make a Permanent Whitewash, 
 
 Make the whitewash in the ordinary manner, then place 
 it over a fire and bring it to a boil. Then stir in to each 
 gallon a tablespoonful of powdered alum, a half pint of 
 good flour paste, and a half pound of glue dissolved in 
 water, while it is boiling. 
 
 This wash, it is said, nearly equals paint, and the ex- 
 pense is trifling. 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 THE ART OF HOUSE-FURNISHING. 
 
 "Whatever has nothing to do is a positive incumbrance ; and following 
 out this rule, the greater part of the ornaments introduced only add to 
 the defects of a design that has nothing of elegance, strength or utility to 
 recommend it to our attention, Plad it any of these qualities it would 
 not require such an oppressive weiglit of meaningless scrolls and figures 
 to secure a favorable notice ; and any resort to this method of hiding de- 
 fects is as unbecoming as it would be for a lady to wear a brooch that 
 fastened no portion of her dress, or a chain of gold without a watch or 
 some other article of value attached to it." — Mason. 
 
 i 
 
 T is the fashion ©f certain art critics to condemn all 
 modern furniture and upholstery as inferior not only 
 ^^ in design but in substantial excellence to that made 
 by hand in the Mediseval age. This, with men like 
 Ruskin and Eastlake, is carried to the extreme of cynicism, 
 but it is, nevertheless, true that since the introduction of 
 steam-mills, and the abolition of long apprenticeships 
 among cabinetmakers, the markets are overstocked with 
 vast quantities of inferior furniture which it is not good 
 economy for any one to purchase. 
 
 A century ago the fashionable woods for furniture were 
 ebony and rosewood ; at a later date, and until recently, 
 mahogany was the favorite ; now walnut is more in demand 
 than all the others combined. Poplar is used largely by 
 cabinetmakers as an underwood for veneering, and maple for 
 chamber furniture ; while bass, or white wood, is em])loyed 
 
66 H03IE COMFOETS. 
 
 ])rincipally in making cheap, painted bedroom suits, and is 
 said to be as durable as finer woods. Oak is used to some 
 extent for dining-room and library furniture, but the 
 American oak is a very different article from that of 
 Europe, being not only more difficult to work but more 
 liable to warp. 
 
 What to Avoid in Buying Furniture. 
 
 In selecting furniture the cynical critics to whom we 
 have referred caution buyers not to attach the least impor- 
 tance to any recommendation a salesman may make on 
 matters of taste. "If he says one form of chair is 
 stronger than another form ; or that the covering of one 
 sofa will wear better than that which is used for another, 
 you may believe him, because on that point he can judge, 
 and it is to his interest that you should be correctly informed 
 so far. But on the subject of taste his opinion is not likely 
 to be worth more, but rather less, than that of his customers, 
 for the plain reason that the nature of his occupation can 
 have lefit him little time to form a taste at all. He neither 
 made the furniture in his shop nor superintended its design. 
 His business is simply to sell it, and it will be found that 
 his notions of beauty are generally kept subservient to this 
 object. In other words, he will praise each article in turn, 
 exactly as he considers your attention is attracted to it with 
 a view to purchase. If he has any guiding principles 
 of selection, they are chiefly based on two considerations, 
 viz., the relative price of his goods and the social position 
 or wealth of those customers in whose eyes they find favor." 
 
 Secondly : They advise the selection of furniture which is 
 simple in its general form and free from extravagant con- 
 tour or unnecessary curves. The tendency of the present 
 
HOUSE-FUBNISHING. 57 
 
 age in upholstery is to run into curves. Chairs are fre- 
 quently curved in such a manner as to insure the greatest 
 amount of ugliness with the least possible comfort. The 
 backs of sofas are curved so as to be manifestly incon- 
 venient; either too high in one place or too low in another 
 to accommodate the shoulders of a sitter. Drawing-room 
 tables are curved in every direction, perpendicularly and 
 horizontally, and are therefore inconvenient to sit at and 
 always rickety. This system of ornamentation is called 
 shaping. It always involves additional expense in manu- 
 facture, and therefore by avoiding "shaped" articles of 
 furniture the public will not only gain in an artistic point 
 of view but save their money. 
 
 Thirdly : There is a notion very prevalent among people 
 who have given themselves but little trouble to think at all 
 on the matter, that to insure grace in furniture, it must be 
 made in a flimsy, fragile manner. Thus we constantly hear 
 the expression " light and elegant " applied to a set of 
 drawing-room chairs which look as if they must sink be- 
 neath the weight of the first middle-aged gentleman who 
 used them. " Now lightness and elegance," says a critic, 
 "are agreeable qualities in their way, and under certain 
 conditions of design art should be aimed at. For instance, 
 the treatment of mere surface ornament, such as painted 
 arabesques, etc., or of details purely decorative and useless, 
 as the filagree gold of a lady's earring, may well be of 
 this character ; but objects intended for real and daily 
 service, such as a table which has to bear the weight of 
 heavy books or dishes, or a sofa on which we may recline 
 at full length, ought not to look light and elegant, but 
 strong and comely ; for comeliness, whether in nature or 
 art, is by no means incompatible with strength." 
 
58 HOME COMFORTS. ■ 
 
 What to Choose in Buying Furniture. 
 
 In the choice of furniture the first and principal qualifi- 
 cation is its usefulness or fitness, or, in other words, the 
 combination of convenience, ease and propriety. Furniture 
 is made to be used, and a couch upon which you cannot lie, 
 or a table from which you cannot eat, or a chair upon which 
 you cannot sit, is neither useful nor ornamental. In select- 
 ing furniture also the style of the house, the room and 
 domestic surroundings must be constantly borne in mind, 
 and especially that the size of the furniture will be adapted 
 to the proportions of the apartment for which it is destined. 
 To illustrate, a buffet, or any other article of furniture of 
 large size, which might adorn a rich man's mansion, would 
 look ridiculous and out of place in a poor man's dwelling. 
 
 Passing from general principles to details, we would 
 remark that in selecting chairs it will be extremely difficult 
 to find those that are comfortable and strong yet elegant. 
 This is especially true of drawing-room chairs. Either the 
 backs will be found too straight, or too high, or full of pain- 
 ful projections, or the springs too weak, and, except those 
 with arms, it will be a task to find in all the cabinet-shops 
 a comfortable yet handsome chair or sofa. With regard to 
 coverings the most elegant and the most costly are satin 
 brocade and silk damask. The latter differs from the 
 brocade, which is all silk, in being woven even on the sur- 
 face instead of having the figures raised. The most service- 
 able and most durable furniture-covering is plush, and it 
 is always fashionable. 
 
 Dining-room chairs should be high enough to bring the 
 diners well above their plates. The high chair occupied 
 by a carver gives him an advantage. The dining-room 
 
HOUSE-FUENISHING. 59 
 
 table should be large enough to accommodate the dishes 
 without crowding. 
 
 Bedroom chairs should be substantial, with low seats and 
 hijrh backs. The cane-seat chairs that come with chamber 
 sets of cottage furniture are not well suited for use in 
 bedrooms. With respect to washstands, those should be 
 selected which have high splash-boards to protect the wall, 
 and which are oiled or painted, not varnished. 
 
 In selecting bureaus, or chests of drawers, it is important 
 to select those which have drawers not exceeding five or six 
 inches in depth ; for every one knows the inconvenience of 
 being obliged to delve down below innumerable strata of 
 clothes to find some article of clothing which is wanted in a 
 hurry, and by the additional height gained in saving depth, 
 another drawer may be added to the set. Bedsteads can 
 now be obtained of all kinds and sizes, in wood or metal, 
 and those with a canopy and head-curtain, made of cretonne, 
 chintz or damask, add much to the picturesqueness of a 
 modern bedroom. 
 
 Combination Furniture. 
 During the last quarter of a century the ingenuity of 
 cabinetmakers has been directed to the production of articles 
 that serve a twofold purpose, or what may be called com- 
 bination furniture. A round table has been made which at a 
 touch can be converted into a comfortable arm-chair and 
 writing-desk. High chairs for children have been made 
 which in a minute can be converted into a low chair and 
 play-table. Ottomans are so constructed that thej can be 
 changed into two small settees and two arm-chairs. An 
 arm-chair is made that can readily be converted into an 
 invalid couch and a library chair, the back of which turns 
 over to form a pair of steps. At the New York Crystal 
 
60 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 Palace in 1853 a cabinetmaker exhibited a palace secretary 
 "sviiich combined a bedstead, writing-desk, bookcase, wash- 
 stand, gentleman's wardrobe, medicine-drawers, secret silver 
 closet, dressing-bureau, ladies' wardrobe and secret jewelry- 
 case, the whole surmounted by a musical and alarm clock. 
 This combination furniture, if well made, is often very 
 useful, especially for rooms of narrow dimensions. 
 
 Pictures and Picture Frames. 
 
 A room, however elegantly furnished, looks naked and 
 cold without pictures on the walls. They must not, how- 
 ever, be too numerous, and a few good ones are better than 
 a hundred poor pictures. The proper height for hanging 
 a picture is given at five feet six inches from the floor to its 
 centre, or so that the eye can fall upon the lower part. Art 
 critics recommend not only that oil pictures should be hung 
 by themselves, but to separate water-colors, drawings, 
 ])hotographs, and engravings. Each may be beautiful in 
 itself, but to place them together is to destroy the effect of 
 ail. The print will look cold and harsh by the side of the 
 water-color sketch, the sketch will seem unreal and gaudy 
 by the side of the photograph. Keep them all apart — if 
 not in separate rooms, at least on separate walls. Never 
 hang glazed drawings, where it can be avoided, opposite a 
 window. The sheen of the glass reflects the daylight, and 
 annihilates the effect of the picture behind it. Take care 
 that your picture-cord either matches or harmonizes with 
 the color of the wall-paper behind it. Some use wire in- 
 stead of cord, because the former is almost invisible at a 
 little distance, but this seems a disadvantage. 
 
 Never suspend a framed picture, however small, from 
 one nail. This may seem a trifle, but, independently of the 
 
HOUSE-FUENISHIHiG. 61 
 
 consideration of safety, the effect produced by two points 
 of support is infinitely better. The triangular space en- 
 closed by a picture-cord stretched between three points 
 must always be inharmonious Avith the horizontal and 
 vertical lines of a room. 
 
 Marble Tops on Furniture. 
 
 The use of marble by the cabinet-makers is increasing, 
 notwithstanding some critics contend that marble is fit only 
 for tombstones and should be rejected from the interior 
 and exterior of dwellings, and very few fine tables are now 
 made without marble tops, either carved or plain. The 
 Italian is the favorite variety, and of this the purest white 
 is preferred by most persons, though the dark veined is 
 usually harder and more durable. Purchasers in choosing 
 should take care to observe that the marble has a good 
 metallic ring when struck, which shows that it is capable 
 of resisting the action of acids and grease. When stains 
 have come upon a marble top, the following is the best 
 recipe for extracting them : 
 
 Saturate the soiled places frequently with j3?ire spirits of 
 benzine, which will penetrate the marble and carry the 
 grease from the surface. This is about the only remedy 
 known, and will answer for every kind of marble. If 
 soiled with wine or acids, and the surface is decomposed, 
 scrub with a strong solution of soda, and afterwards rub 
 briskly with whiting-paste on a woollen rag. If the edges 
 are chipped, file off the roughest part, and then rub with 
 cuttle-fish until smooth; afterwards polish with whiting 
 as above. 
 
 The following is said to be a very valuable receipt for 
 
 MARBLE CEMENT: 
 5 
 
62 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 " Take plaster of Paris and soak it in a saturated solution 
 of alum, then bake the two in an oven, tiie same as gypsum 
 is baked, to make it plaster of Paris, after which they are 
 ground to powder. It is then used as wanted ; being 
 mixed with water, like plaster, and applied. It sets into a 
 very hard composition, capable of taking a very high 
 polish. It may be mixed with various coloring minerals, 
 to produce a cement of any color capable of imitating 
 marble. This is a very rare receipt, worth twenty dollars 
 to many readers, who can prepare it for themselves." 
 
 To Take Bruises out of Furniture. 
 Wet the part with warm water ; double a piece of brown 
 paper five or six times, soak it and lay it on the place ; 
 apply on that a hot flat-iron till the moisture is evaporated. 
 If the bruise be not gone, repeat the process. After two 
 or three applications the dent or bruise will be raised level 
 with the surface. 
 
 To Clean Mirrors, Looking-Glasses, etc. 
 
 Take a soft sponge, wash it well in clean water, and 
 squeeze it as dry as possible; dip it into some spirits of 
 wine and rub over the glass; then have some powder-blue 
 tied up in a rag, dust it over your glass, and rub it lightly 
 and quickly with a soft cloth ; afterward finish with a silk 
 handkerchief. 
 
 To Clean and Tighten Cane-seat Chairs. 
 Turn up the chair-bottom, and with hot water and a 
 sponge wash the cane-work, so that it may be thoroughl} 
 soalvcd. Should it be dirty, use a little soap. Let it dry 
 in the air, and it will be as tight and firm as when new, 
 provided the cane be not broken. 
 
HOUSE-FUJiNISHIJ^G. 63 
 
 To Take out Oil or Grease from Clotli. 
 
 Drop on the spot some oil of tartar, or salt of worm- 
 wood, which has been left in a damp place until it is fluid ; 
 then immediately w^ash the place with lukewarm soft 
 water, and then with cold water, and the spot will disap- 
 pear. 
 
 This will be found very useful, says Stokes, in his 
 Cabinet- Maker, and by proceeding as above, every spot 
 of grease in cloth will be completely taken out. 
 
 To Kemove Stains in Tables. 
 
 Wash the surface with stale beer or vinegar ; the stains 
 will then be removed by rubbing them with a rag dipped 
 in spirits of salts. To repolish, proceed as you would do 
 wdth new work. 
 
 If the work be not stained, wash the surface with clean 
 spirits of turpentine, and repolish it with furniture-oil. 
 
 How to Cement Broken China, etc. 
 
 Stokes says : Beat the whites of eggs well to a froth ; 
 let them settle ; add soft, grated or sliced cheese and quick- 
 lime ; beat them well together, and apply a little to the 
 broken edges. This cement will endure both fire and 
 water. 
 
 Another good receipt, and which is nearly colorless, is 
 the following : 
 
 Dissolve half an ounce of gum acacia in a wineglass 
 of boiling water ; add plaster of Paris sufficient to form 
 a thick paste, and apply it wuth a brush to the parts 
 required to be cemented together. 
 
64 HOME COMFOETS. 
 
 Buying Carpets. 
 
 In buying a carpet, the first point to be regarded is its 
 rnpacity to Avear well without becoming shabby. It is a 
 waste of money to buy a carpet of loose texture. If a 
 ciicap floor-covering be desired, sew two strij^s of the 
 cheapest cotton cloth of the size of the room, and tack the 
 edges to the floor. Then paper the cloth witli any sort of 
 room paper, and after being well dried, give it two coats of 
 varnish, and your floor-covering is complete. This can be 
 washed like a carpet without injury, and on chambers or 
 sleeping-rooms, where it will not meet with rough usage, 
 it will last two years as good as new. Another mode of 
 jiroviding a cheap carpeting is to have a handsome border 
 around the room and floor-drugget in the centre, so ar- 
 ranged as to seem to cover and protect a handsome carpet, 
 when in reality it covers nothing but paper on the floor. 
 Next to texture, the most desirable quality in a carpet is 
 cheerfulness in figure and color. The most tasteful carpets 
 are those made of various shades of the same color, or of 
 all shades of two colors, such as salmon and yellow, or blue 
 and buff, or salmon and green, or all shades of green or of 
 brown. All very dark shades should be brown or green, 
 but not black. Avoid, in selecting colors, those which have 
 black threads, as they are always rotten. 
 
 But while aiming at cheerfulness, care should be taken to 
 avoid those designs which are remarkable for over-brilliancy 
 of color. They are apt to be inharmonious with the rest of 
 the furniture, and rich, oriental dyes frequently have a del- 
 eterious effect on tlie material which they stain. The 
 crimson used in Scinde rugs, for instance, is especially de- 
 structive, and the portions dyed with this color wear out 
 long before the rest. The dull, Indian red is far more en- 
 
HOUSE-FUBNISHING. 65 
 
 darino-, and is also more likely to blend well with the 
 surrounding tints. 
 
 Another precaution to be taken in buying carpets is to 
 avoid large patterns, unless the room be of extraordinary 
 diirtensious ; for large figures, both in wall-paper and car- 
 pets, have a tendency to make rooms look smaller than they 
 really are. About the best carpet that can be selected for 
 oi'dinary drawing-rooms is a good Brussels, provided that 
 the pattern is one that bears some resemblance to something 
 in the world, and that in both figure and color it is cheerful. 
 For a sitting-room a substantial three-ply carpet, of some 
 medium dark pattern, but cheerful, is desirable. For bed- 
 rooms the ingrains are suitable, but the pattern should be 
 of soft colors, a prominent one of which should be green, 
 and the figures flowers and foliage. 
 
 In laying down carpets the most economical way is not 
 to fit them into the recesses of the room, the portions un- 
 covered by the carpet being painted in oil or covered with 
 oil-cloth, baize, or drugget. A square carpet, it is said, 
 may be changed eight times, and an oblong one four times, 
 when not fitted into recesses, whereas one fitted to the room 
 cannot be altered in position, except the apartment be sym- 
 metrical. Some authorities insist that bed-room cai'pets 
 should never be tacked down, so that they may be taken 
 up easily and frequently. They also direct that carpets 
 " should be sewn on the wrong side, with double waxed 
 thread, and with the ball-stitch. Take a stitch on the 
 breadth next you, pointing the needle towards you, and 
 then take a stitch on the other breadth, pointing the needle 
 from you. Draw the thread tightly, but not so as to 
 pucker. Bind the tchole of the carpet with carpet-binding, 
 and nail it with tacks, having bits of leather under the heads." 
 
66 H03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 When a carpet begins to wear, its position should be 
 clianged so as to wear eqnally, and when mended, a needle 
 should be used, and proper colored worsteds, as in em- 
 broidery. Before sweeping carpets M'ith a broom it is best 
 to sprinkle them over with damp tea-leaves or Indian 
 meal, and Avhen ready, the Scientific American gives the 
 following directions for 
 
 Sweeping Carpets. 
 
 Place the broom upon the carpet in an inclined position, 
 with the handle inclining forwards ; drawing it quickly 
 over the surface in this position, and scarcely raising it 
 from the floor, will prevent the raising of very much dust. 
 In order to do the work effectually, however, the motion 
 should not be given by long strokes, but by a quick succes- 
 sion of short ones. It would be worth Mty dollars to any 
 housekeeper, who does not understand the business, to see 
 these two modes (one holding the broom upright and the 
 other aslant) distinctly performed. By the former, or 
 thrusting mode, the coarser dirt, or that which does not 
 rise in the air, is shot ahead several feet, and spread over a 
 large surface ; by the latter, or drawing mode, it is kept 
 more compactly together, something like the winnow of 
 hay in the meadow. The broom, instead of being bent 
 around like a hook, as above stated, is kept straight and 
 smooth, and lasts much longer. 
 
 The sweeping should commence from the upper end of 
 the room and proceed toward the fire-place, or the lower 
 end of the room, according to the pile of the carpet. The 
 sweeping must go with and not against the pile. When 
 the sweeping is done, the chimney and other ornaments are 
 to be removed, and their places dusted. Clean soap and 
 
HOUSE-FUBNISHIN'G. 67 
 
 water should occasionally be used with a flannel cloth to the 
 marble chimney pieces and slabs. The various articles of 
 ornament should be carefully wi}3ed or cleaned, and then 
 replaced. The ledges, panels of doors, window-frames, 
 mirrors, chairs, and tables, etc., should be dusted and 
 restored to their places. Picture-frames must be dusted 
 with a feather broom, and not with a linen duster. 
 
 If a broom be inserted every week in boiling suds, it will 
 be toughened and last much longer, will not cut the carpet, 
 and will sweep as elastic as a new broom. 
 
 Moths in carpets may be destroyed, both worms and eggs, 
 by spreading a wet sheet on the carpet, and passing a hot 
 flat-iron over it quickly. The steam, it is said, destroys 
 them. 
 
 To Clean and Brighten Brussels Carpets. 
 
 Take a fresh beef-gall, break it into a clean pan ; pour 
 one-half into a very clean bucket, and nearly fill it with 
 lukewarm water : take a clean, coarse cloth, and having 
 brushed the carpet well, rub it hard with the cloth thor- 
 oughly wet with the gall water; do a small piece at a 
 time, have ready a dry coarse cloth, and rub the carpet dry ; 
 so proceed until the whole carpet is cleaned. 
 
 A few drops of carbonate of ammonia, in a small quan- 
 tity of warm rain-water, will change, if carefully applied, 
 discolored spots upon carpets, and indeed all spots, whether 
 produced by acids or alkalies. If one has the misfortune 
 to have a carpet injured by whitewash, this will immedi- 
 ately restore it. 
 
 Oil Cloths. 
 
 In buying an oil cloth for a floor, endeavor to obtain one 
 that has been manufactured for several years ; as the longer 
 
63 HOIfE COMFOETS. 
 
 it lias been made, previous to use, the better it will wear, 
 iVoni the paint becoming hard and durable. An oil cloth 
 tiiat has been made within the year is scarcely worth buy- 
 in-'-, as the paint will be defaced in a very little time. An 
 oil cloth should never be scrubbed with a brush ; but after 
 being first swept it should be cleaned by washing with a 
 large soft cloth and lukewarm or cold water. On no ac- 
 count use soap, or take water that is hot, as either of them 
 will bring off the paint. When it has dried you may 
 sponge it over with milk, which will l)righten and preserve 
 the colors ; then wipe it with a soft, dry cloth. 
 
 Moths in Fumiture. 
 
 Within a few years it has been discovered that there is 
 a peculiar kind of moth, which infests furniture, destroying 
 alike in summer and winter. It penetrates sofas or chairs 
 between the backs or seats, or under the seats, where an 
 opening in the springs permits a path of exit. The only 
 eil'ectual preventive known is to remove the furniture 
 from the walls frequently, and whisk it well under the 
 seats to prevent the lodgment of the fly. The usual reme- 
 dies of Cayenne pepper, Scotch snuff, camphor, turpentine, 
 etc., avail little against the furniture moth. They may be 
 removed by taking off the muslin from under the seats, and 
 from the outside ends and backs, and exposing it to the air. 
 A whisk, or the open hand, will beat all off, and may cause 
 their absence, as they do not like to be disturbed. W^hisk 
 well twice a week, and in furniture as yet free from moths, 
 which is to be left without attention during the summer, 
 protection may be afforded by camphor in small bags, or 
 ^patchouli highly concentrated. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HOUSEHOLD CONVENIENCES NOT IN GENERAL USE. 
 
 " It is sometimes said that there are less improvements in the art of 
 housekeeping than in any other. It is quite clear tliat there are not 
 enough of them, and those which are made are not generally adopted. 
 Let ns refer now to what we regard as an improvement in the little art 
 of shelling beans. The old method was making use of the thumb and 
 fingers ; then the use of a needle to prepare the pod to open readily. 
 Now the method is to pour upon the pods a quantity of scalding water, 
 and the beans slip very easily from the pod. By pouring scalding water 
 on apples, the skin may be easily slipped off, and much labor saved." — 
 
 KOBINSON. 
 
 'OME one has remarked that it would be better for a 
 lady to give up some expensive article in the parlor, 
 and apply the money thus saved for kitchen conve- 
 niences, than to have a stinted supply where the 
 most labor is to be performed. If our countrywomen 
 would devote more to comfort and convenience and less to 
 show, it would be a great improvement. A full supi)ly of 
 all conveniences in the kitchen and the cellar, and a place 
 appointed for each, very much facilitates domestic labor, 
 and for want of this, much vexation and loss of time are 
 occasioned while seeking vessels in use or in cleaning those 
 employed for various purposes. 
 
 An experienced housekeeper has also remarked that you 
 must have plenty of kitchen towels, or the chances are ten to 
 one that the first hired girl you have will take a damask 
 tablecloth to wipe the dishes and a fine wiping towel for a 
 
 69 
 
70 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 pot-cloth. The best material for kitchen cloths is the 
 ordinary American tow linen, and it is worth far more than 
 the im})orted crash, which almost everybody uses. 
 
 It is a great economy of time and labor to have the arti- 
 cles in constant use in cooking and housework arranged in 
 compact form and close together. In the cook's galley of 
 a large steamship, every article used in cooking for two 
 hundred persons is often contained in a space not over nine 
 feet square, and so arranged that with one or two steps the 
 cook can reach all that he uses. Around the sink is prob- 
 ably the best place to arrange the shelving and compart- 
 ments for holding the articles in constant use, such as 
 boxes for holding Indian meal, rye and wheat flour, shelf- 
 boxes for scouring materials, dish-cloths, and can-pails for 
 sugars. AYooden can-pails are said to be the best articles in 
 which to keep sugars, both white and brown, and a tin can 
 with a tight movable cover and a cork in the spout is the 
 best for molasses. 
 
 A well-equipped kitchen will contain, among its iron 
 ware, pots of different sizes, a long iron fork with a handle, 
 a large and small gridiron with grooved bars, a bake-pan, 
 two skillets of different sizes, and a flat skillet for frying, 
 a griddle and a waffle iron, tin and iron bread-pans, two 
 ladles of different sizes, a skimmer, a toasting iron and 
 two teakettles of different sizes, of which the handles do 
 not lie flat on the sides of the kettle, for they are very in- 
 convenient, and burn the hands when heated, as we know 
 by experience. Portable furnaces of iron or clay are very 
 useful in summer for washing, ironing and stewing. A 
 spice box and a mill for grinding coffee, strong knives and 
 forks, a sharp carving-knife, an iron cleaver and board, a 
 fine saw, steelyards, chopping tray and knife, knife sharp- 
 
HOUSEHOLD CONVENIENCES. 71 
 
 ener, iron spoons, flat irons, ruffle iron and crimping iron, 
 are all desirable. A kitchen should be also supplied with 
 tinware and tubs, pails and other wooden ware, and bas- 
 kets of various sizes for clothes, marketing, eggs and 
 fruits. 
 
 In buying tinware and kitchen utensils generally, it is 
 economy to purchase the best at first. Tlie very best 
 double plate tinware will last a lifetime, while the poor 
 cheap kind will not last a year. "We would also caution 
 housekeepers against the low-priced earthenware, " particu- 
 larly that Mhich looks like the substance of a common 
 brick when broken. The solid, strong stoneware costs 
 perhaps a quarter more, but it is worth ten times as much 
 as the other," 
 
 Assuming, however, that our readers are familiar with 
 the articles that are regarded as indispensable by all house- 
 keepers for kitchen service w^e proceed to call their atten- 
 tion to some 
 
 Labor-Saving Contrivances not in General Use. 
 
 The Stock-pot is a standard fixture in French kitchens, 
 but it is little known in America, though its introduction 
 Avould be a great and economical convenience. It is always 
 kept simmering to receive trimmings of meat, bones, rem- 
 nants of fowl or game — in short, to be a save-all for the 
 conversion of worthless scraps into wholesome nutriment. 
 Whether flavored with vegetables or not, the contents of 
 the stock-pot will prove invaluable, both to furnish occa- 
 sional basins of soup, and to assist in compounding all sorts 
 of made dishes, where something better than mere water is 
 required to moisten them. If the odds and ends of the 
 kitchen do not supply enough materials, a few coarse 
 fresh bits of meat from the butcher will easily make up 
 
72 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 for the deficiency. "Broth/' says Ude, "is tlie founda- 
 tion of cookery." 
 
 Larding-pins or ]arding-nee(?/es, for introducing strips of 
 bacon into veal, the breasts of fowl, calf's liver, etc., and 
 iron shewers, for trussing meat and poultry previous to 
 cooking, are very common utensils in French kitchens, but 
 so little is known of them in America that it is probable 
 our cooks would leave the skewers in the fowl or joint 
 when placed on the table, to puzzle and confound the 
 carver. 
 
 Two or tliree tvhitewood boards, about twenty inches or 
 two feet square, on which to chip vegetables, cooked or 
 uncooked, meat, suet, sweet herbs, etc., are not too many 
 to have. They are both neater and more convenient than 
 the surface of a deal table, which is generally used for that 
 ])urpose. 
 
 The American oven, or kitchen, for cooking small 
 things before the fire, is very highly commended by 
 English writers on cookery. 
 
 The French Bain-marie, or hot loater bath, is a very 
 useful utensil for stewing gently without the possibility of 
 burning, for warming up cold dishes, and keeping things 
 hot for travellers, sportsmen and professional people. It 
 is a stew-pan with a double bottom, containing water be- 
 tween the fire and the inner bottom. Turtle, ox-tail, and 
 such like soups, when once made, should always be heated 
 up again in a bain-marie, which not only saves the meat, 
 etc., from sticking to the bottom, but preserves the delicacy 
 of the flavor. 
 
 T\\e frying-pans commonly sold are much too shallow to 
 fry meats or fish by i:>lunging them into hot fat, which is 
 the French idea of frying. Every kitchen should possess 
 a frying-pan not less than six inches deep, oval, not 
 
HOUSEHOLD CONVEmENCES. 73 
 
 round, and long enough to accommodate a respectablc-sizcl 
 fish. 
 
 Scales and weights to proportion the quantities of ingre- 
 dients used, and to verify tlie weight of goods received into 
 the house, are not as common in American kitcliens as tliey 
 ought to be. 
 
 Pasty pans are a useful article for making a savory and 
 delicious preparation of meat and j^otatoes. They consist 
 of a circular pan with a perforated lid, having a valve pipe 
 screwed on to it. The meat is placed at the bottom of the 
 pan, with seasoning, butter, and a little water, and the 
 perforated plate is laid over it. Some mashed potatoes 
 mixed with milk are next arranged on this plate; filling 
 up tlie whole space to the top of the tube, and finishing the 
 surface in an ornamental manner. If carefully baked tlie 
 potatoes will be covered with a delicate brown coat, and 
 retain all the savory steam arising from the meat. 
 
 Bevohing gridirons are made, having fluted bars lined 
 with enamel. The gravy that flows from the meat runs 
 into the fluted bars, and thence into a small recej)- 
 tacle in the middle of the handle, so preserving a nice 
 quantity of the gravy. As the part on which the meat 
 rests turns round, the necessity of frequently moving the 
 meat is obviated. 
 
 A novel egg boiler has been invented, to which the name 
 of the "Whistler" has been given. It consists of a cylin- 
 der in which tlie eggs are placed. Attached to the cylinder 
 is a whistle which, acted on by the steam, gives notice that 
 the cooking of the eggs is completed, and renders it un- 
 necessary to watch the process. 
 
 A bronze egg steamer has recently been invented. A 
 little water is poured in, the eggs placed in a frame inside, 
 6 
 
74 HOME COMFOETS. 
 
 and the spirit lamp being lighted, the steam cooks the 
 eggs. It is egg-shaped, in bronze, and very neat. 
 
 Several different kinds of egg beaters are to be had, but 
 purchasers should remember that eggs should be beaten 
 with a circular motion from right to left. 
 
 Of cofee pots the number is so great, each possessing 
 some point of excellence, that a selection is bewildering. 
 One of the most useful styles, however, is tlie "Old 
 Dominion Coffee Pot," made in Philadelphia. In this the 
 ground coffee is placed in a strainer, forming the lower 
 portion, and boiling water poured on it ; a condenser con- 
 taining cold water is then placed over, forming the upper 
 part ; the aroma-bearing vapor rises, is condensed, and re- 
 turned into the coffee, the aroma being thus perfectly 
 retained. 
 
 Another plan forces the boiling water to filter through 
 the coffee, carrying away the aroma, and leaving the bitter 
 principle in the worthless grounds. 
 
 An elegant but rather pretentious utensil is " The French 
 Balance Coffee Machine," composed of two parts connected 
 by a tube. The coffee being heated in one receiver, passes 
 through the tube and strainer into the other perfectly clear 
 and containing all the aroma. 
 
 A very useful and at the same time neat coffee pot is 
 " The Vienna Coffee Machine," especially for summer use. 
 The water is poured in, and the coffee then placed in a 
 strainer over it ; a spirit lamp is lighted under, and as the 
 water boils it rises through the coffee and overflows into 
 the main holder. This coffee pot swings on a stand, and a 
 slight motion pours the coffee into the cup. Some shapes 
 are very elegant. 
 
 For roasting meat and game or poultry, which is always 
 preferable to baking, a French turnspit is useful. In this 
 
HOUSEHOLD CONVENIENCES. 75 
 
 the spit runs through an improved form of Dutch oven, 
 and is kept revolving by machinery, which, when wound 
 up, runs for about two hours, a gong calling the cook's 
 attention when it stops. 
 
 But the most useful meat-cooker for a family of any 
 size is Warren's Cooker, the invention of a captain in the 
 English navy. The principle is cooking by the heat of 
 water and steam ; the meat being placed in a pot without 
 water, which fits into a boiler and just touches the water, 
 the steam from which encompasses the sides and rises by a 
 passage into another chamber, in which puddings arc 
 cooked, and heating a third, in which are vegetables, 
 escapes through the lid. When cooked enough the 
 meat is placed for about ten minutes in the oven to 
 brown. 
 
 The advantages are, that no meat juices evaporate in the 
 cooking ; no trouble is needed in watching the meat after 
 the water boils ; it cooks easily over a small gas jet, and 
 the most inexperienced help can use it after once being 
 shown. Fish and game it cooks in perfection. 
 
 An economical way of using cold meat is to mince it, 
 and a mincing knife with two or more blades, for a small 
 family, is useful. For large families and hotels mincing 
 machines are now made. 
 
 Apple and peach pavers are great labor savers, and are 
 now made to core in addition to paring. Raisin seeders 
 of different kinds have been invented, and also cherry 
 stoners. 
 
 A little machine for slicing potatoes is an ingenious in- 
 vention, and can be used for slicing beets and other similar 
 vegetables. A graduated spring pushes the potato forward 
 after each cut. 
 
 In families where sausages are much appreciated, a 
 
76 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 sausage machine, which can be purchased for a small sum, 
 is desirable. It can also be used for chopping vegetables 
 so that they will dissolve perfectly in soups and stews and 
 afford many savory dishes. 
 
 A pea shelter has been invented that will shell a peck of 
 peas in ten minutes. The pea pods are thrown into a hop- 
 ])er, and after a handle has been moved backward and 
 forward a few times, the pods foil out in front, while the 
 j)eas pass into a drawer underneath. 
 
 A tendon separator is j)ronounced by some to be the 
 greatest boon ever conferred on unskilled carvers. Soyer 
 says of it, " If it were more generally used there would be 
 no more birds flying across the table in the face of guests; 
 no more turkeys deposited in a lady's or gentleman's. lap; 
 no more sjilashing of gravy to spoil satin dresses ; but all 
 would be divided with the greatest facility and in the most 
 elegant manner, and the poultry would look much better 
 at table." 
 
 Refrigerators are valuable articles of household con- 
 venience not so much in general use as they ought to be. 
 They serve for keeping meat wholesome, vegetables crisp, 
 drinks of different kinds cool, milk from souring, butter 
 solid, etc., etc ; but it should be remembered that an often 
 renewed jug or open dish of lime-water adds much to their 
 efliciency, absorbing the impure gases which meat, fish, 
 etc., give oif at even a very low temperature ; and in pur- 
 chasing a refrigerator be particular to choose one in which 
 the ventilation is perfect. 
 
 Portable refrigerators are now made, easily carried from 
 room to room, and placed on the table at meals. 
 
 Ice-cream freezers, too, are useful in many families, 
 adding greatly to comfort at a small expenditure. Various 
 
HOUSEHOLD COJS^VENIEKCES. 77 
 
 styles are made, each claiming a peculiar excellence; but 
 the most simple are the most efficient. 
 
 For the summer, gas cooking stoves are very desiral)le. 
 Several kinds are now made, giving great heat witii small 
 consumption of gas ; one — The Table Gas Stove — being 
 especially useful. This connects with the ordinary gas 
 burner by a flexible tube, will stand on the breakfast table, 
 and boil sufficient coffee for an average family. It cannot 
 be overturned, and the flame burns so well as not to soil 
 the brightest tinware. 
 
 A griddle greaser and scraper is a recent invention for 
 saving lard, and for cleanliness. 
 
 A no-drip molasses jug saves much discomfort. 
 
 Knife-cleaning is a duty which often becomes irksome 
 in small families, and is always laborious. The Rotary 
 Knife Cleaner saves a great deal of time and labor, and 
 cleans very effectually, but unless care is exercised it is apt 
 to wear the knives quickly. 
 
 A cinder sifter is useful and economical. One we have 
 seen will stand in a corner and occupy little space. The 
 ashes, as taken from the grate, are poured in at the top, 
 and falling on a cone and sieve, the cinders fall into a 
 hopper at the front and the ashes into a hopper at the 
 back, and are easily removed. 
 
 Among the patented articles there is also a funnel strainer, 
 or a funnel and strainer in temporary combination, united 
 very simply by a catch and spring handle, so arranged that 
 wdien the funnel and strainer are used jointly, they are 
 held firmly together ; and when either one is to be used 
 alone, they can be easily separated. 
 
 There are also a number of contrivances patented for 
 filtering water, many of them worthless ; but a good and 
 cheap domestic filter can be made as follows : Take a 
 
78 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 flower pot, and insert a sponge in the hole in the bottoreu 
 fill the pot with alternate layers of sand, charcoal, and 
 small pebbles. The flower pot thus filled up may then 
 be placed on a jar or other convenient vessel, into which 
 tlie water can be received as it filters through. 
 
 A clothes line protector is not a new invention, but it 
 cannot be said to be in general use. It consists simply of 
 a little box fastened to a post and enclosing a wheel and a 
 crank, with which a hundred feet of line can be wound up 
 in one minute. ^Yhen the line is wanted it can be run out 
 with equal facility, and by a turn of the wheel can be 
 tightened, then a catch holds it in its place. 
 
 How to Sharpen Edged Tcols. 
 It has long been known that the simplest method of 
 sharpening a razor is to put it for half an hour in water, 
 to which has been added one-twentieth of its weight of 
 muriatic or sulphuric acid, then lightly wipe it off, and 
 after a few hours set it on a hone. The acid here supplies 
 the place of a wiietstone, by corroding the whole surface 
 uniformly, so that nothing further but a smooth polish is 
 necessary. The process never injures good blades, while 
 the badly hardened ones are frequently improved by it, 
 although the cause of such improvement remains unex- 
 plained. Of late this process has been applied to many 
 other cutting implements. The workman, at the beginning 
 of his noon-spell, or when he leaves off" in the evening, 
 moistens the blades of his tools with water acidulated as 
 above, the cost of which is almost nothing. This saves 
 the consumption of time and labor in whetting, which, 
 moreover, speedily wears out the blades. The mode of 
 sharpening here indicated would be found especially advan- 
 ta"-eous for sickles and scythes. 
 
HOUSEHOLD CONVENIENCES. 79 
 
 In this connection we may remark that, to remove rust 
 from steel articles, as knives, forks, razors, etc., cover witli 
 sweet oil, well rubbed on, and let it remain for forty-eight 
 hours, then rub with unslacked lime, powdered very fine, 
 until the rust disappears. 
 
 " To prevent rust on iron or steel," says Dr. Brewer, in 
 his " Guide to Science," " take one pint of fat oil varnish, 
 mixed with five pints of highly rectified spirits of turpen- 
 tine, and rub with a sjjonge. This varnish may be applied 
 to bright stoves, and even to mathematical instruments, 
 without hurting their delicate polish, and they will never 
 contract any spots of rust." 
 
 We have already advised our readers not to buy a tea- 
 kettle of which the handle rests against the bulge, as it 
 may burn your fingers ; and for the same reason do not 
 buy a soup ladle except it has a non-metallic handle : 
 that is, one either of M'ood, bone, or ivory. 
 
 To prevent a lamp from smoking, soak the wick in vin- 
 egar, and dry it well before you use it. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON THE AET OF MARKETING. 
 
 " Tell me what kind of food you eat, and I will tell you what kind of 
 man you are." — Savarin. 
 
 T\R. KITCHINER, in his well-known " Cook's Oracle," 
 
 J J says the best rule for marketing is to pay ready 
 J.^ money for everything, and to deal with the most 
 respectable tradesmen in your neighborhood. He 
 thinks if you leave it "to their integrity to supply you 
 with a good article at a fair price, you will be supplied 
 with better provisions, and at as reasonable a rate as those 
 bargain hunters, who trot 'around, around, around about' 
 a market, until they are trapped to buy some uncheioable 
 old poultry, stringy cow-beef, or stale fish, at very little 
 less than the price of prime and proper food." But on the 
 other hand, it is reported that two Frenchmen, in order to 
 test the question, agreed to buy precisely the same articles 
 on the same day in the Paris markets, the one to take 
 everything at the dealer's prices, and the other to bargain, 
 jew, and beat down, and on comparison of cost it was found 
 that the latter bought his marketing for twenty-five per 
 cent, less than the one who did not bargain. Those who 
 are really good judges of provisions can, with cash in hand 
 and plenty of assurance, no doubt derive an advantage 
 from buying in the open market, but others will do better 
 by adopting Kitchiner's advice, and deal with "respect- 
 80 
 
ART OF MARKETING. 81 
 
 able tradesmen;" and especially those whose conceit is 
 greater than their knowledge, or who pretend to know more 
 than the dealers, when they really know nothing, 
 should not trust themselves among the Philistines of the 
 markets. 
 
 How to Choose Beef, 
 
 Of beef, that from the steer or ox is generally considered 
 the best, though heifer beef is but little inferior to that of 
 the ox. Good beef will exhibit a grain of deep coral red 
 with white rather than yellow fat, and will yield easily to 
 the pressure of a finger or knife, rising up quickly after 
 pressure. Yellowish fat is an evidence that the meat is 
 of an inferior quality. In old beef the texture of the meat 
 will appear closer, the flesh coarser to the sight, as well as 
 harder to the touch. 
 
 Mr. De Voe, superintendent of one of the New York 
 markets, and author of books relating to markets, makes 
 the following remarks on 
 
 Beef and its Different Kinds. 
 
 The hindquarters, as is well known, furnish the 
 choicest cuts, and supply the celebrated " baron of beef," so 
 much esteemed in England as the crowning dish for a 
 Christmas dinner. The thick part, in which is the hip- 
 bone, gives the largest pieces, while the small end cuts to 
 pieces each from eight to twelve pounds. The best of these 
 is usually called " the middle-cut sirloin." The other part 
 near the ribs is the thin-end sirloin, resembling the middle- 
 cut sirloin, but with less tenderloin, and is sometimes taken 
 in preference by those who have small families, or who like 
 it on account of its closeness to the prime ribs. It is cut 
 up also into small loin or porter-house steaks. The thick 
 
82 H03IE COMFOBTS. 
 
 part of the sirloin contains the largest part of the tender- 
 lorn [fillet-de-boeuf), making a large and choice piece of 
 from twelve to twenty-five pounds for roasting, sometimes 
 called the thick-end sirloin. When not used for roasting it 
 is cut into three kinds of the finest dinner steaks, of 
 which the first and best contains the largest quantity of 
 tenderloin, and is known as the " hip sirloin steak." The 
 next in order is the " flat bone sirloin steak," of which there 
 is about the same number as the " hip sirloin steak." Next 
 comes the same number of the " round bone sirloin steak," 
 which is cut up to the socket bone, and makes excellent 
 beefsteak pie, beef tea, minced collops, etc., as it is leaner 
 than either of the foregoing. The squall-end sirloin, when 
 not used for roasting, is commonly known as " porter- 
 house steaks." The tenderloin, the most tender portion of 
 the beef, is taken from the kidney side of the whole sirloin, 
 and is considered by many the choicest portion of the ani- 
 mal. This choice piece owes its tenderness to its situation 
 in the living animal, this muscle being seldom used or 
 called into action. 
 
 The whole rump piece is usually divided into two or 
 more pieces. The one that joins on the sirloin is the 
 "socket piece," the other is called the "rump of beef." 
 When this last is divided through the centre streak of fat, 
 cutting about half way across the dark bone on the left side 
 of the fat, the smallest piece on the left side is called the 
 edge hone, and the other side the " rump piece." From the 
 rump of beef are also cut pieces for bouilli, stewing, potted 
 beef, fricandeau, etc. 
 
 The buttock forms three pieces for smoking — the in- 
 side piece, outside piece, and veiny j)iece — of which the first 
 is generally preferred, but the last is the most tender. If 
 the buttock be cut into two rounds of beef — the first and 
 
ABT OF MARKETING. 83 
 
 second cuts — the first will be larger and better than the 
 latter ; they are used for d la mode, a la doube, bouilli, 
 stewing and corning. 
 
 There are thirteen ribs in the forequarter, nine of which 
 are cut off from the chuck. The first seven are called 
 prime ribs, and are cut into the choicest roasting pieces, by 
 subdivision into three or more pieces. The chuck contains 
 the last four ribs running under the shoulder-blade, and 
 the neck piece. The second-cut chuck rib is a very sweet, 
 juicy-eating piece of beef, as well flavored but not quite so 
 tender as the first-cut chuck rib. This joint costs much less 
 per pound. The next cut being the twelfth and thirteenth, 
 or both ribs together, is commonly known as a chuck piece. 
 They are not so good, but with the blade out and a piece of 
 nice fat or suet placed within, makes an excellent piece to 
 " roast in the pot," d la mode or for potted beef, bouilli, mince 
 pies, sou])S, etc. The brisket piece is much used by the 
 French for bouilli, soup, and a very good piece corned or 
 salted. 
 
 Of beef, the back part of the rump is a convenient and 
 economical piece, especially for a small family. It is a 
 long and rather narrow piece, weighing about ten pounds, 
 and contains less fat and bone than any other, equally good, 
 in the ox. The thickest end affords nice steaks, and next 
 to them is a good roasting piece, and the thinnest end, 
 which contains the bone, is very good corned or for a soup. 
 The whole is an excellent piece for roasting in case so large 
 a one is needed. 
 
 Dr. Kitchiner advises that you should never think of 
 ordering beef for roasting, except for Sunday, and when 
 you order meat, poultry or fish, tell the dealer when you 
 intend " to dress it, he will then have it in his power to 
 serve you with provisions that will do him credit, which 
 
84 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 the finest meat, etc., in the world will never do, unless it 
 has been kept a proper time to be ripe and tender." 
 
 A beef's tongue has always been regarded as a delicacy. 
 The best tongues are those which are thick, firm and fat 
 on the lower side. When fresh, they are used for stews, 
 mince pies, etc. ; when pickled or smoked, for boiling, and 
 when cold are choice eating. 
 
 A beef's liver, which is of a clear, dark color, is good, 
 but the best is of a clear, bright, yellowish-red color. A 
 certain sign that it is tender is when it is easily mashed 
 when pressing on it with the finger. Those that have 
 streaks, dark and " sedgy," sandy spots and abscesses, are 
 unfit for food. 
 
 A beef's heart is best when it has a large portion of nice 
 clear fat around the top part. The purposes for which it 
 is commonly used are for stuffing, roasting or stewing, 
 and it is a good, wholesome and nutritious food as well as 
 one of the cheapest which the animal affords. 
 
 Points in Good Veal, 
 
 Veal, to be good, must not be too young and must not be 
 tainted. When too young the bones are very tender, 
 resembling nerves more than bones, and the meat is 
 gluish, -with little or no flavor. Many diseases, especially 
 in children, arise from eating such meat. The best veal is 
 made out of calves not less than four nor more than ten 
 weeks old, and in appearance is juicy, finely grained, with 
 pinkish white fat. If the meat be very white, that shows 
 the animal was bled before it was killed, which injures the 
 flavor. If the meat be yellowish, or contain yellowish 
 spots, it is not fresh. 
 
 The choice part in veal, as in beef, is the hindquarter, 
 which is usually subdivided into kg and loin. The loin is 
 
ART OF 3IABKETING. 85 
 
 tlie best portion for roasting; it also makes fine chops for 
 broiling, frying or stewing, and when too large is divided 
 into two small joints, of which the thin is called the "kid- 
 ney end," and the other the " thick end." The leg is used 
 whole for roasting, and from it is cut the "fillet of veal," 
 or veal cutlets. The part of tlie leg after the fillet is taken 
 out is the " knuckle of veal," which makes a good, light 
 stew or boil. 
 
 The forequarter includes the shoulder, neck and breast. 
 A small family can make two dishes from the shoulder by 
 having the blade taken from the thin end for roasting and 
 stewing. The "knuckle," left with the flesh on, with the 
 blade-bone, will make an excellent and economical soup «>r 
 stew. 
 
 A leg of veal is also an economical piece to buy, for you 
 can take oif cutlets from the large end, make broth of the 
 shank and roast the centre. 
 
 Calves' siveethreads are considered by some as the greatest 
 delicacy of the meat kind. The calf has two, known as the 
 " throat sweetbread," from the neck and throat, and that 
 from or near the heart, called the heart sweetbread, which 
 is the more delicate. The color should be clear and a little 
 darker than the fat. 
 
 In calves' heads, when fresh, the eyes have a bright, full 
 look, and the skin seems firmly fastened to the head. Tlie 
 young horn should appear, to indicate the animal was old 
 enough to kill, for a small head and the absence of the horn 
 show the animal was too young to make wholesome food. 
 Never buy calves' heads or feet with a yelloAvish look, or 
 which are slippery or slimy to the touch. When the head 
 is split open, the sense of smell will detect any unsound 
 condition of the brain. 
 
 In buying calves' feet for use in soup always get those 
 
86 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 that are sino-ed, not skinned. Much of the y;hitinous or 
 jelly property is located in the skin. 
 
 When you roast or broil a piece of veal, baste often. 
 Veal is better when a little overdone; it is not good and 
 operates as physic if underdone. 
 
 How to Select Mutton and Lamb. 
 
 Mutton depends for its quality partly on the breeds of 
 sheep and the age of the animal. The best mutton comes 
 from sheep from three to five years old, and even older. 
 The best is of a fine grain, the lean firm, succulent and of 
 a color rather darkish red, the fat white, clear and hard, 
 and the leg bones clear and nearly or quite white. Poor 
 mutton is seldom fat, but, if so, the fat will look yellowish, 
 and if the animal has been driven far, or is in a diseased 
 state, the flesh will be flabby, the kidney fat sniall, stringy 
 in appearance, while a bluish shade will appear in the lean, 
 seen through the skin on the back. Ram mutton may be 
 known by the redness of the flesh and the sponginess of 
 the fat, which has a darker and sometimes a more yellowish 
 shade than is seen in the best nuitton. 
 
 The two loins together are called the " saddle of mutton," 
 which is the finest and choicest part for roasting. 
 
 To choose lamb, examine the fat on the back, and then 
 that on the kidneys, both of which should be white, or light 
 in appearance, and hard. When lambs have been roughly 
 liandled, exposed to cold and stormy weather, or kept with- 
 out food and far driven, a feverish state results, and the 
 flesh becomes of a dark red color, the fat rather yellow, 
 and the meat is tasteless, tough and dry. 
 
 Not less than a quarter of lamb is sold when it is first 
 brought to market, and then its weight seldom exceeds five 
 or six' pounds. Age and the milk of a grass-fed ewe, and 
 
ART OF If ARRETING. 87 
 
 the genial heat of the sun, speedily increase the weight of 
 the quarters from eight to twelve pounds each, and with 
 age and forced feed these later in the season reach as much 
 as twenty-five pounds. 
 
 Pork, Ham, and Lard. 
 
 A pig until six months old is called a shoat; after that 
 age it is entitled to be called a hos;. When the rind is 
 tender and thin, or semi-transparent, the pork is young ; 
 when thick and hard it is old. In prime pork the fat on 
 the back should be half an inch thick, firm, and white, while 
 the lean should be of a pale, reddish color, and sappy. The 
 best pork is dairy-fed. 
 
 Measly pork may be known by the yellowish lumps or 
 kernels seen through the fat, and the lean and the heavy 
 and dull appearance of the flesh — reject it. 
 
 Every part of the hog, even the bristles, is available for 
 some useful purjjose. For roasting, the chine of pork is 
 considered the best, and for various other purposes many 
 prefer this to the small quarters, or that on which the skin 
 is usually permitted to remain, as the flesh is leaner and 
 thicker. 
 
 Pork, like veal, when properly cooked, should be well 
 done. 
 
 In selecting hams, run a knife along the bone, and if 
 it comes out clean the ham is good, but if it comes out 
 smeared it is spoilt. 
 
 Soyer says the best plan to test the freshness of pork, 
 or any meat, is to take Avith you to market in hot weather 
 two wooden skewers, and insert them in the flesh near tliu 
 bone and remove them, and the nose will detect any taint 
 immediately • this is much better than touching and feeling 
 
88 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 tlie meat. Tliese skewers sliould be scraped after having 
 been used. 
 
 Good bacon has a thhi rind, clear, red flesh, and the lean 
 adheres closely to the bone. If the bacon has yellow streaks, 
 it is rusty, and not fit to use. When purchasing either hams 
 or shoulders in a cured state, you may conclude, if their 
 appearance is white or dried, they will be very salt, and 
 much of their sweetness extracted in consequence of having 
 been long preserved in a strong, harsh pickle ; or they have 
 been badly cured. To be good, they must be bright, clean 
 and firm. 
 
 Of sausages, the best are made altogether from pork, 
 chopped small, seasoned and run into " casings." The city 
 sausages are small, being meat run into lamb "casings," 
 Avhile those usually made in the country are large and run 
 into beeves' or hoo;s' " casino-s." Some of these are well and 
 cleanly made, and others are as bad and quite as dangerous 
 food as city sausages. Deceit is practised by mixing a large 
 ])ercentage of water with the meat ; some will put in one- 
 eiglith more before it is pressed into the skin. This gives 
 them a very moist, soft and flabby appearance, while a good 
 article is firm and nearly dry on the outside. There is 
 danger too in the kind and quality of the flesh that some 
 use, and it is hard to tell from what animal it came, or 
 whether it was in a diseased condition. The only way by 
 which the buyer can be protected is to make his purchases 
 from a well-known dealer, who is found reliable, or to pre- 
 ])are the meat himself. 
 
 Sausage meat is prepared in the same manner as sausages, 
 and not being put in " casings," is more easy of inspection. 
 This meat and sausages are both excellent food, when one 
 is confident they have been cleanly and properly made, and 
 if not, the less one has to do with them the better. The 
 
ABT OF MABKETIWG. 89 
 
 same remark is applicable to all kinds of prepared 
 meats. 
 
 Lard is frequently adulterated. It is a common practice 
 among the dealers in lard to mix from two to five per cent, 
 of milk of lime with the melted lard. A saponaceous com- 
 pound is formed, which is not only pearly white, but will 
 allow of tlie stirring in, during cooling, of twenty-five per 
 cent, of water. 
 
 When there is water in lard, it flies all over the fire ; in 
 that case, boil it a few minutes with a cover on the pan, 
 and then use. 
 
 How to Keep Meat from Spoiling, 
 The following is a recipe for this purpose, for which 
 hundreds of persons have paid ten, and even twenty dol- 
 lars, amounting in the aggregate to thousands of dollars : 
 
 Take a quart of the best vinegar, two ounces of lump 
 sugar, two ounces of salt. Boil these together for a few 
 minutes, and when cold, anoint with a brush the meat to 
 be preserved. For fish the mixture is to be applied in- 
 side; for poultry, both in and outside. 
 
 Meat, either before or after it is cooked, may be pre- 
 served for a considerable time, even in warm weather, by 
 being placed in the centre of a clean earthenware vessel and 
 closely surrounded with common charcoal. To prevent 
 the flies from " blowing " the meat, the vessel ought to be 
 covered with a wire gauze. 
 
 Another mode of preserving meat sweet and good for 
 several days in the warmest weather, is to cover it lightly 
 Avitli bran and hang it in some passage where there is a 
 current of air. 
 
90 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 How to Judge Poultry. 
 
 In chickens that are fresh the eyes will be full and 
 bright, and the feet moist, soft and limber. If stale, the 
 eyes ^\ ill be dry and sunken, and if any part of the body 
 is (lark-eolored or green it is spoiled. If the rump is hard 
 and stiff, says Professor Blot, it is fresh enough ; but if 
 soft, it is necessary to examine the bird carefully, for it 
 may be tainted. 
 
 Buy a chicken with white flesh and pale yellow fat. If 
 young, the cock will have small spurs, and the hen will 
 have the lower jxart of the legs and feet soft and smooth ; 
 in old chi(dvens these parts are rough, as if they had seen 
 hard service in many travels. In young poultry the lower 
 end of the breast-bone will yield readily to the pressure of 
 the finger, but some dealers arrange this in old fowls in 
 order to deceive. 
 
 Soyer recommends tliat, where chickens are to be killed 
 in the morning and eaten for dinner, to give each, " shortly 
 before killing it, a teaspoonful of vinegar, which will cause 
 them to eat tender. This can be done with all kinds of 
 poultry." 
 
 A young turkey has a smooth leg and a soft bill, and, 
 if fresh, the eyes will be bright and the feet moist. For a 
 small family a young hen turkey will be most suitable, as 
 it is likely to be smaller, fatter, and plump. 
 
 Young ducks feel tender under the wing, and the web 
 of the foot is transparent. The best are thick and hard on 
 the breast. 
 
 Yomig geese have yellow bills, and the feet are yellow 
 and supple ; the skin may be easily broken by the head of 
 a pin; the breast is plump and the fat white. 
 
ABT OF MARKETING. 91 
 
 If the skin be thick and tough, and the bill and legs are 
 of a dark, reddish yellow, let the dealer keep the goose. 
 An old goose is unfit for the human stomach. 
 
 Euying Game. 
 
 The^e is no article of food so deceptive in appearance 
 and so difficult to judge whether it is young, tender and 
 good or not, as Game. 
 
 In general, we may say that young birds may be distin- 
 guished by the softness of their quills, and that females are 
 more tender and juicy than males. Old pheasants may be 
 known by the length and sharpness of their spurs; in 
 young ones these are short and blunt. Old partridges have 
 light blue legs, instead of yellow brown. Wild Jowl may 
 be known to be old from their bills and the stiifness of the 
 sinews of the legs ; those that have the finest plumage are 
 the poorest eating. Hares and rabbits are tested by tearing 
 the ear, and breaking the jaw-bone between the finger and 
 thumb; if they do not tear or break easily, they are fit only 
 for soup or "jugging." When game is not to be cooked 
 immediately, it is prudent to pepper the place where they 
 were shot. 
 
 In buying venison, choose the dark -colored meat, not the 
 black, but the rich reddish-brown flesh, with fine grain, 
 and well coated with fat. Keep it hung up in a cool, dark 
 cellar, covered with a cloth, and use as soon as you can 
 conveniently. 
 
 Vegetables Appropriate to Different Meats. 
 
 Potatoes are good with all meats. With poultry they are 
 nicest mashed. Sweet potatoes are most appropriate with 
 roast meat, as also are onions, winter squash, and asparagus. 
 
92 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 Carrots, parsnips, turnips, greens, and cabbage are eaten 
 •with boiled meat, and corn, beets, peas, and beans are 
 appropriate to either boiled or roasted meat. Mashed 
 turnip is good with roasted pork and with boiled meats. 
 
 Tomatoes are good with every kind of meat, but 
 specially so with roasts; apple sauce with roast pork, and 
 cranberry sauce with beef, fowls, veal, and ham. 
 
 Currant jelly is most appropriate with roast mutton and 
 venison. 
 
 Pickles are good with all roast meats, and capers or 
 nasturtiums with boiled lamb or mutton. 
 
 Horseradish and lemons are excellent with veal. 
 
 How to Select the Best Vegetables. 
 
 Of all vegetables the Potato takes rank as the most use- 
 ful and wholesome and least expensive. In buying pota- 
 toes, those should be preferred which are of good size, free 
 from blemishes, and having a small eye. In order to test 
 their soundness, cut off a piece of the larger end, and if 
 spotted, they are not sound, and therefore very inferior. 
 Those are best which are fresh from the mould, and have 
 never been wetted until they are cleaned to be cooked. 
 
 Turnips are among the least nutritious of all food, being 
 nearly ninety per cent, of water, but for those who are dis- 
 posed to eat too much, they are useful by stimulating intes- 
 tinal action and removing constipation. Turnips of middle 
 size are the best for the table, as the large ones are apt to 
 be spongy. 
 
 Tomatoes are among the most healthful of vegetables, 
 and good whether eaten hot or cold, cooked or raw, fried 
 in sugar and butter, or stewed with salt and pepper. The 
 medium sizes are the best. 
 
ART OF MARKETING. 93 
 
 CauUfoicers are considered best when they are large, 
 solid, and creamy. They are stale when the leaves are 
 much wilted, and soft dark s|X)ts are seen through the 
 head. 
 
 In purchasing celery, choose the solid, close, clean, and 
 white stalks, with a large close heart, as they are likely to 
 be the most crisp and sweet, though all celery is rather 
 bitter early in the season. The season begins about the 
 middle of August, and celery is sweeter and better after 
 frost. 
 
 Of egg-plant, the large, purple, oval-shaped kind is the 
 best, and they taste, when fried in thin slices, something 
 like an oyster. They should be firm, not ripe. 
 
 Mushrooms are a dangerous article for an inexperienced 
 person to buy, as it is difficult to distinguish the genuine 
 from the poisonous. As a general rule, it may be stated 
 that in eatable mushrooms the stalk and top are dirty 
 white, and the lower part has a lining of salmon fringe, 
 which changes to russet or brown soon after they are 
 gathered. The poisonous manifest all colors, and those 
 which are dead white above and below should be let alone. 
 
 A good test is said to be to sprinkle salt on the S})ongy 
 part, and if they turn yellow they are poisonous, but if they 
 become black they are good. Let the salt remain on a little 
 while before you decide on the color. Mushrooms are in 
 season during September and October, but may be culti- 
 vated artificially throughout the year. 
 
 Peas should be always bought in the pods, which should 
 feel cool and dry. Close packing gives them a mashed or 
 wet appearance, and a warm feeling, which injures their 
 natural flavor ; and when the pods begin to look rusty the 
 
94 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 pea has a black spot, and is too old to be good. They 
 should be cooked as soon as possible after having been 
 picked. 
 
 As a general rule, it may be said of all kinds of vege- 
 tables, that if they snap crisply they are fresh, but if, on 
 the contrary, they bend rather than snap, and have a flabby 
 appearance, they have been gathered for some time, and 
 should be bought for stale vegetables. 
 
 How to Preserve Fruits and Vegetables. 
 
 Potatoes should be put into the cellar or a cool, dark 
 place, as soon as they are dug. They are injured by being 
 exposed to the sun or air or frost. Some housekeepers 
 keep them in barrels, and have sods laid over them. 
 Others lay them in lieajis in the cellar, and cover them 
 with mats, or bury them in sand or earth. Others, again, 
 dip them for a minute or two in boiling water, and after 
 they are dried, put them in sacks. This is to destroy the 
 germs, and is a valuable discovery. To prevent them from 
 sprouting in the spring turn them out on the cellar floor. 
 To thaw frozen potatoes put them in hot water. 
 
 Cabbages may be kept by burying them in snnd, with 
 the roots upward. But the best way to keep them thiough 
 a severe winter is to leave about ten inches of the stem at- 
 tached to them, and scoop out the pith to the extent of an 
 inch. Suspend the cabbages by means of a cord tied 
 around the stem, so that the portion from which the pith 
 was taken remains uppermost, which regularly fill every 
 morning with fresh water. 
 
 Celery should be buried in sand, and turnips and beets 
 should be put in a dry part of a cellar. 
 
ART OF MARKETING. 95 
 
 Apples should remain out of doors, in barrels, until the 
 weather becomes cold. They should not be headed up im- 
 mediately after having been gathered, as a moisture accu- 
 mulates upon them, which causes decay. When brought 
 in, set them in a back room until the weather requires 
 that they shall be put into the cellar. A linen cloth laid 
 over them will suffice until very cold weather. Many good 
 housekeepers prefer not to have apples headed up at all. 
 There is an advantage in being able to pick them over sev- 
 eral times during the winter, as one decayed apple may 
 injure all its neighbors. If they are moist, wipe them. 
 If frosted, put them in cold water. 
 
 Onions keep best spread out over the floor. 
 
 Parsnips should be buried in a pit in the garden, and in 
 very cold climates not opened until March or April. 
 
 Squashes should be kept in a dry place, and as cold as 
 may be without freezing. 
 
 Herbs should be gathered on a dry day, and when they 
 are just beginning to bloom, as they are then in their 
 perfection. 
 
 Medicinal herbs should be dried, put up in paper bags, 
 and labelled. The leaves of those used in cooking should 
 be pounded, sifted, and put in labelled boxes or stoppered 
 bottles. 
 
 Herbs retain their virtue best if dried by artificial heat. 
 The warmth of an oven, a few hours after the bread has 
 been taken out of it, is sufficient. 
 
 Cranberries will keep all winter in a firkin of water. 
 
 Oranges and lemons keep best wrapped in soft paper and 
 laid in a drawer. 
 
 In purchasing seeds there are two excellent methods of 
 testing their quality. One is to throw them into water: 
 
96 HOME C03IF0BTS. 
 
 the seeds which float on the surface are worthless, and the 
 other is to place the seeds in a saucer between two pieces 
 of cloth saturated with water. Having lain the time re- 
 quired for seed in the earth to sprout, they will declare 
 their quality, either good or bad. Note that fruit coming 
 from old seed that has retained its germinating power is 
 better than that grown from new seed. 
 
 How to Manage Wines and Eeer. 
 
 All wines, parti(;ularly the light-bodied and sparkling, 
 require to be kept on their side, and at a uniform tempera- 
 ture of about 55°. 
 
 Claret, Burgundies, and also wdiite wines, except spark- 
 ling, should be decanted very carefully in removing them 
 from the bin, when about to be used, otherwise the deposit 
 is liable to become mixed with the liquid, and the flavor 
 destroyed. 
 
 Wines, old in bottle, should be drunk immediately on 
 being decanted. 
 
 All aerated waters should have their corks kept damp, 
 and placed downwards. 
 
 Bottled stout and ale should be placed cork upwards. 
 When required for use, they should be handled carefully, 
 and the whole poured out without putting down the bottle, 
 otherwise the sediment will be shaken into the liquor. 
 Pale ale is sometimes spoiled by standing in a draught. 
 
 To cool wine, beer or water, wrap around the bottle a 
 piece of linen dipped in water, and place it in a draught. 
 
 Fish, Oysters, Lobster, etc 
 
 Most kinds of fish lose their flavor M'ithin a few hours 
 after being taken from the water. The cod, and one or 
 two others, are an exception to this general rule. Fish are 
 
AET OF MARKETING. 97 
 
 fresh when the eyes are clear, the fins stiff, the gills red, 
 hard to open, and without bad odor. Fresh shad have 
 gills of quite a crimson red, bright scales, and a firm body ; 
 and shad are unfit to eat when the gills are a whitish blue 
 and the eyes are sunken. In a good salmon, when cut, the 
 flesh should appear quite red, solid, and flakey. The 
 Dutch and French bleed the cod, which accounts for the 
 better quality and whiteness of their codfish. All large 
 fish, in fact, should be bled as soon as caught. 
 
 Almost every kind of fish is either boiled, broiled 
 or fried. Some are better boiled than broiled, others 
 best fried. Any small fish, of the size of a smelt or 
 smaller, is better fried than prepared in any other way. 
 Fish, like salmon trout, are best when baked, and some 
 fine sauce poured over them. A cup of diluted cream, in 
 which is stirred two tablespoonfuls of melted butter and a 
 little chopped parsley, makes an excellent sauce for baked 
 salmon trout. 
 
 Bass, weighing about a half pound to a pound, are best 
 fried ; those weigliing from one to three pounds are best 
 broiled, and larger sizes are best when boiled. Very large 
 bass are dry eating. 
 
 Oysters and Clams. 
 
 To judge whether oysters and clams are fresh, insert a 
 knife, and if the shell instantly closes firmly on the knife 
 the oysters are fresh. If it shuts slowly and faintly, or not 
 at all, they are dying or dead. When the shells of raw 
 oysters are found gaping open, they are fit for nothing but 
 to be thrown away. 
 
 Salt oysters are not good for frying. Bread crumbs are 
 much better than cracker crumbs for fried oysters. A 
 late discovery is, that oysters fried in sweet oil are best. 
 
98 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 When too many oysters have been incautiously eaten, 
 and are felt lying cold and heavy on the stomach, there is 
 an infallible remedy, in hot milk, of which half a pint may 
 be drunk, and it will quickly dissolve the oysters into a 
 bland, cream jelly. Weak and dyspeptic persons should 
 always take hot milk after meals of oysters. 
 
 Lobsters, prawns, and crabs, newly-caught and fresh, will 
 be lively and brisk in their motions. Never buy a dead 
 lobster. If you buy a lobster ready boiled, see that his 
 tail is stiff and elastic, so that when you bend it under it 
 springs back immediately, otherwise it is not fresh. In 
 buying terrapins, select only those that are large, fat, and 
 thick-bodied. Small, poor terrapins are not worth the cost 
 of the seasoning. Female terrapins are the best. 
 
 How the Chinese Catch Fish. 
 
 The Chinese have a method of catching fish that is 
 known to but few in this country. They sprinkle on the- 
 water a mixture of dough and pulverized Cocculus Indicus, 
 which intoxicates the fish, and they turn belly upv,\irds on 
 the top of the water by dozens or hundreds or thousands. 
 All that the fisherman has to do is to take a boat, gather 
 them up, and throw them into a tub of clean water, and 
 presently they will be as lively as ever. It is said this 
 manner of catching fish does not injure them in the least, 
 but care must be taken to get them into fresh water at 
 once. 
 
 Oil of Bhodium ])ut on th2 bait, -when fishing with a 
 hook, will give a fisherman luck, if there are fish in the 
 stream. 
 
ABT OF MABKETING. 99 
 
 Hints on Buying Groceries. 
 
 It is a wise economy to purchase tlie best flour, even at 
 an extra cost. By tasting, any sourness in flour may be 
 detected. Good flour, when pressed tightly in the luuid, 
 has a yellowish tinge, and the traces of the skin are left 
 upon it. Poor flour will not stick in this way, may be 
 blown off the hand, and sometimes looks as if mingled 
 with ashes. When you have found good flour, purchase a 
 year's supply, if possible, or at least notice the brand, and 
 buy the same kind. Flour and meal of all kinds should 
 be kept in a cool, dry place. 
 
 To keep flour sweet in hot weather insert a triangular 
 tube of boards or tin, bored full of small holes, into the 
 centre of the meal barrel, which allows the air to reach the 
 middle of the meal, and it never gets musty. A barrel of 
 good flour, dry as it appears to be, contains from 12 to 16 
 pounds of water. 
 
 Unbolted flour should be kept on hand by the barrel the 
 same as fine flour. 
 
 In cooking, new flour is not as good as old ; it does not 
 thicken as well and as fast. 
 
 Buy your Indian meal in small quantities, say 15 or 
 20 pounds at a time, unless your family is very large. It 
 is apt to heat, mould, and grow musty if kept long in bulk 
 or in a warm place. If not sweet and dry, it is useless to 
 expect good bread or cakes. As an article of diet, espe- 
 cially in the early warm days of spring, it is healthful and 
 agreeable, often acting as a gentle corrective to bile and 
 other disorders. In winter also it is always acceptable 
 upon the breakfast or supper table, being warming and 
 nutritious. In summer the free use of it is less judicious, 
 
100 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 on account of its laxative properties. In the South, where 
 corn meal is a staple article of diet, the yellow meal, which 
 is used largely in the Northern States, is regarded as only 
 fit for chicken and cattle food. 
 
 Rijefiour should be bought in small quantities, say forty or 
 fifty pounds at a time, and be kejjt in a keg or half barrel, 
 with a cover. 
 
 Buchcheat meal, rice, and hominy, should also be pur- 
 chased in small quantities, and kept in covered kegs or 
 tubs. Several of these articles are infested with black 
 insects, and an examination should be occasionally made 
 fur them. 
 
 Avroicroot, tapioca, sago, pcarl-harlcy , American isinc/Iass, 
 maccaroni, vermicelli, and oatmeal, are all articles which help 
 to make an agreeable variety, and it is just as cheap to keep 
 a small quantity of each as it is to buy a larger quantity 
 of two or three articles. Eight or ten pounds each of 
 these articles of food can be kept in covered jars or covered 
 wooden boxes, and then they are always at hand when 
 wanted. All of them arc very healthful food, and help to 
 form many delightful dishes for desserts. Some of the most 
 wholesome puddings are those made of rice, tapioca, and 
 sago, while isinglass, or American gelatine, forms elegant 
 articles for desserts, and is also excellent for the sick. 
 
 Sitr/ars should not be bought by the barrel, especially the 
 brown, which is apt to turn to molasses, and run cut on to 
 the floor. It is best to keep four qualities of sugar on hand. 
 Refined loaf for tea, crushed sugar for the nicest preserves 
 and to use with fruit, nice brown sugar for coffee, and 
 common brown for cooking some things. 
 
ART OF MABKETING. 101 
 
 'The loaf can be stored in tlie papers on a slielf. The 
 otliers should be kept in close-covered kegs, or covered 
 wooden boxes made for the purpose. 
 
 Coffee and tea cau be bought with advantage in consid- 
 erable quautities, as they do not deteriorate by keeping. 
 Coffee, in fact, iin})roves by age if kept in a dry place, as 
 it loses its rank smell and taste. Several cents a povnid 
 may be saved by buying a bag of coffee or half chest of 
 tea. Tea loses its flavor if put up in paper, and should bq 
 kept in glass or tin, shut tight. Coffee should be kept by 
 itself, as its odor affects other articles. 
 
 Starch may also be bought in large quantities at a con- 
 siderable discount from the retail price, which, in a large 
 family, makes a difference in the yearly expenses. The 
 best starch is the most economical. 
 
 Indigo is not always good. When a good sample is 
 found, it is advisable to buy enough for a year or two, and 
 keep it in a tight tin box. 
 
 Saleratus should be bought in small qnantities, then 
 powdered, sifted, and kept corked in a large-mouthed 
 glass bottle. It grows damp if exposed to the air, and 
 then cannot be used properly. 
 
 Salt must be kept in the dnjcst place that can be found. 
 The best salt for table use is put up in boxes, but if a 
 quantity be purchased, it should be stored in a glass jar, and 
 closely covered. When, as is common, it becomes damp 
 in the saltstands, it should be set by the fire to dry, and 
 afterwards reduced to fine powder again. Coarse or damp 
 salt on a table cannot be reckoned among Home Comforts. 
 
 Vinegar which is made of wine or cider is the best. 
 Buy a keg, or half barrel of it, and set it in the cellar, and 
 
102 H03IE COMFOBTS. 
 
 then keep a supply for the castors in a junk bottle in the 
 kitchen. If too strong, vinegar will " eat'' pickles. 
 
 Pickles should never be kept in glazed ware, as the vine- 
 gar forms a poisonous compound with the glazing. In 
 buying pickles, avoid those which have been raised arti- 
 ficially to a bright green. 
 
 Molasses, if bought by the barrel or half barrel, should 
 be kept in the cellar. New Orleans syrup is best for the 
 table, and Porto Rico for cooking. If bought in small 
 quantities, it should be kept in a demijohn. No vessel 
 should be corked or tightly bunged, if filled with molasses, 
 as it may swell and burst the vessel, or run over. 
 
 Hard soap should be bought in large quantity, and laid 
 to harden in bars piled on each other, having the air all 
 round to dry it. It is much more economical to buy hard 
 than soft soap, as those who use soft soap are very apt to 
 waste it, which they cannot do with hard soap. 
 
 Sjyices and pepper should be ground fine, and put in 
 large-mouthed glass bottles, or kept in tin cans, in a dry 
 place. Avoid blight red peppers, spices, and sauces. To test 
 mdmegs, prick them with a pin. If they are good, the oil 
 will instantly spread around the puncture. 
 
 Raisins should not be bought in large quantities, as they 
 are injured by time. Small boxes are the best. 
 
 Of Sago, the small and white, called " pearl," is the most 
 desirable. 
 
 Cheese, soft between the fingers, is richest and best, and 
 should be kept in a box in a cool, dry place. Wipe off the 
 mould with a dry cloth. 
 
 Candles improve by being kept for two or three months, 
 and therefore should be bought by the box. 
 
AET OF MARKETING. 103 
 
 Lastly, weigh and measure all purchases v/hen they are 
 brought home, in order not only to ascertain whether you 
 have got the just quantity, but to cultivate a faculty of dis- 
 tinguishing between genuine and spurious articles. 
 
 How to Preserve Eggs. 
 
 There are many ways by which eggs may be preserved 
 fresh for months, and families can thus take advantage of 
 the market, and buy large quantities when they are cheap, 
 for use in those months when they are scarce and dear. 
 
 One way to preserve eggs is to place them on a sieve, 
 and pour hot water over them slowly. This stiffens or 
 cooks the white to the depth of the sixteenth of an inch. 
 Then smear the outside with a little copal varnish, or a 
 solution of gum arable, and pack in bran or oatmeal, with 
 the little end down. 
 
 Another plan is to dissolve some gum shellac in a suffi- 
 cient quantity of alcohol to make a thin varnish. Give 
 each egg a coat, and, after they become thoroughly dry, 
 pack them in bran or sawdust, with their points down- 
 ward, in such manner that they cannot shift about. 
 
 Some put them in a brine made of one pint of fresh 
 slacked lime and half pint of salt to three gallons of water, 
 and if fresh eggs are put in, fresh eggs will come out, even 
 for two or four years ; but in the opinion of others, lime 
 and salt have a tendency to impair the flavor. 
 
 Dr. Delamere says the method he found to succeed 
 best was to dip each egg into melted pork lard, rubbing it 
 into the shell with the finger, and then to pack them in an 
 old fig drum or butter firkin, setting every egg upright, 
 with the small end downwards. " Eggs thus prepared in 
 August, directly after harvest, have been boiled and eaten 
 with relish by myself and family in the following January." 
 
104 H03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 It is said that, for a small family, eggs are a cheaper 
 breakfast dish than meat, even if they cost fifty cents a 
 dozen. 
 
 How to Test Coal Oil. 
 
 Good kerosene oil should be purified from all that por- 
 tion which boils or evaporates at a low temperature, for it 
 is the production of the vapor, and its mixture with atmo- 
 spheric air, that gives rise to those terrible explosions M'hich 
 sometimes occur when a light is brought near a can of in- 
 ferior oil. To test the oil in this respect, pour a little into 
 an iron spoon, and heat it over a lamp until it is moder- 
 ately warm to the touch. If the oil produces vapor which 
 can be set on fire by means of a flame held a short distance 
 above the surface of the liquid, it is bad. Good oil, poured 
 into a teacup, or on the floor, does not easily take fire when 
 a light is brought into contact with it. Poor oil will ignite 
 under the same circumstances, and hence the breaking of a 
 lamp filled with poor oil is always attended by great dan- 
 ger. Good kerosene should be free from all matters which 
 can gum up the wick, and thus interfere w«th free circula- 
 tion and combustion, and should be also perfectly safe. It 
 ought to be kept in a cool, dark place, and carefully 
 excluded from the air. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ON FUEL AND FTEES — SAVING GAS — PEEVENTING 
 CONFLAGRATIONS. 
 
 "The fuel wasted by rich and poor in England is prodigious. The 
 Frenchman would almost cook an ox with the fuel which an English 
 housewife consumes in the roasting of a leg of mutton." — Pall Mall 
 Gazette. 
 
 '^EXT to a smoky chimney or a scolding wife a fire 
 that " won't burn " is one of the greatest vexations 
 in housekeeping. In all culinary operations a fire 
 is the one thing essential, and the best method of 
 making fires, and how to save fuel, are important consider- 
 ations in Household Economy. 
 
 The substances principally used as fuel in America and 
 in Great Britain are — wood, coal, charcoal, coke, and to a 
 very limited extent, peat. The last three may be dismissed 
 with a brief notice. 
 
 Charcoal is simply wood which has been exposed to a 
 red heat until it has been deprived of all its gases and vola- 
 tile parts. Being very pure carbon, charcoal makes a hotter 
 fire than wood, but, as it requires frequent renewal, it is 
 inferior to wood or coal for household use as a fuel. It is 
 valuable in the arts, and being an absorbent of putrescent 
 effluvia, it will remove taint from meat. 
 
 105 
 
106 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 Coke is the charcoal of coal, and bears to it the same re- 
 lation that charcoal does to wood. It, however, has more 
 carbon than charcoal in a small compass, and therefore 
 affords a longer continued heat. It serves a useful pur- 
 pose when mixed with coal, the two combined making a 
 strong fire, which is often wanted in cooking, as well as in 
 very cold weather. 
 
 Peat is the "turf" of Ireland, and is useful where a mild 
 fire, long continued, is desired. There are different quali- 
 ties of peat, but the " brownish black," found lower down 
 in the beds than the ordinary brown, is the most valuable 
 as a fuel. It is consumed faster than coal, but does not 
 need to be replenished so often as wood. But so long as 
 coal and wood are reasonably cheap, peat is not likely to 
 be used to any great extent as fuel for household purposes, 
 because of its pungent smell, and the fact that its smoke is 
 very trying to the eyes. 
 
 Wood, and its Kinds. 
 
 Wood is undoubtedly more generally used as a fuel in 
 this country than any other substance, and most persons 
 are familiar with the characteristics of the different species 
 and their relative value. 
 
 Hichory is without doubt the best of all woods for house- 
 hold use. Lyman, in his "Philosophy of Housekeeping," 
 says of it, even when but a few wrecks cut, it will light with 
 but little reluctance, and give a steady, equable heat, uni- 
 form and entirely reliable for cooking purposes. Black 
 birch is very much like it, and, on account of its agreeable 
 fragrance, is the pleasantest of all fuels. Both these woods 
 are worth a dollar or two more by the cord than any others, 
 but the satisfaction they give is more than an equivalent 
 
FUEL AND FIRES. 107 
 
 for tl>e difference in price, miite oak, ash and maple are next 
 to hickory and black birch iu vahie for fuel. There is lit- 
 tle or no preference between these varieties when seasoned, 
 but the peculiarity of ash is, that it burns almost as well 
 when green as when dry. In situations where dry wood 
 cannot be obtained, it is well to remember that ash and 
 hickory, though green, if split fine and baked in the stove 
 oven, will make a hot and lasting fire. 
 
 When green, pine and chestrmt are almost worthless for 
 fuel ; when dry, they burn for a little while with a lively 
 flame, but never radiate heat like the harder varieties. 
 Dry chestnut, mixed with oak, makes a very good winter 
 fiisl, but consumes more rapidly than hard wood alone. 
 Persons who purchase woods for fuel, or who use different 
 varieties, will find it greatly to their advantage to make 
 themselves acquainted with the various kinds and their 
 qualities. Possessing such knowledge, a cord of mixed 
 roood can be used in such a manner as always to afford the 
 degree and kind of heat needed, the hickory and birch, or 
 choice cuts of white oak and ash, being reserved for baking 
 and other operations demanding a strong and lasting fire, 
 while the inferior grades of oak, chestnut, bass, and hem- 
 lock will be used when only a moderate heat is required. 
 
 Of all kinds, the best wood for fuel is made from trees 
 that have attained full maturity, without falling into decay. 
 An elm a century old furnishes much better fuel than one 
 of thirty years. 
 
 Wood that is straight and solid is the most profitable to 
 buy. A cord of small, crooked sticks does not contain half 
 the wood there is in a cord of straiffht and solid loss. 
 
108 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 Wood is bought by measurement. A cord of wood is 
 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 4 feet higli, and contains 128 
 cubic feet. To ascertain the amount of wood in a load, 
 multiply the length by the breadth, and this product by 
 the height, and you will have the number of cubic feet. 
 
 Wood is usually cheapest in August and September, and 
 if cut into short pieces, will furnish the most fuel. 
 
 But in the principal cities on the Atlantic coast anthracite 
 coal is the principal fuel, and nothing will compare with it 
 for yielding the largest amount of heat from a given weight 
 of fuel. Ordinarily, it is considered that there is no great 
 difference between a cord of seasoned wood and a ton of 
 anthracite coal, but if used with care and skill, a ton of 
 hard coal can be made to go much farther than a cord of 
 any kind of wood. 
 
 How to Judge Hard Coal. 
 
 Good hard coal is in square lumps, and breaks with a 
 smooth, shining fracture. Bad coal has flat pieces of a dull 
 color, as thick as the palm of the hand, and of greater or 
 less size, which, when burnt, remain hard, heavy, and be- 
 come whitish, hence called " bone." If a common scuttle- 
 ful of coal, about twenty-five pounds, yields, after the cin- 
 ders are washed next morning, half a pound of white pieces, 
 the coal cannot be commended. This explains the reason 
 why, of two carts of coal standing side by side, though an 
 ordinary purchaser would have no choice, a practised coal- 
 dealer would gladly take a cargo of one, while he would not 
 be hired to take the other into his yard, if compelled to 
 send it to his customers. He knows that one kind will 
 burn almost entirely up, leaving only a little ashes, while 
 in a single day's burning the other will leave the grate full 
 
FUEL AND FIBES. 109 
 
 of " slag." So, one ton of coal at four dollars a ton may 
 be dearer than another at ten dollars, and yet not one man 
 in fifty could tell the difference from external inspection. 
 
 A shiny, square fracture, we repeat, is what an honest 
 coal-dealer loves to see. He considers the article good in 
 proportion as it breaks at right angles firmly. If it shat- 
 ter in breaking, or break unsquarely, he will not look at 
 it. If the coal have among it flat pieces, with a dull, coal- 
 dust look, it is " bony." Such a piece gives no more heat 
 than a bone ; it is a black rock, nothing more ; it is hard 
 to kindle, and goes out directly. 
 
 How to Kindle a Coal Fire. 
 
 Hard coal will not ignite until it is thoroughly heated 
 through and through, and as small coal will not require as 
 much wood to heat it up as large, it is important, where the 
 supply of kindling wood is limited, that the pieces of coal 
 which touch the wood should be small. As wood in cities 
 is more expensive than coal, economy suggests the use of as 
 little as practicable. The coal, then, for kindling, should 
 not only be as small as a pigeon's egg, called " chestnut 
 coal " by the dealers, but to economize the wood, the pieces 
 should not be over four inches long, so that they can be 
 laid compactly, then the heat will be more concentrated on 
 a given point of coal, and thus the sooner heat it through 
 and through to the degree requisite for actual ignition. If 
 the wood is thus placed, and is covered with one layer of 
 chestnut coal, it will redden with great rapidity and cer- 
 tainty. As soon as this is the case, cover over the red- 
 dened coal with another layer or two, and in a minute or 
 two put on the larger size. By putting a handful of shav- 
 ings or paper in a grate compactly, then some splinters of 
 dry wood, not larger thai^ the little finger, and outside of 
 9 
 
110 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 that a layer of pieces an inch or more thick and three or 
 four long, then apply a match to the paper, and while it 
 is catching, put on the small coal as above, there will not 
 be a failure during the winter, nor a growl in the house- 
 hold, for the want of a good and timely fire. To lessen a 
 coal fire, press it from the to]),so as to make the mass more 
 compact, giving less room for air. To revive it, lay on 
 small pieces tenderly, put on the blower, and when red, add 
 larger pieces, and riddle out from below. Heaping on more 
 coal, or letting out the ashes below, will certainly put out 
 a low coal fire. 
 
 Clinkers can be removed from stove grates and range 
 backs by throwing half a dozen broken oyster shells into 
 the fire when the coal is all aglow, and covering them Avitli 
 fresh coal. When all are red-hot the clinkers become 
 doughy, and are easily removed. 
 
 Some one recommends as a cheap fre-kindler, cheaper 
 than wood, to melt three pounds of rosin in a quart of tar, 
 and stir in as much sawdust and pulverized charcoal as you 
 can, and then spread the mass upon a board till cool, and 
 then break it into lumps as big as your thumb. You can 
 light it with a match, and it will light a fire, for it burns 
 with a strong blaze. It is economical of time and money. 
 
 How to Use Coal Economically. 
 
 In the matter of burning coal, says the " Scientific Amer- 
 ican," there is also a great want of intelligence, and it is not 
 to be expected that common servants will know or care 
 much about saving it. The grate of the range is stuffed so 
 full that the oven top is loaded with it, so that the fire will 
 not die out nor require looking after; then the draft is 
 
FUEL AND FIRES. Ill 
 
 opened, and the money, or what is the same, the heat, goes 
 flying up the chimney. With a little forethought all this 
 could be prevented, and a ton of coal made to last three 
 months instead of one. A good bright fire can be steadily 
 maintfftned with coal, with less trouble than with any other 
 kind of fuel, but not by raking, poking, and piling in 
 green fuel continually. 
 
 After breakfast, the fire should be cleared of ashes, if 
 tliere are any, and fresh fuel put on to fill the grate mod- 
 erately. Let the oven damper be turned up so as to heat 
 it, and leave the small top door open, more or less, accord- 
 ing to the intensity of heat required. In this way air 
 enters over the top of the fire, and maintains a far better 
 C!)mbustion, and consequently greater heat than when the 
 draft-dampers are thrown down. A washing can be done, 
 or "ironing" accomplished, with one-third less coal than 
 is generally thought necessary to use. 
 
 There is also great waste in throwing aAvay half-burned 
 coal under the supposition that it is cinders. One who has 
 experimented with coal for twenty years, both in the house 
 and under the boiler, writes : 
 
 In cleaning the grate in the morning, you will find there 
 is a quantity of unburned coal, which has been externally 
 subjected to combustion. It is covered with ashes, and 
 looks to the inexperienced eye like cinder. It is often re- 
 lentlessly dumped into the ash-box. The fact, in many 
 cases, is, that the lump is only roasted on the outside, not 
 even coked, and is in a better condition for igniting than 
 the fresh coal. We have stated that coal is a condensed 
 form of carbon. The superficially burned lumps, found in 
 our grates or among our ashes, sufficiently prove this. But 
 take a lump of anthracite coal from the fire, red-hot and 
 
112 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 all alive. Throw it into the water until the ashes are 
 washed from it, and it is black externally and cool. Take 
 it out, and break it open with a hammer, and you will find 
 it red-hot and glowing inside. This shows that time, and 
 a plentiful supply of air, are necessary to burn C(3al, and 
 that large amoimts of what we call ashes and cinders are 
 really excellent fuel. 
 
 To prove this fact, let any one carefully sift his ashes, 
 throwing out the inevitable slate, which can be readily de- 
 tected, and start his coal fire on wood or charcoal, kindling 
 his coal fire with the savings. He will find that he can 
 get a good bed of incandescent coal sooner than with green 
 coal on the kindlings. 
 
 Solon Robinson says forcibly : 
 
 Never, whether rich or poor, suffer your cinders or uu- 
 burned bits of coal to be Avasted in the ash-barrel. 
 
 Measure for measure, they are worth more than coal. 
 Save them, soak them, try them. Water renovates the 
 coke, and wet cinders upon a hot coal fire will make it 
 hotter, and keep it so longer than fresh coal. 
 
 Saving cinders is not meanness, it is economy. 
 
 How to Measure Coal. 
 Ten times the price of this book may be saved to any 
 family which uses coal largely, by remembering that the 
 quantity of coal is determined as accurately by measure- 
 ment as by one of Fairbanks' best scales. A bin or box, 
 of thirty-four and a half feet cubical, holds exactly one ton 
 of two thousand pounds of white ash coal, such as is used 
 in ranges, stoves, and furnaces, but it takes thirty-six cubi- 
 cal feet for one ton, or two thousand pounds, of red ash 
 coal, such as is generally used in grates. A lawful ton of 
 
SAVIIi'G GAS. 113 
 
 coal in Pennsylvania and, Ave believe, in New York, is 
 twenty-two hundred and forty pounds, or twenty-eight 
 bushels of eighty pounds each. A bin that will hold an 
 honest ton of red ash coal should measure forty feet cubi- 
 ical — that is, the internal length, breadth and height of the 
 bin multiplied together. For instance, thus, four feet broad, 
 five feet long and two feet deep. 
 
 Gas as a Fuel. 
 
 Within a few years very great improvements have been 
 made in the construction of apparatus for utilizing gas as a 
 fuel. All the culinary operations of roasting, baking, boil- 
 ing, and stewing are now done to a limited extent by gas, 
 and for some of these purposes it is superior to coal. Meats 
 can be roasted by gas without parting with their juices, 
 and consequently there is less waste, and their flavor is 
 preserved. Boiling and frying can be done with greater 
 perfection than over the open fire, on account of the readi- 
 ness with which the heat can be increased or decreased at 
 pleasure. Gas-stoves are peculiarly adapted for the French 
 style of cooking, and the production of soups and stews. 
 
 For heating apartments of moderate size, gas has been 
 found very eifective and economical, when the burners and 
 regulators are properly constructed. Some of these stoves 
 are now so arranged that the flame of the gas acts on an in- 
 combustible, fibrous material, called asbestos, which speedily 
 becomes incandescent, and this produces a lively and cheer- 
 ful appearance. 
 
 How to Eegulate and Save Gas. 
 In all the principal cities of the United States and 
 Europe, gas is now the most popular agent for producing 
 artificial light, though hardly known at the beginning of 
 
114 H03IE COIfFOETS. 
 
 the present century. But notwithstanding its general use, 
 consumers have very vague ideas on the proper manage- 
 ment of gas, and large sums of money are unnecessarily ex- 
 pended for want of attention to a few simple details. 
 
 For the purpose of economizing in the consumption of 
 gas, there is no part connected therewith of more importance 
 than the burners. If these are improj^erly constructed, or 
 their flames unsuitably adjusted, the light derived from gas 
 is reduced in a most extraordinary manner. Under such 
 circumstances the account of the consumer is much in- 
 creased, and it is no exaggeration to state that a large pro- 
 portion of consumers, through their own mismanagen e:it, 
 pay twice as much as there is any occasion for, or, in other 
 Avords, by proper burners and control, they could have 
 their usual light for one-half the money now expended. 
 
 Of burners there are three principal kinds in use — the 
 argand, which are best for stores and warehouses ; the 
 hat-icing, which is best for outside light ; and the fish-tail, 
 which is generally adopted in hotels and dwellings. In all 
 of these the most important considerations for gas consum- 
 ers to attend to are, to see that the orifices for the egress of 
 gas are perfectly regular in size, smooth, and not rusted, 
 and sufficiently large to permit it to issue with very feeble 
 pressure or force. " Whenever the orifices for the emission 
 of gas," says the " Gas Consumers' Guide," " arc too small, 
 a greatly increased pressure is required to expel it, and the 
 light derived is diminished just in proportion to that in- 
 creased pressure. With burners constructed in this defec- 
 tive manner, the flame has a dull, blue tinge, which in- 
 creases in intensity according to the augmented pressure ; 
 the jets forming the flame are more or less detached, and a 
 large portion of the lower part of this is of a deep blue 
 
SAVING GAS. 115 
 
 color. Defective burners are very common, and by their 
 use the consumer frequently does not obtain more than one- 
 half the available light to be derived from the gas." Lava- 
 tipped burners are preferable to metal, because they will 
 not rust. 
 
 Next to proper burners, a good regulator is an econo- 
 mizer of gas. This is a small self-acting instrument, gener- 
 ally attached to the outlet of the gas meter, at the en- 
 trance to the premises, and contains a suspended plug, 
 or cone, which opens or closes the orifice through which 
 the gas passes in direct accordance with the decrease or in- 
 crease of the pressure in the company's pipes. By this 
 means the pressure in the consumer's premises may always 
 be maintained at one uniformity, so long as there is a suffi- 
 ciency of supply. " The economy derived by the use of the 
 regulator must depend on circumstances, such as the pressure 
 of the gas in the locality, the care previously employed in 
 adjusting the lights, the kind of burners employed before 
 and after using the instrument ; but it is by no means un- 
 common for a saving of from 25 to 40 per cent, being 
 effected by its use, and still retaining the same amount of 
 light. Professor Silliman gained even better results than 
 these by using a regulator, thereby, as he stated, effecting a 
 saving of nearly 50 per cent. In all large establishments 
 of several stories high, a distinct regulator is essential for 
 each floor, inasmuch as gas by its lightness has a tendency 
 to ascend, so that in the absence of this instrument there is 
 often an excess of gas in the upper portion of a building, 
 whilst the lower premises are in comparative obscurity." 
 
 There is a method of enriching gas, by causing it to 
 pass, just previous to combustion, through prepared oib 
 
116 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 which are rich in carbon. By this process tlie gas becomes 
 loaded with the carbon of the oil, which is thereby carried 
 to the burners, and produces a much larger amount of light 
 at a comparatively small cost. The apparatus is called a 
 carbonize)', and is attached to the meter. 
 
 The best way to regulate the flow of gas, and thereby 
 economize it, to the burners, is not by the burner valves, 
 but the main valve near the meter. \V'^lien the gas jets are 
 burning, this valve should be turned to regulate the flame 
 to the proper length, with the burner valves freely open. 
 The object of this is to reduce the total pressure in the 
 pipe before the gas comes to the burners, so that some gas 
 may not escape unconsumed, as is usually the case when 
 the burner valve is used as the regulator. 
 
 How to Extinguisli Fires and Prevent Conflagrations. 
 
 Science has deplorably failed as yet in teaching builders 
 how to erect a perfectly fire-proof building. The great 
 conflagrations in Chicago and Boston demonstrated that 
 those buildings which >vere supposed to be fire-proof could 
 not withstand a whirlwind of flame. They demonstrated 
 that neither granite nor iron can arrest the progress of a 
 great fire, and that the fire departments, as at present or- 
 ganized in American cities, are powerless to prevent con- 
 flagrations. Of all the safeguards that have been invented, 
 and the ingenious plans that from time to time have been 
 promulgated, not one remains, except the simple idea that 
 the only certain method of preventing confiagrations is to ex- 
 tinguish fires at tJieir hcg'.ii ting. Whenever a fire is allowed 
 to destroy one building, it may destroy hundreds of others. 
 In order to extinguish a fire at its beginning, it is neces- 
 sary that every building should be provided with a suitable 
 
PBEVENTING CONFLAGBATIONS. 117 
 
 apparatus for the purpose, such as a small hand-pump, one 
 or two buckets of water, and an axe or hatchet. The 
 "Scientific American" recommends portable hand forc- 
 ing-pumps, and remarks : " The rule is, that the be- 
 ginnings of fires are small, and their progress compara- 
 tively slow. In most cases, a very little water judiciously 
 applied will extinguish a fire within five minutes of its 
 ignition. It is for this reason that small portable hand 
 forcing-pumps havd been approved by the most experi- 
 enced firemen as the very best means, all things consid- 
 ered, for extinguishing fires." 
 
 Mr. Bird, the author of a valuable work on "Protection 
 from Fire," recommends that every city and large town 
 should reorganize its fire department, alter the present 
 steam-engines so that they may throw steam into build- 
 iugs where the flames have not burst from the doors, win- 
 dows or roofs, and in addition thereto, place in every large 
 building, store, stable or manufactory, a small engine, three 
 buckets, and one axe, with a card of directions what to do 
 in case of fire. Each family should organize its "Home 
 Fire Brigade;" and in buildings where many persons are 
 employed, there should be some of them trained to do duty 
 as firemen. 
 
 [In order to prevent fires, the " London Builder " offers 
 the following suggestions : 
 
 " Keep matches in metal boxes, and out of the reach of 
 children ; wax matches are particularly dangerous, and 
 should be kept out of the way of rats and mice. Be care- 
 ful in making fires with shavings and other light kindlings. 
 Do not deposit ashes in a wooden vessel, and be sure that 
 burning cinders are extinguished before they are deposited. 
 Never put firewood upon the stove to dry, and never put 
 ashes or a light under a staircase. Fill fluid or spirit (or 
 
118 H03IE COMFOBTS. 
 
 kerosene) lamps only by daylight, and never near a fire or 
 light. Do not leave a candle burning on a bureau or chest. 
 Alwavs be cautious about extinguishing matches or other 
 lighters before throwing them away. Never throw a cigar 
 stump upon the floor, or into a spit-box containing saw- 
 dust or trash, without being certain that it contains no fire. 
 After blowing out a candle, never put it away until sure 
 that the snuif has gone entirely out. A lighted candle 
 ought not to be stuck up against a frame wall, or ])laced 
 upon any portion of the woodwork in a stable, manufac- 
 torv, shop, or any other place. Xever enter a barn or 
 stable at night with an uncovered light. Never take an 
 open light to examine a gas-meter. Do not put gas or 
 other lights near curtains. Never take a light into a closet. 
 Do not read in bed, 
 
 "The principal register of a furnace should always be 
 fastened open. Stove-pipes should be at least four inches 
 from woodwork, and well guarded by tin or zinc; rags 
 ought never to be stuffed into stove-pipe holes ; openings 
 into chimnev-flues for stove-pipes which are not used, ought 
 alwavs to be securely protected by metallic coverings. 
 Never close up a place of business in the evening without 
 looking well to the extinguishment of lights and the proper 
 security of the fires. When retiring to bed at night, always 
 see that there is no danger from your fires, and be sure that 
 your lights are safe."] 
 
 What to do when Clothing is on Fire. 
 
 To preserve life ichen clothing has caught on fire the first 
 great requisite of safety is to preserve presence of mind. 
 Mr. Bird says : " Throwing one's self upon the floor, and 
 wrapping a rug or blanket or overcoat about one, will oc- 
 cupy two or three seconds, and the danger would be over. 
 
PBEVENTING CONFLAGBATIONS. 119 
 
 The reason for lying down is, that then the flames burn 
 quite slowly towards a vital part, but almost instantly 
 while standing upright. 
 
 " If persons awake in the night, and find the room filled 
 with smoke, they should get out of bed, and creep with the 
 face as near the floor as possible to a door or window. A 
 room may be so full of smoke as to suffocate any one stand- 
 ing up, and be perfectly safe to breathe in, a few inches 
 from the floor." 
 
 "With regard to the use of kerosene lamps, which so often 
 cause fires and death by their explosion, he says : " Never 
 blow down the chimney of a kerosene lamp to extinguish 
 it. Never use great quart lamps. They are very dangerous. 
 If you have them, throw them against a stone wall. Never 
 buy the cheapest oil. Get the best. Lamps, when lighted 
 in the morning without being filled, and taken quickly 
 about the house, are very liable to explode." * 
 
 To Save a Person on Fire. 
 Seize a blanket from a bed, or a cloak, or a carpet, or 
 any woollen material. Hold the corners as far apart as 
 
 * Tliere are seUers of " patent lamp, the vapor cannot find its 
 
 burning oils" who claim you can- way to the air, but fills the lamp 
 
 not explode them if you try all day. above the oil. Now we have the 
 
 To show this they pour the oil on a flame of the lamp over the vapor. 
 
 tin plate or pan, apply a match to If we blow the flame down to the 
 
 the fluid, and tlie fire is extin- vapor, or so shake the lamp as to 
 
 guished. The fiillacy of this is ex- force a tiny stream of the vapor up 
 
 plained, as follows : Benzine does to tlie flame, or the vapor increases 
 
 not explode, but the vapor which until it fills the lamp, and is forced 
 
 rises from it does. When the ben- up the side of the wick to the flame, 
 
 zine is poured upon the plate the the vapor takes fire, and burns its 
 
 vapor passes off" into the air safely, way back into the lamp, when the 
 
 When it is gone, the match is ap- whole of the vapor explodes, setting 
 
 plied with the result as stated. But fire to the oil, and often killing the 
 
 when the dangerous oil is in a person holding the lamp. 
 
120 H03IE COMFOETS. 
 
 you can, stretch them out higlier than your head, and rush 
 boldly on the person, throwing the fabric around the upper 
 part of the body. This instantly smothers the fire, and 
 saves the face. The next instant throw the unfortunate 
 person on the floor. This is an additional safety to the 
 face and breath, and any remnant of flame can be put out 
 more leisurely. The next instant immerse the burnt part 
 in cold water, and all pain will cease with the rapidity of 
 magic. Next get some common flour, remove from the 
 water, and cover the burned parts with an inch thickness 
 of flour; if possible put the patient in bed, and do all that 
 you can to soothe until the ])hysician arrives. Let the 
 flour remain until it falls ofi" itself, when a beautiful new 
 skin will be found, and unless the burns are deep, no other 
 application will be needed. The dry flour for burns is the 
 most admirable remedy ever proposed, and the information 
 ought to be imparted to every one. The principle of its 
 action is, that like the water, it causes instant and perfect 
 relief from pain, by totally excluding the air from the 
 injured parts. 
 
CHAPTER yil. 
 
 ABOUT EATING AND ARTICLES OF FOOD. 
 
 "Animals fill themselvey, man eats. The man of mind alone knows 
 how to eat." — Brillat Savarin. 
 
 y,i LL the inferior animals are endowed with instinct to 
 direct them to the right food, that has been provided 
 for them, and which requires no cooking or previous 
 •^ preparation ; man, on the contrary, was predestined 
 to exert not only his body in gathering his food, but his 
 intellect in adapting it to the wants of a complicated organ- 
 ism. All the elements that compose the human body have 
 corresponding elements in the animal and vegetable crea- 
 tion ; but man is compelled to exercise his mind and reason 
 to select from the various articles, those which are adapted 
 to his peculiar and constantly changing circumstances. 
 Food, that to the Esquimaux would be wholesome nutri- 
 ment, would disgust and poison the inhabitant of the 
 tropics, while the cooling fruits and vegetables of the 
 equator would freeze or starve the sojourner in polar 
 regions. 
 
 All food in ordinary use may be divided into four 
 
 classes : heat-producers, of which the representative articles 
 
 are, butter, lard, fat of meats, vegetable oils, fine flour, etc.; 
 
 2d, muscle-makers, of which the representative articles 
 
 10 121 
 
122 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 are, lean meats, cheese, peas and beans, etc.; 3d, brain 
 feeders, represented by shell fishes, lean meats, active fishes, 
 birds, etc.; and waste articles, or those containing little 
 nutriment, but which are useful to modify and dihite con- 
 centrated food. As a general rule, that Food is best and 
 most economical which contains the proper proportion of 
 lieaters and muscle-producers, but all of these classes of food 
 are needed, and every day ; varying, however, in proportions, 
 according to age, circumstances and temperature. Those 
 who ard'ignorant of dietetic laws provide nearly the same 
 kind of food in summer as in winter, for the young and for 
 tlie aged, for the active and the sedentary ; and the result 
 is seen in the prevalence of bowel and liver complaints, 
 gastric and typhoid fevers, dysenteries and dyspepsia. 
 The great secret in the })reparation of food that will pro- 
 long life in good health is to adapt it to the mental or mus- 
 cular employments of those consuming it, and to provide a 
 variety suited to the ages of the individuals and the season. 
 Divine wisdom has in nature provided an infinite variety 
 of articles adapted for food, but it requires some knowledge 
 of their constituent parts, and a good deal of intelligence, to 
 select and properly prepare them. 
 
 1. Grain as Food. 
 
 Of grains, the most extensively cultivated and most 
 generally used is 
 
 Wheat. Of this the varieties are so numerous that the 
 French Academy of Arts and Sciences has described no 
 less than four hundred. All of them, however, con- 
 tain the elements which correspond with the requirements 
 of the human system, though differing in proportion and 
 value, and it is possible to maintain life and health on 
 
EATING AND ABTICLES OF FOOD. 123 
 
 wheat alone for an indefinite period, with good water and 
 good air. The proper modes of preparing wheat, and 
 baking bread, will be considered subsequently. 
 
 Rye is a valuable grain for persons predisposed to 
 constipation, and with corn meal makes a nourishing 
 and digestible bread. 
 
 Indian-corn is a heating grain, and, abounding in oil, 
 it is more fattening than wheat. It is a food peculiarly 
 well adapted to cold climates, and the meal when mixed 
 with rye, makes a wholesome and excellent bread. The 
 "large hominy," or the grain divided into two or three 
 parts, is suited to both the active and the sedentary, but is 
 especially valuable food for laborers, because it contains 
 much of the muscle-making elements. 
 
 Oatmeal, though little used as food for man in this 
 country, is a staple article of consumption in portions of 
 Great Britain, particularly in the north of England, Scot- 
 land and Ireland, In porridge, or cakes, it greatly pro- 
 motes muscular and mental activity. 
 
 Rice is one of the most popular articles of food, and its 
 consumption is greater throughout the world than any 
 other grain, except perhaps wheat. It is, however, only 
 capable of supporting life feebly, has less than half the 
 muscle-feeding properties of wheat, and a fourth of its 
 elements for the brain and nerves. Its principal compo- 
 nent is starch, and it should be eaten in conjunction with 
 beefsteak and vegetables that contain no starch. 
 
 2. Vegetables as Food. 
 
 Of vegetables the most nutritious are beans, which 
 contain a large proportion of casein. Like cheese, they 
 are therefore less easily digested than the cereals, but are 
 
124 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 well adapted to active people whose digestive powers are 
 strong. Two pounds of beans will do more muscular work 
 than three j^ounds of wheat, and more brain work than 
 three and one-half pounds. But, as they contain less by 
 twenty per cent, of the requisite amount of heaters, they 
 are appropriately eaten with fat pork or some other heat- 
 making food. 
 
 Peas, wliich contain nearly the same elements as beans, 
 and in similar proportions, are more easily digested, and 
 require to be eaten with potatoes, and such heaters as pork, 
 butter, or fat meats. 
 
 Potatoes, parsnips, turnips, carrots and green vegetables 
 generally contain some nutritive elements, but with such 
 an amount of water and waste, that the capacity of the 
 human stomach is insufficient to hold the supply necessary 
 to keep the body in good condition. Eaten, however, with 
 lean meats or other concentrated food, they perform a 
 useful office in distending the stomach, and facilitating 
 digestion. 
 
 3, Animals as Food. 
 
 The flesh of animals, fat and lean together, like a grain 
 of wheat, contains every one of the elements that compose 
 the human system, but not in the same proportions. 
 
 The diiference in the nutritive properties of five 
 articles of animal food, in common use, is set forth in tliQ 
 following table. In one hundred parts are — 
 
 Filirin and allm- 
 Mineral matter, men, or food 
 
 or food for for muscles Fat, or food for 
 
 brains. and tissues. heat. Water. 
 
 Veal 5 16 16.5 62.5 
 
 Beef 5.0 15.0 30.0 50.0 
 
 Mutton 3.5 12.5 40.0 44.0 
 
 Lamb 3.5 11.0 35.0 50.5 
 
 Pork 1.5 10.0 50.0 38.5 
 
EATING AND ABTICLES OF FOOD. 125 
 
 It will be perceived that pork contains five times as 
 much of the food for heat as of the food for muscles and 
 tissues, and is therefore the best for cold weather, while 
 veal is better suited to warm weather. In lean beefsteak, 
 the muscle-making principles predominate, and consequently 
 butter or potatoes, rice or Indian corn should accompany 
 it, while with fat pork we require beans, peas, etc. Pork 
 and beans contain the muscle and vital elements as well as 
 the heaters, and are exceedingly wholesome diet for those 
 who are active and exposed to the cold, while they are stupe- 
 fying to the sedentary, and tend to produce inflammatory 
 diseases or congestion if eaten in hot weather. 
 
 Fishes are found to contain, when chemically analyzed, 
 about the same muscle-making elements as are found in 
 lean beef and mutton, with a larger proportion of phos- 
 phorus or food for the brain. The active kinds of fish, as 
 trout, pickerel, and shad, are more valuable as food than 
 the common white fish, like cod and haddock. Containing 
 a large proportion of phosphorus, or the vital element, they 
 are especially suited to students and sedentary men, though 
 fish pickelled in brine are more suitable for laboring men 
 than others. 
 
 Chickens or poultry are not equal to fishes as a food 
 for the studious, but they contain more of the muscle- 
 making and heat-producing elements than beef or veal. 
 This is especially true of the legs of a chicken or turkey, 
 which are far superior to the breast as a valuable food. 
 The breast is white, dry, and somewhat insipid, while the 
 muscles that move the legs are dark, juicy and have a 
 rich flavor. In birds which live on the wing, it is other- 
 wise. Their breasts are rich in muscle-making and vital 
 
126 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 elements, while the meat on the thighs and side bones is 
 poor and dry. 
 
 Oysters are unsatisfactory food for laborers, but will do 
 very well for the sedentary, and to sup on. They contain 
 but twelve and a half per cent, of solid matter, " in which 
 are included fibrin, albumen, gelatine, mucus and osma- 
 zome." 
 
 4. Food Makes the Man. 
 
 It is unnecessary to pursue the analysis further, for 
 " every moving thing that liveth shall be meat " for those 
 wdio know how to appropriate it. Everything that has life 
 can be used to sustain life in man, and some think that 
 somewhere in the store-house of nature there is a remedy 
 for every ill the flesh is heir to. It is believed by some emi- 
 nent thinkers, that even mental and nervous power can be 
 greatly increased by the use of proper food. This, if true, 
 is one of the most important applications of science to 
 dietetics ever made. If true, the cook and the caterer are 
 as important agents in a scientific system of education as 
 the schoolmaster, the one furnishing the brain with power 
 to work, and the other training it to do work. Let any man 
 observe his feelings and mental capacities, says Dr. Bel- 
 lows, the author of the " Philosophy of Eating," " after a 
 breakfast of white bread and butter, or griddle cakes and 
 syrup, or any other such carbonaceous articles of food, and 
 I am sure he will find himself unable to perform the same 
 mental labor as he can on a breakfast of beefsteak, or fish 
 and potatoes, or unbolted bread and milk, or any other 
 articles abounding in the phosphates. Brains can no more 
 be made or worked without phosphorus than Egyptian 
 bricks can be made without straw. Why not then apply 
 these plain laws to raising children, and cultivating their 
 
EATING AJVD ABTICLES OF FOOD. 127 
 
 minds, as Ave do to the raising of wheat, and hens, and bees, 
 and developing their properties and powers? 
 
 "No man who understands his business would expect to 
 raise wheat in soil in which is no nitrogen, lime, or phos- 
 jiliorus, or make hens profitable on food containing no lime 
 for egg-shells, or keep bees on a desolate island where no 
 flowers could be found. Why, then, expect to develop 
 brains on white bread, griddle-cakes and doughnuts?" 
 
 This is a theory that every one can test for himself, and 
 if found valuable and practical, its application is very im- 
 portant. Is your boy, says the doctor, fat and stupid, having 
 neither muscle nor brains ? Feed him on lean meats, fish, 
 oatmeal cakes, beans, peas, and food in which phosphorus 
 abounds. Is your son, on the contrary, mentally active, 
 thin in body and precocious in intellect? He is liable to 
 dangerous diseases of the brain, and inflammations, and it 
 will be well to confine his diet principally to cooling fruits 
 and vegetables, with bread, milk, and articles containing 
 starch and sugar. Is your daughter pale, feeble and unde- 
 veloped ? Do not feed her on white bread, sweet cakes, 
 puddings and confectionery, but give her lean meats, fish, 
 milk, coarse bread and articles containing iron and phos- 
 phorus. Is your grandfather fat, stupid and dozy, dis- 
 posed to sit by the fire, saying nothing, and caring for 
 nothing? Change his diet from fat beef and pork, white 
 bread and butter, buckAvheat cakes and molasses, to fish, 
 beefsteak, and potatoes. Is he, on the contrary, very rest- 
 less and irritable? Let him eat of the fattest meats, and of 
 butter, sugar, and molasses as much as he desires. Do you 
 expect to spend the day in study or mental exercise? Take 
 a breakfast of beefsteak, fish and potatoes, game, oatmeal 
 or barley-cakes, or any other articles in which phosphorus 
 
128 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 abounds. Do you intend to spend the day in hard out-of- 
 door work in the cold? Eat fat and lean meats, beans 
 and corn bread. Do you wish to feel badly and be pre- 
 disposed to fevers and inflammatory diseases? Eat in 
 summer what you found wholesome in winter — pork and 
 beans for breakfast, a side of pork for dinner, and have 
 your vegetables cooked swimming in fat. 
 
 As a further corollary from the principles set forth, it 
 may be stated that everything designed for food is Vvdiole-' 
 some under some circumstances, and unwholesome under 
 other circumstances. Dr. Bellows forcil)ly remarks, "A 
 rattlesnake, all but the head, would make a delicious and 
 wholesome meal to a man who was starving and could get 
 nothing else, while the most delicate woodcock would be 
 poison to a man prostrated with typhoid fever. That 
 abstract question, then, so often asked, Is this or that kind 
 of food wholesome? is consummate nonsense." 
 
 Keeping Lent. 
 
 In Catholic countries it is the practice to fast for a season 
 in early spring, especially to abstain from eating meat, and 
 the practice seems founded on a wise physiology. " If all 
 persons for a month in early spring," saj'S Dr. Hall, "were 
 to abstain from all meats whatsoever, as the spirit of the 
 doctrine of Lent requires, it would add greatly to the 
 health of communities by enabling the system to throw off 
 the impurities of the body acquired by the hearty eating 
 of winter, would cool off the heated blood, and thus destroy 
 the germs of spring and summer diseases, and thus is it 
 that the proper practice of the precepts of religion pro- 
 motes not only the spiritual but the physical health of 
 man. These are simple measures : they are practicable^ cost 
 
EATING AND AETICLES OF FOOD. 129 
 
 no money, and are available to all, and if heeded in a 
 rational manner, death would be kept from many a dwell- 
 ing, and life-time sorrows would be lightened in many 
 bosoms." 
 
 Digestibility of Foods. 
 
 With regard to the comparative digestibility of the 
 various articles that are usually used as food, the nearest 
 approach to accuracy which has hitherto been obtained was 
 made by Dr. Beaumont, who had an opportunity to witness 
 tlie operations of the stomach of a Canadian, which had 
 been deprived of its outer coating, and laid bare by a 
 musket ball. He discovered that boiled rice, raw sweet- 
 apples, boiled sago, raw fresh eggs, boiled and fried trout, 
 barley broth, boiled tripe and broiled venison were the most 
 digestible of all the common articles of diet. Next to 
 these were boiled tapioca, boiled beans, roasted or baked 
 potatoes, raw cabbage, fresh and raw oysters, hash, broiled 
 liver, boiled and roasted turkey, roasted goose, broiled 
 lamb, fricaseed chicken and boiled beef, which were digested 
 in three hours or less. The most indigestible of all were 
 roasted and boiled pork, roasted wild ducks, fried heart, 
 fried veal and fried beef, beef soup, boiled cabbage and 
 boiled salmon. These required from four to five hours to 
 digest. It is proper, however, to state that the value of 
 articles as food does not depend altogether on their digesti- 
 bility, except for very feeble stomachs. The stomach 
 requires rest, it is true, but when it has nothing to do for 
 long intervals, it is apt to become restless and enfeebled. 
 
 How and when to Eat. 
 
 To derive full nourishment from the food which is taken 
 into the body, it is as important to know how and when 
 
130 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 to eat as what to eat. All the medical authorities concur 
 in recommending people to chew tlieir food well, so as not 
 to give the stomach the work which the teeth ought to 
 perform. Eat slowly, they all say, and at regular hours. 
 Never eat when very tired, or heated, or angry, or the 
 food will probally ferment instead of digesting. Take a 
 hearty but not a heavy dinner, and rest, if possible, at least 
 half an hour after a hearty meal. Eat light suppers: 
 nightmares are generally occasioned by eating, before going 
 to bed, heavy food which presses steadily on the great 
 veins of the body, arrests the flow of the blood, dams it up 
 in the vessels of the brain, and a man having nightmare is 
 mujh nearer death than most persons suppose. If he can- 
 not arouse himself instantly, and escape from his imagin- 
 ary peril, he will probably never awake. 
 
 Physicians also concur in declaring that the quantity of 
 food to be taken at a meal is even more important than its 
 quality. Americans as a rule eat too much. Some one has 
 said, "Our men are all gluttons, and our women are all 
 slaves." A little food well assimilated, yields far more nutri- 
 ment and vigor than quantities crudely digested. Lewis 
 Cornarro, who brought himself by dissipation and gluttony 
 to death's door, reversed his practice, and by limiting himself 
 to twelve ounces of solid food per day, prolonged his life for 
 sixty-three years, dying at an advanced age. The lightest 
 and least of meat and drink, says Dr. Cheyne, " a man 
 can be tolerably easy under, is the shortest and most infalli- 
 We means to preserve life, health, and serenity." 
 
CHAPTER yill. 
 
 CHEAP LIVING AND ECONOMICAL FOOD. 
 
 " No charitable societies have ever done so much good to the poor by 
 the distribution of food, as they could do by printing and putting into 
 the hands of every family, a little tract containing practical lessons of 
 economy in the art of living well and living cheap — an art that would 
 prevent the waste of food, and lessen the expense of first purchases, and 
 increase the nutritious qualities while it added immensely to the table 
 enjoyment of every family." — Robinson. 
 
 MERICANS are reproached not only for being great 
 eaters, but the most wasteful and extravagant con- 
 sumers of food on the face of the earth. The whole 
 system of American cookery is based upon a state 
 of things that existed when food was so plentiful as to have 
 scarcely any money value. When wheat could be purchased 
 for less than fifty cents a bushel, and corn was burned for 
 fuel, as it has been in some of the Western States, there 
 could be little or no inducement to economize in their use. 
 But where thousands are on the brink of starvation, relying 
 on public soup-houses for the means to sustain life, as has 
 been the case in the Atlantic cities since the late financial 
 panic, the waste of food becomes a crime against the w^ell- 
 being of society. How to get sufficient nourishment from 
 food with the least expenditure of money, is therefore the 
 question we propose to consider in this chapter. 
 
 131 
 
132 H03IE COMFOETS. 
 
 The editor, in his " Opportunities for Industry," pub- 
 lished some years ago, remarked : " The cost of what are 
 absokite and actual necessaries of life is, in most countries, 
 comparatively little — as is evidenced in cases -where stern 
 necessity affixes the bounds of possible expenditure. In 
 France, for instance, there are tens of thousands of peasants 
 and operatives whose daily earnings do not exceed ten 
 cents, and yet they continue to live gayly on that sum. 
 As a consequence, in no other country has the art of cook- 
 ery made equal progress. In Paris an enterprising woman, 
 Madame Robert, furnishes a dinner daily to six thousand 
 workmen for two pence each, her bill of fare being cabbage 
 soup, a slice of bouilli (boiled beef), a piece of bread, and 
 a glass of wine. In our Southern States, the food of the 
 chief laborers — the men who produce an export value of 
 over two hundred millions of dollars per annum in cotton, 
 sugar, tobacco and rice — does not probably cost their pro- 
 viders ten cents per day." 
 
 What may be done with ten cents a day, even in the 
 extravagant city of New York, was illustrated by Solon 
 Robinson, in his famous story originally published in the 
 Kew York Tribune of "A dime a day." He told how a 
 woman with four children, whose daily income for some 
 time was only ten cents, managed to jn-ovide subsistence 
 for all without charity from any one. Now this is the way 
 she did it : she bought one cent's worth of corn meal, four 
 cents' worth of white beans, and paid three cents for a 
 scraggy piece of salt pork, half fat and half lean. "With 
 the meal, she made three dumplings, and these, with the 
 pork, beans and a pepper-pod given her, she put into a pot 
 containing plenty of water, for the pork was salt, and boiled 
 the whole for two hours. For breakfast the family ate one 
 
CHEAP LIVING. 133 
 
 of the dumplings, and each had a plate of soup ; for dinner 
 they ate half the meat, half the soup and one of the dump- 
 lings, leaving the same allowance for supper. For a 
 change, she bought five cents' worth of scrap pieces of lean 
 beef, which,. with some potatoes and an onion and the meal 
 worked up into round balls of stiff dough, she made into 
 a stew or chowder that sufficed for the day. There are 
 thousands placed in similar circumstances who, not knowing 
 how to use a sum so small, would have invested their ten 
 cents in some cheap poison and swallowed it. Some 
 years ago a Yankee philosopher of the school of Diogenes, 
 M. Thoreau, endeavored to ascertain by actual experiment 
 how cheaply a man could live, and his exjierience is re- 
 corded in a volume entitled " Walden, or Life in the 
 Woods." For eight months his food cost him in money 
 twenty-seven cents a week ; and for two years it consisted 
 of rye and Indian meal (without yeast), potatoes, rice, a 
 very little salt pork, and molasses ; and his drink was 
 water. He says, "a man may use as simple diet as the 
 animals, and yet retain health and strength." 
 
 From experiments made some years ago, in five prisons 
 in Scotland, where the habits of the prisoners were about 
 alike, it was found that to supply the waste of the human 
 system when not in active exercise, about four ounces of 
 muscle-making and thirteen ounces of heat or fat-producing 
 food were required daily ; and that a lesser supply was 
 insufficient to restore the waste of the tissues, and that the 
 body consequently diminished in weight. About the same 
 proportion is observed in the rations provided for soldiers 
 by governments whose officers study the laws of dietetics. 
 Now, assuming this to be the amount of nutriment daily 
 required, we need only analyze the various articles of food 
 11 
 
134 HOME C031F0ETS. 
 
 and select those containing the requisite elements that cost 
 the least. In other words, we need eat only one and three- 
 quarter pounds of cracked wheat or unbolted flour daily, 
 or one and a half pounds of maize and Southern corn 
 mixed, a pound of beans or peas and rice, two pounds of 
 barley, or two pounds of oatmeal and one of buckwheat, 
 or three pounds of beef of average fatness, or about ten 
 pounds of potatoes or sixteen pounds of turnips, carrots 
 and parsnips. A bill of fare consisting of one pound of 
 roast beef, one pound i)otatoes, one pound unbolted bread, 
 one pound milk, and one pound apples, will contain the 
 same quantity of muscle-making and heat-producing ele- 
 ments. The combinations by which the same end may be 
 obtained are almost unlimited; but where cost alone is 
 considered, the simplest and cheapest articles must be 
 selected. Less than two pounds of unbolted flour, or beans 
 or peas or Indian corn, are all a man need purchase and 
 consume daily, to supply the waste of liis system in ordi- 
 nary circumstances. This statement furnishes a key to 
 about all that can be said respecting economy in food. 
 
 Soyer's Cheap Soups. 
 
 Soyer, in his " Culinary Campaign," has given recipes 
 for making palatable soups which he says will not cost 
 more than a cent a quart in London. His directions for 
 two of them are as follows : 
 
 No. L Take two ounces of drippings; quarter of a 
 pound of solid meat, at four pence a pound, cut into pieces 
 one inch square; quarter pound of onions, sliced thin; 
 cpiarter pound of turnips (the peel will do, or one M'hole 
 one cut into small slices) ; two ounces leeks — green tops 
 will do — sliced thin ; three ounces of celery ; three quar- 
 ters of a pound of common flour ; half a pound of pearl 
 
CHEAP LIVING. 135 
 
 barley, or one pound of Scotch ; three ounces of salt ; quar- 
 ter of an ounce of brown sugar; two gallons of water. I 
 first put two ounces of dripping into a saucepan, capable 
 of holding two gallons of water, with a quarter of a pound 
 of leg-beef without bones, cut into square pieces of about 
 an inch ; and two middling-sized onions, peeled and sliced ; 
 I then set the saucepan over a coal fire, and stir the con- 
 tents around for a few minutes with a wooden (or iron) 
 spoon until fried lightly brown. I had then, ready-washed, 
 the peelings of two turnips, fifteen green leaves or tops of 
 celery, and the green part of two leeks (the whole of which, 
 I must observe, are always thrown away). Having cut 
 the above vegetables into small pieces, I threw them into a 
 saucepan with thh other ingredients, stirring them occasion- 
 ally over the fire for another ten minutes ; then added one 
 quart of cold water, and three-quarters of a pound of com- 
 mon flour, and half a pound of pearl barley, mixing all well 
 together ; I then added seven quarts of hot water, seasoned 
 with three ounces of salt, and a quarter of an ounce of 
 brown sugar, stirred occasionally until boiling, and allowed 
 it to simmer very gently for three hours; at the end of which 
 time I found the barley perfectly tender. The above soup 
 has been tasted by numerous noblemen, members of Par- 
 liament, and several ladies, who have lately visited my 
 kitchen department, and who have considered it very good 
 and nourishing. 
 
 The soup will keep several days when made as above 
 described ; but I must observe, not to keep it in a deep 
 pan, but within a flat vessel, where the air could act freely 
 upon it. Stir it now and then until nearly cold, or other- 
 w'ise the next clay it will be in a state of fermentation. 
 This does not denote the weakness of the soup, because the 
 same evil exists with the strongest of stock, or sauce, if not 
 
136 H03IJE COMFOJITS. 
 
 stirred, or confined in a warm place — a fact known to every 
 first-rate cook. The expenses may come to three fiirthings 
 per quart in London ; but as almost everything can be had 
 at less cost in the country, the price of the soup will be 
 still more reduced. In that case, a little additional meat 
 might be used. By giving with this a small portion of 
 bread or biscuit, better support would be given to the })Oor 
 at a trifling cost; and no one, it is to be hoped, hereafter, 
 would hear of the dreadful calamity of starvation. 
 
 No. 2. Same Cost. — Quarter of a pound of beef, cut into 
 pieces one inch square; two ounces of dripping, or melted 
 suet; quarter of a pound of turnips, or carrots, cut into 
 fragments half an inch square; four drops of essence; one 
 and a half pounds of maize flour; three ounces of salt; 
 quarter ounce of brown sugar; one teaspoonful of black 
 pepper, ground fine. Take two ounces of either dripping, 
 American lard, or suet, to which add the turnips or carrots ; 
 fry for ten minutes; add one quart of cold water, and the 
 meal, well mixing, and moisten by degrees with seven 
 quarts of hot water ; boil five hours, and season with three 
 ounces of salt, one quarter oiince of brown sugar, one tea- 
 spoonful of black pepper, two drops of essence of garlic, 
 one drop of essence of mint, a little celery ; stir quickly, 
 and serve directly. 
 
 By adding a pound of potatoes to this, a superior soup 
 Avill be the result. 
 
 Grits, or Crushed Wheat. 
 Wheat has been analyzed and found to contain, as Ave 
 have already remarked, all the elements that compose the 
 human system, and in such proportions, that life and 
 health can be continued on wheat alone for an indefinite 
 period, with good water and good air. Ground or crushed 
 
CHEAP LIVING. 137 
 
 into what are called grits, but unbolted, it forms a very 
 valuable, cheap and palatable food. All the food for 
 nuiscle or brain that is in wheat is found in the outer layer 
 or crust and in the germ or " chit," the centre, which fur- 
 nishes superfine flour, being simply starch. This flour or 
 starch now constitutes the principal food of children, while 
 the outer coat or bran is fed to animals, or, in the language 
 of Dr. Bellows, "So perfectly ignorant are people gen- 
 erally of the laws of nature, that they give to their j)igs 
 the food which their children need to develop muscle and 
 brain, and give their children what their pigs need to 
 develop fat." ' 
 
 Crushed white wheat is now made, by a superior pro- 
 cess, at the "Atlantic Mills " in Brooklyn, so that it can be 
 cooked in half an hour, and used in every way that rice, 
 oatmeal, barley, tapioca, sago or any similar article can be 
 used. Boiled and eaten with milk and sugar, it is very 
 palatable, and when cold, sliced and fried, it is an excel- 
 lent dish. 
 
 Beans and Peas. 
 
 Of these the venerable agricultural philosopher before 
 quoted remarks : 
 
 Every family should eat beans and peas, because of all 
 articles they afford the most nutriment for the least money. 
 
 One pound of cheap meat, say at ten cents, and one 
 pound of split peas, say five cents, will give a fuller dinner 
 to a family than a dollar expended for beefsteak and white 
 bread. This is a kind of economy that should be known 
 and rigidly practised. 
 
 One bushel of white beans will feed more laboring men 
 than eight bushels of potatoes. The beans will cost two 
 dollars, potatoes six. 
 
138 H03IE C031F0RTS. 
 
 A single quart of beans costs nine cents ; a lialf pound 
 of salt pork, six cents; a pound of hominy, five cents; and 
 that will give a meal to a larger family than a dollar's 
 worth of roast beef, white bread, potatoes and other vege- 
 tables. 
 
 Peas are a little more costly than beans, but some think 
 they will go further. 
 
 How to Cook Pork and Beans. 
 
 Pork and beans has long been a favorite article of food 
 in New England. This dish is made, according to Pro- 
 fessor Blot, as follows : 
 
 Soak a quart of beans, if old, for twenty-four hours in 
 cold water, then boil gently till tender. Never put any 
 salt to boil dry beans, but as soon as boiled tender, drain 
 them. Cut in dice about half a pound of bacon, and put 
 it in a saucepan on the fire ; when about half fried, add 
 the beans, mix and stir for one minute, then put in a warm 
 oven for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally ; when done, 
 sprinkle over it some parsley chopped fine, pepper and salt 
 to taste if not salt enough. 
 
 Anothei' Method. — Two quarts of middling-sized M-hite 
 beans, two pounds of salt pork, and one spoonful of mo- 
 lasses. Pick the beans over carefully, wash, and add a 
 gallon of boiling hot soft M'ater; let them soak in it over 
 night. In the morning put them in fresh water, and boil 
 them gently till the skin is very tender and about to break. 
 Take up dry and put them in your dish ; stir in your 
 molasses, gash the pork, and put it down in the dish, so as 
 to have the beans cover all but the upper surface; turn in 
 boiling water till the top is just covered; bake with a 
 steady fire four or five hours. Watch them, and add more 
 
CHEAP LIVING. 139 
 
 water from time to time as it dries away. The molasses 
 may be omitted. 
 
 Indian Corn. 
 
 Tliis is another article that furnishes a large amount of 
 nutriment for little money. It has always been a favorite 
 dish in the Southern States, where the cooking of it is best 
 understood. The first great error usually made in pre- 
 jiaring corn meal is in grinding it too fine, and the next 
 in not cooking; it enough. Coarse corn meal makes the 
 sweetest mush. Corn meal for mush should boil two 
 hours ; it is better if boiled four, and not fit to be eaten 
 if boiled less than one hour. 
 
 To make Corn Bread. — Put a quart of Indian meal into 
 a wooden bowl, with as much salt as can be taken up with 
 the thumb and fingers, that is, about a teaspoonful ; then 
 add as much sweet milk as will make it up into adherent 
 dough, of which take up a double handful, laying it over 
 on one hand and thus carry it to the pan or skillet for 
 baking; turn it in with one pat of the hand, and so on, 
 until the vessel is full ; and with a good heat, let it remain 
 until the crust is a yellowish brown ; put it on the table 
 piping hot, press it open, lay in a large lump of grass 
 butter, just made, and it is ready for demolition. Corn 
 bread is best if eaten while hot ; it becomes sodden if it cools. 
 The milk supersedes the use of lard or butter; no water is 
 needed, although many use butter and water instead of 
 milk; but the true constituents of a pone of bread are 
 meal, milk, salt, nothing else. If you add eggs, it becomes 
 Johnny-cake, and is no longer a pone of bread. 
 
 A more simple, healthful, nutritious, and agreeable 
 article of bread, is, in our opinion, never made. The 
 roughness of the meal particles gives the advantage of brown 
 
140 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 bread ; its natural sweetness makes sugar or molasses un- 
 necessary ; while the sweet milk answers all the purpose 
 of soda or cream of tartar. 
 
 A Keceipt for Indian Pudding. 
 Three and a half pounds of corn (Indian) meal and a 
 handful of salt, one teaspoonful or not, we would prefer 
 not, of carbonate of soda. Mix well, and pour over it a 
 suffi.'ient amount of boiling water to soften the whole, then 
 pour on a quart of cold water; sprinkle over it three- 
 quarters of a pound of dry flour, and stir it well. Divide 
 into five puddings; put each into a floured cloth, tie tight, 
 put in boiling water, and boil three hours; eat it hot, or 
 cold, or fried. It is said that this will give a family of 
 twelve pei'sons two hearty meals, ut a cost of twenty-five 
 cents. It is eaten w^ith syrup. 
 
 How to Cook Hominy. 
 
 By hominy is meant grains of white corn from which the 
 hull and chit, or eye, have been removed, leaving the grains 
 almost whole. Solon Robinson says, that not one person 
 in a hundred knows how to cook hominy, and gives this as 
 the proj)er way, which he learned in the land Avhere " hog 
 and hominy " are understood. 
 
 Wash slightly in cold water, and soak twelve hours in 
 tepid, soft water ; then boil slowly from three to six hours 
 in same water, with plenty more added from time to time, 
 with great care to prevent burning. Don't salt while cook- 
 ing, as that or hard water will harden the corn ; so it will 
 peas or beans, green or dry, and rice also. 
 
 When done, add butter and salt ; or a better way is to 
 let each one season to suit the taste. It may be eaten with 
 meat, in lieu of vegetables, or with milk, sugar, or syrup. 
 
CHEAP LIVING. 141 
 
 It is good, hot or cold, and tlie more frequently it is warmed 
 over ; it is like the old-fashioned pot of 
 
 " Bean porridge Ixot, or bean porridge cold, 
 Bean porridge best at nine days old." 
 
 So is hominy. It is good always, and very wholesome, 
 and, like tomatoes, only requires to be eaten once or twice 
 to fix the taste in its favor. 
 
 Eice and Lentils. 
 
 Two-fifths of the human family it has been calculated 
 make rice their principal article of food, but like superfine 
 flour, it is almost entirely starch, and therefore for mental 
 or muscular strength it is one of the poorest of the common 
 articles of nutritive food, and those who live exclusively 
 upon it are generally weak and effeminate. It is useful, 
 however, to eat with meat, or in case of sickness, where lit- 
 tle sustenance is required, and when properly prepared, it 
 is very palatable. 
 
 Rice may be boiled in various ways, or rather with sev- 
 eral ingredients. In Italy they boil it with ham, sausage, 
 and sometimes Parmesan cheese, and it may be made into 
 cakes, croquettes, fritters, or into pudding. The following 
 is a recipe 
 
 To Make a Eice Pudding Without Eggs. 
 
 Wash a half pound of rice, and put it in a broad shallow 
 tin pan holding four quarts, with a large teacupful of sugar 
 and a half teaspoonful of salt. Fill the pan up with milk, 
 fresh from the cow is best, and set in the oven or stove to 
 bake, stirring it occasionally, and trying the rice. When 
 the latter is soft, and begins to thicken the milk, the pud- 
 
142 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 ding is done. If it boils too long, or there is too much rice 
 in it, it will be too thick to be good. 
 
 Lentils are not much kno"\vn in America, but in the East 
 they are used largely in connection with rice, supplying the 
 muscle-making elements in which rice is deficient. Pro- 
 fessor Blot pronounces them an excellent vegetable, and 
 says they are prepared Kke dry beans in every way. Many 
 persons think them much dearer than beans or peas, not 
 knowing that they swell three or four times their size 
 when soaked in water before cooking them. A 'puree of 
 lentils is excellent with almost every kind of meat, and it 
 also makes a good soup. 
 
 A good supper or dinner may be had from a bowl of 
 
 Farmer's Rice. 
 
 Take a quart of milk, and put it on to boil in a pot of 
 sufficient size. Mix two eggs thoroughly in a pint of flour, 
 and when the milk has begun to boil, sprinkle this into 
 the milk, and stir constantly. When well boiled, transfer 
 to a deep dish, and make it very sweet with brown sugar. 
 Grate some nutmeg over the surface. 
 
 A Plum Pudding for the Million. 
 
 Soyer gives the following receipt for a pudding, which, 
 he says, will cost only sixteen pence to malvje one large 
 enough to supply ten or twelve people. 
 
 Put in a basin a potind of flour, half a pound of stoned 
 raisins, ditto of currants, ditto of chopped suet, two table- 
 spoonfuls of treacle, and half a pint of water. Mix all well, 
 put in a cloth or mould, and boil from four and a half to 
 five hours. For sauce, take melted butter, sugar, and juice 
 of lemon, if handy. A little spice, or a few drops of any 
 
CHEAP LIVING. 143 
 
 essence, or lemon peel chopped, and a little brandy or rum 
 will be an improvement. 
 
 Oatmeal. 
 
 Oatmeal is especially rich in food for muscles and brains, 
 and this may explain the reason of the fact that Scotchmen, 
 who are raised principally on oatmeal porridge and oat- 
 meal cakes, are remarkable fo.r mental and physical activity. 
 It is said to contain the most material for hard work of any 
 known grain, while, at the same time, it is about the cheap- 
 est of foods. In the form of cakes. Oatmeal, it is claimed, 
 is as good as buckwheat, and in the form of porridge it is 
 es2)ecially healthy for children. 
 
 The best way to make porridge is to mix the oatmeal 
 with warm water; strain the batter, pour it into a farina- 
 boiler (a tin utensil enclosed in a larger one, with space be- 
 tween the two for boiling water), and then leave it on the 
 fire for an hour and a half. It needs no stirring, and will 
 be found cooked to a perfect jelly, free from lumps. 
 
 Economical Meats. 
 
 When the best beefsteak is selling at twenty cents a 
 pound, the butchers are glad to sell the " rein " piece at 
 eight or ten cents a pound. It has no bone or fat, and 
 three pounds of it for twenty-five cents will make soup 
 enough for a family of eight or ten persons two days, be- 
 sides furnishing enough meat for a dinner. 
 
 Of all the parts of corned beef, that is the most nutritious 
 and cheapest which is called the round, for it has neither 
 bone nor gristle, nor waste fat worth naming. Both in the 
 purchase of meat and fish, persons are generally falsely 
 economical in choosing an article with bone in it, at two or 
 three cents a pound less than a piece which has none. They 
 
144 EOME COMFORTS. 
 
 purchase porgies, blue fish, flounders, and the like, at six 
 or eight cents a pound, instead of halibut at twelve cents 
 (wholesale), but the halibut is the cheapest, and also the 
 safest, where there are children. 
 
 Beef Stew. 
 
 A very economical and most savory and delicious dish, 
 says some one, can be made with two or three pounds of 
 chuck steak (a cheap kind of beef), which infinitely sur- 
 passes the tasteless, insipid, eating-house stuff, called beef 
 a la mode. Out the steak into pieces two inches square ; 
 put thein into a saucepan, with a large breakfast cup of cold 
 water; put it on the fire; as soon as it boils up, stand it 
 on the hole to simmer, for two hours, until perfectly 
 tender. While simmering, put in, tied up with a bit of thread 
 or cotton, a bunch of herbs, composed of knotted marjoram, 
 winter savory, and a little thyme; take this out just before 
 the dish is served. Of course the stew must be occasionally 
 shaken, as all others are ; the more fat there is, the better is 
 the stew. This dish is of Italian origin, and in that coun- 
 try is eaten with plain boiled maecaroni and Parmesan 
 cheese, or with salad, and with either is "a dainty dish to 
 set before a king." 
 
 A good and economical breakfast dish is made of 
 
 Fried Kashers of Bacon and Poached Eggs. 
 
 Cut the bacou into thin slices ; trim and cut off the rind. 
 Put it into a cold frying-pan — that is to say, do not place 
 the pan on the fire before the bacou is in it. Turn It two 
 or three times, and dish it on a very hot dish. Poach the 
 eggs, and slip them on to the bacon without breaking the 
 yolks, and serve quickly. Time, three or four minutes. 
 Allow six eggs for three persons. 
 
CHEAP LIVING. 145 
 
 An excellent family dish, very savory, and which can be 
 recommended also for its cheapness and economy, is 
 
 Koasted Oxheart Stuffed. 
 
 Put the heart into warm water to soak for two hours ; 
 then wipe it well with a cloth, and, after cutting off the 
 lobes, stuff the inside with a highly seasoned forcemeat, 
 made, for instance, from six ounces of bread crumbs, two 
 eggs, two ounces of ham or lean bacon, quarter of a pound 
 of suet, the rind of half a lemon, one teaspoonful of minced 
 parsley, one teaspoonful of minced sweet herbs, salt, cayenne, 
 and mace to taste. Fasten this stuffing in with a needle 
 and coarse thread ; tie the heart up in buttered paper, and 
 set it before a good fire, being very particular to keep it 
 well basted, or it will eat dry, there being but very little 
 of its own fat. Two or three minutes before serving, re-. 
 move the paper, baste well, and serve with good gravy, and 
 red-currant jelly or melted butter. If the heart is very 
 large, it will require two hours, and covered with a caul, 
 may be baked as well as roasted. Cost of heart, twenty 
 cents, and sufficient for six or eight persons. Seasonable 
 all the year. 
 
 A Genuine Pepper Pot. 
 
 This soup, which is of West Indian origin, should be 
 made in an earthen pot, which always remains by the side 
 of the fire, where the contents simmer, but do not boil. 
 These should consist of an equal admixture of fish, flesh, 
 fowl, and vegetables, seasoned with chilli, or Cayenne pep- 
 per and salt, the only attention it requires being occasional 
 skimming, and the addition of a little water when it gets 
 too dry. As it should at all times be simmering by the 
 12 
 
146 H03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 fire, a good meal is always ready for any guest that may 
 chance to come uninvited. 
 
 A Scotch proverb says, They hae need o' a canny cook 
 wha hae but ae egg to their dinner. 
 
 Cold Meat Cookery. 
 
 This is a field that offers many resources for economical 
 living to those that understand the art of thrifty house- 
 keeping. In the opinion of most American housekeepers, 
 roast or boiled meat left over is good for nothing except to 
 be eaten cold or thrown to the dogs. A few of them know 
 that it can be made into a plain hash, but this is the ex- 
 treme limit of their knowledge in this particular. Those 
 who would learn what savory dishes can be made of cold 
 roast or boiled beef, mutton, veal, and poultry, should con- 
 sult Mrs. Beeton's "Englishwoman's Cookery Book." No 
 other work that we know of is so complete in its directions 
 for cooking cold meats, and with its aid a thrifty house- 
 keeper, w'ho could secure from her more ignorant or lavish 
 neighbors a supply of cold meats at a small expense, could 
 support a family of three or four persons for a trifle per day. 
 
 What can bo done with cold roast beef? It can be broiled 
 with mushroom or oyster sauce ; it can be made into beef 
 fritters, beef rissoles, beef rolls, into hashed beef, minced 
 beef, potted beef, and beef ragout. Cut into slices, and 
 with some herbs and vegetables and mashed potatoes, it 
 can be baked into a pie. Cold boiled beef, fried in a little 
 butter, and covered with fried greens, constitutes the hered- 
 itary English dish known as "bubble and squeak." Cold 
 mutton can be broiled, and with tomato sauce, makes an 
 excellent dish, if served hot. Cold mutton may be made 
 into very fair pies, if well seasoned, and mixed with a few 
 
CHEAP LIVING. 147 
 
 nerbs, or it can be made into " hodge podge," " toad-in-tbe- 
 hole," ragout, or baked minced mutton. Cold veal can be 
 made into Scotch collops, or veal cake, or pie, or fried i)at- 
 ties, or ragout, or rissoles, or rolls, or minced with vege- 
 tables or raaccaroni. Cold poit/^ry can be made into French 
 chicken cutlets, chicken salad, curried fowl, hashed, fricas- 
 seed, fried, minced, into a ragout of fowl, or fowl saute 
 with peas, or croquettes. Even cold pork may be cut into 
 nice-sized cutlets, put into a stew-pan with butter, and 
 cliopped onions, and fried, and when properly seasoned, 
 will make a savory and economical dish. 
 
 Soyer's Thirty Eeceipts in One. 
 
 Put a pound of the crumbs of bread to soak in cold water, 
 or better, in milk ; take the same quantity of any kind of 
 boiled or roasted meat, a little fat, which chop in dice rather 
 fine; press the water out of the bread ; put in the pan two 
 ounces of butter, lard, or dripping, with two teaspoonfuls 
 of chopped onions ; fry two minutes ; add the bread ; stir 
 with a wooden spoon until rather dry; then add the meat; 
 season with a teaspoon ful of salt, half of pepper, a little 
 grated nutmeg, if handy; stir till quite hot; then add two 
 eggs, one at a time; mix very quick, and pour on dish to 
 cool. Then roll it into the shape of small eggs, then in 
 flour ; Qgg them and bread crumb ; fry a nice yellow 
 color, and serve plain, or with any sauce you may fancy. 
 
 Anything eatable, the remains of meat, poultry, game, 
 or fish, may be used up in this way. 
 
 While considering the subject of economy in food, M^e 
 may as well here allude to one or two other points ; as, for 
 instance, 
 
148 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 Coffee Substitutes. 
 
 French cooks, who are celebrated for making good coffee, 
 mix three or four different kinds, and recommend as a good 
 proportion, to add to one pound of Java about four ounces 
 of Mocha and four ounces of one or two other kinds. It is 
 said that from tliree parts of Rio, with two parts of Old 
 Government Java, a coffee can be made quite as good, if 
 not superior, to that made of Java alone. 
 
 Wheat coffee, made of a mixture of eight quarts of wheat 
 to one pound of real coffee, is said to afford a beverage quite 
 as agreeable as the unadulterated Rio, besides being much 
 more wholesome. It is probably known to many that a 
 very large per cent, of the ground coffee sold at the stores 
 is common field peas roasted and ground with genuine cof- 
 fee. There are hundreds of thousands of bushels of peas 
 annually used for that pur}K)se. Those who are in the 
 habit of purchasing ground coffee can do better to buy their 
 own peas, burn and grind them, and mix to suit themselves. 
 
 Sturgeon Veal Cutlets. 
 
 There are few persons so poor that they will consent to eat 
 sturgeon, yet this fish, if properly cooked, affords it is said 
 a luxurious meal. Get a few slices, moderately thick, says 
 Mather, put them in a pot or pan of water, and parboil 
 them to get rid of the oil ; then roll in crumbs of cracker 
 and egg, just as you would a veal cutlet, and fry. This 
 makes a veal cutlet that beats the original by far, and you 
 are sure that it is full "six weeks old," as the butcher 
 always certifies in regard to the veal 
 
CHEAP LIVING. 149 
 
 Vegetable Beefsteaks. 
 Dr. Badhara, of England, thinks lie has discovered a 
 large supply of excellent and cheap food in the mosses and 
 fungi that grow upon trees. He says, " I have indeed 
 grieved when I reflected on the straitened condition of 
 the poorer classer, to see pounds innumerable of extempore 
 beefsteaks growing on our oaks in the shape offstulina hepa- 
 tica — puff balls — which some of our friends have not in- 
 aptly compared to sweetbread for the rich delicacy of their 
 unassisted flavor. It varies in size from that of a small 
 kidney to an irregular mass of many pounds weight. 
 When grilled, it is scarcely to be distinguished from broiled 
 meat. No fungus yields a richer gravy. It is to be found 
 in England, principally on the old oak trees, throughout 
 the summer in great abundance. But we spurn the vege- 
 table beefsteak, as we have spurned the horsesteak and the 
 ass steak. And so the ignorant and poor are left hungering in 
 the micht of plenty, praying against famine in the village 
 church, with plenty rotting in the woods and meadows round 
 about the parish," 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 VALUABLE SECRETS KNOWN TO GOOD COOKS. 
 
 "Bad cooking is waste — waste of money and loss of comfort. Whom 
 God has joined in matrimony, ill-cooked joints and ill-boiled potatoes 
 have very often put asunder." — Smiles. 
 
 " There is a great deal of good eating and drinking in seven hundred 
 a year, if peojole knew how to manage it." — Macaulay. 
 
 re 
 
 f^S. WARREN, in one of her works, relates an inter- 
 view she had with a friend, who expressed deep re- 
 gret that she had not learned the art of cookery 
 •^ before she had married, and who wished that all 
 the time she had wasted in illuminating texts of Scripture 
 had been spent in illuminating instructions to promote house- 
 hold comfort. This suggestion stimulated her imagination, 
 and she saw, or fancied she saw, that very great benefit 
 might be derived both to mistresses and the "help" if 
 handsomely printed cards were hung up in the kitchen, 
 containing general directions for cooking meats, soups, fisli, 
 game, and poultry, for boiling vegetables and making 
 pastry, in a word, the points that constitute good cookery. 
 The idea is a valuable one, and in our researches among the 
 works of the masters of the art, we have had in view the 
 preparation of a code of standard rules, or what might be 
 called Family Kitchen Maxims. 
 150 
 
VALUABLE SECliETS, 131 
 
 How to Boil, Fry, Eoast, etc. 
 
 All the essential operations in cookery are comprised in 
 Baking, Boiling, Broiling, Frying, Roasting, Stew- 
 ing, SiM.MERiNG, and Seasoning ; the rest are all fancy, 
 though the French have what they call Braising, in 
 which they have a fire both above and under the braising- 
 pan ; and sauteing, which is frying in a very small quan- 
 tity of butter or fat. 
 
 In Baking meats or fish, it is important not only to 
 keep the bottom of the pan covered with broth or water, 
 but to place a piece of buttered paper over the object in the 
 pan, which keeps the top moist and juicy, and acts as a 
 self-baster. Soyer recommends in using dishes for the 
 oven, if of metal, that "they may be made of galvanized 
 iron, and to have separate ones for meat and fish. 
 
 In Boiling meats it is the general practice to put all, 
 whether fresh or salted, into nearly boiling water, and 
 from those that are very salty, careful cooks throw off the 
 first water, and fill up again with boiling water. But the 
 modern theory is, that fresh meat, if intended for soup, 
 should be put into cold Avater, and if not intended for soup, 
 into boiling water; and that salt meat should be put into 
 warm, or, if very salt, into cold water, in order that by its 
 slow cooking the salt may be extracted. After the water 
 has boiled up rapidly, the pot should be drawn back, and 
 its contents allowed to simmer gently. Simmering is 
 simply slow boiling. 
 
 Always boil cabbages in two waters, and to prevent the 
 disagreeable odor which arises from boiling cabbages, cut 
 the head in half, and pour boiling water on it before 
 cooking. 
 
lo2 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 In boiling peas and potatoes do not bury tliem in water, 
 nor allow tiiem to remain in water afler they are done. 
 
 In BiiOiLiNG, it is important to grease the bars of the 
 gridiron first, and have the fire brisk and clear. A layer 
 of coke or charcoal over a pretty strong fire is a good plan. 
 There is a great difference of opinion among professional 
 cooks, whether in broiling a beefsteak it should be turned 
 only once, or often, but the weight of authority is in favor 
 of frequent turning. Soyer says, " My plan is to turn it 
 often, and my reason is, that, if turned but once, the albu- 
 men and fibrine of the meat get charred, and the heat throws 
 out the osmazome, or gravy, on the upper side, which, 
 when turned over, goes into the fire ; by turning it often, 
 so as at first only to set the outside, the g^avy goes into the 
 centre, and it becomes evenly done throughout. As regards 
 the thickness of the meat to be broiled, that depends on the 
 intensity of the fire (three-quarters of an inch is a good 
 thickness for rump steak), but the quicker the better, and 
 also the sooner it is eaten after taken from the fire the 
 better." 
 
 [Macbetli's receipt for broiling a beefsteak is a very good 
 one. 
 
 "When 'tis done, 'twere well 
 It 'twere done quickhj."'] 
 
 Broiling and roasting are essentially the same, though 
 properly roasting is clone before the fire and broiling over 
 the fire. 
 
 Frying, as understood by professional cooks, is to im- 
 merse the article in boiling grease ; in other M'ords, they 
 take a pan, say six inches deep, nearly fill it wdtli fat, and 
 when boiling, insert in this the article to be fried, so that it 
 is completely covered wath the fat. " Those articles to be 
 fried," says Soyer, " are generally those that have a coating 
 
VALUABLE SECBETS. 153 
 
 of materials (such as bread crumbs and batter), which are 
 quickly carbonized, and thus form a crust, which prevents 
 the grease penetrating, concentrates the liquids, and pre- 
 serves the flavor of the article ; the carbonization once 
 effected, the fire should be immediately moderated, particu- 
 larly if the article is large, in order that the interior may 
 become properly solidified. All articles properly fried are 
 generally much liked, as they are agreeable to the eye and 
 afford a pleasing variety." 
 
 American cooks, however, understand by frying what 
 the French call sauteing : that is, cooking an article in a 
 shallow pan, with a small quantity of fat, one side at a time. 
 The secret of doing this well consists in doing it quickly, 
 to keep the gravy and succulence in the meat which a slow 
 process would nullify, and is of course confined to small 
 articles of food. 
 
 It is important in frying that the pan be perfectly clean, 
 that the oil or drippings be sweet and fresh, and that the 
 fat be boiling before the meat or fish is put into it. A 
 good way to test the heat of your fat is to throw a little bit 
 of bread into the pan : if it fries crisp, the fat is of the right 
 heat ; if it burns the bread, it is too hot. When the articles 
 are done, care must .be taken to drain all the fat from them 
 most thoroughly. 
 
 The grand point in frying is to get the boiling fat to 
 seize the article fried, i. e., to form a brown crust all over 
 its surface at the very instant of immersion. The seizing 
 cannot take place unless the fat has been over a sharp fire 
 a sufficient time. When once the seizing is properly 
 effected, the pan may be raised or withdrawn a little, to let 
 the article cook through without burning outside. Articles 
 properly fried are not greasy, while badly fried things are 
 the reverse. A well-fried fish will hardly soil a napkin ; 
 
1 
 
 154 H03fE COMFORTS. 
 
 potatoes properly fried may be eaten like a biscuit, without 
 soiling the fingers. 
 
 Careful cooks save their frying fat and use it repeatedly, 
 keeping that used for meats and fish in separate jars. 
 Economical cooks seldom buy fat ; generally there is 
 enough left from skimming broth, sauces and gravies for 
 every purpose. When they do make it, they use beef suet, 
 the part around the kidneys, or any kind of fat, raw or 
 cooked, chop it fine, boil for fifteen minutes, skim well, 
 strain, and put in stone jars. This fat, for frying, it is 
 claimed, is better than lard, and it does not fly over the pan 
 like lard. 
 
 In ROASTING meats, slow roasting, like slow boiling, is 
 the best. The more meat is basted, the less time it will 
 require to roast. When the meat is half done, the fire 
 should be stirred to burn brightly and clearly for browning. 
 Nearly all the writers on Cookery think fifteen minutes for 
 each pound is a proper time to allow in roasting, but a great 
 deal depends upon the nature of the fire and the meat. A 
 good cook will be particular to place a pan so as to catch 
 the dripping. [See the English method of roasting beef, in 
 next chapter.] 
 
 Veal, fowls and rabbits, when roasted^ should always be 
 covered with bacon fat, and then be well floured before 
 putting to the fire; by so doing, all the juices of the meat 
 or poultry are kept in, and it does not become dry. One 
 of the secrets of the excellence of French cookery is, to cut 
 up shreds of bacon and tie them around the article to be 
 roasted. 
 
 In STEWING, it is necessary to have a moderate fire, and 
 as even as possible. A brisk fire causes the steam to evap- 
 orate, and this steam is the flavor of the article stewed. 
 
VALUABLE SECRETS. 155 
 
 Soyer says stewing should be done slowly, the pan partly 
 uncovered and frequently skimmed. 
 
 In SEASONING, the senses of tasting and smelling must 
 be employed, and the art consists in so proportioning the 
 flavors, that no one may predominate or be tasted more 
 than another. Consult, in seasoning, the tastes of those for 
 whom you cook rather than your own. Be moderate in 
 the use of salt, for it is easy to add salt to a dish which is 
 too fresh, but if once made too salt it cannot be remedied. 
 
 Beef and mutton are best when rather underdone, but 
 pork, veal, poultry, beef's tongue, tripe, and young meats 
 generally, must be thoroughly well cooked. Vegetables, 
 when not sufficiently cooked, are exceedingly unwholesome 
 and indigestible. 
 
 Wash greens carefully, first in warm water, to remove dirt 
 and insects, and then plunge them into cold water, which 
 will immediately restore their crispness. Mrs. Warren 
 astonished her cook by doing this. 
 
 For all vegetables have plenty of boiling water and salt. 
 Make them boil up very quickly. Take all greens out of 
 the water the instant they are done. Mash all vegetables 
 with a wooden spoon. 
 
 In addition to some of the foregoing, the Illuminated 
 Family Kitchen Monitor should contain the following 
 points of 
 
 Good Advice to Hired Cooks. 
 
 1. Accustom yourself to look upon your business as akin 
 to a profession. The kitchen is a family laboratory, and a 
 good cook should be a chemist. Read all the best books 
 on the art of Cookery, select and adopt what seems to you 
 good in each, and especially study " Home Comforts." 
 
156 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 2. Cleanliness, not only in the kitchen utensils, but in 
 your dress and person, is the first lesson in cookery. 
 Dough-boards and rolling-pins should be well scoured in 
 hot water, but no soap, or sand or stone dust of any kind 
 should be used. Do not allow food to become cold in any 
 metal vessel, especially no liquid food, in any brass or copper 
 pot or pan, after it is cooked, or it may absorb rust and 
 poison the family. Do not clean bottles with lead shot for 
 the same reason. 
 
 3. A good cook regards the appearance as well as the 
 quality of the dishes she sends to the table. A beefsteak 
 trimmed oval, surrounded by nicely browned fried potatoes, 
 and garnished with parsley, is really more digestible as 
 well as sightly than a rough, scraggy steak dished without 
 regard to appearance. Veal cutlets should be cut round, 
 about three inches in diameter, and done very quickly. 
 
 4. Not only should meats, etc., look well on the table, but 
 they should be hot. Nothing can be more repugnant to the 
 taste than lukewarm soup or meat, while fish is made utterly 
 worthless by being allowed to become cool. 
 
 5. Punctuality in having meals at the appointed hours 
 is a sterling virtue. Having things ready that can be pre- 
 pared beforehand prevents hurry and secures punctuality. 
 By stuffing a fowl overnight (except in very hot weather), 
 and trussing it, not only can it be put to the fire at a min- 
 ute's notice, but the flavor of the stuffing will have time to 
 penetrate to the flesh. 
 
 6. Guard against unnecessary waste. good cook has 
 very few waste articles. The clippings and trimmings of 
 fresh meat will make soups and gravies ; the fat can be 
 
VALUABLE SECRETS. 157 
 
 melted for dripping, whicli will save lard in frying ; the 
 bones can be made into soups and gravy; the bacon fat will 
 come useful in pastry, while pieces of stale bread can be 
 made into excellent puddings. 
 
 7. Before cooking meat or vegetables, a good cook under- 
 stands what kind of fire is required, and prepares accord- 
 ingly. Half an hour before broiling a steak stir up the 
 fire, clear away the ashes, rake out all dead cinders from 
 the bottom, and secure a good, clear fire for the gridiron. 
 
 8. Provide yourself with serviceable cooking aprons, 
 made with bibs. These will save your gown, and keep 
 you neat and clean. Have them made large enough, so as 
 to nearly meet behind. 
 
 9. Do not scrub the inside of your frying-pans, as after 
 this operation any preparation fried, is liable to catch or 
 bum to the pan. If the pan has become black inside, rub 
 it with a hard crust of bread and wash in hot water, mixed 
 with a little soda. 
 
 10. Few cooks make really good, quick biscuit. The 
 connnon fault is to use soda too freely, and to "guess at" 
 the quantities instead of measuring them. 
 
 To Neutralize the Acid in Fruits. 
 
 A large quantity of the free acid which exists in rhubarb, 
 gooseberries, currants, and other fruits, may be judiciously 
 corrected by the use of a small quantity of carbonate of soda, 
 without the least affecting their flavor. To an ordinary 
 sized pie or pudding take as much soda as, piled up, will 
 cover a shilling, or even twice such quantity, if the fruit be 
 13 
 
lo8 H03fE COMFORTS. 
 
 very sour. If this little hint is attended to, many a stom- 
 ach-ache will be prevented and a vast quantity of sugar 
 saved, because, when the acid is neutralized by the soda, it 
 M'ill not require so much sugar to render the pie sweet. 
 
 There is a French motto, Ne touchez pas a la broche — 
 Do not touch the spit ; which probably means " Leave the 
 making of cookery books to cooks." We concede the wis- 
 dom of the advice, and do not ])ropose to touch the spit ; 
 but in our researches among the writings of these learned 
 professors, we have discovered some things which promise 
 to improve the methods of preparing common articles, as 
 practised in American and Englisli households; and so 
 great is the need of improvement, that it Mould be rank 
 injustice to withhold them. First, 
 
 How to Make Good Family Bread. 
 
 The books abound in directions for making bread, and 
 all the authors agree that good flour, and good yeast, and 
 plenty of kneading, are essential ; yet probably nothing 
 was ever published on the subject so comprehensive, 
 minute, and practical as the following directions, taken 
 from Marion Harland's new work on Common Sense in 
 the Household. She says : 
 
 [Chiefest among the conditions to good bread, I place 
 good "family" flour — dry, elastic, and odorless. Next in 
 importance to the quality of the flour is that of the yeast. 
 This should be light in color and lively, effervescing 
 easily when shaken, and emitting an odor like weak am- 
 monia. If dull or sour, it is bad. In cities it is easiest, 
 perhaps cheajiest, to buy yeast from a brewery or bakery, 
 
VALUABLE SECliETS. 159 
 
 exercising yonr discrimination as to quality. Unless you 
 can satisfy yourself in this respect, you had better make 
 your own from tlie following receipt for 
 
 Hop Yeast. 
 Four large potatoes, or six small. 
 Two quarts cold water. 
 
 Double handful hops, tied in a coarse muslin bag. 
 Four tablespoonfuls flour. 
 Two tablespoonfuls white sugar. 
 
 Peel the potatoes, and put them, with the hop-bag, into a 
 saucepan containing two quarts cold water. Cover and 
 boil until the potatoes break and fall apart. Take these 
 out with a perforated skimmer, leaving the water still boil- 
 ing, mash them fine with a potato-beetle, and work in the 
 flour and sugar. Moisten this gradually with the boiling 
 hop tea, stirring it to a smooth paste. When all the tea 
 has been mixed in, set it aside to cool. While still warm, 
 add four tablespoonfuls of lively yeast, and turn all into a 
 large open vessel to "work." Keep this in a warm place 
 until it ceases to bubble up, or until next day. In summer 
 it will work well in a few hours. When quite light, put 
 in earthen jars with small mouths, in which fit corks, or 
 bottle it, and remove to ice-house or cellar. It will keep 
 good for a fortnight — longer in winter. When you wish 
 to use it for baking, send a small vessel to the cellar for the 
 desired quantity, and re-cork at once. A half-hour in a 
 hot kitchen may spoil it. 
 
 Potato Yeast. 
 Six potatoes, two quarts cold water, 4 tablespoonfuls of 
 flour, two of white sugar. Peel and boil the potatoes until 
 
160 JI03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 they break. Leaving the water on the fire, take them ont 
 and mash fine, with the flour and sugar, wetting gradually 
 with the hot water, until it is all used. When lukewarm, 
 add a gill of good yeast, and set aside in an open vessel 
 and warm place to ferment. When it ceases to effervesce, 
 bottle and set in ice-house. This yeast is very nice and 
 white, and is preferred by many who dislike the bitter 
 taste of hops. It is also convenient to make when hops 
 cannot be obtained. 
 
 Potato Bread Sponge. 
 
 Six potatoes, boiled and mashed while hot; six table- 
 spoonfuls baker's yea-st, two of Avhite sugar, two of lard, 
 one teaspoonful soda, one quart of warm (not hot) water, 
 three cups of flour. 
 
 Mash the potatoes, and work in the lard and sugar. 
 Stir to a cream, mixing in gradually a quart of the water 
 in which the potatoes were boiled, which should have been 
 poured out to cool down to a blood warmth. Beat in the 
 flour, already wet up with a little potato-water to prevent 
 lamping, then the yeast, lastly the soda. Cover lightly, if* 
 the weather is warm ; more closely in winter ; and set to 
 rise overnight in a warm place. 
 
 Bread Sponge (Plain). 
 
 One quart of warm water, six tablespoonfuls baker's 
 yeast, two of lard, two of wdiite sugar, one teaspoonful of 
 soda, and flour to make a soft batter. Melt the lard in the 
 warm water, add the sugar, then the flour by degrees, stir- 
 ring in smoothly. A quart and a pint of flour will usually 
 be sufficient, if the quality is good. Next comes the yeast, 
 lastly the soda. Beat up hard for several minutes, and set 
 to rise as above. Bread mixed with potato sponge is more 
 
VALUABLE SECRETS. IGl 
 
 nutritious, keeps fresh longer, and is sweeter than that 
 made with the plainer sponge. But there are certain 
 seasons of the year when good old potatoes cannot be pro- 
 cured, and new ones will not do for this purpose. Tlie 
 potato sponge is safer, because surer, for beginners in the 
 important art of bread-making. After using it for fifteen 
 years, I regard it as almost infallible — given the conditions 
 of good flour, yeast, kneading and baking. 
 
 Family Bread (White\ 
 Having set your sponge overnight, or, if you bake late 
 in the afternoon, early in the morning, sift dry flour into a 
 deep bread tray, and strew a few spoonfuls of fine salt over 
 it. The question of the quantity of flour is a delicate one, 
 requiring judgment and experience. Various brands of 
 flour are so unequal with respect to the quantity of gluten 
 they contain, that it is impossible to give any invariable 
 rule on this subject. It will be safe, however, to sift two 
 quarts and a pint, if you have set the potato sponge ; two 
 quarts for the plain. This will make two good-sized 
 loaves. Make a hole in the middle of the heap, pour in 
 the risen sponge (which should be very light, and seamed 
 in many places on the top), and work down the flour into 
 it with your hands. If too soft, add more flour. If you 
 can mould it at all, it is not too soft. If stiff, rinse out the 
 bowl in which the sponge Avas set with a little lukewarm 
 water, and work this in. When you have it in manage- 
 able shape, begin to knead. Work the mass into a ball — 
 your hands having been well floured from the first; detach 
 it from the tray, and lift it in your left hand, while you 
 sprinkle flour with the right thickly over the bottom and 
 sides of the tray. Toss back the ball into this, and knead 
 hard — always towards the centre of the mass, which should 
 
162 II02IE COMFORTS. 
 
 be repeatedly turned over and around, that every portion 
 may be manipulated. Brisk and long kneading makes the 
 pores fine and regular. Gaping holes of divers sizes are 
 an unerring telltale of a careless cook. Spend at least 
 twenty minutes — half an hour is better — in this kind of 
 useful gymnastics. It is grand exeniise for arms and chest. 
 This done, work the dough into a shapely ball in the centre 
 of the tray, sprinkle flour over the top ; throw a cloth over 
 all, and leave it on the kitchen tal)le to rise, taking care it 
 is not in a draught of cold air. In summer it will rise in 
 four or five hours — in winter, six are often necessary. It 
 should come up steadily until it at least trebles its original 
 bulk, and the floured surface cracks all over. Knead again 
 for ten or fifteen minutes. Then divide it into as many 
 parts as you wish loaves, and put these in well-greased pans 
 for the final rising. 
 
 In a large household baking, it is customary to mould 
 the dough into oblong rolls, three or four, according to the 
 number of loaves you desire, and to lay these close together 
 in one large pan. The second kneading is done upon a 
 floured board, and should be thorough as the first, the 
 dough being continually shifted and turned. Set the pans 
 in a warm place for an hour longer, Avith a cloth thrown 
 over them to keep out the air and dust. Then bake, heed- 
 ing the directions set down in the article u])on bread in 
 general. If your ovens are in good condition, one hour 
 should bake the above quantity of bread. But here again 
 experience must be your guide. Note carefully for your- 
 self how long a time is required for your first successful 
 baking, as also how much dry flour you have worked into 
 your sponge, and let these data regulate future action. I 
 have known a variation of two quarts, in a large baking, 
 over the usual measure of flour. I need not tell you that 
 
VALUABLE SECBETS. 163 
 
 you had better shun a brand that requires such an excessive 
 quantity to bring the dough to the right consistency. It 
 is neither nutritious nor economical. When you nial^e out 
 the loaves, prick the top with a fork. 
 
 Novices in bread-making, and many who should have 
 learned better by long experience, fall into a sad mistake 
 in the consistency of the dough. It should be mixed as 
 soft as it can be handled. Bread will rise sooner and 
 higher, be lighter and more digestible, and keep fresh 
 much lontrer, if this rule be followed. Stiff bread is close 
 in texture, often waxy to the teeth, and after a day or so 
 becomes very hard. Set the dough to rise in a moderately 
 warm place, and keep it at an even temperature. There 
 is force in the old lament, "My bread took cold last night." 
 Cold arrests the process of fermentation. There is a chance, 
 should this occur, that a removal to a more genial atmos- 
 phere and careful nursing may cure the congestion, should 
 it be only partial. Too much heat carries forward the 
 w^ork too rapidly. In this case, you will find your dough 
 puffy and sour. Correct the latter evil by dissolving a 
 little soda or saleratus in hot water, and working it well in. 
 
 Knead your bread faithfully, and from all sides, until it 
 rebounds like india-rubber after a smart blow of the fist 
 upon the centre of the mass. The oven should not be too 
 hot. If you cannot hold your bare arm in it while you 
 count thirty, it is too quick. Keep the heat steady after 
 the bread goes in. Too nuich fire at first, and rapid cool- 
 ing, produce the effect upon the bread which is technically 
 called "slack-baked," i. e., the inside of the loaf is never 
 properly done. Practice and intelligent observation will, 
 in time, make you an adept in the management of your 
 ovens. If the bread rises rapidly while baking, and the 
 crust begins to form before the lower part of the loaf is 
 
164 11031 E COMFORTS. 
 
 baked, cover the top with clean paper, until you arc ready 
 to brown it.] 
 
 Miss Leslie recommends, as soon as the bread is quite 
 done, to wrap each loaf lightly in a clean coarse cloth, 
 damped by spriiikling it with water, and stand it on its edge. 
 This will prevent the crust from becoming too hard. Keep 
 the loaves wrapped up after they are deposited in the 
 bread box, which should be of tin. 
 
 How to Make Stale Bread, or Cake, Fresh. 
 
 Plunge the loaf one instant in cold water, and lay it 
 Upon a tin in the stove ten or fifteen minutes. It will be 
 like new bread without its deleterious qualities. Stale cake 
 is thus made as nice as new cake. But bread or cake 
 heated over thus, should be used immediately. 
 
 Various Uses of Bread Dough. 
 
 In the winter, dough may be kept sweet many days in a 
 place where it will be cold, without freezing, and it will 
 grow better to the last. 
 
 It should be raised light, then kneaded a little, then 
 covered with a damp cloth, so that a dry crust will not 
 form on the top. 
 
 Fresh bread can thus be furnished for the table every 
 day, without extra work. Doughnuts, bread, cake, or 
 rusks can be made of it by adding butter, sugar, or spice ; 
 tea biscuit, also fried biscuit, crust for apple dumplings, 
 and for pan-pie. 
 
 The dough should be made, at least in part, with milk, 
 when it is to be used for these purposes. These directions 
 are particularly recommended to persons who do their own 
 housework, and of course wish to save time and labor. 
 
VALUABLE SECEETS. 165 
 
 How to Make Good Buttered Toast. A. Soyer. 
 
 Take remnants of a loaf that have become too dry to be 
 eaten as bread, dip them in warm water, place a slice of the 
 bread upon the toasting-fork, about an inch from the sides, 
 hold it a minute before the fire, then turn it, hold it before 
 the fire another minute, by which time the bread will be 
 thoroughly hot ; then begin to move it gradually to and fro 
 until the whole surface has assumed a yellowish-brown 
 color, when again turn it, toasting the other side in the 
 same manner ; then lay it upon a hot plate, spread a piece 
 of butter, rather less than an ounce, over it, and cut into 
 four or six pieces. Cut each slice into pieces as soon as 
 buttered, and pile them lightly upon the plate or dish you 
 intend to serve it on. 
 
 This way you will find a great improvement upon the 
 old system, as often, in cutting through four or five slices 
 with a bad knife, you squeeze all the butter out of the 
 uj)per one, and discover the under one, at the peril of its 
 life, swimming in an ocean of butter at Ihe bottom of 
 the dish. 
 
 How to Fry Ham and Eggs. 
 
 Cut thin slices, and take off the rind ; if very salt, pour 
 hot water upon them, but do not suffer them to lie long in 
 it, as the juices of the meat will be lost. Wipe them in a 
 cloth ; have the spider ready hot, lay in the pieces, and 
 turn them in a minute or two. They will cook in a very 
 short time. The secret of having good fried ham is in 
 cooking it quick, and not too much. The practice of cutting 
 thick slices, and laying them in a cold spider and frying a 
 long time, makes ham black and hard. It needs nothing 
 added, but to be laid upon a hot covered dish. 
 
1G6 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 After yon have fried liam, drop in the eggs, one at a 
 time. In abont a minntc, dip the boiling fat with a spoon 
 over them, again and again. This will prevent the neces- 
 sity of turning them, which it is difficult to do without 
 breaking the yolks. Take them out in about two minutes 
 and a half, with a skimmer. The fat that roasts out of a 
 ham that is browned in an oven is good for frying eggs. 
 
 French Beef Broth and Soup. Prof. Blot. 
 
 Take three pounds of good, lean, fresh beef, from any 
 part except the shin. There must not be more than two 
 ounces of bone to a pound of meat, and the less bone the 
 better. Place the meat in a soup-kettle or saucepan, lined 
 with tin, with three quarts of cold water, and salt, and set 
 it on a good fire. xVfter about thirty minutes, the scum or 
 albumen of the meat will gather on the surface, and the 
 water will commence boiling. Now place the kettle on a 
 more moderate fire, add one gill of cold water, and begin 
 to skim off the scum, Avhich will take only a few minutes. 
 Then add oiw middle-sized carrot, half of a turnip, 
 one middle-sized leek, a stalk of celery, one of parsley, a 
 bay-leaf, one onion with two cloves stuck in it, and two 
 cloves of garlic. Keep the kettle between simmering and 
 boiling; heat for about five hours. Dish the meat with 
 carrot, turnip, and leek around it, and serve it as a relcve. 
 Strain the broth, and it is ready for use. I do not put 
 parsnips or thyme in broth, the taste of these two vegetables 
 being too strong. They really neutralize the fine aroma 
 of broth. 
 
 The French use broth previously prepared in making 
 potages or soups ; as, for instance, soup a la Julienne. 
 
 Scrape two carrots and two turnips, and cut them in 
 pieces about au inch and a half long; cut slices lengthwise, 
 
VALUABLE SECEETS. 167 
 
 about one-eighth of an inch thick, then cut crosswise so as 
 to make square strips. Put them in a saucepan, with 
 about two ounces of butter, three tablespoon fu Is of cab- 
 bage, chopped fine, and lialf a middling-sized onion, also 
 chopped; set on the fire, and stir till about half fried. 
 Add broth to make it as you wish, thin or thick; boil 
 gently till done ; salt to taste, skim off the fat, and serve. 
 It takes about two hours. 
 
 How to Boil Eggs. 
 
 The ordinary way is to put them into a cup or saucepan 
 of boiling water and boil steadily for three minutes, if you 
 want them soft, and ten, if hard. But gourmands like 
 them best if put into cold water and left until it comes to 
 a boil, which will be in about ten minutes. The inside, 
 both white and yelk, will then be of the consistency of 
 custard. 
 
 Always drop hard-boiled eggs into cold water as soon as 
 they are done to prevent the yelks from turning black. 
 
 How to Eoil Potatoes. 
 
 An English attorney used to say that a woman who 
 could boil potatoes and melt butter well was a good cook, 
 and he never required any other proof of the capabilities 
 of a cook. 
 
 The Irish, with whom potatoes are the national diet, 
 may reasonably be supposed to know the best method of 
 cooking them. This is their process: 
 
 The potatoes, after being washed, are put into a cast-iron 
 pot of cold water, slightly salted, which is placed on the 
 fire. When the water boils, a small quantity of cold water 
 is added to check the boiling ; this is once or twice repeated. 
 When the potatoes are done, or nearly done, the water is 
 
168 E03IE COMFOETS. 
 
 poured away from the potatoes, whicli are subjected to the 
 fire to let the steam evaporate and make tliem mealy. They 
 are served up in the usual way. During the meal only a 
 portion of the potatoes are put on the table at a time, and 
 before it is finished, you will have two or three supplies of 
 hot potatoes, the last being better than the first, for those 
 at the bottom of the pot become partially roasted. 
 
 Whether it is better to put potatoes into cold or boiling 
 water is a mooted point among good housekeepers. The 
 result of experiments seems to be that Garnet, White Moun- 
 tain and Early Rose potatoes are apt to dissolve in cold 
 water, while Peach Blows, Prince Alberts and other late 
 varieties are best cooked in cold water, ahcays jiouring off 
 the hot water the instant they are done, and letting the 
 potatoes dry for a few minutes. 
 
 Potatoes should be boiled with just enough water to 
 cover them. Old potatoes are best steamed ; new ones 
 boiled. 
 
 Cold potatoes left over from dinner make an excellent 
 dish for breakfast by covering them with milk or cream 
 in a frying pan, adding butter and salt, and let them 
 remain until the milk thickens, say fifteen minutes. 
 
 Siceet potatoes should be boiled until done, then peeled 
 and cut into longitudinal slices. Then pour upon each 
 slice as you lay it in the sauce-dish, gravy made in the fol- 
 lowing manner : Of sugar and butter take one cup of each ; 
 add half a cup of hot water, and boil until it is thick. 
 This sauce is a great improvement to the sweet potato, 
 and removes the dryness of that vegetable. 
 
 How to Eoil Turnips. 
 
 Pare them not too thickly, and instead of cutting them 
 in quarters, you should cut across the turnip in thin round 
 
VALUABLE SECEET8. 169 
 
 slices, not a quarter of an inch thick ; wash them well and 
 put them in plenty of boiling water, with a lump of salt, 
 a little piece of dripping the size of a walnut, and make 
 tliem boil very fast ; in a quarter of an hour or less they 
 will be ready; then drain them in a colander, mash them 
 with a wooden spoon, turn them into a basin and add some 
 mi'k, heat them hot in a covered basin in the oven, and 
 serve them while hot in a warm dish. By this method 
 eight or ten roots will go as far as double the quantity in the 
 ordinary way. By adding milk instead of butter, the 
 turnips are made creamy and richer, and are not liable to 
 produce indigestion as when butter is used with them. 
 
 To Cook Onions Without Smell. 
 
 Select those that are aliks in size and not very large. 
 Boil half an hour and })Our off the water. The oifensive 
 oil is thus liberated by the heat and most of it goes with 
 the water. Now make a dressing by adding a lump of 
 butter the size of an egg to a pint of milk ; put in a little 
 chopped parsley and a bit of mace. When it boils, put in 
 the onions and let them steam slowly until done. When 
 you take them up, open the top of each and drop in a 
 small lump of butter ; eat while warm and you need have 
 no misgivings about your breath ; for thus dressed they are 
 as mild as baked apples and far more nutritious. 
 
 How to Make Macaroni Cheese. 
 
 W^eigh six ounces of macaroni and break it into short 
 pieces ; wash it in hot water, and then scrape well the outer 
 part of a crust or rind of cheese and grate six ounces of 
 this with a coarse grater. Put the macaroni in boiling 
 imter in which a piece of butter the size of a hazelnut has 
 been placed, and about an ounce of salt. Boil about twenty 
 14 
 
170 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 minutes, when the macaroni will be soft. Prepare some 
 melted butter sauce by mixing an ounce of butter with a 
 little milk, water and flour. Place a layer of cheese in the 
 bottom of a well-buttered, shallow pie dish, then a layer of 
 macaroni ; over this pour a little of the butter sauce, then 
 a layer of cheese and again of macaroni and butter until 
 the dish is full ; lastly, a thick layer of the grated cheese 
 and then the butter sauce and some tiny bits of butter on 
 the top. Bake the whole in an oven for three-quarters of 
 an hour until the cheese is of a light golden brown. Do 
 not serve at table too hot. Thus for a very small sum, a 
 handsome and always welcome dish is obtainable. The 
 crust of cheese cannot be made use of in any other way. 
 
 Mrs, Lyman's Method of Cooking Salt Mackerel. 
 
 Soak for two days, after coming out of the brine, in cold 
 Water. Lay in a small tub, with the jiesh side down, and 
 change the water several times. Just before cooking lay it 
 in a shallow vessel and cover with hot milk. The effect 
 of the milk is to remove the strong taste so unpleasant 
 when this dish is carelessly cooked. Take out of the milk, 
 pour water over it to rinse, and wipe dry with a napkin. 
 Then lay in a wire gridiron and broil in the same manner 
 as fresh shad, or fresh mackerel, and eat with lemon juice 
 for sauce. 
 
 What Good Cooks do with Cold Veal. 
 
 They chop it very fine, and put a layer in the bottom 
 of a buttered pudding dish, and season with pepper and 
 salt. Next they put a layer of finely powdered crackers, 
 and strew some bits of butter upon it and wet with a little 
 milk. Then more veal, seasoned as before, and another 
 round of cracker crumbs with butter and milk. When 
 
VALUABLE SECRETS. 171 
 
 tlie di.sli is full they wet well with gravy or broth, diluted 
 M'ith warm water, and spread over all a thick layer of 
 cracker seasoned with salt, wet into a paste with milk and 
 bound with a beaten egg or two, if the dish be large. 
 Tiien they stick butter-bits thickly over it, invert a tin 
 ])an so as to cover and keep in the steam, and bake half an 
 hour, or three-quarters if the dish be large. They remove 
 the cover ten minutes before it is served, and brown. 
 
 Tills is called " veal scallop," and is liked by children 
 exceedingly, and by all who are fond of veal in any form. 
 Do not get it too dry. 
 
 How to Boil Bacon. 
 
 Dr. Kitchiner remarks: The boiling of bacon is a very 
 simple subject to comment upon ; but our main object is 
 to teach the art of dressing common food in the best 
 manner. Cover a pound of nice streaked bacon with cold 
 witer, let it boil gently for three-quarters of an hour; 
 take it up, scrape the under side well, and cut off the rind ; 
 grate a crust of bread not only on the top, but all over it, 
 as you would ham, put it before the fire for a few minutes, 
 not too long or it will dry and spoil it. Bacon is some- 
 times as salt as salt can make it, therefore before it is 
 boiled, it must be soaked in warm water for an hoiir or 
 two, changing the water once ; then pare off the rusty and 
 smoked part, trim it nicely on the under side, and scrape 
 the rind as clean as possible. 
 
 Cabbage with Milk. 
 
 Those who usually find cabbage an unpleasantly indi- 
 gestible article of food, will be gratified with the result of 
 the following mode of cooking it : 
 
 Cut half of a solid head of cabbage fine as for slaw. 
 
172 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 Have a deep spider on the fire and hot. Put in your 
 cabbage, pour quickly over it a pint of boiling water, cover 
 close, and cook for ten minutes ; then pour oiF the water 
 that remains and add half a pint of rich milk. When the 
 milk boils up, stir in a teaspoonful of flour moistened with 
 a little cream or milk, a sprinkle of salt, and cook the flour 
 a minute, then dish up. 
 
 This closely resembles cauliflower^ and is much cheaper. 
 
 Novel Mode of Making Coffee. 
 
 Soyer strongly advises his readers to give a trial to coffee 
 made in this way : 
 
 Put two ounces of ground coffee into a stewpan, which 
 set upon the fire, stirring the powder round with a spoon 
 until quite hot, when ])our over a pint of boiling water; 
 cover over closely for five minutes, when strain it through 
 a cloth, rinse out the stewpan, pour the coffee, Avhich will 
 be quite clear, back into it, place it on the fire, and M'hen 
 nearly boiling serve with hot milk. 
 
 When the milkman fails to bring the milk or cream in 
 the morning, a very good substitute for it may be made by 
 beating the white of an egg to a froth, putting in it a very 
 small lump of butter, and mixing well. If perfectly mixed, 
 it is said to be an excellent substitute for cream. 
 
 It is well known that the Turks excel in making coffee. 
 They never grind the berry, but beat or crush it with 
 wooden pestles in mortars. When the pestles have been 
 long used, they become precious and arc sold at high prices. 
 
 Brillat Savarin says he determined to examine and test 
 the question whether grinding or beating in a mortar pro- 
 duced the best coffee ; and having taken equal Aveights of 
 each and treated them precisely alike, he found that the 
 
VALUABLE SECBETS. 173 
 
 coffee that Imd been beaten in a mortar was far better than 
 that which had been gronnd. Any one may repeat the 
 experiment for his or her own satisfaction. 
 
 How to Make Tea. 
 
 Tliere are many Avays of making Tea, but Professor 
 Blot says, after many experiments and much information, 
 lie has found the following to be the best : 
 
 Warm the teapot, either by pouring boiling water in 
 and emptying it, or by placing it on a corner of the range. 
 Then put good tea into it (the quantity to be according to 
 the strength and the quantity you want), and pour boiling 
 water on the leaves, just enough to wet them ; leave thus 
 about one minute, then pour on all the water you want. 
 
 Let it steep no longer than six minutes and not less 
 than four minutes before drawing it. If allowed to steep 
 longer than six minutes, all the astringency of the tea is 
 extracted and it acts, with bad effect, on the nervous sys- 
 tem, besides losing most of the aroma. 
 
 Chemists and physiologists generally recommend black 
 tea for not affecting the nervous system so much as 
 green tea. 
 
 Other authorities on cookery recommend boiling black tea 
 for about fifteen minutes, and state that it greatly im- 
 proves the flavor. 
 
 Soyer has a somewhat different method of making tea. 
 He says : Pour the dry tea into the pot a quarter of an 
 hour before you are ready to use it, warm both tea and pot 
 for that length of time, then fill with boiling water and 
 leave it draw from three to five minutes, when it is quite 
 ready. 
 
174 H03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 Points about Chocolate. 
 
 Chocolate deserves a higher place in the regard of the 
 American people than it has obtained, and is especially- 
 suitable for literary men, lawyers and persons with feeble 
 stomachs. A French authority says, to make it fit for 
 immediate use, about an ounce and a half should be taken 
 for each cuj), which should be slowly dissolved in water 
 M'hile it is heated, and stirred from time to time with a 
 spatula of wood. It should be boiled a quarter of an hour 
 in order to give it consistency, and served up hot. 
 
 " Monsieur," said Madame d'Austel, " when you wish 
 good chocolate, make it the evening before in a tin-pot. 
 The rest of the night gives it a velvet-like flavor that 
 makes it far better. God will not be offended at this little 
 refinement, for in himself is all excellence." 
 
 How to Prepare Salads, etc. 
 
 INIrs. Warren's method of washing greens, etc., will 
 astonish other cooks beside her own. She says : 
 
 " First, I had a pan of warm water rather more than tepid, 
 and a second of cold water. After having carefully picked 
 the refuse leaves from some cabbages which the rain and 
 hot sun intervening had covered with insects, I first took 
 the worst part of the leaves and put two or three in the 
 warm water to show the girl how readily the insects fell 
 off, leaving the leaf clean. Her eyes dilated as if I had 
 been a conjurer. So fresh hot water was had for the cab- 
 bages, each small head U'as washed singly, and then put into 
 cold water ; and in the warm water each worm and snail 
 and grub found instantly a watery grave. I would here 
 remark that if greens or lettuces are washed in a mass, 
 and not each singly, the process is of little avail, yet better 
 
VALUABLE SECEETS. 175 
 
 than washing them in cold water. No vegetables lose their 
 orispness, or if for a moment they do, it is instantly re- 
 stored by the necessary act of plnnging them into cold 
 water. Who has not had their teeth set on edo-e bv eatino; 
 gritty spinach, sea-kale, celery, or leeks, which need not 
 have happened if the cook had only known that to wash 
 these things in two tvaters that are warm and then imme- 
 diately to lay them in cold for an hour, much trouble and 
 time would have been saved. This is one bit of comfort, 
 a knowledge of which cannot be too widely known." 
 
 Remember always to boil greens with a small piece of 
 baking soda, in plenty of boiling water and salt. 
 
 Garnishes. 
 
 ]\Iuch of the palatableness of food depends on the style 
 in which it is served up. Parsley is the general garnish 
 for all kinds of cold meat, poultry, fish, etc.; and slices of 
 lemon for boiled fowl, turkey, fish and roast veal. 
 
 Carrots in slices should accompany boiled beef, hot or cold. 
 
 Fried sausages or forcemeat balls are placed around 
 roasted turkey, capon or fowl. 
 
 Currant jelly is the garnish for game, and mint, either 
 with or without parsley, for roast lamb, either hot or cold. 
 
 Always have lobster sauce with salmon, 
 
 And put mint sauce your roasted lamb on; 
 
 In venison gravy, currant jelly, 
 
 Mix with old port — see Francatelli ; 
 
 In dressing salad, mind this law, 
 
 With two hard yelks, use one tliat's raw ; 
 
 Roast veal, with rich stock gravy serve, 
 
 And pickled mushrooms, too, observe ; 
 
 Roast pork, sans apple sauce, past doubt 
 
 Is "Hamlet," with the Prince left out; 
 
 Boiled turkey, gourmands know, of course 
 
 Is exquisite with celery sauce ; 
 
 The cook deserves a hearty cuffing 
 
 Who serves roast fowls with tasteless stuffing. 
 
176 HOME C02IF0RTS. 
 
 Drawn or Melted Eutter, 
 
 The foundation of many of the principal sauces is melted 
 butter; and an English lawyer, it is said, in hiring a cook, 
 asked but one question — how she made melted butter ; and 
 if her answer was satisfactory, she was engaged ; if not, 
 she was rejected. Where expense is not considered, tliis is 
 made of two-thirds butter and one-third of cream, warmed 
 gradually with a box spoon ; but for families in ordinary 
 circumstances, Soyer gives the following recipe: 
 
 Take two ounces of butter, and two ounces of flour, half 
 a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter that of pepper, mixed 
 together with a spoon, put into a quart pan, with a })int of 
 cold water; place it on the fire and stir continually until 
 it begins to simmer, then add one more ounce of butter 
 and stir till melted. This melted butter is fit to serve at 
 the best tables, by adding three ounces of butter. Take 
 as a guide, that the back of the spoon, on being removed, 
 should always be covered with the butter or sauce. 
 
 Many good housekeepers arc sorely puzzled at times to 
 know what to cook for a variety ; they are tired of the 
 same things everlastingly boiled, stew'ed and fried, and it 
 would be a good plan to have on the reverse side of the 
 Illuminated Kitchen JNIonitor before recommended, a com- 
 prehensive list of food articles, or Bill of Fare that would 
 suggest something that would relieve their perplexity. It 
 is often difficult to know what to cook for children and 
 for delicate and sick persons ; and a list like the following 
 would often be useful for reference : 
 
 Food for the Sick. 
 
 Beef tea, oatmeal or Indian gruel, chicken, mutton, veal or 
 calves' feet broth, arrowroot custard, milk toast, boiled rice, 
 
VALUABLE SECBETS. 177 
 
 sago or tapioca milk, baked apples, panada, breast of part- 
 ridge or pigeon, minced fine and stewed. Beef, rump- 
 steak, broiled ten minutes or less. 
 
 Food for Young Children, 
 Milk, scalded or boiled, mixed with farina or barley ; 
 rusks or stale bread warmed, pressed and mixed with 
 sugar; crushed white wheat; Graham bread or crackers; 
 rare beef, and well-boiled mutton ; tender roast or boiled 
 chicken, minced fine; mealy old or dry sweet potatoes; 
 young onions boiled in two waters; simple custard, and 
 rice or farina pudding; inner part of a well-roasted apple; 
 soft-boiled eggs. No veal or pork, or fried meats generally. 
 
 Food for Sedentary and Delicate Persons. 
 
 Eggs, fried or poached, or soft boiled, or in omelet. 
 Beef, veal, chicken, guinea fowl ; boiled or hashed calf's 
 head ; veal cutlets broiled in papers or with cauliflower, or 
 broccoli ; roast fowl, with water-cresses ; broiled partridge ; 
 asparagus, with drawn butter; green peas, macaroni, 
 julienne or hare soups; boiled rice, oysters, roast apples, 
 boiled fish, except eels, skate or cuttle fish. No pork, 
 sucking pig, ducks, geese, smoked or salted meats, or fat 
 and greasy things generally. 
 
 Standard Breakfast Dishes. 
 
 Dry or milk toast, toasted muffins, rolls, hot cakes, buns, 
 and rusks, corn bread, fried mush, fried hominy, waffles 
 and catfish, mackerel salt or fresh, haddock, small white- 
 fish, boiled, fried or poached eggs, ham and eggs, omelet, 
 beefsteak, pork and mutton chops, sausages, fi-izzled beef, 
 hashed kidneys on toast, bacon, sausages, potatoes and 
 cream, fried potatoes, fried or broiled chicken. 
 
178 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 Dishes for Sunday Dinners, to Save Cooking. 
 
 Pea, spring, white or tapioca soup ; cold roast beef with 
 horseradish, or roast mutton with salad, or broiled fowls 
 with mushroom sauce ; hashed duck and green peas ; giblet 
 soup and calf s-head pie ; macaroni and cheese ; baked 
 cod or boiled pike stuffed ; fruit fritters, apple tart, boiled 
 custard ; pudding, cold ; apple pie, cheese cakes, Welsh 
 rare-bits ; creams, syllabubs, tipsy cake, trifles. Many of 
 these dishes can be entirely or partly prepared on the pre- 
 ceding day. 
 
 There is such a lamentable lack of brains among all 
 classes in the world, that if there be any food which will 
 make brains, it is very important that all of us should 
 know of it and partake of it. Dr. Lambort asserts that 
 all of the following articles contain bxain-making elements, 
 and has outlined a bill of fare to show that a dinner may 
 be prepared from them alone, which epicures would uot 
 disdain. 
 
 Relish (Russian Fashion) : 
 
 Toasted Crackers and Toasted Cheese. 
 
 Second Course : 
 
 Oysters on Half-shell and Cold Cabbage. 
 
 Third Course : 
 
 Sardines. 
 
 Fourtli Course: 
 
 Cod-fish and Cream. 
 
 Fiftli Course: 
 
 Oyster-Salad. 
 
 Sixth Course : 
 
 Stewed Tripe and Green Peas. 
 
 Seventh Course : 
 
 Calves' Brains on Toast. 
 
 Bread : 
 
 Graham, French Rolls, Oat, Graham Meal Crackers, and Milk Biscuit. 
 
 Desf;ert : 
 Oat Groats and Cream. 
 Pancakes : 
 Oat, Buckwheat, and Graham Meal. 
 Boiled Custard. 
 Fruit : Drinks. 
 
 Apples and Oranges. Coffee, Buttermilk. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 DAINTY DISHES FOR DAINTY PALATES. 
 
 "The art of cookery consists in exciting the taste. To excite a stomach 
 of papier-maclie, and enliven vital powers almost ready to depart, a cook 
 needs more talents than he who has solved the infinitesimal calculus." — 
 Savarin. 
 
 1. DOMESTIC COOKERY. 
 
 |1|^E are now approacliing that mysterious realm known 
 as " high-class cookery," but we do not propose to 
 enter very far within its precincts. It is surmised 
 by some, that many of the dishes prepared by the 
 French professors of the culinary art are not what they 
 seem, and that often rich and highly-flavored sauces dis- 
 guise what in itself is not very savory or palatable. But 
 before we approach the great oracles of this branch of 
 cookery, to inquire what foundation of truth this suspicion 
 rests upon, or to ask those who compound the dishes that 
 grace banquets and astonish epicures to disclose some of 
 the secrets of their art, we propose to dwell for a while in 
 still more pleasant company, and inquire how the most 
 skilful of American and English wives and mothers pre- 
 pare those familiar yet dainty dishes that are among the 
 most valued of Home Comforts. 
 
 First of all, as the English are celebrated for their roast 
 beef, we have requested Mr. BoYCE, of London, to tell our 
 readers 
 
 179 
 
ISO HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 How to Eoast Beef, English Style. 
 
 Roasting — that is, cooking by the direct heat of the fire 
 (in front of, and not over the fire, which constitutes broil- 
 ing) — is characteristic of English cooking, as much as 
 stewing or sauteing is of French cookery, or frying and 
 baking of American, and though the interchange of ideas 
 is breaking up the okl distinctions, we can still enjoy the 
 idea that the Englishman looks down upon French dishes 
 as kickshaws and messes, while the French cook still 
 boasts, that 
 
 From an old shoe, 
 He could make a ragoCf, 
 
 That should beat the roast beef of Old England. 
 . The glorious old English roast beef. 
 
 The first point of importance is to select beef of the very 
 best quality, and, whether it be the fillet, ribs, or sirloin, 
 see that the fat and lean are mingled, so that the clean cut 
 seems marbled, that it is free from much sinew, which 
 would indicate age, and that the outside fat show of a rich 
 color, which denotes good feeding and proper maturity. 
 
 Beef for roasting should be kept some days before being 
 used, or as long as it is possible to keep it without salting, 
 for no salt should touch beef until it is cooked ; and then 
 the first thing to notice is, that the fire must burn perfectly 
 clear and bright. In England, bituminous coal is used, 
 and ranges are made capable of being M'idened or con- 
 tracted, with the bars running liorizontally, and the fire 
 usually extends beyond the meat, so that the ends of the 
 joint may be properly cooked. A Dutch oven is most 
 generally used, the spit passing rfirough, and receiving its 
 motion from machinery, as previously described in the 
 
DAINTY DISHES. 181 
 
 American tin kitchen, a flap at the back giving access for 
 basting. 
 
 Having a good fire, burning briglit and close uj) to the 
 bars of the grate, proceed to spit the sirloin, exercising 
 caution to spit it evenly, so that it balances, or the spit will 
 turn more quickly at one time than another, and the meat 
 not be cooked evenly. A cradle si)it is sometimes used to 
 obviate this. Pin some thin writing paper over the outside 
 fat, and pour some water in the dripping-pan to commence 
 basting with. Push the meat up close to the fire for a few 
 minutes, until a slight crust forms, which will tend to keep 
 the rich juices from escaping; then draw about ten or 
 twelve inches away until nearly done, when the paper is 
 removed, and the joint brought near the fire to brown it. 
 
 The length of time required for cooking thoroughly 
 averages a quarter of an hour to each pound in weiglit : a 
 sirloin weigliing fifteen pounds requiring three hours and 
 a half; but meat from an old animal takes longer to cook, 
 and in winter longer time must be allowed, and very fat 
 meat requires time to cook it thoroughly. 
 
 Rub a little butter or fresh dripping over the meat 
 before spitting, in order to supply dripping to baste with — 
 water alone not being sufficient — and baste very often, as 
 on this much of the success of roasting depends. When 
 the meat is nearly done, dredge over it some flour that has 
 been browned by baking, and a little salt, and as soon as a 
 rich brown is obtained, and steam rises from the joint, it is 
 sufficiently cooked. 
 
 Perfection in roasting is very difficult, and only by 
 
 observation and experience can success be attained to, as 
 
 many things, such as age, size (especially the thickness) of 
 
 the joint, the kitchen conveniences, the time of serving, etc., 
 
 have to be considered, and only when everything favors 
 15 
 
182 H03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 can the cook expect the jiraise that "it was clone to a 
 turn." 
 
 Roast beef should be sent to the table as soon as it is 
 done ; the dish sliould be very hot, and only a small 
 quantity of rich and rather thick gravy should be made, for 
 as soon as the joint is cut, the juices Avill add sufficient to 
 the gravy to supply all the diners. A dish with a well for 
 the gravy should always be used. The under side of the 
 sirloin is sometimes called the lumbar, and is the most 
 delicious part; it is usually served to the ladies, a good 
 carver reserving some for the lady of the house. 
 
 Eoast Canvas-back Ducks, 
 
 Nearly all wild ducks are liable to have a fishy flavor, 
 and, when handled by inexperienced cooks, are sometimes 
 uneatable from this cause. Before roasting them, guard 
 against this by parhoiUng them, u-ifJi a small carrot, jieded, 
 put within each. This will absorb the unpleasant taste. 
 An onion will have the same effect ; but unless you mean 
 to use onion in the stuffing, the carrot is preferable. 
 
 After parboiling as directed, throw away the carrot or 
 onion, lay in fresh water half an hour, stuff with bread 
 crumbs seasoned with pepper, salt, sage, and onion, and 
 roast until brown and tender, basting half the time 
 with butter and water, then witli the dripjjings. Add to 
 the gravy, when you have taken up the ducks, a table- 
 spoonful of currant jelly and a pinch of Cayenne pepper. 
 Thicken with browned flour, and serve in a tureen. 
 
 Game, as a general rule, is best if kept for about three 
 days; but when time cannot be afforded, some persons 
 think that, by burying it in the ground for a few hours, it 
 becomes more tender. Most cooks roll game in strips of 
 
DAINTY DISHES. 183 
 
 bacon before roasting it, but buttered paper is preferable, 
 as bacon spoils the flavor of delicate birds like woodcock. 
 A hare or rabbit, when roasting, should be basted with 
 cream and dredged with flour. 
 
 Barbecued Rabbit or Squirrel. Harland. 
 
 Clean and wash the rabbit, which must be plump and 
 young, and having opened it all the way on the under 
 side, lay it flat, with a small plate or saucer to keep it 
 down, in salted water for half an hour. Wipe dry and 
 broil whole, with the exception of the head, when you have 
 gashed across the backbone in eight or ten places, that the 
 heat may penetrate this, the thickest part. Your fire 
 should be hot and clear, the rabbit turned often. When 
 browned and tender, lay upon a very hot dish, pepper and 
 salt and butter profusely, turning the rabbit over and over 
 to soak up the melted butter. Cover and set in the oven 
 for five minutes, and heat in a tin cup two tablespoonfuls 
 of vinegar, seasoned with one of made mustard. Anoint 
 the hot rabbit well with this, cover, and send to table 
 garnished with crisped parsley. 
 
 The odor of this barbecue is most appetizing, and the 
 taste not a whit inferior. Squirrels may be barbecued in 
 the same manner. 
 
 Broiled Pigeons or Squabs. 
 
 Young pigeons, or "squab.?," are rightly esteemed a 
 great delicacy. They should be cleaned, washed, and dried 
 carefully with a clean cloth ; then split down the back, and 
 broiled like chickens. Season Avitli pepper and salt, and 
 butter liberally in dishing them. They are in great 
 request in a convalescent room, being peculiarly savory 
 and nourishing. 
 
184 H02IE COMFOBTS. 
 
 Broiled Beefsteak, Wakefield Style. 
 
 Cut a steak an inch thick ; score it on each side crops- 
 wise. Put into a tart-dish two tcaspoonfuls of salt, one of 
 pejiper, one of sugar, a teaspoonful of chopped tarragon, a 
 tah!es[)oonful of some good relish or sauce, two tablespoon- 
 luis of vinegar; put the steak in it for six hours ; turn it 
 now and then. This seasoning is called marinade. Pre- 
 vious to broiling, dredge it slightly with flt)ur while doing, 
 and serve with butter in very small pieces under the steak. 
 Some raw potatoes, cut into very thin slices and nicely 
 fried, and served as a garnish, renders it a dish fit for the 
 most fastidious epicure. 
 
 Eoasted Guinea Fowls 
 
 arc a dainty dish, very little known to American farmers, 
 who keep them chiefly for their plumage and their eggs, 
 which are far richer than those of chickens. For roasting, 
 they should not be more than twelv'e months old. They 
 are trussed like common fowls, larded, and served plain 
 roasted, rather well done. Season the gravy with a 
 cho]>pcd shallot, parsley, or summer savory, not omitting 
 the minced giblets, and thickened with browned flour. 
 Currant, or some other tart jelly, is a suitable accompani- 
 ment for this fowl. 
 
 Veal Cutlets, with Tomatoes or Oysters. 
 
 Wash the cutlets, season them with pepper and salt, dip 
 in cracker dust and fry in equal portions of lard and butter 
 until they are of a nice brown on both sides, and when done, 
 take them up on a dish. 
 
 Also, stew about a quarter of a peck of tomatoes, drain, 
 mash, and season with red pepper and salt. Pour the 
 tomatoes into the pan with the gravy, after the cutlets 
 
DAINTY DISHES. 185 
 
 have been disheJ, and stir well together. Pour this over 
 tlie cutlets, and send to table hot. This dish is very much 
 liked by many persons. 
 
 In the place of tomatoes, some take oysters, pan them, 
 season with salt and Cayenne pepper, and pour them over 
 the cutlets, which are served hot, in a covered dish. 
 
 How to Cook Sweetbreads. Widdifield. 
 
 Take one or more sweetbreads, wash, and put them into 
 a stew-pan, and let them boil five or ten rainvites ; then put 
 them in cold water, and when cool, skin, but not break, 
 them ; then season with salt and pepper, dredge over a 
 little flour, and fry slowly in butter a light brown on both 
 sides. For persons slightly indisposed, these may be 
 served with potatoes, mashed with a little cream, and 
 seasoned with salt to taste. 
 
 The French cooks prepare sweetbreads as above ; then 
 place them on a dish, remove all the brown particles from 
 the pan, retaining the butter, and pour over them a gravy 
 made by dredging in a gill of boiling water a dessert- 
 spoonful of browned flour, stirring all the time, seasoning 
 to taste, and adding gradually two tablespoonfuls of 
 Madeira wine. AVhile boiling hot, this is poured over the 
 sweetbreads, which are sent to the table in a well-heated 
 covered dish. 
 
 Baked Salmon Trout. Harland. 
 
 Marion Harland becomes rapturously enthusiastic when 
 she thinks of the salmon trout she ate in the Adirondacks, 
 bah'd icilh cream. Her recipe for cooking the fish in this 
 way, Avhcn divested of its "bathos," is as follows: 
 
 Handle the beauty carefully and lay in a baking-pan, 
 Mith just enough water to keep him from scorching. Bake 
 
186 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 slowl}', basting often with butter and water. By the time 
 it is done, have ready in a saucepan a cup of cream — 
 diluted with a few spoonfuls of hot water, lest it should 
 clot in heating — in which has been stirred cautiously two 
 tablespoonfuls of melted butter and a little chopped 
 parsley. Heat this in a vessel set within another of 
 boiling water, add the gravy from the dripping-pan, boil 
 up once to thicken ; and when the trout is laid in state in 
 a hot dish, pour the sauce around him. Salt him lightly, 
 should he need it, but let no sharply-spiced sauces come 
 near him. Eat, and be happy. 
 
 Brook trout form a rarely delightful breakfast or supper 
 dish. They should be fried quickly in hot fat or fine olive 
 oil, without seasoning, and taken out instantly they are 
 a delicate brown, and placed for a few seconds upon a 
 hot folded napkin, to absorb Avhatever grease may cling to 
 their speckled sides. Tliis simple dish, says Savarin, duly 
 sprinkled witli slices of lemons, is worthy to be olFcred to 
 a cardinal. 
 
 Eoasted or Eroiled Rail or Eeed Birds 
 
 are a dainty dish. Skilled cooks roll an oyster in melted 
 butter, then in bread crumbs seasoned with pepper and 
 salt, and put this into each bird before roasting. Then 
 baste with butter and water three times, put layers of toast 
 underneath, and, while roasting, baste freely with melted 
 butter. About twelve minutes will be required to cook 
 these birds in this way, and they will be found a dainty 
 dish indeed. 
 
 Roast Pig and Apple Sauce. 
 
 Charles Lamb claims that, of all the deH<'acies in the 
 eatable world, the most delicate is a young tender suckling 
 
DAINTY DISHES, 187 
 
 of a pig roasted. It mast be roasted, not seethed or boiled. 
 He says : " There is no flavor comparable, I will contend, 
 to tliat of the crisp, tawny, well-watched, not over-roasted, 
 crackling, as it is well called ; the very teeth are invited to 
 their -share of the pleasure of this banquet in overcoming 
 the coy, brittle resistance, with the adhesive oleaginous — 
 oh, call it not fat — but an indefinable sweetness growing up 
 to it, the tender blossoming of fat — fat cropped in the bud 
 — fat and lean so blended, and running into each other, 
 that both together make but one ambrosial result or 
 common substance." 
 
 For very young roast pig, the best sauce is probably a 
 few bread crumbs, done up with the liver and brains, and 
 a dash of mild sage. For roast pork, browned fiour is said 
 to be the best for gravies. Apple sauce is the proper 
 accompaniment. 
 
 To Make a Haunch of Mutton Eat like Venison. 
 
 Mix two ounces of bay salt with half a pound of brown 
 sugar; rub it well into the mutton, which should be placed 
 in a deep dish for four days, and basted three or four times 
 a day with the liquor that drains from it; then wipe it 
 quite dry, and rub in a quarter of a pound more sugar, 
 mixed with a little common salt, and hang it up, haunch 
 downwards; wipe it daily till it is used. In winter, it 
 should be kept three weeks and roasted in paste, like 
 venison. Serve with currant jelly. 
 
 Oysters Broiled on the Shell. Lyman. 
 
 Perhaps no dish is able to give more epicurean delight 
 than this, if well managed. It is just the thing for a night 
 supper, or for an elegant breakfast. 
 
 Select as many dozen as you have guests. They should 
 
188 H03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 be large, and the sliells of good shape. Clean them with a 
 stiff brush, and open, saving the juice. Throw the oysters 
 into boiling water, and let them remain a minute or two, 
 according to size. Take out, and lay at once on one half 
 of the shell, and place .on a gridiron over a brisk fire. As 
 soon as the oyster begins to broil in the shell, season with 
 butter, pepper, and a drop of lemon juice. Serve hot on 
 the shell. 
 
 French Stewed Oysters. Leslie. 
 
 Wash fifty fine large oysters in their own liquor ; then 
 Strain it into a stevvpan, putting the oysters in a pan of 
 cold water. Season the liquor with a large glass or half a 
 pint of white wine (sherry or Madeira), the juice of two 
 lemons, six or seven blades of mace, ana a small grated 
 nutmeg. Boil the seasoned liquor, and skim and stir it 
 well. When it comes to a boil, put in the oysters. Give 
 them one good stir, and then immediately take them from 
 the fire, transfer them to a deep dish, and send them to 
 table. They are not to boil. 
 
 JNIany persons consider this the finest way of cooking 
 oysters for company. 
 
 Chicken Dressed as Terrapin. 
 
 Boil a fine, large, tender chicken ; when done, and ■while 
 yet warm, cut it from the bones into small pieces, as for 
 chicken salad ; put it into a stewpan, with one gill of boil- 
 ing water ; then stir together, until perfectly smooth, one- 
 quarter of a pound of butter, one teaspoonful of flour, and 
 the yelk of one egg, which add to the chicken, half at a 
 time, stirring all well together ; then season with salt and 
 pepper. After letting it simmer about ten minutes, add 
 half a gill of Madeira wine, and send to table hot. 
 
 This is liked by many who are not fond of terrapins. 
 
DAINTY DISHES. 189 
 
 French Pot-au-Feu. Soyer. 
 
 In France, no dinner is served without soup, and no 
 good soup is supposed to be made without the pot-au-feu, 
 it being the national dish of the middle and poorer classes 
 of that country. The following is Soyer's receipt for 
 making it: 
 
 Put into an earthen pipkin six pounds of beef, four 
 quarts of water; set near the fire; skim. When nearly 
 boiling, add a spoonful and a half of salt, half a pound 
 of liver, two carrots, four turnips, eight young or two old 
 locks, one head of celery, two onions, and one roasted, with 
 a clove in each, and a piece of parsnip ; skim again, and let 
 simmer four or five hours, adding a little cold water now 
 and then ; take off a part of the fat, put slices of bread into 
 the tureen, lay half the vegetables over, and half the broth, 
 and serve the meat separate, with the vegetables around. 
 
 Eggs and Cheese 
 
 are a favorite dish in Italy, and also in Switzerland, where 
 the recipe originated. Beat well six eggs, and put them in 
 a stewpan, with two ounces of well-grated Gruyere cheese 
 and about one ounce of butter ; set on a brisk fire, and 
 leave till it becomes rather thick, stirring all the time with 
 a wooden spoon ; take from the fire, add pepper, and stir a 
 little; turn over on a warm dish, and serve. 
 
 French Omelets, 
 
 mixed with sliced apples fried, or with asparagus boiled 
 and chopped fine, or chopped parsley, were so much of a 
 favorite with General Washington, that he often had them 
 served on his table when he gave presidential dinners. 
 
190 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 The following is Prof. Blot's recipe for making a plain 
 omelet : 
 
 Beat well, say eight eggs, wnth salt and pepper, by 
 means of a fork ; then pnt about two ounces of butter in a 
 frying-pan ; set on a brisk fire and toss gently, to melt the 
 butter as evenly and as quickly as possible, else some of it 
 will get black before the whole is melted. As soon as 
 melted, turn the beaten eggs in, and stir continually with 
 a fork or knife, so as to cook the whole as nearly as possi- 
 ble at the same time. If some ])art of the omelet sticks to 
 the pan, add a little butter, and raise that part with a 
 knife, so as to allow ihQ butter to run under it and prevent 
 it from sticking again. It must be done quickly, and 
 without taking the pan from the fire. When cooked 
 according to taste, either soft or hard — that is, when only 
 about two-thirds of the e'j:Q:ii are solidified, or nearly the 
 whole — turn or fold one-half of the omelet over the other, 
 and serve warm. 
 
 When it is ready to be folded, you may pour on the 
 middle of it five or six tablespoonfuls of cooked kidney, 
 and you have omelet with kidney ; or spread the surface 
 with stewed tomatoes, or two or three tablespoonfuls of 
 any kind of jam or sweetmeats, then fold and serve. By 
 using different kinds of sweetmeats, a great variety of 
 omelets can be made. 
 
 The adding of milk to the eggs makes an omelet soft. 
 
 To make a siceet omelet, beat four eggs in a basin, add a 
 tablespoonful of milk, a teaspoonful of sugar, a pinch of 
 salt, and beat them well up ; put some nice butter into a 
 pan, put in the eggs, and fry as above described. Serve 
 with sugar sifted over. 
 
 A very good omelet may be made of two yelks of eggs 
 and one white, a tablespoonful of cream, a little minced 
 
DAIN^TY DISHES. 191 
 
 parsley and sliallot, and a very little nutmeg. Whisk all 
 well together, and fry in as little butter as possible. 
 
 A Swiss Eare-bit. M. Tuollet. 
 
 Take as many eggs as you wish, according to the number 
 of your guests, and weigh them. Then take a piece of 
 cheese weighing a third of the weight of the eggs, and a 
 slice of butter weighing a sixth. Beat the eggs well up in 
 a saucepan, grate the cheese, or chop very small, and place 
 the saucepan, with the eggs, cheese and butter in it, over a 
 good fire, stir with a flat spoon until the mixture becomes 
 sufficiently thick and soft, add a little salt and a large 
 proportion of pepper — this being one of the principal points 
 of the rare-bit — and serve it up in a warm dish. 
 
 A Welsh Eare-bit. Exglish Recipe. 
 
 A orenuine Welsh rare-bit is made of Welsh cheese — a 
 certain kind only, and prepared for that purpose — melted 
 to a certain degree, and then spread on toast of Welsh 
 bread. Tiie nearest approach to tlie genuine that can be 
 had here is the following : 
 
 Grate some Gloucester or Gruyere cheese, and pepper it 
 with Cayenne pepper. Fry some slices of bread with a 
 little butter, but on one side only, until perfectly yellow; 
 then spread a thick coat of grated cheese on the fried side 
 of the bread, place the slices in a baking-pan, put them in 
 a pretty warm oven, take off when the cheese begins to 
 melt, and serve warm. 
 
 How to Cook Mushrooms. Soyer. 
 
 Mushrooms are regarded by some as the choicest of 
 
 delicacies, while others denounce them as " a contemptible, 
 
 rank-smelling fungus." Sover calls them the pearl of the 
 
192 HOME COMFOETS. 
 
 fields, and says, if Apicius had known of them, he woukl not 
 have gone to Greece for crawfish, or committed suicide. 
 His recipe for cooking them is as follows : 
 
 Toast slices of bread, cut half an incli thick, and large 
 enough to cover the bottom of a plate, and spread over 
 these some rich cream, or milk boiled until it is reduced to 
 the consistency of cream. Remove all the earthy part 
 from the mushrooms, and lay them gently on the toast, 
 liead downwards, slightly sprinkle them Avith salt and pep- 
 per, and place in each a little of the clotted cream, cover 
 with a basin, and place in the oven for half an hour. 
 Another recipe for sfeu-'mg mushrooms is : 
 Rub them white, stew in water ten minutes, strain par- 
 tially, and cover with as much warm milk as you have 
 poured off water ; stew five minutes in this ; salt, pejjper, 
 and add some veal or chicken gravy, or drawn butter. 
 Thicken with a little flour, wet in cold milk, and a 
 beaten egg. 
 
 A Good Sauce for Every Kind of Fish, 
 baked, boiled, or roasted. Prof. Blot's recipe : 
 
 Boil hard two eggs, take the yelks and pound them 
 well, and place them in a bowl. Have boiling water on 
 the fire, and put in it four or five sprigs each of cives, 
 burnet, chervil, tarragon, and parsley ; boil five minutes, 
 take off, drain, and pound theui well ; then strain them on 
 the eggs, add two tablespoonfuls of cider vinegar, t^\•o of 
 French mustard, salt, pepper, and four tablespoonfuls of 
 sweet oil, which you pour in, little by little, at the same 
 time mixing the whole well with a boxwood sjioon, and it 
 is ready for use. 
 
DAINTY DISHES. 193 
 
 A Olam-Ohowder. Harlem Eiver Boatmen. 
 
 Clam-chowder is made in a hundred different ways, but 
 it is generally admitted that the boatmen on the Harlem 
 river make the best : 
 
 Put in a pot some small slices of fat salt pork, enough 
 to line the bottom of it ; on that a layer of potatoes, cut 
 in small pieces ; on the potatoes a layer of chopped 
 onions; on the onions a layer of tomatoes in slices, or 
 canned tomatoes; on these a layer of clams, whole or 
 chopped (they are generally chopped), then a layer of 
 crackers. Season with salt and pepper, and other spices 
 if desired. Then repeat this process, layer after layer, in 
 above order, seasoning each, until the pot is nearly full. 
 When the whole is in, cover with water, set on a slow fire, 
 and when nearly done, stir gently, finish cooking, and serve. 
 
 When done, if found too thin, boil a little longer; if 
 found too thick, add a little water, give one boil, and serve. 
 
 Fish-chowder is made exactly as clam-chowder, using 
 fish instead of clams. 
 
 Clam-Bake. Riley. 
 
 The experienced Harlem river clam baker, Tom Riley, 
 is the authority for the following recipe : 
 
 Lay the clams on a i-ock, edge downward, and forming a 
 circle ; cover them with fine brush ; cover the brush with 
 dry sage ; cover the sage with larger brush ; set the whole 
 on fire, and when a little more than half burnt (brush and 
 sage), look at the clams by pulling some out, and if done 
 enough brush the fire, cinders, etc., off; mix some tomato 
 or cauliflower sauce or catsup with the clams, minus their 
 shells ; add butter and spices to taste, and serve. 
 16 
 
194 HOIIE C03IF0RTS. 
 
 Done in sand, the clams, on opening, naturally allow 
 the sand to get in, and it is anything but pleasant for the 
 teeth while eating them. 
 
 A Wholesome Summer Salad. Soyer. 
 
 Cut up a pound of cold beef into thin slices, and half a 
 pound of white fresh lettuce; put in a salad bowl, season 
 with a teaspoonful of salt, half that quantity of pepper, two 
 spoonfuls of vinegar, and ibur of good salad oil ; stir all 
 together lightly with a fork and spoon, and when well 
 mixed, it is ready to serve. 
 
 Chaptal, a French chemist, says the dressing of a salad 
 should be saturated with oil, and seasoned with pepper and 
 salt, before the vinegar is added. It results from this 
 process, that there can never be too much vinegar; for 
 from the specific gravity of the vinegar compared with the 
 oil, what is more than useful will fall to the bottom of the 
 bowl. Tlie salt should not be dissolved in the vinegar, 
 but in the oil, l)y which means it is more equally distributed 
 throughout the salad. A Spanish proverb says. To make 
 a perfect salad, tliere should be a miser for oil, a spend- 
 thrift for vinegar, a wise man for salt, and a madcap to stir 
 the ingredients u}) and m'x then well together. 
 
 Strawberries, with Orange Juice. Parkinson. 
 Place a layer of strawberries into a deep dish ; cover the 
 same with a liberal supply of very finely pulverized sugar; 
 add another layer of berries ; then the same quantity of 
 sugar. Now another layer of fruit and sugar, alternately, 
 until you have the desired quantity. Express over the 
 whole the juice of half a dozen sweet oranges. Let the 
 
DAINTY DISHES. 195 
 
 whole stand for half an hour. Now serve, and let the 
 partaker thank the gods ! 
 
 To those who have never tried this method, it will afford 
 a delightful surprise to note how much more fully it brings 
 out the fine flavor of the strawberry ; and much of which 
 effect is due to the delicate flavor of the orange. 
 
 I will now give another expedient for heightening the 
 flavor of strawberries and cream. Prepare in every respect 
 as above described, as to alternate layers of berries and 
 sugar, and substitute for the orange juice half a pint of 
 pure claret wine. In default of claret of known purity, 
 use the same quantity of our best native or home-made 
 wines. Our home-made currant wine is admirable for 
 bringing out in fuller force the delicious native flavor of 
 the strawberry. 
 
 An Excellent Custard. Mrs. Freedley. 
 
 Take a pint of milk, four eggs, and a cup of sugar. 
 Put the milk on to boil, and beat together the yelks of the 
 eggs and the sugar until very light. When the milk has 
 boiled, pour it by degrees over the eggs and sugar, stirring 
 constantly and return to the fire. Watch carefully, so as to 
 remove when it has just begun to boil, and set oif to cool. 
 Flavor to suit the taste. Beat up the whites of the eggs 
 into a light froth, and pour it over the custard. 
 
 Very Pine Cold Cup Custard. Widdifield. 
 
 One quart of new milk, one pint of cream, a quarter of a 
 pound of fine white sugar, three large tablespoonfuls of 
 wine in which rennet has been soaked. 
 
 Mix the milk, cream and sugar together, stir the wine 
 into it, pour the mixture into custard cups, and set them 
 
196 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 a\vay until the milk becomes a curd. Grate nutmeg on 
 the top, and eat them with cream that has been kej t on ice. 
 
 The Queen of Puddings. Harland. 
 
 One and a half cups of white sugar, two cups fine dry 
 bread-crumbs, five eggs, one tablespoon ful of butter, va- 
 nilla, rose-water or lemon flavoring, one quart fresh rich 
 milk, and one half cup jelly or jam. 
 
 Rub the butter into a cup of sugar, beat the yelks very 
 light, and stir these together to a cream. The bread- 
 crumbs, soaked in milk, come next, then the flavoring. 
 Bake in a buttered pudding dish — a large one and but two- 
 thirds full — until the custard is "set." Draw to the mouth 
 of the oven, spread over with jam or other nice fruit con- 
 serve. Cover this with a meringue made of the whip]ied 
 whites and half a cup of sugar. Shut the oven, and bake 
 until the meringue begins to color. Eat cold, with cream. 
 You may, in strawberry season, substitute the fresh fruit 
 for preserves. It is then truly delightful. 
 
 An Elegant Bread Pudding. 
 
 Take light white bread, and cut it in tliin slices. Put 
 into a pudding mould a layer of any sort of preserve, then 
 a slice of bread, and repeat until the mould is almost full. 
 Pour over all a pint of warm milk in which four beaten 
 eggs have been mixed, cover the mould with a piece of 
 linen, place it in a saucepan with a little boiling water, let 
 it boil twenty minutes, and serve with pudding sauce. 
 
 A Pleasant Fruit Dessert. Peof. Blot. 
 
 Beat well the white of an e^g with a little water, dip the 
 fruit — whether currants, blackberries, or other fruit — in, 
 
DAI^'TY DISHES. 197 
 
 and roll it immediately in some fine crushed sugar, place it 
 on a dish, and leave it thus five or six hours, and serve. 
 
 A more sightly and exquisite dessert, he says, than a 
 plate of currants dressed thus, cannot be had. 
 
 An Excellent Dish of Apples. Frost! 
 
 Take two pounds of apples, pare and core them, slice 
 them into a pan, add one pound of loaf sugar, the juice of 
 three lemons and the grated rind of one. Let these boil 
 about two hours, turn it into a mould, and serve with 
 custard or cream. 
 
 An Improved Apple Sauce. 
 
 Take sweet cider, as soon as it comes from the press, boil 
 it down nearly one-half, then pare and quarter as many of 
 the best sour apples as you wish to " do up," cover them 
 with the cider when boiling hot, and cook until well done, 
 but not so as to lose their shape. Most of the cider will 
 be absorbed by the apples ; what remains can be bottled for 
 future use. When done, put into jars, and cover or ce- 
 ment. This makes not only a most delicious sauce, but it 
 is also very healthful, as all the nourishment of the 
 apples from which the cider is made is retained, Mhile Ave 
 lose the sharp, biting taste of the old aj)ple butter made 
 from boiled cider. 
 
 A Nice Breakfast Dish. 
 
 Grate some cold tongue or beef, put it into a stewpan 
 with a little pepper and salt, and four tablespoonfuls of 
 cream or milk ; when quite hot, put in four well-beaten 
 eggs, stir all the time till the mixture is quite thick ; have 
 
198 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 ready some nicely toasted bread, well buttered, and spread 
 the tongue or beef over it ; send to the table hot. 
 
 A Farmer's Dainty Dish. 
 
 Peel and slice thin potatoes and onions (five potatoes to 
 one small onion), take half a pound of sweet salt pork in 
 thin slices to a pound of beef, mutton or veal, cut the 
 meat in small pieces, take some nice bread dough and 
 shorten a little, and line the bottom of the stewpan with 
 slices of pork, then a layer of meat, potatoes and onions, 
 dust over a little pepper, and cover with a layer of crust ; 
 repeat this until the stewpot is full — the size of the pot 
 will depend on the number in the family ; pour in suffi- 
 cient water to cover, finish with crust. Let it simmer till 
 meat, vegetables, etc., are done, but do not let it boil hard. 
 Serve hot. This, we are assured by one who knows, is a 
 dish fit to set before a king, or his peer — a farmer. 
 
 Green Corn Fritters or Cakes. Harland. 
 
 Grate green corn from the cob, and allow an egg and a 
 half for every cupful, with a tablespoonful of milk or 
 cream ; beat the eggs well, add the corn by degrees, beating 
 very hard, salt to taste, put a tablespoonful of melted 
 butter to every pint of corn, stir in the milk, and thicken 
 with just enough flour to hold them together — say a table- 
 spoonful for every two eggs. You may fry in hot lard, as 
 you would fritters, or cook upon a griddle, like batter 
 cakes. Eaten at dinner or breakfast, these always meet 
 with a cordial welcome. 
 
 The same authority also commends, as a most delicious 
 accompaniment to a meat course, the annexed 
 
DAINTY DISHES. 199 
 
 Green Com Pudding. 
 
 Take one quart milk, five eggs, two tablespoonfuls 
 melted butter, one tablespoonful white sugar, and a dozen 
 large ears of green corn. 
 
 Grate the corn from the cob ; b«at the whites and yelks 
 of the eggs separately. Put the corn and yelks together, 
 stir hard, and add the butter, then the milk gradually, 
 beating all the while ; next the sugar, and a little salt ; 
 lastly the whites. Bake slowly at first, covering the dish, 
 for an hour. Remove the cover, and brown finely. 
 
 Buckwheat Shortcakes. 
 
 Take three or four teacujjs of nice sour milk, one tea- 
 spoon of soda-saleratus dissolved in the milk ; if the milk 
 is very sour, you must use saleratus in proportion, with a 
 little salt; mix up a dough of buckwheat flour thicker 
 than you would mix for griddle cakes, say quite stiff; put 
 into a buttered tin and then directly into the stove oven, 
 and bake about thirty minutes, or as you would a short- 
 cake from common flour. 
 
 Dr. Chase, of Ohio, writes strongly in favor of the 
 excellence of this cake, and says he could eat it while dys- 
 { eptic, when he could eat no other warm bread. He is 
 also the authority for saying that the following is 
 
 The Nicest Pie Ever Eaten. 
 
 Peel sour apples, and stew until soft and not much 
 water left in them, then rub them through a colander, 
 beat three eggs for each pie to be baked, and put in at the 
 rate of one cup of butter and one of sugar for three pies ; 
 flavor with nutmeg. Bake as pumpkin pies, which they 
 resemble. 
 
200 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 Strawberry Shortcake. Beecher. 
 
 Rub into a pint and a half of prepared flour one teacup 
 of butter; beat one egg very light; add milk to make a 
 soft dough ; divide in three parts; roll out lightly, lay one 
 portion on a pie plate or tin, sprinkle a little flour on the 
 top, then add the second cake, a little flour on the top of 
 that, and cover with the third. Bake quickly, but not too 
 brown. Let the berries stand with sugar sprinkled over 
 them till the cake is baked, then pull the thin portions of 
 cake apart ; spread half of the berries over the bottom cake, 
 adding more sugar and a little butter, lay the second over 
 them, and put on the remainder of the berries, with more 
 sugar and butter, placing the top cake over all. Put it in 
 the oven for a few minutes to heat through, and send to 
 the table. 
 
 National Frencb Cake. Soyer. 
 
 In Paris it was formerly the fashion, and perhaps is yet, 
 for men and women, as w^ell as children, after having Avit- 
 nessed a melodrama, to rush to the shops Avhere a delicious 
 puff-cake, called Galette, was sold. This celebrated cake 
 was made as follows : 
 
 Work lightly in a basin, or on a table, one pound of 
 flour with three-quarters of a pound of fresh butter; add 
 two eggs, a gill of cream, and a little milk if too stiff; 
 then add a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt, two of sugar ; 
 work all well to form a good stiff paste ; throw some flour 
 on the table, mould the paste round, roll it three-quarters 
 of an inch thick and quite round ; egg over, score it with a 
 knife in diamonds or any other shape, bake for about half 
 an hour in a rather hot oven, sprinkle sugar over, and 
 serve. 
 
DAINTY DISHES. 201 
 
 A cheaper kind of Galette may be made by taking one 
 pound of flour, a teaspoonful of salt, and six ounces of 
 butter, moisten with milk, and bake as above, adding a 
 teaspoonful of sugar. 
 
 Imperial Southern Cake. Mrs. Powell. 
 
 Mrs. J. C. Powell, skilled in the Southern style of cook- 
 ery, and who has promised to revise the proof-sheets of this 
 chapter, has contributed for the benefit of our readers the 
 following recipes for making Imperial Southern Cake, 
 Baltimore Tea Cake, and Southern Corn Bread and Pone. 
 
 Take one pound of sugar, one pound of flour, one pound 
 of butter, ten eggs, one wine-glass of apple brandy, three 
 pounds of blanched almonds, two of raisins, one pound of 
 citron — the almonds put in whole, and the citron cut in 
 large pieces. It will take from five to six hours to bake. 
 
 Baltimore Tea Cake. 
 
 Melt a tablespoouful of butter in a pint of milk, two 
 spoonfuls of yeast (home-made), and flour sufficient to make 
 a soft paste ; let the dough stand three or four hours to 
 rise, split it open, then butter, close it, slice it, and send to 
 table hot. Grease the pan before putting in to bake. 
 
 Southern Waffles. 
 Take a pint and a half of flour, three eggs, two table- 
 spoonfuls of lightened corn-meal dough before adding the 
 ingredients for corn bread, or pone, one large tablespoouful 
 of butter in milk (warmed) to make a thin batter, one tea- 
 spoonful of baking powder (Durkee's). Bake in genuine 
 waffle-irons, which are smooth iron of a jet black, which is 
 very hard to find, even at the foundries. 
 
202 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 Grease the waffle-irons well. I recommend a baking: 
 powder, but the old mode was to beat the batter one hour 
 with a ladle before putting all of the milk in it. This 
 recipe, if followed, will make waffles that cannot be ex- 
 celled. 
 
 Southern Com Bread. 
 
 Take one pint of corn meal, pour half pint boiling 
 water over it, then add a little salt, and with cold water 
 reduce it to the consistency of muffin batter ; place in a cool, 
 dry cellar for twenty-four hours to lighten, for if kept in 
 a warm place, it will sour. 
 
 Then beat three eggs, melt a piece of butter the size of a 
 walnut, then lard the size of an egg, a cup of sweet cream, 
 then a tablespoonful of flour ; grease the pan thoroughly, 
 bake a half hour. White corn is far preferable to yellow, 
 and in the South is expressly cultivated for table use, and 
 ground by water, not by steam power, as the latter mode 
 destroys the sweetness and vitality of the grain. 
 
 The same batter may be used in rings, vvhich will give 
 you corn muffins, or on the griddle, which are the genuine 
 corn cookies. 
 
 This is the best recipe known for corn bread, and next to 
 the old Virginia Corn Pone, stands unrivalled. 
 
 Virginia Com Pone. 
 
 Quadruple the quantities above. The material differ- 
 ence is in the baking, as the pone requires a longer time, 
 and then must stand, after baking, eight to ten hours in 
 the oven (moderately warm). Wood embers and a Dutch 
 oven are requisites to a perfect Virginia pone. 
 
DAINTY DISHES. 203 
 
 An Exquisite Marmalade. 
 Take large ripe oranges, quarter them, remove the rind, 
 seeds and the strings or filaments, taking care to save all 
 the juice. Put the pulp, with the juice, into a porcelain 
 kettle, and mix with it an equal quantity of strained honey, 
 adding sufficient powdered loaf sugar to render it very 
 thick and sweet. The honey alone will not make it sweet 
 enough. Boil it uncovered, and skim till very thick, 
 smooth and clear. Taste it, and if necessary add more 
 sugar and boil it longer. When cold, put it up in tumblers 
 or white ware marmalade pots, and cover it securely. This 
 marmalade is said to be superior to any other, and can be 
 made when the season for other fruits is over. 
 
 Saratoga Fried Potatoes. 
 At the " Lake House," in Saratoga, thousands of pack- 
 ages of fried potatoes are sold every summer, to be carried 
 away and eaten as a dainty. The following is said to be 
 the method of preparing them : Wash the potatoes clean, 
 slice with a potato-slicer very thin, throw into cold water 
 long enough to take out some of the starch, then wipe dry 
 and put into boiling lard, a few pieces at a time ; be sure 
 and keep the lard boiling ; as soon as the potatoes are of a 
 clear, golden brown, skim out, and drain in a colander or 
 sieve. 
 
 [In Philadelphia potatoes are fried in the following 
 manner : 
 
 The tools are a common cabbage-cutter, two wire sieves, 
 and a "spider." Take say eight large potatoes, pare 
 them and slice very thin with the cutter, soak the slices for 
 two hours in cold water, stir into it one teaspoonful of salt 
 to a quart, and let them remain half an hour in that. Pour 
 
204 H03IE C03fF0ETS. 
 
 them into the sieve to drain, and when well-drained wipe 
 the slices dry ; put a pound of lard into the spider, and 
 when it becomes smoking-hot put in the potatoes. They 
 must be constantly stirred to prevent the pieces from ad- 
 hering to one another, and until they are sufficiently 
 browned to make your mouth water, when they should be 
 served at once.] 
 
 Delicious Mince Pies. 
 
 Take a pound of the undressed under-cut of a sirloin 
 of beef, boil and mince it fine; drain oif the fat from 
 it tlioroiighly, and mix in two ounces of fresh butter, 
 half an ounce of finely-ground allspice, four large apples 
 pared, cored and chopped fine, half a pound raisins 
 washed and chopped fine, half a pound currants well 
 washed, three tablespoonfuls of moist sugar, three ounces 
 of candied orange peel (not lemon) ; mix the whole of these 
 ingredients well together, then place a half-pound preserve 
 jar of raspberry jam in boiling water, and let it remain 
 without uncovering the jar until the jam is dissolved ; then 
 strain the jam over the ingredients, taking care not to let 
 the slightest portion of the seeds escape. Make paste and 
 bake in a very quick oven. AVhen the pies are nearly cold, 
 lift the corner of each, and pour over the mince a small 
 quantity of brandy. These will keep good for three weeks. 
 
 The peculiarity of these pies is, that no suet is used, Avliich 
 agrees but with few persons, and that the juice of the rasp- 
 berries gives them an indescribable but delicious flavor. 
 
 Superior Vanilla Ice-Cream. Carver. 
 The manufacture of ice-cream, as a branch of household 
 economy, is increasing every year. The essential ingre- 
 dients of all kinds are cream or rich milk, sugar, and some 
 
DAINTY DISHES. 205 
 
 flavoring material, as vanilla, lemon, strawberry, or pine- 
 aj)ple. Where milk is used, eggs are necessary, about four to 
 two quarts of milk, and generally a tablespoonful of arrow- 
 root, rubbed smooth in a cupful of milk, is added. The yelk 
 of eggs is also stirred into boiled cream, where the richest 
 quality of ice-cream is desired. But to make, say four 
 quarts of superior vanilla ice-cream, take two quarts of 
 pure cream, and add two-thirds of a pound of granulated 
 white sugar; boil about half a vanilla bean, cut in small 
 pieces, in a small quantity of milk or cream, taking care not 
 to let it burn ; after the flavor is thoroughly extracted, add 
 the whole to the sweetened cream, and when all is thor- 
 oughly incorporated, strain into the can of the freezer, of 
 which the best for family use is one of those patent-geared 
 freezing apparatus turned by a crank. Full directions 
 for their use accompany these machines, M'hich are quite 
 inexpensive. 
 
 Put the can into the wooden part of the freezer, and fill 
 the space between the can and pail with broken pieces of 
 ice about the size of a walnut, adding a handful of coarse 
 rock salt to each layer of ice. Turn the crank until the 
 wholie is frozen, which will take about twenty minutes. 
 Draw off the water from the pail, fill up with ice and stand 
 away to harden. One quart of good, pure cream will 
 make very nearly two quarts of ice-cream. 
 
 For lemon ice-cream, add the juice and grated rind of 
 one lemon to each quart of cream, instead of the vanilla 
 bean. For strawberry, one quart of bruised berries to four 
 quarts of cream. 
 
 17 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 DAINTY DISHES FOR DAINTY PALATES. 
 
 "Among all the arts known to man tliere is none which enjoys a jnster 
 appreciation, and the products of which are more universally admired, 
 tlian that concerned in the preparation of our food. Led by an instinct, 
 which has almost reached the dignity of conscious knowledge, as the un- 
 erring guide, and by the sense of taste which protects the liealth, the ex- 
 perienced cook, with respect to the choice, the admixture and tlie prepara- 
 tion of food, has made acquisitions, surpassing all that chemical and 
 physiological science has done in regard to the doctrine or theory of 
 nutrition. In soup and meat sauces he imitates the gastric juices; and 
 by the cheese which closes the banquet, he assists the action of the dis- 
 solved epithelium of tlie stomach." — Liebig. 
 
 2. HIGH CLASS COOKERY. 
 
 are now prepared to approach the professors of 
 " high class cookery," and leant wliat they choose 
 to im[)art to ns respecting the mode of preparing 
 those wonderful dishes of which even the names 
 are' mvsterions. In some of the hotels and club-houses in 
 the large cities, where costly banquets are often served, the 
 chief cooks earn, in salaries and perquisites, sums greater 
 than the salaries paid to the Judges of the Supreme Court 
 or members of the Cabinet. In some of the fashionable 
 restaurants in New York, dinners have been served where 
 the flowers alone placed upon the table to garnish the 
 viands cost fifteen hundred and even two thousand dollars. 
 The kitchen and storehotise for provisions, in one of these 
 206 
 
DAINTY DISHES. 207 
 
 hostelries, extends for a square, and so methodically arranged 
 that, it is said, the chef, without a spark of light, could 
 descend into the kitchen and lay his hand at the first trial 
 upon any cut of meat that may be ordered, and it would 
 be found in readiness to place upon the fire. There is as 
 much discipline among the subordinates as on board a 
 man-of-war, and so complete is the system that the respon- 
 sibility for a bad roast, or any other error, can be fixed 
 with absolute certainty. The dinners prepared in these 
 places are marvels of culinary skill, as may be supposed 
 from their cost, which sometimes exceeds fifty dollars 
 for each person. At a famous banquet given on New 
 Year's day by the Owl Club in New York, plates were 
 laid for twenty persons, and the total cost was $1000, or 
 fifty dollars per plate. The bill of fare or menu, consist- 
 ing of a little book containing fifteen leaves, partly printed 
 in gilt, alone cost five dollars each. But the most costly 
 bill of fare probably ever used at a dinner, was that which 
 a Senator from the Pacific coast, largely interested in silver 
 mines, placed before his guests, consisting of slabs of silver 
 on which the courses had been engraved, and each of whicli 
 was worth forty-five dollars by weight. These menus the 
 guests were permitted to take home with them as memen- 
 toes of their banquet. 
 
 Mr. Charles Ranhofer, now President of one of the 
 societies of chief cooks in New York, and until recently 
 the chef in Delmonico's celebrated restaurant, has written 
 out for this work the recipes of some of the dishes that 
 were invented in that establishment; and, to make the 
 matter plain to the dullest comprehension, he has given 
 a Bill of Fare or menu of a dinner for twelve persons, and 
 then shown how some of the principal dishes were com- 
 pounde.I : 
 
208 H03IE COMFOBTS. 
 
 MENU DINER POUR 12 PERS. 
 
 Potage. 
 
 Creme d'Asperges. 
 
 Poisson. 
 
 Truites de Riviere, Sauce Colbert, 
 
 Salade de Concombres, 
 
 Poinrues de terra Duchesse. 
 
 Releve. 
 
 Filet de Bceuf Salvandy. 
 
 Entrees. 
 
 Escaloppes de Volaille a rAquitaine, 
 
 Petits pois au beurre. 
 Brissotins de Ramiers au Supreme, 
 
 Haricots Verts Sautes. 
 Sorbet au Kirch. 
 Becassines Roties. 
 
 Letuce Salade. 
 Ananas Bagration, 
 
 Parfait au Cafe. 
 Fruits and Dessert. 
 
 How to Make Creme d'Asperge. 
 
 Break the stalks of one hundred green asparagus; cut 
 them in small pieces ; cook them in boiling water, with 
 salt, in a copper sugar-pan. After they are perfectly- 
 cooked, drain them, and mash them, with a piece of butter, 
 and pass through a sieve. Then mix a quarter of pound 
 of flour, with quarter pound of butter, and one quart broth ; 
 stir the liquid until ebullition, wnth the asparagus; imme- 
 diately remove it back, let it boil for about fifteen minutes. 
 Skim the butter coming to the surface ; add one quart of 
 cream, let it come near boiling; thicken with liaison of 
 six yelks of eggs and about a quarter pound of butter ; 
 season with salt and a pinch of sugar. Serve separately, 
 a plate of small croutons or crusts of bread cut in small 
 dice, fried with butter. 
 
 If you want the soup to be green, pound a half peck of 
 spinach, strain through a towel, put the liquor in a sauce- 
 
DAIXTY DISHES. 209 
 
 pan on the fire until it comes near to a boil ; pour the 
 liquid on a fine sieve, the water will pass through, and the 
 solid part may be used to color the soup. 
 
 Truite de Eiviere, Sauce Colbert. 
 
 Lay enougli trout in a fish-kettle for twelve persons ; 
 put on them two carrots, four onions, all sliced, two bay- 
 leaves, a little thyme and parsley, a few cloves, salt and 
 pepper, and a bottle of white wine (Bordeaux) and a quart 
 of water. Set it on the fire and boil it for a few minutes, 
 remove it back and keep it nearly boiling for about half 
 an hour, according to the size of your trout. Strain half 
 the liquor and put it into another saucepan ; stir the liquid 
 to ebullition, until it is reduced to a half pint, add a little 
 brown sauce, gradually introduce into it a half pound of 
 fine butter divided in little bits ; finish the sauce with the 
 juice of four lemons and a spoonful of chopped parsley. 
 At serving time drain the fish, place them on a long dish, 
 the bottom of which is covered with a napkin ; garnish 
 all round with parsley. 
 
 Serve the sauce separately. 
 
 Pommes de terre Duchesse. 
 Peel some potatoes, cut them in slices, wash them, salt 
 them, and let them boil on a brisk fire ; as soon as they 
 are nearly done, drain the water ; let them remain about 
 ten minutes in the oven ; pass them through a sieve ; put 
 this puree in a saute pan, with a little butter, salt and 
 nutmeg ; add some yelks of eggs and a little cream ; make 
 some moulds about the shape of an egg, flatten them down 
 a little; beat one egg and spread some with a brush over 
 the potatoes and brown in a brisk oven a few minutes 
 before servins:. 
 
210 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 Filet de Eceuf Salvandy. 
 
 Choose a well-shaped fillet of beef, of tender, streaky 
 flesh ; after having taken away the superfluous skin and 
 fat, the upper part is larded from one end to the other ; 
 the fillet is then placed in a baking dish, and after having 
 been cooked it is to be placed in a long dish for serving, 
 having underneath it a support made with a piece of bread 
 same length and width as the fillet, and about two inches 
 in height, fried in butter or lard. Garnish the fillet all 
 round with stuffed tomatoes, stuffed cucumbers, and some 
 little patties ; fill with spinach; pour a little gravy on the 
 bottom of the dish. 
 
 A good reduced brown sauce, with Malaga wine, should 
 he served up in a sauce boat. 
 
 FILLETS OF CHICKENS, PARTRIDGES, ENGLISH PHEASANTS 
 OR QUAILS. 
 
 rillets of Chickens a I'Aquitaine. 
 
 Select six tender middle-sized chickens; take up the 
 fillets, carefully trim them round on one side and pointed 
 at the other ; range them on the bottom of a saute pan, 
 which must be covered with clarified butter ; place the 
 fillet, in the same direction, the pointed side on the centre. 
 Trim the minion fillets, make some incisions in them trans- 
 versely ; slip into the incisions some slices of truffles, cut 
 slantwise ; put those fillets minion on the large fillets. 
 
 Force Meat. 
 
 To make the force meat, you will use the trimming of 
 the fillets and the legs of the chickens; trim the skin, 
 bone and sinewy part to get about one pound ; cut them 
 into small pieces, pound them and pas^< through a fine 
 
DAI^'^TY DISHES. 211 
 
 sieve ; put your meat iu the mortar, with a half pound of 
 panada (see panada), and pound well and add a half pound 
 of butter and yelks of four eggs, and a half pint of cream, 
 salt, white ])epper and nutmegs. 
 
 Butter a tin or copper border mould which is flat on the 
 top, fill it with the forced meat ; set the mould on a saute 
 pan with warm water a half hour before serving; put 
 your saute pan on a slow fire without boiling; at serving 
 time turn the border out on a dish, dress the fillet on the 
 border and garnish the centre with Ragout a I'Aquitaine. 
 
 Ragout a I'Aquitaine. 
 
 Put a pint of Madeira into a middle-sized saucepan, 
 M'ith a few pieces of Ceylon cinnamon, add one quart of 
 brown sauce ; let it boil slowly a few minutes ; skim well, 
 pass through a sieve, add some scollops of duck liver, 
 cockscombs, fresh mushrooms, cocks' kernels, and truffles. 
 
 Panada. 
 Put into a small stewpan a half pint of water, and a 
 half ounce of butter; let it boil, and then introduce 
 enough rice-flour so as to get a rather consistent batter; 
 dry it on the fire till it can disengage itself from the stew- 
 pan ; let it cool before using it. 
 
 English Snipe. 
 When the snipe liave been picked for trussing them, press 
 the legs close to the side and pierce the beak through them, 
 tie a slice of bacon over each bird, run a long skewer 
 through the sides and tie them to the spit ; roast them on 
 a good fire for about ten minutes ; in the meantime cut 
 twelve slices of bread, fry them of a fine brown color in 
 butter ; chop fine a few chickens' livers, with a little bacon ; 
 
212 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and chopped parsley; 
 garnish one side of the crust, bake thera in a hot oven for 
 a few minutes. 
 
 Serve thera with the bread under, and some gravy. 
 
 Lettuce salad should be served at the same time with 
 the snipe. 
 
 Sorbet au Kirch. 
 
 Make a lemon ice in the following manner : One quart 
 syrup at 32 degrees ; add the rinds of two lemons ; the 
 third part of a pint of lemon juice, a little piece of vanilla 
 bean ; and add water enough to reduce it to 20 degrees ; 
 let it macerate about two hours ; strain through a fine sieve 
 and freeze ; after being frozen, add a wineglassful of kirch ; 
 mix all well together, and serve in glass. 
 
 Ananas a la Eagration. 
 
 Pare all the skin and pith of one large pine-apple; 
 divide it first into two pieces crosswise, then in slices not 
 too thick ; put them into a kitchen basin, and cover them 
 with boiling syrup one hour ; afterward pour the pine- 
 apple through a sieve. 
 
 Blanch a half pound of rice; boil it with milk, keeping 
 it consistent ; when it is at the degree requisite, mix into it 
 a few spoonfuls of raw cream and a little orange peel, 
 chopped very fine; when the liquid is absorbed, take it off 
 the fire, introduce into it a quarter pound of butter, then 
 dish it up in the centre of the dish ; surround it with 
 slices of pine-apple, and keep the, dish warm. 
 
 Add a jar of peach marmalade to the syrup, and a little 
 maraschino ; serve the sauce separately. 
 
DAINTY DISHES. 213 
 
 Parfait au Cafe. 
 
 Whip eight yelks of eggs with a half pound of sugar; 
 Avhen the preparation is frotiiy, dilute it with a glassful of 
 a very strong infusion of coffee; put the liquid into a 
 copper basin tinned inside ; set it on the fire, stir the liquid 
 until it is thickened, but without allowing it to boil ; pass 
 through a fine sieve ; put it again in the basin, and whip it 
 on ice until very light ; mix about one quart whipped cream 
 which is firm and well drained ; line parfiiit mould with 
 a white paper inside, pack it with pounded ice and salt, 
 pour the preparation into the packed mould, which must 
 be covered with white paper and with tlie lid ; spread over 
 the lid a thick layer of salted ice, ])ack the preparation for 
 one hour and a half; at serving time, dip the mould into 
 cold water, wipe it and turn the parfait out on a folded 
 napkin. 
 
 August Valadon, Chef at the St. James Hotel, New 
 Yorkj contributes the following original recipes : 
 
 Salad Dressing. 
 
 This sauce is made in many different Avays ; but the best 
 and shortest way to make it is : 
 
 Take the yelks of two raw eggs to a pound of sweet-oil ; 
 put the yelks in a small bowl, with a little salt, white 
 pepper and the juice of half a lemon ; stir with a whip or 
 a wooden paddle, adding little by little the sweet-oil ; if it 
 becomes too thick, soften with a drop of vinegar, and con- 
 tinue until the oil is exhausted. This serves for dressing 
 any kind of salad or cold fish. 
 
214 HOliE COMFORTS. 
 
 Sauces, Croquettes, etc. 
 
 Cream Sauce. — Take a half pound of butter, four ounces 
 of flour, salt and pepper to taste; mix thoroughly; add to 
 these one pint of cream and one pint of milk; put the 
 mixture on the fire, and stir till it boils; add a little 
 grated nutmeg. This is a good sauce for halibut, cod, 
 scollops, etc. 
 
 Currie Sauce. — Take five ounces of good butter, two 
 ounces of flour, two teaspoonfuls of India currie, Cayenne 
 to taste, also a little nutmeg. Stir well in a saucci)an, and 
 pour in a little of the broth from the meat you want to 
 have in currie. 
 
 3Iaitre d' Hotel or SfcirareVs Sauce, Cold. — Take about 
 a pound of good butter, put it in a bowl, mix with it some 
 parsley and chives chopped fine, also the juice of a lemon. 
 Serve under or on top of broiled meat or fish. 
 
 English, or Bread Sauce for Game. — Take crumbs of 
 fine white bread, stew them in equal parts of milk and 
 cream, well seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg. In 
 fifteen minutes the sauce will be done. 
 
 Piquante Sauce. — Take a handful of shallots, chopped 
 fine ; put them in a stewpan, -\vet them with strong vinegar, 
 and boil it on a hot fire until nearly dry; add some 
 ca})ers, pickles, parsley, chives chopped very fine. Then 
 take another pan, and put into this four ounces of butter, 
 and two ounces of flour; mix well, wet with a little broth, 
 and boil for a few minutes. Mix the contents of the two 
 pans together, and boil twenty minutes, and serve. 
 
 Bice Croquettes. — Take half a pound of rice well washed, 
 soak in a pint of milk, season with lemon or vanilla flavor, 
 add half a pound of sugar, a little salt, and a piece of butter 
 the size of a walnut ; cook on a slow fire ; as soon as it is 
 
D.lJ.Vrr DISHES. 215 
 
 cooked, throw in six yelks of eggs, stir up well, pour out 
 into a flat pan, and when cold, roll into convenient shapes, 
 cover with egg and bread crumbs, and fry quickly in hot 
 fat. Serve well-powdered with lemon or vanilla sugar. 
 
 Cream fried. — Take a quart of milk and boil it. Then 
 put in another pan half a pint of cream, two ounces of 
 corn starch, half a pound of sugar, flavor to taste, and six 
 yelks of eggs; mix well and pour this into the boiling 
 milk ; stir all well together, and quickly pour into a flat 
 pan to cool ; cut it up into round or square pieces ; bread 
 as rice croquettes ; fry and serve hot, well-powdered with 
 sugar. 
 
 Omelette Sovffiee. — Take four eggs, separate the yelks 
 and whites ; take the yelks and three ounces of i)owdered 
 sugar, with some grated orange or lemon peel, beat well. 
 Take the whites, beat them to snow, and mix the two to- 
 gether. Shape in a silver dish any form you like. Bake 
 in a hot oven for twelve minutes. Sugar over and serve. 
 
 [It may be true, as the French say, that " cooking is 
 all pleasure and no trouble;" but we apprehend that our 
 readers will not take the same view of reading French 
 recipes. A dainty chapter of such dainty dishes will 
 satisfy their curiosity, as to what High Class cookery 
 means.] 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS OX CLOTHING. 
 
 "All affectation in dress implies a flaw in the understanding." — Ches- 
 TERFIKLD. 
 
 " If there is one thing in which the schoolmaster or the reformer is 
 more wanted than in another it is in our dress. From our birih to our 
 death we are the slaves of fashion, of prejudice, and of circumstances. 
 The tender, unresisting infant, the delicate girl, the mature wom:ni, 
 alike sulFer from these evil inflnences. Some fall victims to them ; 
 others sufler during life." — Mekkifield. 
 
 tLOTHIXG constitutes so large an item in the comfort 
 of families and the expenses of many households, 
 that it deserves more consideration in a work of this 
 *^ kind than we have space to give to it. 
 Nearly three centuries ago the most renowned of English 
 dramatists wrote : 
 
 " Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, 
 But not expressed. in fancy; rich, not gaudy; 
 For the ajiparel oft proclaims the man." 
 
 And this advice is as good and as practical to-day as 
 when Shakspeare gave it. Thrifty housekeepers know, 
 that to purchase materials of inferior quality for clothing 
 because they are cheap, is not only a Avant of economy but 
 gross extravagance. A rich man or woman may afford to 
 make a mistake in the quality of a ])iece of cloth, but a 
 216 
 
SUGGESTIONS OX CLOTHING. 217 
 
 poor man cannot afford to bny any but goods of superior 
 quality, liandsome and durable. 
 
 Buying Olotli. 
 
 "In purchasing cloth for family wear," says Lyman, 
 "and especially for its adult members, regard should be 
 had to the various uses to which the fabric may be put 
 when the wearer has done with it. In this way a service- 
 able piece of goods may be kept on duty until it no longer 
 hangs together, and even then its parts may be made to 
 contribute to the family comfort in the form of a quilt, a 
 rug, or a carpet. With this in view, it will be found that 
 cloths of a gray or neutral color can be converted to more 
 numerous and various uses than either black or blue. 
 Clothing of this color will bear washing, and it cuts u>j) for 
 boys at a better advantage than any other. In choosing 
 cloth for a gentleman's coat, and deciding on its cut, it is 
 well to remember that a frock coat, while suited to a 
 greater number of occasions than a dress coat or a sack, 
 affords larger pieces for the pattern when it is cut u]) for 
 smaller garments. For instance, the skirts of any frock 
 coat in tolerable preservation will furnish an ample pattern 
 for a business vest, which will be of almost as much ser- 
 vice as though made of new cloth. The linings of the 
 skirt, if not badly worn, will make the back of the vest ; 
 and the body, if ripped in pieces, pressed, and cut down, 
 will make a boy's jacket. The unworn parts of a fine 
 silk or velvet vest will give a number of pieces, which, 
 properly fitted together, will make a handsome cap for a 
 boy; and almost the whole may be used in trimming 
 children's clothing." 
 
 In a general way it may be stated, that in a family of 
 the average size, and disposed to a thrifty economy, no 
 IS 
 
218 H03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 article of dress should be thrown away. From the rim of 
 a common felt hat double soles may be cut which will pro- 
 tect the feet from the cold and damp of the winter. It 
 may be worth while to remember that felt makes the best 
 of gun-wads. From pieces left in cutting broadcloth, pin- 
 cushions, caps and slippers may be manufactured. 
 
 How to Clothe Children. 
 
 It should never be forgotten that the temperature of 
 children is some degrees lower than that of adults, and that 
 of all ages which resist cold the least, and suffer from its 
 ill effects the most, is early childhood. From early child- 
 hood to adult age the capability of resisting cold increases, 
 remains nearly stationary during the prime of life, and 
 diminishes towards old age in about the same ratio as it 
 increases in early life. There are certainly some old men 
 who apparently resist the effects of cold as well as the 
 young, but such cases are rare. 
 
 The covering next to the skin of very young children 
 should be of cotton; never, except in peculiar cases, of 
 flannel. Over the cotton a fine flannel may be placed. 
 When the child arrives at an age to take vigorous exer- 
 cise, the flannel may be put under the cotton shirt, but not 
 till then. The clothing of young children should be loose 
 and free, and absolutely devoid of any tight ligatures 
 around the throat, chest, or knees. Every joint must have 
 full room for play, and no artificial support or bandage 
 should on any account, except in special cases under medi- 
 cal supervision, be applied to any portion of the body of a 
 liealthy child. Bandages around the abdomen or stays 
 around the waist are not to be tolerated, and the folly of 
 exposing the limbs of children to the rigors of winter 
 ■weather is almost inconceivable. "I never see a poor 
 
SUGGESriOXS Oy clothing. 219 
 
 child dressed as a young Highlander/' says an eminent 
 medical authority, *' or in any fancy dress, witli its un- 
 comfortable look and naked appearance, its poor bare 
 knees and open neck, but that I prophesy for that child a 
 future of colds, coughs, and throat disease, and a probable 
 death of consumption." 
 
 Men's Clothing. 
 While all eccentricity or affectation in dress should be 
 avoided by both sexes, it is not good policy to carry the 
 idea of plainness and uniformity to the extreme adopted by 
 some men, of having only one suit at a time, which is 
 worn until it is shabby in appearance and then replaced 
 by another. This is decidedly an expensive custom. A 
 very short period of constant wear will cause the new look 
 to leave the surface of the cloth, the button-holes and 
 faces of the lapels will show wear, and it is impossible to 
 appear well-dressed in that suit. Few are aware, or if 
 they are, ever practise the plan of carefully folding and 
 laying their clothes away for a Avhile in a trunk or drawer. 
 All woollen goods, when kept in darkness, renew their 
 lustre, and the dingy look produced by exposure to a great 
 extent disappears. The insensible perspiration from the 
 body, no matter how wholesome or cleanly a person's 
 habits, will linger in any woollen garment. When they 
 are temporarily laid aside they should be well aired and 
 brushed, and folded so as not to show wrinkles, then 
 placed where they will be free from dust and light. If the 
 location is somewhat damp, so much the better ; for when 
 wool is kept very dry the fibre becomes brittle and will not 
 render good service. Two suits bought at the same time 
 and worn alternately, following the above suggestions, the 
 one not in service will last a third longer than one suit 
 
220 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 purchased and worn without intermission until not pre- 
 sentable, and then another one procured and served in the 
 same manner. 
 
 Black and dark shades of blue cannot retain their lustre 
 unless protected at intervals from the blanching effect of 
 sun and wind. 
 
 A gentleman who confines himself to two suits — one for 
 full dress and one for daily wear — will, in the usual course 
 of life and business, find himself unsuitably attired. It 
 should never be forgotten that sailing, sporting, and 
 travelling cannot be separated from roughness and dust, 
 and garments will suffer more from a day of that kind of 
 usage than a week's ordinary Avear, not speaking of the 
 luxury of commanding a change. 
 
 The wardrobe of a gentleman who mingles in society 
 and indulges in the above-mentioned pastimes, should con- 
 sist of, first, a full dress suit, and a medium dress suit for 
 church, calling, or ordinary evening wear; usually made a 
 frock coat, vest to match, and light pants. Then a busi- 
 ness or travelling suit, for which the most proper material 
 is Cheviot or mixed goods. 
 
 For gunning, velveteens, fustians or corduroy are best 
 ada{)ted, as they resist the briars, and stand any amount of 
 hard usage. Sailing costumes are generally made of blue 
 Cheviot or flannel, and coats cut double-breasted sack. 
 
 Two overcoats are indispensable; one for winter and one 
 for spring and fall. The materials suitable for these are 
 so varied that it is simply a matter of taste. 
 
 Gentlemen provided with an outfit like the above can 
 safely consider themselves prepared for any emergency 
 requiring appropriate dress, and in Avearing garments 
 suited to the occasion lies the great secret in the economical 
 manao-ement of clothes. 
 
 o 
 
SUGGESTIONS OX CLOTHING. 221 
 
 If colored trowsers are worn, those patterns should be 
 selected wliicli conform to the rules of taste. Bars running 
 across the legs should be avoided, and also all large staring 
 patterns. Stripes down the side, or stripes of any sort, 
 should be worn only by those who are tall and whose legs 
 are straight, or else the eye, running along the stripe, will 
 quickly detect any deviation from the perpendicular. 
 
 How to Cleanse Broadcloths. 
 
 The following mode has been tried repeatedly with uni- 
 form success by Miss Beecher : 
 
 Take one beef's gall, half a pound of saleratus, and four 
 gallons of warm water. Lay the article on a table, and 
 scour it thoroughly in every part with a clothes brush 
 dipped in this mixture. The collar of a coat and the 
 grease spots (previously marked by stitches of white 
 thread) must be repeatedly brushed. Then take the article 
 and rinse it up and down in the mixture. Then rinse it 
 up and down in a tub of soft cold water. Then, without 
 wringing or pressing, hang it to drain and dry. Fasten a 
 coat up by the collar. When perfectly dry, it is sometimes 
 the case withjcoats that nothing more is needed. In other 
 cases it is necessary to dampen the parts which look 
 wrinkled with a sponge, and either pull them smooth with 
 tlie fingers or press them with an iron, having a piece of 
 bombazine or thin woollen cloth between the iron and the 
 article. 
 
 How to Treat Wet Clothes. 
 
 Handle a wet hat as ^lightly as possible. Wipe it as 
 dry as you can with a silk handkerchief, and when nearly 
 dry use a soft brush. If the fur sticks together in any 
 part, dampen it lightly with a sponge dipped in beer or 
 
222 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 vinegar, and then brush it till dry. Put a stick or stretcher 
 into a damp hat to keep it in proper shape. 
 
 When a coat gets wet wipe it down the way of the nap 
 with a sponge or silk handkerchief. Do not put wet 
 boots or shoes near the fire. 
 
 How to render Cloth Water-proof, 
 There are various processes for Avater-proofing cloth, but 
 the following is a very simple and inexpensive method : 
 
 Take of powdered alum and of sugar of lead each one 
 ounce, and stir them into a gallon of rain water, and when 
 the mixture is clear pour off the upper liquid. Choose 
 Scotch tweed, or any light, closely-woven cloth, and im- 
 merse it in this lic|uid for twenty-four hours ; then dry 
 and press it. The cloth will be uninjured in color or 
 texture, and will turn any amount of rain to Avhich the 
 wearer is likely to be exposed. 
 
 Buying Boots and Shoes. 
 
 "With regard to boots and shoes, which are a source of 
 much trouble, pain, and annoyance to most persons who 
 have not secured for themselves an accurate kst, it may be 
 said in general, that to secure ease it is a good plan to put 
 on boo pairs of thick socks before being measured, and to 
 remind the bootmaker that in walking the foot elongates 
 fully half an inch, and to allow accordingly, or callosities 
 and ingrowing nails may be the result. Of the thousands 
 of boot and shoemakers in the country there are very few 
 who have at all studied the principles of their trade, or 
 know anything of the anatomy of the foot. The u])per 
 leather should be soft and pliable ; the soles should be as 
 broad as the foot when the weight of the body rests on it, 
 and the heels neither hi^h nor narrosv. It is also econora- 
 
SUGGESTIONS ON CLOTHING. 223 
 
 ical to purchase boots some time before they are wanted, 
 in order to allow the leather to season ; and to have two 
 pairs, to be worn on alternate days. 
 
 How to Preserve Boots and Shoes. 
 
 F. Maceroni, in a communication to the London Mechan- 
 ics' 3Iagazine, says : " I have only had three pairs of boots 
 for the last six years (no shoes), and I think that I shall 
 not require any for the next six years to come ! The 
 reason is, that I treat them in the following manner : I put 
 a pound of tallow and half a pound of rosin in a pot on 
 the fire ; when melted and mixed, I warm the boots, and 
 ap])ly the hot stuff with a painter's brush, until neither 
 the soles nor upper leathers will suck in any more. If it is 
 desired that the boots should immediately take a good 
 ])olish, dissolve an ounce of beeswax in an ounce of spirits 
 of turpentine, to which add a teaspoonful of lamp-black. 
 A few days after the boots have been treated with the tal- 
 low and rosin, rub over them the wax and turpentine, but 
 not before the fire. Thus the exterior will have a coat of 
 wax alone, and shine like a mirror. 
 
 " Tallow, or any other grease, becomes rancid, and rots 
 the stitching as well as the leather ; but the rosin gives it 
 an antiseptic quality which preserves the whole." 
 
 To cure boots and shoes of squeaking, which is a great 
 annoyance, especially in entering a sick-room, or a church 
 after the services have commenced, the remedy is to boil 
 linseed oil and saturate the soles with it well and thor- 
 oughly. 
 
 Women's Clotliing. 
 Woman's dress has been the subject of so much discus- 
 sion without practical result, and is so intertwined and 
 
224 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 interlaced witli the caprices of fashion tliat at first glance it 
 would seem there were no laws regulating it. To the blind 
 votaries of fashion, the willing dupes of milliners and dress- 
 makers who change styles to make work for themselves, 
 nothing need be said ; but in every community there are 
 many sensible women who would dress with taste if they 
 knew what constitutes good taste in dress, and for their 
 use and benefit we have read many criticisms and disquisi- 
 tions, and digested the following points : 
 
 1. Never buy an article of dress unless it be suitable to 
 your age, style and the rest of your wardrobe. Nothing can 
 be more objectionable in taste than to wear costly laces with 
 a common delaine, or cheap lace with expensive brocades. 
 Women, while shopping, are frequently tempted to buy 
 Mdiat pleases the eye upon the counter, forgetting what they 
 have at home to wear with it. "That parasol may be 
 pretty, but it M'ill kill by its color one dress in the buyer's 
 wardrobe and be unsuitable for the others." 
 
 2. Whatever the material may be, let the quality be good, 
 for it is never economy to purchase anything of an inferior 
 kind, no matter how cheap it may be. "A good, strong, 
 though coarse gingham," says Mrs. Lyman, " will be far 
 more serviceable for a working dress than a cheap though 
 showy calico ; and one handsomely printed calico, in fast 
 colors, tastefully made and neatly fitting, is of far more 
 real value to the wearer than those of a low grade, carelessly 
 made and ill-shaped. For the mother of a family, whose 
 duties frequently call her into the kitchen and who is sur- 
 rounded by children, there is no dress so suitable as a 
 calico, for none other is so easily cleansed of spots and 
 odors contracted in the ordinary routine of her family life. 
 Every time it is thoroughly washed, starched and ironed it 
 is a new dress, fresh and sweet. To choose calico, rub it 
 
SUGGESTION'S ON CLOTHING. 225 
 
 and see that there is not much dress, as it is called, in it. 
 If a quantity of white powder falls out do not buy it, how- 
 ever cheap, for it is a poor article and will not wear well. 
 It is well for a mother to consider, when purchasing for 
 herself, whether, after she has done with the garment, it 
 can be wrought over for her family, and if she is in mod- 
 erate circumstances it will be economy to buy goods that 
 Avill answer to make over for her little girls. Children 
 should always wear small figures or goods of a solid color, 
 trimmed with braid or some other material of a contrasting 
 hue. A neutral tint may be brightened by a crimson or 
 scarlet trimming, while for bright, decided colors white or 
 black trimming is most suitable." 
 
 3. In buying an expensive dress it is advisable for those 
 of limited means to select such as icill be serviceable under 
 the greatest variety of circumstances. Black silk is of this 
 description, as it may be worn appropriately to a wedding, 
 a party, a funeral, or to church. It is nowhere out of taste, 
 except in the kitchen. It may be made gay with bright 
 trimmings, or sombre with those of the same color. It can 
 be worn with hat and wrappings of every hue, and is never 
 out of fashion. If the silk is figured, let the figure be 
 small, the same on both sides, with no up or down to it, 
 so that when worn at the bottom it can be turned upside 
 down, and when soiled outside it can be turned inside out. 
 Figured silks do not generally wear well if the figure be 
 large and satin-like. Black and plain-colored silks can be 
 tested by procuring samples and making creases in them ; 
 fold the creases in a bunch and rub them against a rough 
 surface of moreen or carpeting. Those which are poor will 
 soon wear off at the creases. 
 
 A chemist has discovered that hydrochloric acid is a 
 powerful solvent of silk, though it has little effect on cotton 
 
226 II021E COMFOETS. 
 
 or wool, at least for a long time. The practical value 
 of this discovery to women is very great. The pur- 
 chaser of a silk has only first to buy or obtain a few inches 
 of it and drop a little hydrochloric acid, which can be ob- 
 tained at any druggist's, on the centre of the piece ; if it be 
 of 'pure silk, a hole will be made; if there is cotton in it, 
 those threads will remain. 
 
 Next to a black silk is a good black alpaca for service 
 and gentility ; and for warm weather the different thin 
 black fabrics are capable of great variety and utility. To 
 wear white tastefully a woman must either be very young 
 or quite pretty, and no stout lady can appear in it to ad- 
 vantage. Its very purity suggests a contrast in comj)lcxion 
 that is hard to bear in florid faces, or in those which have 
 lost youth's downy freshness. 
 
 4. In purchasuig dress goods, ladies should not forget 
 their own shape or figure. A pretty, delicate, spotted linen 
 that would make a little lady look charmingly sweet and 
 simple would have a contrary effect on a tall, large one. 
 Plaids are becoming for tall women, as they shorten the 
 appearance of the figure. Stripes look becoming on a large 
 person, as they reduce the apparent size. Flounces should 
 be worn only by those of a tall, graceful figure, and then 
 they should be made of a light material, so that tliey fall 
 in gracefully with the outline of the dress ; when made of 
 any rich stuff which stands out stiffly they break the grace- 
 ful flow of the dress. Flounces, by marking the height at 
 regular intervals, take away from it and make a short figure 
 look shorter. 
 
 A sensible writer on perfect taste in dress says : 
 
 " Shawls are only properly worn by women of the camel- 
 opard form. A short, squat figure, with the finest camel's 
 hair shawl that ever left India, never looked really well. 
 
SUGGESTION'S ON CLOTHING. 22!! 
 
 Some are bold enough to say that none but a French 
 woman can ever fold herself gracefully in a shawl. Be 
 that as it may, a stout American female does not shine ia 
 one. In a velvet circular she will look grand and impres- 
 sive ; in a good cloth sacque comfortable and cozy ; but in 
 an astrachan, or sealskin, she will remind you of an over- 
 grown Newfoundland, for fat women will not bear furry 
 wrappings. 
 
 "A large face should never bulge out of a small bonnet, 
 nor be surmounted by a coquettish hat. A double-chin is 
 solemnly opposed to butterfly head-gear, and only looks 
 M'cll under a pretty, plain, sensible kind of bonnet. Too 
 many feathers make short forms look topheavy ; one long, 
 handsome plume will improve any one who can carry it 
 gracefully; but a mingling of artificial flowers, feathers and 
 ribbons, is too much — fashion notwithstanding." 
 
 5. To dress with taste a woman must know her own face 
 and select colors that harmonhe with her complexion. The 
 great art, as regards color of dress, is to modify the tints 
 of tlie complexion, care being taken to let the flesh appear 
 of a healthy, natural hue, and to avoid wearing those colors 
 which give the complexion a sickly or unnatural appear- 
 ance. In this lies the secret of dressing well, but so ab- 
 struse is the problem, so multifarious the considerations 
 involved in its solution, that we wonder any woman's brain 
 ever mastered it. 
 
 Writers on the combinations of color in dress, divide com- 
 plexions into the "fair and ruddy blondes" and the "pale 
 and florid brunettes." In the fair blonde we find a delicate 
 white skin, light hair — in all the shades from a golden hue 
 to yellow or orange brown ; light blue or gray eyes ; a slight 
 tinge of rose on the cheek, and a richer tint on the lips. 
 In all such complexions the rose color is not decided 
 
228 I103IE COMFOETS. 
 
 enough, and the hair would be improved by a deeper hue 
 — and these changes can be made, in a good degree, by a 
 suitable mingling of color in the dress. One of the most 
 favorable colors for the fair blonde is a delicate green, as it 
 imparts to the flesh-white of the skin a tint of red, which 
 mingling with the natural hue forms an agreeable rose-tint 
 — a good contrast both to the face and hair, especially if 
 the hair is golden, inclining to orange. 
 
 The most complete summary of what blondes should wear 
 as trimmings for bonnets that we have seen has been made 
 by Mrs. H. W. Beecher, and is as follows : 
 
 [The best colors to mingle with green, as trimmings, 
 are red, orange and gold. Green and gold form a rich 
 harmony, peculiarly becoming to the fair blonde. Scarlet, 
 blended with green, harmonizes better than red ; but if red, 
 inclining to crimson, is used, then orange and gold must 
 also be combined with it. There are some shades of green 
 that are not becoming, unless blended with and enlivened 
 by other harmonious colors. A green bonnet, with rose- 
 color and white, with a white feather, will always be be- 
 coming for this complexion. Be careful that too much 
 white is not used, else it will have a cold effect, and there- 
 fore will not aid the fair complexion so much. Orange or 
 gold may be substituted for the pink or rose — also red, in 
 a small bonnet, but neither should be placed close to the 
 face. Orange in a green bonnet, in small quantities, is be- 
 coming, if the wearer's eyes are blue. A few autumnal 
 shades of red, orange or yellow-green are also in harmony 
 with the fair complexion ; but dark-green is not at all 
 desirable. 
 
 Blue is very suitable, giving an orange tint, which har- 
 monizes finely with the delicate white and flesh hues of the 
 complexion. There is always a natural trace of orange 
 
SUGGESTIONS ON CLOTHING. 220 
 
 color on the skin, and this color, by intensifying this natural 
 tint, is very pleasing; but the blue must be light, and not 
 too positive. Blue being the perfect contrast of orange, it 
 agrees finely with golden or orange-brown hair. This is 
 the reason that light-blue head-dtesses are so very becom- 
 ing on light hair. To give a good effect to blue by gas- 
 light, a little white or very pale blue is necessary to be in 
 contrast, or very near the face. If there are green leaves 
 with the blue flowers of a head-dress, they should be placed 
 as near the face as possible. 
 
 White, black, a very little yellow, orange, straw or stone 
 color, may either of them be used in the trimmings of a 
 light-blue bonnet, with good effect; but not if there are 
 })ink or purple flowers on it, as those colors mingled with 
 blue are unsuitable. The colors to bo used carefully or 
 avoided altogether, v/ith fair complexions, are yellow, 
 orange, red and purple. The light shades of lilac may be 
 sometimes used; but it is very trying to, and must always, 
 if used, be separated from the flesh by an edging of tulle 
 or some similar trimming — or be associated with its har- 
 monizing colors — cherry, scarlet, light crimson or gold 
 color, and then they will in part overcome the bad effects; 
 but green and lilac should never be coupled, as it will 
 form a positive discord. A very little light purple is 
 agreeable for a head-dress on light hair, but must be 
 placed near the skin. 
 
 Neutral colors, if not too dark, accord well with fair 
 blondes — gray, fawn, drab, and some few shades of brown 
 are the best. Black is good for the fair blonde who has 
 some healthy color, because it increases the rose in the 
 complexion ; but it is bad for pale skins, as it bleaches 
 them by the painful contrast. No delicate color can be 
 blended with black without seeming of a lighter tone. 
 19 
 
230 IT03IE C02TF0nTS. 
 
 Unless used for mourninp:, l)lack must be mingled M'ith 
 either blue, cherry, mulberry, drub or lilae, to remove the 
 sombre effects ; but cherry and lilac must be used sparingly. 
 Red must not be used at all with black for fair blondes, as 
 it gives a rusty tinge. * White is suitable with black, if 
 some other color is added ; otherwise it is too cold. A 
 black bonnet looks well with a fair complexion, but a 
 little Avhite and rose color should be added, keeping the 
 rose away from the skin. White is pleasant for all com- 
 plexions, but more so with the fair blonde who has some 
 color than for any other. Bright colors with white bonnet 
 may be added, but must be ke])t low and well grouped. 
 White increases the paleness of a pale skin ; but this effect 
 may be neutralized by a blue or green wreath brought well 
 on the face. 
 
 The ruddy blonde has a full-toned complexion, inclining 
 to a positive rose-red, or carnation ; dark blue or brown 
 eyes and brown haii". All the colors suitable for the fair 
 blonde are generally suitable for the ruddy blonde, but the 
 tones, and in some cases the hues, must be changed. As a 
 rule this type may use more freedom in the selection of 
 colors than the fair; her comj^lexion, not being so delicate, 
 is less sensitive. The hair being the medium between gold 
 and black, and the complexion higher toned and more 
 positive, rich and moderately dark colors may be used. 
 
 For brunettes purple and dark maroon and yellow and 
 orange are suitable colors. Among brunettes there are a 
 few who are so jiallid that to wear stone-gray will render 
 them almost ghastly. For such there is drab of the 
 creamy or pinkish order that is singularly becoming. A 
 tiiiy band or two of scarlet velvet around shining black 
 hair has a very fine effect.] 
 
 Lastly. Follow fashion so far as it is in consonance with 
 good taste, but avoid extremes. 
 
SUGGESTIOXS ON CLO THING. 231 
 
 Hints to Wearers of Kid Gloves. 
 
 It is not generally known, or does not appear to be 
 known, even by those who wear kids almost exclusively, 
 that the durability and set of these articles depend very 
 much upon how they are put on the first time. Two pairs 
 may be taken from one box, of exactly the same cut and 
 quality, and by giving different treatment when first put- 
 ting the hands into them, one pair will be made to set 
 much better, and to wear doubly, or nearly that length of 
 time longer than the other. When purchasing gloves, 
 people are usually in too much of a hurry ; they carelessly 
 put them on, and let them go in that way then, thinking 
 to do the work more completely at another time. When 
 this is the case a person is sure to meet with disappoint- 
 ment, for as the glove is made to fit the hand the first 
 time it is worn, so it will fit ever after, and no amount of 
 effort will make a satisfactory change. Never allow a 
 stretcher to be used, for the gloves will not be likely to fit 
 as well for it. All of the expansion should be made by 
 the hands. If the kids are so small as to require the aid 
 of a stretcher, they should not be purchased, as they will 
 prove too small for durability, comfort, or beauty. When 
 selecting gloves, choose those with fingers to correspond 
 with your own in length ; take time to put them on, work- 
 ing in the fingers first, until ends meet ends ; then put in the 
 thumb, and smooth them down until they are made to fit 
 nicely. A glove that sets well will usually wear well, at 
 least will wear better than one of the same kind that does 
 not fit Avell. When the ends of the gloves do not come 
 down right, or when they are so long as to form wrinkles 
 upon the sides of the fingers, they will chafe out easily. 
 Where the stretcher has to be used to make the fingers 
 
232 HOME CGMFOBTS. 
 
 large enough, the body part will be so small as to cramp 
 the hand so that it cannot be shut without burstins: the 
 seams of the kids. Some recommend putting new kid 
 gloves into a damp cloth before they are put on, and 
 aUowing them to remain until moistened. AVith this 
 treatment they can be put on much easier than otherwis'^, 
 and will tit very nicely until they get dry ; but on second 
 wearing there will be an unnatural hai'sl)ness about them, 
 wrinkling in spots, and they will not set so perfectly as at 
 first. 
 
 How to Dress to Sit for a Photograph. 
 
 Very few \vomen, except actresses and singers, know 
 liow to dress so as to secure the most pleasing photograph. 
 Some photographers have Avritten manuals of instruction 
 on this point, and they state that the best materials for 
 ladies to wear are such as are not too glossy and will fold 
 or drape nicely, as reps, poplins, satins and silks. A black 
 silk dress looks mcII on almost everybody, and if not 
 bedecked with ribbons, or lace which will take white, ^\\\\ 
 photograph satisfactorily. So garnet, cherry, wine color, 
 sea or bottle-green, light and dark orange, light Bismarck, 
 and slate color are all excellent colors to photograph. But 
 pure white is bad, and lavender, lilac, sky blue, purple, 
 and French blue take very light, and are even worse than 
 pure white. Striped goods, or goods having bold patterns 
 in them, should never be worn for a picture. Avoid any- 
 thing that will look streaky or spotty. 
 
 The dressing of the hair is also a matter of importance. 
 If the forehead be high, which is not a mark of beauty in 
 any woman, it should be partially concealed by the hair or 
 curls ; so on a long, stork-like neck a few drooping curls 
 vi'\\\ add to the effect agreeably. 
 
SUGGESTIOWS ON CLOTHING. 233 
 
 Children should not be dressed in startling plaids and 
 gaudy colors, or a variety of colors ; nor do they photo- 
 graph well in white or very dark dresses. 
 
 To Wash Chintz. 
 
 Many ladies will be glad to know how chintz may be 
 washed so as to preserve its gloss and beauty. The follow- 
 ing are the directions : 
 
 Take two pounds of rice and boil it in two gallons of 
 water till soft ; when done, pour the whole into a tub ; let 
 it stand till about the warmth you use in general for col- 
 ored linens; then put the chintz in and use the rice instead 
 of soap; wash it in this till the dirt appears to be out ; 
 then boil the same quantity as above, but strain the rice 
 from the water and mix it in warm, clear water. Wash 
 in this till quite clean; afterwards rinse it In the water you 
 have boiled the rice in, and this will answer the end of 
 starch, and no dew will affect it, as it will be stiff as long 
 as you wear it. If a gown, it must be taken to pieces, and 
 when dried be careful to hang it as smooth as possible. 
 After it is dry rub it with a sleek stone or agate, but use no 
 iron. 
 
 How to Wash Summor Dresses. 
 
 In the washing of summer suits a few useful hints may 
 be appreciated. Nearly all are made of white or buff 
 linen, pique, cambric or muslin, and the art of preserving 
 the new appearance after washing is a matter of the very 
 greatest importance. 
 
 Common washerwomen spoil everything with soda, and 
 nothing is more common than to see the delicate tints of 
 lawns and percale turned into dark blotches and muddy 
 streaks by the ignorance of a laundress. It is w^orth while 
 for ladies to pay attention to this, and insist upon having 
 
231 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 their Slimmer dresses washed aooording to directions, wliich 
 they should be prepared to give their laundresses them- 
 selves. In the lirst plaee, the water should be tepid, and 
 the soap should not be allowed to touch the f;d)ric. It 
 should be washed and rinsed quickly, turned upon the 
 wrong side, and hung up in the .s/kkJc to dry. It should 
 then be starched in thin boiled, but not boiling starch, and 
 after again drying, should be nicely and evenly dampened 
 and ironed upon the wrong side as soon as possible. Buff 
 linen should be washed in water in which hay has been 
 boiled, or a quart bag of bran .will answer as well. The 
 latter is perhaps best, for it will be found to do for starch 
 as well, and is excellent for print dresses of all kinds. A 
 handful of salt is very useful also to set the colors of light 
 cambrics and dotted lawns. Beef's gall will not only set, 
 but M'ill heighten yellow and purple tints, and has a good 
 effect upon green. 
 
 How to Detect Cotton in Linen. 
 
 In buying linen seek for that which has a round, close 
 thread, and is perfectly white ; for if it be not white at 
 first it will never afterward become so. Much that is 
 called linen at the stores is half cotton, and does not wear 
 so well as cotton alone. Cheap linens are usually of this 
 kind. It is difficult to discover which are all linen ; but 
 some housekeej)ers take a sample from a lot presumed to 
 be good, wash it and ravel it. If this be good, they con- 
 clude the rest of the same lot will also be good. If they 
 cannot do this they draw a thread each way, and if both 
 appear equally strong it is probably all linen. 
 
 To detect cotton in linen one of the best methods is 
 microscopic examination ; for when flax is magnified three 
 hundred times, it appears like long, compact tubes, with a 
 
SUGGEST10^^S ON CLOTHING. 235 
 
 narrow channel in tlie centre ; wliile cotton appears to be 
 flattened, ribbon-like cylinders, with a wide channel, and 
 mostly in spiral windings. 
 
 The test with oil of vitriol is reliable in an experienced 
 hand, bnt every trace of weaver's gum must have been 
 previously removed by boiling with water. The fibres 
 are laid on a plate of glass, and oil of vitriol dropped on it. 
 A single lens is sufficient to observe the effect. In a short 
 time the cotton fibre is dissolved, while the flax is un- 
 altered, or only the finest fibres attacked. 
 
 The oil test is also a good one, and convenient in execu- 
 tion. When flaxen fibres are rubbed up with olive oil, 
 they appear translucent, like oiled paper; while cotton, 
 under similar circumstances, remains white and opaque. 
 Dyed goods exhibit the same, if previously bleached by 
 chloride of lime. 
 
 Flannels. 
 
 Flannel is the most healthy and serviceable article for 
 underclothing that can be worn by every one except very 
 young infants. Its peculiar merit, in which it excels all 
 other materials, is that it keeps the vessels of the skin con- 
 stantly open, stimulates them to free perspiration, and 
 protects them from the chilling effects of external moisture. 
 All persons who lead lives of exposure should adopt 
 flannel undergarments, and especially farmers, who perform 
 tiieir work under wide differences of temperature, and who 
 are peculiarly liable to diseases that result from a sudden 
 check to copious perspiration. 
 
 Those women who, like cats, are not fond of water on 
 tlieir skin, and who do not take much physical exercise, will 
 be especially benefited by wearing flannel. The objection 
 made to this fabric, that it irritates the skin, is in fact an 
 advantage; for the irritation is healthful, and may be 
 
236 II02II: C03IF0ETS. 
 
 entirely allayed by friction of the skin when woollen gar- 
 ments are removed npon retiring, as they invariably shonld 
 be. A little persistence in this practice will inure the skin 
 to its new covering, after which no inconvenience will be 
 felt. 
 
 Many persons fall into serious disease by changing their 
 winter flannels too soou. The first of May is quite early 
 enough to lay them aside for a thinner material, south of 
 Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky ; but the people of 
 those States, and north of them, should not make the 
 change earlier than the last of May. An old physician, 
 when asked what was the proper time to take off flannels, 
 said the thirty -first day of July ; and when to put them 
 on again, said the first day of August. 
 
 Eow to Wash Flannels. 
 
 One of the great difficulties that an inexperienced house- 
 keeper meets with, is in the discoloration and shrinkage of 
 flannels, and few indeed know the best methods of washing 
 them. Mrs. Lyman has summarized the directions in the 
 following rules : 
 
 1st. Never apply soap dirccfli/ i:o any woollen fabric. 
 Make a strong hot suds, and plunge the garment in it. 
 
 2d. Never dip a flannel in cold, or even cool, water, 
 but always hot. Wash first in hot suds, and rinse in hot 
 Avater made very blue. 
 
 3d. Dry flannels as quicldy as jjossible. Wring dry 
 from the second water, and hang either in the hot sun, or 
 before a brisk fire. When nearly dry, press with a hot 
 iron. It may also be remarked that none but soft water- 
 should be used upon flannels, and resin soap is much in- 
 ferior to common soft soap, as it hardens the fibres of 
 woollens. 
 
SUGGESTIONS ON CLOTHING. 237 
 
 To Soften Hard Water. 
 
 It is said that half an ounce of quicklime put in nine 
 quarts of water, and the clear solution put into a barrel of 
 hard water, will make it soft. It is also said that a tea- 
 spoonful of sal-soda will soften from three to four pails of 
 hard water. This is a valuable recipe for housekeepers if 
 true, and one which can easily be tested. 
 
 An Easy Way to Wash Clothes. 
 
 The night before washing day, put the clothes to soak in 
 water, and also place~t)n the hot stove, in a suitable vessel, 
 two pounds of soap cut small, one ounce borax, and two 
 quarts water. These may be left to simmer till the fire 
 goes out; in the morning the mixture will be solid. On 
 washing day operations are commenced by setting on a 
 stove or furnace the wash-kettle nearly filled with cold 
 water. Into this put about one-fourth of a pound of the 
 compound, and then wring out the clothes that have been 
 soaking, and put them into the kettle. By the time that 
 the water is scalding hot, the clothes will be ready to take 
 out. Drain them well, and put them into clean cold water, 
 and then thoroughly rinse them twice. 
 
 Refined Borax, in the proportion of one large handful 
 of the powder to ten gallons of boiling water, is said to 
 save nearly one-half of the soap, and make the clothes 
 beautifully white and clear. It is a neutral salt, and will 
 not injure the fabric. The washerwomen of Belgium and 
 Holland, so famous for the beauty of their work, use borax 
 instead of soda. 
 
 How to Keep Silks. 
 
 Silk articles should not be kept folded in white paper, as 
 the chloride of lime used in bleaching paper may impair 
 
238 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 the color of the silk. Brown or blue paper is better than 
 white, and the yellowish smooth India paper better than 
 any other. Silk intended for a dress should not be kept in 
 the house long before it is made up, as lying in the folds will 
 have a tendency to impair its durability by causing it to 
 cut or split, particularly if the silk has been thickened by 
 gum. 
 
 To Secure Woollens, Furs, etc., from Moths. 
 
 Carefully shake and brush woollens early in the spring 
 so as to be certain that no moth eggs are in them ; then 
 sew them up in cotton or linen wrappers, putting a piece of 
 camphor gum, tied up in a bit of muslhi, into each bundle, 
 or into the chests and closets where the articles are to lie. 
 "When the gum has evaporated it must be renewed. A lady 
 put up her blankets aud carpets in this way before going to 
 Europe, and on her return, three or four years after, found 
 every article safe from moths. 
 
 Furs should not be hung out in the sun in the spring be- 
 fore being put away for the season. The moth miller will 
 be likely to visit them when thus exposed. They should 
 be put in a close box with a piece of camphor, and the box 
 tied up in a pillow-case or bag. Blankets that are in use 
 occasionally during the summer should be laid, when not 
 wanted, under a mattress in constant use, or in a trunk 
 where there are pieces of camphor gum, tobacco, or cedar 
 chips. Boxes lined with ordinary roofing felt are said to 
 be equal to cedar for keeping out moths, and much cheaper. 
 It is more difficult than it used to be, to preserve woollens, 
 carpets, furs, and furniture from being injured by moths. 
 Thirty years ago it was regarded as an indication of very 
 negligent housekeeping to have a moth-eaten carpet. Now 
 the utmost care will not preserve carpets from being injured 
 
SUGCrESTIOXS O.Y CLOTHING. 239 
 
 in this way. Perhaps the reason may be that, in general, 
 Avarehonses and dwellings are warmed throughout, during 
 the winter, by furnaces. New stuffed and cushioned furni- 
 ture is sometimes found to contain moths. To destroy them 
 pour burning-fluid plentifully upon the cushions, sofas, etc. 
 If it is fresh, it will leave no stain, and the disagreeable 
 odor will soon pass away. 
 
 To preserve a carpet that cannot be shaken often, draw 
 out the tacks twice a year, turn back the edges a quarter of 
 a yard all around, brush out the dust, and then with a 
 painter's brush put new spirits of turpentine upon the 
 boards as far as the carpet is turned back ; then return it 
 immediately to its place, and put in the tacks. 
 
 The floors of some houses have moths in the cracks. In 
 til is case cedar sawdust, sprinkled over the floor before lay- 
 ing the carpet down, will protect it from these diligent mis- 
 chief-workers. If this cannot be had, use tar-paper. 
 
 How to Judge Furs. 
 
 In purchasing furs, a sure test of ^vhat dealers call a 
 ])rime fur is the length and density of the down next to the 
 skin. This can readily be determined by blowing a brisk 
 current of air from the mouth against the set of the fur. 
 If the fibres open readily, exposing the skin to view, reject 
 the article ; but if the down is so dense that the breath 
 cannot penetrate it, or if at most but a small portion of the 
 skin is shown, the article may be accepted. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE SECRETS OF THE TOILET. 
 
 " It has been affirmed, and I think correctly, tliat from the relative 
 attention paid in any country to cleanliness, the cosmetic arts, dress and 
 hygiene, and from the respective prevalence, influence and mutations of 
 custom and fashion, may its claims to civilization, refinement and luxury 
 be vindicated." — CuuLKY. 
 
 f 
 
 fllE oiicl and aim of su]ierior skill in housekeeping is 
 to increase the comfort and promote the health of 
 families. Now health is the fountain of personal 
 beauty, and the direct and intimate connection be- 
 tween health and beauty leads us to consider what science 
 has to offer for the im|M-ovement of the form and com- 
 plexion, and the presei'vation of the hair, the teeth, the 
 hands, the feet, and other members of the body. 
 
 How to Eeduce Corpulence. 
 
 With respect to beauty of form, its two greatest enemies 
 are excessive corpulence and excessive leanness. " Corpu- 
 lence," says Dr. Clark, " is a disease that sometimes proves 
 fatal. The difficulty of breathing with which very corpu^ 
 lent people are 0]ipressed, is caused by an accumulation of 
 fat on the kidneys, which obstructs the motion of the dia- 
 phragm ; whilst the heart and large blood-vessels being 
 equally encumbered, a slowness of pidse is produced, and 
 pos.iibly apoplexy and death." It is remarkable that the 
 
SECRETS OF THE TOILET. 241 
 
 cnra for this disease is comparatively a modern discovery. 
 Remedies, it is true, have been proposed, such as violent 
 physical exercise, rowing, boating, riding on horseback, 
 Turkish baths, natural waters, fasting ; but none of them 
 have proved effectual in preventing the accumulation of 
 fat in those inclined to obesity. 
 
 Modern science, however, has discovered that to prevent 
 or reduce corpulence you must, besides taking active and 
 regular exercise, not indulge in much sleep, and especially 
 abstain from those articles of food which contain starchy and 
 saccharine matter. Stock-raisers have long known that 
 certain foods will fatten animals and others will not, and it 
 is inexplicable that medical men have been so slow in ap- 
 l)lying this principle for the benefit of the human family. 
 William Banting, Sr,, is entitled to the credit of making 
 known what can be done by attention to diet, as illustrated 
 in his own personal experience. He was a short, fat Eng- 
 lishman, five feet five inches high, who weighed 202 
 pounds, when, according to Hutchinson's tables, a healthy 
 man of that stature should not weigh more than 142 
 pounds. Under advice of his physician. Dr. Harvey, of 
 London, he commenced a system of diet to reduce corpu- 
 lence, and succeeded in taking off forty-six pounds of fat 
 in a year, without detriment to his health. He was per- 
 mitted to eat any kind of meat, except veal and pork ; any 
 kind of fish, except salmon, herrings and eels; any vege- 
 tables except potatoes, parsnips, beets, turnips and carrots ; 
 any kind of poultry and game, a little cheese or boiled 
 rice; and to drink tea without milk or sugar, and claret, 
 sherry or Madeira wines. He Avas forbidden to eat bread, 
 except in the form of toast or biscuit, and butter, milk, 
 sugar, potatoes, and the other vegetables above excepted, or 
 to drink ale or beer, champagne or port wines. After two 
 20 
 
242 HOME C03IF0RTS. 
 
 years' experience he writes : " In my humble judgment 
 the dietary Ls the principal point in the treatment of cor- 
 pulence, and it appears to me, moreover, that properly 
 regulated, it becomes in a certain sense a medicine." 
 
 How to Cure Leanness. 
 
 To cure excessive leanness the practice must be exactly 
 the opposite of that just related, that is, indulge in sleep, 
 take but little exercise, eat bread and butter and potatoes, 
 oily fish and pork, take milk and sugar in your tea and 
 coffee, and drink beer and champagne and port wines. A 
 lean dog, however, being the best for a long chase, unless 
 the leanness is excessive it would be advisable to trust to 
 nature and advancing years for an increase of avoirdupois. 
 
 Many ladies who are not troubled with general obesity 
 of the system have a superabundant development of the 
 breast. The modern mode of reducing this is by a prejiara- 
 tion of iodine ; but as this is a dangerous internal medicine 
 in unprofessional hands, we, says a physician, shall recom- 
 mend its external use, thus : Take 
 
 Iodide of zinc 1 drachm, 
 
 Hog's lard 1 ounce ; 
 
 mix M-ell, and rub daily into each breast a piece about the 
 size of a nutmeg ; a linen bandage so placed as gently to 
 compress the breast without pressing upon the nipple, will 
 assist its operation. We need scarcely say, this must noi; 
 be done during lactation. 
 
 Some of the old practitioners recommend pounded mint 
 api)lied to the breasts, accompanied with bandages, to check 
 their exuberant growth. 
 
 For those whose breasts participate in their general 
 leanness, the only remedy that science seems to furnish is to 
 
SECBETS OF THE TOILET, 243 
 
 have the bosom loosely clothed, avoiding all pressure ; and 
 Sir James Clark advises that friction with the hand for an 
 hour or two every day will assist much in its development. 
 
 How to Beautify the Complexion. 
 
 Beauty of complexion is valued by many even more than 
 beauty of form, and some ladies will spend more time and 
 money to improve the appearance of the face than for any 
 other object. Even young men have been known to use 
 pearl powders and rouges, and to pinch their cheeks until 
 red, to give them a delicate tint. 
 
 The clearness or beauty of the complexion is so inti- 
 mately dependent upon the state of the stomach and liver, 
 that unless these have their proper action, all external a])- 
 plications can be but temporary expedients. In addition 
 to a healthy condition of the stomach and liver, the pores 
 of the skin must have free and undisturbed action. The 
 skin of the face, as well as of all the other parts of the 
 body, is full of little pores or holes, so minute that it is said 
 a grain of sand will cover 25,000, and if these be clogged, 
 the skin will commence to wither and fade, and the beauty 
 of the face will depart. Hence the importance of daily 
 washing, frequent bathing, and the danger of the constant 
 use of powders, balms, blooms, euamels, which fill up the 
 pores and dry the skin. 
 
 There are many articles that may be used for the face 
 which are not in the least injurious, but, on the contrary, 
 may be of great advantage to it. 
 
 The following elegant and serviceable lotion any lady 
 can keep as an article of her toilet, and make free daily use 
 of it, as it will be of great benefit in enhancing the healthy 
 condition of the skin : 
 
244 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 E.. — Glycerine 2 oz. 
 
 Rose water 12 oz. 
 
 Camphor water 1 oz. 
 
 Alcohol or bay rum 1 oz. 
 
 Jockey club, oil of rose, or any perfume may be added 
 that may be desired. 
 
 This lotion will be found to impart a very soothing and 
 pleasant effect. Should any one prefer not to have the 
 glycerine in it, the following can be substituted : 
 
 K. — Bay mm 5 oz. 
 
 Rose water 10 oz. 
 
 Camphor water 1 oz. 
 
 Soap should not be very frequently used ; it is better for 
 the face not to make too free use of that article. Instead 
 of using soap so often, use freely the following harmless 
 wash, wiiich M'ill take the place of soap to a great extent, 
 and keep the skin nice and clean, and not in any way ob- 
 struct the free action of the pores, but will remove obstruc- 
 tions and prevent clogging : 
 
 R. — Powdered borax 6j drachms. 
 
 Rose water \ pint. 
 
 "Water J pint. 
 
 Dissolve together, and use daily. 
 
 How often is a well-defined face, with all the lines per- 
 fect, made completely unattractive from being incumbered 
 with pim])les, blotches, or a chronic impurity or defect of 
 the skin ! For these Dr. Bateman jsrescribes what is 
 known as his Sulphur Wash : 
 
 Break one ounce of sulphur, and pour over it one quart 
 of boiling water ; allow it to infuse for twelve or fourteen 
 hours, and apply to the face two or three times a day, 
 
SECEETS OF THE TOILET. 245 
 
 for a few weeks. TJiis application is equally U3:?ful in 
 removing that roughness of the skin which generally suc- 
 ceeds pimples. A more powerful application is sometimes 
 prepared with vinegar and the acetated liquor of ammonia, 
 or the spirit of mindererus. Or the following, which will 
 be equally effective, and known as Sir William Knighton's 
 Lotion : 
 
 Half a drachm of liquor of potassa, three ounces of 
 spirits of wine ; to be applied to the pimples with a camel's- 
 hair brush, and if too powerful, add half an ounce of cold 
 Avater, which has been boiled and strained ; distilled water 
 is better. 
 
 AVhen the face is to be exposed to a hot sun or a high 
 wind, wash it, previous to and after exposure, with a little 
 pure water, in which pour a teaspoonful of liquor of potassa 
 and a few drops of cologne water. This it is said will 
 prevent sunburn. 
 
 Frecldes are by no means an easy thing to cure, especially 
 in persons having red hair, but almond paste, made of 
 an ounce of bitter almonds, honey and barley flour, may 
 do it. Dr. Withering^ s Cosmetic Lotion for freckles was 
 compounded as follows : 
 
 Take a teacupful of sour milk ; scrape into it a quantity 
 of horseradish ; let it stand for several hours, then strain 
 well, and apply with a camel's-hair brush two or three 
 times a day. 
 
 The following recipes are also said to remove either 
 freckles, tan or sunburn, and are certainly harmless : 
 
 Dip a bunch of green grapes in a basin of water ; sprinkle 
 it with powdered alum and salt mixed ; wrap the grapes 
 in paper and bake them under hot ashes; then express the 
 juice, and wash the face with the liquid, which will usually 
 remove either freckles, tan or sunburn. 
 
246 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 Or, put two spoonfuls of sweet cream into half a pint of 
 new milk ; squeeze into it the juice of a lemon, add half a 
 glass of genuine French brandy, a little alum and loaf 
 sugar; boil the whole, skim it well, and when cool it is fit 
 for use. 
 
 Birthmarks and Holes may be eradicated in infancy, but 
 the advice of a skilful physician should be taken. Readers 
 are admonished against the use of depilatories to remove 
 hair from moles, as a fetid suppurating wound has fre- 
 quently been a consequence of such attempts. 
 
 WrinJdes, being occasioned by the obstruction or oblitera- 
 tion of the finer blood-vessels, may be prevented by the 
 use of lotions that stimulate the small threadlike blood- 
 vessels and moisture pipes, which have been closed, and if 
 the stimulating process be adopted previous to the closing 
 of these vessels, they will not be obliterated. 
 
 Take two ounces of onion juice, two ounces of the white 
 lily, two ounces of Narbonne honey, and one ounce of 
 white wax ; put the whole into a new earthen pipkin until 
 the wax is melted, and then take the pipkin oif the fire and 
 continue stirring until it is cold. Apply on going to bed, 
 and allow it to remain on until morning. 
 
 For Tetter or Ringworm in the face. — Take some aperient 
 medicine daily, and when the eruption becomes painful, 
 or itches violently, take the following sedative lotion : 
 
 E. — Liquor plumbi 1 drachm. 
 
 Distilled water 1 ounce. 
 
 This is an excellent lotion for allaying itching and in- 
 flammation generally. 
 
 The following is a novel cure for ringworm : Heat a 
 shovel to a bright red, cover it with grains of Indian corn, 
 press them with a cold flat-iron. They will burn to a coal 
 
SECEETS OF THE TOILET. 247 
 
 and exude an oil on the surface of the flat-iron, with which 
 rub the ringworm, and after one or two applications it will 
 be cured. 
 
 How to Secure Beautiful Hair, 
 
 The hair has always been considered one of the most 
 important appendages of the human form, and is the 
 especial glory of women. In ancient times, red or auburn 
 was the favorite color of poets and painters, but gradually 
 this was supplanted in public favor by preference for black 
 or dark-brown hair, though recently red has again been 
 quoted as fashionable. 
 
 In order to secure a beautiful head of hair, whatever may 
 be the color, it is necessary to begin in childhood, and to 
 observe the following rules : 
 
 1. The hair of children should never be plaited, or 
 braided, or twisted, or knotted. 
 
 2. Nothing should ever be put on it except simple, pure 
 water, and not even this until the scalp is cleansed. 
 
 3. The hair should be kept short. It would be a valu- 
 able accomplishment if when a woman becomes a mother a 
 few lessons were taken from a good barber, so that the 
 child's hair, after the third year, might be trimmed by its 
 mother once a week, only cutting off the longest hairs, by 
 ever so little, so as to keep it of uniform length. This 
 practice is proper for male and female. 
 
 4. The hair should be always combed leisurely, and for 
 some considerable time, at least every morning, and neither 
 brush nor comb ought to be allowed to pass against the 
 direction of the hair's growth. 
 
 To Cure Baldness. — The growth of hair may be promoted 
 on a fuzzy scalp, because in that case the root is not dead, 
 but lacks vigor or needs nutriment, and new vigor can be 
 imparted and iidditional nutriment bestowed, by whatever 
 
248 II03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 gives activity to the circulation of the blood about the roots 
 of the hair, and what the following aj)plication fails to do 
 in this direction all others will, sinij)ly because it is the 
 most certain, the most powerful and safe stimulant known: 
 Half an ounce of vinegar of cantharidcs, one ounce of co- 
 logne water, one ounce of rose water; to be rubbed in with 
 a tooth-brush, gently and patiently, until the part is thor- 
 oughly moistened and smarts a little. To be repeated night 
 and morning; if too powerful, dilute with water or use less. 
 
 Wash for Dandruff. — Take one pint of alcohol and a 
 tablespoonful of castor oil, mix them together in a bottle 
 by shaking them well a few minutes, then scent it with a 
 few drops of oil of lavender. Alcohol dissolves castor oil, 
 like gum-camphor, leaving the liquid or wash quite clear. 
 It does not seem to dissolve any other unctuous oil so per- 
 fectly, hence no other is equally good for this purjiose. 
 Mr. John L. Davis, in the American Journal of Fliarmacy, 
 recommends a preparation of one ounce flowers of sulphur 
 and one quart of water as an effectual remedy for dandruff; 
 The clear liquid is to be poured off, after the mixture has 
 been repeatedly agitated during intervals of a few hours, 
 and the head saturated with the liquid every morning. 
 
 For Darkening the Hair. — Wash the head with spring 
 water, and comb the hair in the sun, having dipped the 
 comb in oil of tartar. Do this about three times a day, 
 and in less than a fortnight the hair usually becomes quite 
 black. The leaves of the wild vine, infused in water, are 
 also said to render the hair black, and to prevent its falling 
 off". Some persons use a metallic comb, which imjiarts a 
 dark shade to the hair, and these are now generally kept 
 by the perfumers. 
 
 To Remove Superfluous Hair. — The following is said to be 
 an effectual dejiilatory : Orpimcnt, one part ; find}' pow- 
 
SECBETS OF THE TOILET. 249 
 
 dered quick-lime and starch, of each, eleven parts ; mix. 
 It should be kept from the air. For use, make it into a, 
 paste with a little warm water, and apply it to the part, 
 previously shaved close. As soon as it has become thor- 
 oughly dry, it may be washed off with a little warm water. 
 This depilatory should be compounded by a druggist, and 
 used with discretion, as orpiment is an arsenical preparation. 
 
 In Circassia and neighboring countries the eyelashes of 
 children are clipped with scissors, at their extreme points, 
 while asleep, every six weeks, giving them in time a beau- 
 tiful gloss and curve, besides adding to their length and 
 thickness. 
 
 How to Whiten tlie Hands and Beautify Nails. 
 
 A well-formed hand, white and soft, with tapering 
 fingers and polished nails, is a rare gift ; but where nature 
 has denied these attractions, it is easy by proper attention 
 to give at least softness and delicacy of appearance to the 
 hand and improve the symmetry of the nails. It is well 
 to wear kid or soft leather gloves at every opportunity, 
 light being preferable, on account of the unctuous sub- 
 stances with which they are prepared, although not so 
 healthy, and the application of warm bran poultice to the 
 hands once a week. They should be washed in tepid water, 
 as cold water hardens and predisposes them to roughness 
 and chaps, while water beyond a certain heat makes them 
 shrivelled and w-rinkled. In drying them they ought to 
 be rubbed with a moderately coarse towel, as friction always 
 promotes a soft and polished ivory-appearing surface. The 
 soaps to be preferred are such as are freest from alkaline 
 impurities. 
 
 The growth and preservation of the nails depend in a 
 great measure on the treatment they receive. They ought 
 
250 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 to be frequently cut in a circular form, and the whitened 
 portion at the root, next the vessels winch supply the nail 
 Avith nutriment for its growth and 2)reservation, should 
 always be visible. When the nails are disposed to break, 
 some simple pomade should be frequently ajjplied, and salt 
 freely partaken of in the daily diet. 
 
 For Chapped Hands. — A good recipe is: Almond oil, or 
 sweet oil, three ounces ; spermaceti, four ounces ; pulverized 
 camphor, one ounce ; dissolve in an earthen vessel by the 
 aid of heat, and stir while it is cooling. Apply night and 
 morning. 
 
 Another good preparation for chapped hands, and which 
 will preserve them smooth by constant use, is almond 
 
 PASTE. 
 
 Mix a quarter of a pound of unsalted hog's lard, which 
 has been washed in common water and then in rose water, 
 with the yelks of two new-laid eggs and a large spoonful 
 of honey. Add as much paste from almonds well pounded 
 in a mortar as will work it into a paste. 
 
 Perhaps no better ointment for beautifying the hands 
 can be made than to take four parts, by weight, of the yelks 
 of eggs and five parts of glycerine, rubbed together in a 
 mortar. This compound may be preserved for years. 
 
 For Warts. — Common ink will remove them if applied 
 night and morning on their first appearance. When they 
 have been clearly developed, a certain means of extirpating 
 them is the following : 
 
 Take a small piece of court-plaster made upon India 
 rubber webbing, cut a hole in its centre, just sufficiently 
 large to admit the head of the wart ; rub tlie head with 
 lunar caustic night and morning, and wJien it becomes 
 hard pick off the top and again apply the caustic. The 
 use of the court-plaster is to prevent the surrounding skin 
 from being injured. Or, 
 
SECEETS OF THE TOILET. 251 
 
 Take oxymuriate of mercury, five grains ; lirae-water, 
 one ounce. Mix, and apply with a camel's-hair brush two 
 or three times a day. Be very careful in applying the solu- 
 tion, as it will injure clothes. Wash the camel's-hair pen- 
 cil whenever used. 
 
 Care of the Eyes. 
 
 The eye is the most striking, delicate and beautiful fea- 
 ture of the human face, and no pains should be spared 
 lor its preservation. To this end spectacles or eye-glasses 
 should not generally be used until they are imperatively 
 required. Green spectacles are even worse than plain ones. 
 If the eye is weak, nine times out of ten, cold water 
 is the best lotion. Strengthening lotions, when composed 
 of spirits or acids, are stimulants ; such, of course, must 
 occasionally be used, but judgment is required in using 
 them, and an oculist's direction is generally required when 
 these become necessary. Sometimes, when the eye is in- 
 flamed, it will be relieved by a lotion made of one tea- 
 spoonful of good brandy in a wineglassful of water; but as 
 inflammation may arise from diiferent causes, sometimes 
 requiring anodynes, sometimes stimulants, no general direc- 
 tions of practical value can be given. 
 
 If the eyes are inclined to be inflamed after being up 
 late, an unguent, composed of one drachm citrine ointment 
 and three drachms fresh lard, rubbed on both lids when 
 retiring to rest, will generally, almost magically, relieve 
 them. Nine times out of ten, supposed affections of the 
 eye are only inflammations of the eyelid : in such cases this 
 unguent will effect a cure. 
 
 Haiv-potato poultice for inflamed eyes is one of the very 
 best a})plications in recent cases. Slippery-elm poultices are 
 good. In nearly all the celebrated eye preparations sold 
 in the stores sulphate of zinc is an ingredient. 
 
252 HOME COMFOETS. 
 
 Sometimes in travelling by rail, cinders from the locomo- 
 tive get into the eye, causing great pain. These may be 
 removed by introducing between the eyelid and the ball 
 the bight of a horse or other strong hair, so as to include 
 the spot where the particle appears to be, and gently draw 
 out the hair ; the relief is said to be instantaneous and per- 
 manent. 
 
 For squinting, science has discovered an operation that 
 will eflPectually cure it. This is not either painful or 
 dangerous; but we strongly advise none to submit to it 
 until they have arrived at the age of from nineteen to 
 twenty-one, as, if it be done before, it is more than prob- 
 able that the eye will be drawn the contrary way by the 
 time they reach that age. A more simple remedy is to 
 cover the stronger eye, which will compel the weaker one 
 to exertion, and thus increase its power. Perseverance in 
 this plan is generally successful. 
 
 Women often injure the eye by Avearing a white veil. 
 The glitter which this causes, and the constant exercise to 
 which its continual shifting exposes the eye in following 
 its movements, is often the occasion of great injury to the 
 sight. Spotted veils are equally injurious. 
 
 How to Preserve the Teeth Sound. 
 
 No remarks need be made at this day on the value of 
 sound teeth, or the beauty of clear, regular, and white teeth. 
 To prevent teeth from decay, it is necessary to kee]) them 
 clean ; to use the tooth-brush on the surface, and the 
 tooth-pick to remove particles of food between the teeth. 
 Dr. Lewis thinks no one need have decayed teeth, if he 
 will observe the following rules : 
 
 First. On rising from the table, use a goose-quill tooth- 
 J)ick thoroughly, and rinse the mouth so as to remove such 
 
SECIiETS OF THE TOILET. 25a 
 
 particles as the tooth-pick may have left behind. [Avoid 
 metallic tooth-picks.] 
 
 Second. On retiring at night, use a tooth-brush, broad, 
 and soft, with pulverized soap and prepared chalk, with a 
 little camphor and orris-root to give a pleasant flavor. 
 Do the same on rising in the morning. 
 
 Tliird. As often as you discover any tartar about the 
 necks of your teeth, go to a dentist and have the tartar 
 thoroughly removed — in fact, a dentist should be visited 
 frequently, in order that the first appearance of decay ia 
 the teeth may be discovered and removed. 
 
 The followino- is an aromatic Tooth Powder that cannot 
 possibly injure the teeth : 
 
 Take finely-powdered prepared chalk, two drachms; 
 pure starch, two drachms; myrrh, two drachms; ginger, 
 half a drachm ; cuttle-fish bones, two drachms; flower of 
 lavender and sugar at pleasure, and mix well together. 
 
 The following is said to be an infallible cure for all 
 kinds of toothache, unless the disease is connected with 
 rheumatism. It is known as — 
 
 Dr. Blahe^s Infallible Cure for Toothache. Take alum 
 reduced to an impalpable powder, two drachms; nitrous 
 spirits of ether, seven drachms. Mix and apply to the 
 tooth. 
 
 The following is a fomentation for the face, to assist in 
 relieving Toothache : 
 
 Take three poppy-heads and a handful of chamomile 
 
 flowers, put them into a quart of soft water ; boil until the 
 
 quart is reduced to a pint, then apply repeatedly to the 
 
 face by means of flannel, and as hot as can be borne. 
 
 Take care no draught of air gets to the face while under 
 
 its operation. In addition, lave the feet in hot water 
 
 before going to bed. 
 21 ' 
 
254 HOME COMFOnTS. 
 
 Toothache frequently arises from indigestion or a dis- 
 ordered stomach ; and uhen this is the case, it can be 
 cured by the judicious use of aperient and tonic medicines. 
 
 Small pieces of cotton, soaked in a solution of half a 
 teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) in half 
 a tumbler of water, and applied to an aching toothy has 
 frequently given instant relief. 
 
 Ead Breath, 
 
 One principal cause of an ofieiisive breath is the accu- 
 mulation of tartar on the teeth ; the small particles of food 
 not being removed, become decomposed and incorporated 
 Avith the tartar and produce an abominable odor. A tem- 
 ])orary remedy may be found in the use of some strong 
 mouth-wash ; but a cure can only be effected by having 
 the tartar removed from the teeth, and those that are 
 decayed filled or extracted. Dentists are the best mouth 
 doctors. 
 
 To prevent the superabundance of phosphate of lime in 
 the saliva, which produces tartar, and to sweeten the breath : 
 Take five to ten drops of hydrochloric acid in half a tum- 
 bler of spring water, a little lemon juice and loaf sugar 
 rubbed on lemon ]ieel, to flavor it to suit the palate. Take 
 three times a day for a month or six weeks, and then 
 occasionally. It is a pleasant refrigerant and tonic draught. 
 
 As a toilet preparation for bad breath, })robably the 
 best is the concentrated solution of the chloride of soda 
 from six to ten drops in a wineglassful of water, and rins- 
 ing the mouth with a teaspoonful of the solution in a 
 tumbler of water. 
 
 For breath tainted by onions, parsley leaves, eaten with 
 vinegar or burnt coffee, are recommended. 
 
SECRETS OF THE TOILET. 255 
 
 Care of the Feet. 
 
 The importance of attention to tlie feet is shown in tlie 
 fact, that many of our most serious ailments come through 
 neglecting them. It is an axiom among horsemen, " no 
 foot, no horse." And a man with sore or tender feet is 
 physically of little account. 
 
 To give the feet their just and proper attention, they 
 should be soaked in warm water for at least twenty minutes, 
 twice a week, and at the same time rubbed or scrubbed 
 with a flesh-brush. Besides tins they should be di{)ped in 
 cold water once a day, summer and winter, rubbing them 
 vigorously while immersed ankle-deep, then wiped dry 
 and warmed. When the feet are tender, they should be 
 bathed every other day in a strong solution of alum and 
 water, in which might be added an infusion of galls or 
 of oak-bark, and then well rubbed and dried ; this will so 
 strengthen them as to bid defiance to chilblains or sore feet 
 from walking. It is also an excellent habit, during the 
 season in which fires are kept burning, to hold the feet 
 to the fire for a few minutes before retiring to bed, and 
 rubbing them with the hands until thoroughly dry and 
 warm. With attention of this kind, and care in the selec- 
 tion of shoes, corns and callosities would cease to exist, 
 coldness of feet would, to a considerable extent, be removed, 
 and "taking cold " would not occur once where it now 
 occurs a dozen times. ^ 
 
 Persons who are liable to chilblains should be very par- 
 ticular in thoroughly drying the hands and feet, and never 
 go near a fire for some time after they come out of the ex- 
 ternal air. They should use the alum wash above men- 
 tioned, daily, and rub the feet and legs for ten or more 
 minutes with a hair glove. If, in spite of these precau- 
 
256 HOME COMFOIiTS. 
 
 tions, any symptoms of cliilblains appear, anointing the feet 
 night and morning with an ointment composed of two ounces 
 of opodchloc, and one ounce kuidanum, will ordinarily pre- 
 vent their appearance. Ifj however, chilblains have ap- 
 ])eared, Sir Astley Cooper's Chilblain Liniment will gen- 
 erally remove them ; viz. : 
 
 Take liquor of sub-acetate of lead, one ounce ; camphorated 
 spirits of wine, two ounces. Mix, and rub into the hands 
 or feet two or three times a day ; oftener if convenient. 
 
 To relieve feet itching from frost-bites, take hydrochloric 
 acid, one ounce ; rain water, seven ounces. Wash the feet 
 with it two or three times daily, or wet the socks with the 
 preparation, until relieved. 
 
 As a preventive against frosting the feet when they have 
 become cold, warm them gradually ; and, as remedies, 
 apply cabbage leaves, wrapped round the feet at night; 
 bathing with oak-bark tea, alum water, or glycerine and 
 rosewater, and rubbing with white-lead ointment. 
 
 Those who suffer from cold feet, if the Avashing and 
 rubbing recommended before do not prove effectual, are 
 solicited to tr}- the experiment of wearing cotton socks next 
 the skin, and woollen stockings outside of them. Those who 
 have tried this plan state that it was successful in keejiing 
 the feet warm and dry ; and that they found the cotton 
 socks next the skin to be quite dry at night, Mhile the 
 outside stockings were very damp. 
 
 Cure for Ingrowing Toe Nails. 
 
 A prompt and painless cure, it is said, may be effected 
 by inserting the dry sesquichloride of iron between the nail 
 and the protruding flesh, and ])owdering the latter with the 
 same. Over all a large bandage should be a])plied. The 
 exuberant flesh becomes hard as wood on the followinsr 
 
SECRETS OF THE TOILET. 257 
 
 day ; siij)puration ceases, and a cure follows two or three 
 applications. In four or five days the original pain ceases, 
 the swelling subsides, and the patient can walk. Dr. 
 Gaillet, of France, first published an account of this cure 
 as tested by Dr. Wahn and himself. 
 
 The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal publishes a 
 comraunication from one who says he cured the worst case 
 of ingrowing nail he ever saw — the patient being unable to 
 put on a shoe for several months — by putting a very 
 small piece of tallow in a spoon, heating it very hot and 
 pouring it on the granulations. " The effect was almost 
 magical. Pain and tenderness were all gone, the diseased 
 parts dry and destitute of all feeling, and the edge of the 
 nail exposed so as to admit of being pared away without 
 any inconvenience. This application has been found 
 effectual in many other cases, accomplishing in one minute, 
 without pain, all that can be effected by the painful appli- 
 cation of niti'ate of silver for several weeks." 
 
 Ingrowing of the nail is often the result of improper 
 cutting of the nail. Dr. Chavasse remarks: "There is, in 
 this as in everything else, a right and a wrong way — the 
 right way of cutting a toe-nail is to cut it straight, in a 
 straight line. The wrong way is to cut the corners of the 
 nail — to round the nail, as it is called. The latter may 
 make work for the surgeon." Where there is a tendency 
 towards ingrowing, the arch of the nail should be broken 
 by curving the centre inwards and scraping the edge. 
 
 Fetid Feet 
 
 Are a sore trial to those who are afflicted with them. 
 With some they are hereditary; an unpleasant peculiarity, 
 if not disease, transmitted from one generation to another. 
 "With others, this peculiar and fetid odor is sometimes in 
 
258 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 the armpits, and again in the feet, flitting between tlie two. 
 In most instances, however, the odor is the result of 
 neglect in personal cleanliness. There are persons who 
 wear socks or stockings "without change from the time 
 they are first put on until they are full of holes. Very 
 many do not wash their feet oftener than once a month, 
 only a few as often as once a week. The feet should be 
 washed every night before going to bed, using the finger 
 between each toe; and no stocking, boot or shoe should 
 be put on the second time, until it has a whole day's 
 sunning or drying — at least by those Avho have an ambition 
 to be sweet and clean. 
 
 As a remedy for those whose skin and feet are disposed 
 to be odorous, we would recommend that they put into the 
 wash water two tablespoonfuls of the compound spirit of 
 ammonia (hartshorn); or if this does not answer in connec- 
 tion with daily washings, a very etficient wash for the feet 
 is found in red oxide of lead, one 'part to twenti/-nine parts 
 of the liquor of the sub-acetate of lead ; the former to be bruised 
 ■in a porcelain mortar, r/raduedfy adding the Icdter ; appl}- a 
 few drops, once a week, or oftener in summer. 
 
 Corns and Bunions 
 Are the most painful and troublesome excrescences that 
 afflict the feet and torture humanity. They have their 
 origin in either pressure from a tight shoe, or friction fi-oni 
 a loose one ; and though there are many remedies which 
 will disperse them, they can never be so effectual ly cured 
 that a misfittino; boot or shoe will not cause them to 
 return, because the structure of the skin about a corn is 
 malformed for life, and would no more become natural 
 than a finger would grow again if cut off. A man with 
 consumption may get well ; hut he cannot be said to be 
 
SECRETS OF THE TOILET. 259 
 
 perfectly cured, because he will always remain with a 
 deficiency of lungs ; yet, by making the remainder of the 
 lungs work more fully, he may have even better health 
 than he ever had before. So with corns ; and as remedies 
 are valuable for the multitude in proportion as they are 
 safe, chea}) and attainable, we shall only give a few of the 
 simple remedies that it is claimed will cure corns. 
 
 Dr. Chase, of Michigan, says corns may be cured in ten 
 minutes, by the following application : 
 
 Take a small piece of potash, and let it stand in the 
 open air until it slacks ; then thicken it to a paste with 
 pulverized gum arable, which prevents it from spreading 
 where it is not wanted. Pare off the seeds of the wart 
 or dead skin of the corn, and apply the paste, and let it 
 remain on ten minutes; wash off and soak the place in 
 sharp vinegar or sweet-oil, either of which will neutralize 
 the alkali. 
 
 2. A man in Ohio offers to pay ten dollars apiece, for 
 every corn not cured in three days, by binding a bit of 
 cotton-batting upon it, and wetting this three times a day 
 with spirits of turpentine. 
 
 3. The following is said to be an infallible Corn Plaster : 
 Take two ounces of gum ammoniac; two ounces of yellow 
 wax ; six drachms of verdigris. Mix and spread the 
 composition on a piece of linen or soft leather, first filing 
 down the corn. Renew in a fortnight, if necessary. 
 
 4. Another positive cure for corns is : Take the strongest 
 acetic acid, and apply night and morning with a camel's-hair 
 brush. In one week, it is said, the corn, whether soft or 
 hard, will disappear. 
 
 5. Another simple, available, and infallible cure is : First, 
 to soak the feet in hot water for fifteen minutes, night and 
 morning, for a week ; and after the soaking, rub a little 
 
2G0 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 sweet-oil on the corn, or any otlier mild form of greafe, 
 with the finger for about five minutes. Then, cut a hole 
 in one, two or tliree tiiicknesses of soft buckskin, and bind 
 it on the toe, so tiiat the hole in the buckskin shall receive 
 the corn. The object of the water and oil is to soften tlie 
 corn and parts adjoining; and the use of the buckskin is 
 to protect it from pressure. In a very short time the corn 
 will be painless, and will subsequently fall out of itself, as 
 it is a growth and is pushed upward and outward by tlie 
 more natural growth beneath. It is tiirown out of tlie 
 body by the action of the parts, as a sjilinter or a crushed 
 bone, as being no longer a part of the body. If anything 
 else is done to the corn, it shoiikl be simply picked out 
 with the finger nail ; as cutting makes it take deeper root, 
 and dangerous bleedinirs sometimes occur when the knife 
 is used. 
 
 Bunions may be checked in their early development, by 
 binding the joint with an adhesive plaster, and keeping it 
 on as long as any uneasiness is felt. An inflamed bunion 
 should be poulticed, and larger shoes be worn. Iodine, 
 twelve grains; lard or spermaceti ointment, lialf an ounce, 
 makes a capital ointment for bunions. It should be rubbed 
 on gently, twice or thrice a day. 
 
 The 7'esohent plaster, usually known as the plaster of 
 ammoniac and mercury, which can be obtained of any 
 apothecary, is also of much benefit as an application to 
 bunions. 
 
 To Remove Eody Vermin. 
 
 Many persons, even the most cleanly, are liable at times 
 to be placed in situations where they cannot escape the 
 various kinds of/vermin that infest the human body; and 
 it is a very important item of practical information to know 
 that an ai)plication of common sweet-oil will destroy body 
 
SECEETS OF THE TOILET. 261 
 
 vermin. These insects breathe tlirough their sides, and as 
 the oil pluo;s up the air conduits, a speedy and certain 
 death from sutroeation is the consequence of its application. 
 
 Sulphur baths are an efficacious remedy for pediculi ; 
 one bath generally effecting an extinction of every one of 
 them, even though they be all over the body. Dr. Cul- 
 verwell says : Rubbing the ])arts affected well with a wash 
 composed of half a drachm of calomel, and four ounces of 
 lime-water, or even powdering with calomel, will also at 
 once destroy these insects, and thereby remove the itching. 
 The hair need not be removed, as the above remedies will 
 be all-sufficient without its removal. 
 
 In this connection it may be of benefit to young house- 
 keepers to tell them how to drive away or 
 
 Exterminate House Insects and Pests. 
 
 Roaches devour greedily flour paste, and die Avhile eating 
 it, if into half a pint of it, while hot, a dime's worth of 
 Phosphorus is stirred with a stick. The Persian Insect 
 Poivder will also destroy roaches, and borax scattered about 
 the places they frequent will drive them away. 
 
 House Flies may be banished from a room by hanging 
 in it the common plantain, or " fleawort," dipped in milk, 
 and may be destroyed by feeding them with ground black 
 pepper and sugar, as much as will lie on a dime, moistened 
 with two teaspoonfuls of cream or rich milk. They eat it, 
 seek the air, and die out of doors. Farmers troubled with 
 flies should plant before their doors the Chinese Linden, 
 which seems to be an attractive poison for flies. Elder 
 and walnut leaves, both in their natural state and as a decoc- 
 tion, will prevent attacks of flies, both on animals and 
 meat, and drive them away. Horses may be protected 
 from flies by washing the sensitive parts with a decoction of 
 walnut leaves. 
 
262 HOME COMFOETS. 
 
 Bedbugs may be exterminated or kept away by many 
 remedies, most of Avhich we suppose are effectual in con- 
 nection with cleanliness. It is said they are effectually 
 destroyed by wasliiug infected places with a decoction of 
 common smart weed, or " water pep[)er," called by botanists 
 'polygonum i^unctatum. Pour a jiint of boiling water on a 
 pint of the weed, and let it cool. The liquor may be put 
 on with a brush. The plant itself may be stuffed into 
 cracks or corners. 
 
 Another remedy, said to be effectual, is to take two 
 ounces of quicksilver and the whites of two eggs, or more 
 or less for a larger or smaller quantity. Beat the quick- 
 silver and the whites together until they unite and become 
 a froth. With a feather then apply this compound to the 
 crevices and holes in your bedsteads, and if done once or 
 twice a year, this will keep away bugs. 
 
 Spirits of naphtha, also oil of turjjenfine, rubbed Avith a 
 small painter's brush in every ])art of a bedstead, is said to 
 be a certain way of getting rid of bugs. Campjhor is also 
 objectionable to them. 
 
 To destroy rats. Sir Plumphrey Davy recommends tlie 
 following as an infallible, tasteless and odorless rat poison : 
 
 " Mix carbonate of baryta two ounces, with grease one 
 pound." 
 
 It produces great thirst ; consequently water must be set 
 by it, for death takes place immediately after drinking, 
 not giving them time to go back to their holes. Should 
 this be found as effectual as recommended, it will prove 
 just the thing for rat killing, at they can be gathered up 
 and carried away, thus avoiding the stench arising from 
 their dead carcasses. Care must be taken that no other 
 animal can get at it, 
 
 A few grains of strychnine on a little fresh broiled meat, 
 
SECEETS OF' THE TOILET. 263 
 
 or an ounce of jjliosphorus mixed in butter and flour, will 
 kill rats. 
 
 To drive them away alive, put Scotch snuff and pulver- 
 ized Cayenne pepper or potash into their burro wing-holes. 
 They will leave in disgust. Quick lime scattered over the 
 bottom and sides of holes through which they pass, will 
 also drive them away, as it eats off their skin and hair. To 
 drive them away eifectually, the lime must be renewed 
 every week or two. 
 
 If some strong-scented cheese be mixed with an equal 
 quantity of pulverized squills, and placed where rats and 
 mice «an have access to it, they will devour it ravenously 
 and soon disappear from the premises. 
 
 Ants are averse to strong scents, and camphor, or a 
 S])onge saturated with creosote, will prevent them infesting 
 a cupboard. It is also said that a chalk-mark half an inch 
 in depth around the upper edge of sugar-buckets or barrels 
 will exclude every ant from the interior. The same mark 
 drawn on the edges of shelves will also prevent the ap- 
 proach of ants, as they are not able to crawl over the chalk. 
 But if they are numerous among jam and jelly pots, take a 
 large sponge, wet in cold water, squeeze it nearly dry, and 
 then sprinkle fine white sugar over it. Place it on the in- 
 fested shelf, and next morning dip it quickly and carefully 
 into a bowl of boiling water. Red pepper dusted over 
 their haunts will also destroy them, but the sponge is the 
 surest method. 
 
 Fkas may be banished from houses by the use of cam- 
 pJior, and from animals by saturating strings with oil of 
 ])ennyroyal and tying them around the neck, renewing the 
 a|)i)lication every week; or, where the herb grows, by 
 making a decoction of it and throwing the dogs or cats into 
 it once a week. The herb should be mown and scattered 
 iu the beds of pigs once a mouth. 
 
2G4 HOME eOMFORTS. 
 
 To get relief from Musqnitocs, the most efficacious way is 
 to put up a musqnito-netting at the windows and around 
 the beds ; and the next best tiling is to burn a small 
 quantity of the Persian Insect Powder, which can be ob- 
 tained of apothecaries generally. Take as much of the 
 powder as can be heaped on an old-fashioned silver dollar, 
 and place it on a plate at bedtime. Apply a lighted match 
 to the top of the heap, and to aid the evolution of the 
 fumes keep stirring it occasionally. The fumes will nar- 
 cotize the musquitoes and keep them quiet several hours. 
 The experiment may require repetition. The powder 
 is said to be equally effectual with roaches, bedbugs, 
 fleas, ants, etc. ; not exterminating, but stupeiying them. 
 Its smell while burning is similar to that of a mild 
 cigar. 
 
 A smart eGit)r says that when musquitoes or other 
 blood-suckers infest his sleeping-rooms at night, he uncorks 
 a bottle of the oil of pennyroyal, and these insects leave in 
 great haste, nor will they return so long as the air in the 
 room is loaded with the fumes of the aromatic herb. If rats 
 enter a cellar, a little powdered potash, thrown in the holes 
 or mixed with meal and scattered in their runaways, never 
 fluls to drive them away. Cayenne ])cp[)er will keep the 
 buttery and store-room free from ants and cockroaches. 
 If a mouse makes an entrance into any part of your 
 dwellings, saturate a rag with Cayenne in solution, and 
 stuff it into the hole, which can then be rejiaired with 
 Avood or mortar. No rat or mouse will eat the rag for 
 the ])urpose of opening communication with a depot of 
 sui)plies. 
 
 For Bites of Insects, apply spirits of hartshorn to them 
 as soon as possible, and almost instantaneous and j>erma- 
 nent relief will be given. The reason is, the poison of 
 
SECRETS OF THE TOILET. 2G5 
 
 insects, spiders, reptiles, etc., is an acid ; the hartsliorn is 
 an alkali, and neutralizes the poison. Another remedy is, 
 throw a handful of wood-ashes into a teacup of hot water, 
 stir, and as soon as settled apply the liquid — which is 
 common lye used for making soap — with a soft rag. 
 
 A medical writer observes : " Have we not, before now, 
 looked with wonder on the old negro who ran out, when 
 the wasp's sting made us 'holler,' caught up * three kinds' 
 of weed, rubbed the part well, and in five minutes we were 
 happy in complete relief? But M'hy 'three' kinds of 
 Aveed? Why, in the first place, you know three, and all 
 its multiples are mysterious numbers ; and then again, you 
 can scarcely gather up three kinds of plants anywhere, one 
 of which will not have more or less of alkali in iV 
 
 [The two succeeding Chapters on Diseases have been read in proof 
 and revised by six persons, including an eminent physician, and a first- 
 class druggist.] 
 
 22 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE FAMILY MEDICINE CHEST 
 
 "Physicians prescribe much, but use few medicines themselves. Let 
 this hint suffice, by sliowing you that much is to be expected from simple 
 remedies, discriminating judgment and the influence of the mind upon 
 the corporeal body." — Dr. Raymond. 
 
 'ICKNESS is one of the great wastes and burdens 
 of society, which deprives it of the useful services of 
 nearly one out of every five of its members. How to 
 preserve health and cure sickness is therefore a ques- 
 tion of great economic importance, which comes within the 
 scope of a work on Thrift in Housekeeping, especially so 
 far as those diseases are concerned which can be cured as 
 readily without as with the aid of a physician. 
 
 First, as to the management of a sick-room. Select for 
 this apartment, says an anonymous but very sensible Avriter, 
 the sunniest room in the house. There is life and healing 
 in the solar ray, even if Its light, which is only a part of 
 the ray, is excluded. We all feel instantly, on entering a 
 room on which the sunlight never directly falls, a chill and 
 an absence of something essential to cheer and brightness. 
 Observation shows that in hospitals more patients die in 
 shady than in the sunny wards, and in cities disease is 
 more fatal on the shady side of the street than on its 
 opposite. 
 
 Next in importance to sunshine in the sick-room is ven- 
 
FAIIILY MEDICINE CHEST. 267 
 
 tilation. If well people need fresh air, much more do they 
 tliat are sick. A free circulation of air must be provided 
 without endangering at all the safety of the patient. In 
 cool weather an open stove (if possible, a soapstone stove), 
 with a wood fire, is perhaps as effective and pleasant u 
 method as any other of securing this. 
 
 The aspect of the room should be inviting and pleasant. 
 If the v.alls are bare, bring the pictures from that shut- 
 up room, the parlor or the guest-chamber, and hang them 
 where the patient can enjoy them. Set a rose or a gera- 
 nium in the window. If plants were unhealthy, the air 
 of greenhouses would be different from the outer air, which 
 is not the case. 
 
 \_Well-ah'ed bedding is essential to the comfort of the 
 patient. This can be secured with a little management. 
 The patient may be removed to an easy-chair or a lounge, 
 and the bedding be thoroughly shaken out of doors, if the 
 weather is fair, or in a room with the windows opened, 
 if the weather is foul ; then warmed by the fire and put 
 upon the bed. None but tlie sick are fully alive to the 
 blessedness of clean sheets. How much of disease is only 
 the choking in one form or another of the natural outlets 
 of the body ! 
 
 The comfort of the patient in many cases is greatly in- 
 creased by washing. A cloth wrung from tepid saleratus 
 or soda water may be passed over the body under the bed- 
 clothes, and, if followed by a dry towel, there is little 
 danger that the patient will take cold. 
 
 If there must be light in the room all night, by all 
 means use tapers. A box of these, costing ten cents, can 
 be bought at the apothecary's, and will last many weeks. 
 Each box contains a tiny socket or circle of tin with three 
 sharp points, holding a bit of cork ; into this socket sets 
 
268 II03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 a button-mould a quarter of an inch in diameter, with a 
 liole in the middle, in which is inserted a bit of waxed wick- 
 ing. The Mdiole affair, not larger in circumference than a 
 walnut, floats on the surface of a cup or tumbler full of 
 lard oil. It gives a very soft and pleasant light, and is 
 perfectly safe. Kerosene lamps cannot be turned down 
 without filling the room with unconsumed products of 
 combustion, which are very unwholesome; candles and oil 
 lamps are apt to smoke. The taper is economical, pleas- 
 ant and safe. We have been thas circumstantial in de- 
 scribing this little contrivance so that those at a distance 
 from drug stores can make it for themselves. In the 
 nursery it is invaluable. An outlay of 30 cents will keep 
 a light in the sick-room for months. 
 
 To purify the air in a sick-roora from noxious smells, 
 especially of an animal character, put a few grains of coffee 
 on a hot shovel, and roast thera in the room. In a moment 
 you will smell nothing but the coffee.] 
 
 Dr. Carmichael Smyth, of I^ondon, is said to have re- 
 ceived $25,000 from the British Parliament, for making 
 public the following recipe: 
 
 To Prevent Infection in Typhus Fever. — Take nitre (salt- 
 petre) pulverized, three-fourths of an ounce; oil of vitriol, 
 three-fourths of an ounce ; put the nitre into a teacup and 
 set it on a red-hot shovel, adding the vitriol, one-sixth at 
 a time, stirring it with a pipe-stem, and taking care to 
 avoid the fumes as they arise from the cup. 
 
 Colds and Cough. 
 
 The treatment of colds, as set forth in medical works, is 
 radically different ; but all agree that a cold must be broken 
 up within the first forty-eight hours, or it will run its 
 course. The regulars recommend, that as soon as a person 
 
FA2nLr jLEDICINE chest. 269 
 
 discovers he l.as taken cold, lie should shut himself up in 
 a room of uniform temperature, drink warm drinks, bathe 
 his feet in hot water, and take four compound cathartic 
 pills at bed-time and a drachm of Epsom salts in the 
 niorninjr. He should also leave off animal food for a few 
 days; and if the chest be painful, apply a common pitch 
 or porous plaster. 
 
 Another school, of which Drs. Lewis and Hall are repre- 
 sentative teachers, recommends, on the contrary, active 
 exercise in the open air, sufficient to produce perspiration ; 
 abstinence from food, or not to eat anything except a piece 
 of dry bread for breakfast and dinner, and nothing for sup- 
 per ; and liberal indulgence in cold water, drinking at least 
 tAVO tumblers on going to bed and on rising in the morning. 
 They believe that the old saw, "stuff a cold and starve a 
 fever," has been a source of infinite mischief. As food 
 makes blood and blood makes phlegm, the more food the 
 more phlegm, which is often the cause of most harassing 
 coughs. 
 
 It is believed that a cold may be broken up almost in- 
 fallibly, if the person, as soon as he discovers the premoni- 
 tory symptoms, will abstain from food, for, say, thirty-six 
 hours, go to bed in a warm room, wrap up well, and drink 
 hot tea of any kind. 
 
 How to Avoid Taking; Cold. 
 
 o 
 To avoid eatchmg cold, a good preventive is, to sponge 
 the body every morning with cold water, on getting out 
 of bed. The distinguished physician. Sir Astley Cooper, 
 said : " The methods by which I have preserved my own 
 health are temperance, early rising, and sponging the body 
 every morning with cold water — a practice I have adopted 
 for thirty years, without ever catching cold." 
 
270 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 Dr. Hill tliinks that the great majority of colds are 
 taken " by cooling off too quickly after exercise." Persons 
 exercise until a perspiration is produced, and then seek a 
 cool seat or a pleasant breeze. The wisest and safest plan 
 after exercise is to go into the house, shut the windows 
 and doors, keep hat and coat on, and wait until there is 
 not the slightest perspiration seen on the forehead or felt 
 on it with the hand. 
 
 If people who have been exposed to cold or wet through 
 the day, would bathe their feet and hands in warm water 
 at night, they would escape many colds and fatal diseases. 
 
 For the cough attending a common cold, the following 
 is said to be the best, safest and cheapest cough syrup jver 
 made : 
 
 Take one ounce of thoroughwort, one ounce of slippery 
 elm, one ounce of stick licorice, and one ounce of flax- 
 seed ; simmer together in one quart of water, until the 
 strength is entirely extracted. Strain carefully, add one 
 pint of best molasses and lialf a pound of loaf sugar; 
 simmer them all well together, and, when cold, bottle 
 tight. 
 
 As a general rule, it is best not to stop a cough, especially 
 in children. Dr. Chavasse remarks, "Any fool can stop a 
 cough, but it requires a wise man to rectify the mischief. 
 A cough is an effort of nature to bring uj) the phlegm which 
 would otherwise accumulate, and in the end cause death. 
 Again, therefore, let me urge upon you the immense im- 
 portance of not stopping the cough of a child. Ipecacu- 
 anha wine will, by loosening the phlegm, loosen the cough, 
 which is the only right way to get rid of a cough. Thou- 
 sands of children are annually destroyed by having their 
 coughs stopped." 
 
FA3nLY MEDICINE CHEST. 271 
 
 Asthma 
 
 Is one of the diseases for which there are many remedies 
 prescribed, though but few of them are effectual, except 
 as palliatives. A quaint writer remarks, that for two 
 dollars you can get in the drug-stores a box of stuff* that 
 you can burn up in three nights, and very certainly relieve 
 asthmatic paroxysms ; butan ounceof pulverized stramonium 
 (Jamestown weed), with two drachms of powdered saltpetre, 
 will do the same thing six times, and cost nine cents. 
 
 Dr. Finley, of Pittsburgh, is accredited with having 
 cured many cases of asthma ; and he has made public his 
 prescription, Avhich is as follows : 
 
 Oil of tar, one ounce ; tincture of veratrum viride, two 
 drachms; simple syrup, two drachms: mix. Dose — for 
 adults, fifteen drops three or four times daily. 
 
 Iodide of potassium has cured asthma; and lobelia is 
 considered by some a specific for this distressing complaint. 
 Asthmatic persons should be very careful in their diet 
 and regular in their habits. 
 
 Agues. 
 
 Dr. Chase, of Michigan, says he cured himself of ague, 
 after having tried other remedies for three years ineffec- 
 tually, by the following prescription : 
 
 Quinine, twenty grains; Dover's powder, ten grains; 
 sub-carbonate of iron, ten grains. Mix with mucilage of 
 gum-arabic, and form into twenty pills. Dose — two each 
 hour, commencing five hours before the chill should set in. 
 Then take one, night and morning, until all are taken. 
 
 In attacks of ague. It is best to take an active cathartic 
 pill immediately after the first "fit," unless the bowels are 
 lax, which is not generally the case. 
 
272 HOME CO?JFOnTS. 
 
 An anonymous writer says, the following treatment has 
 cured thousands of cases, and has never failed in a single 
 instance, where directions have been strictly followed. 
 " Take of calomel and jalap, each, ten grains, on going to 
 bed. On rising in the morning, take one ounce of castor 
 oil, previous to a light breakfast. If it is your 'shaking 
 day/ do nothing further until the chill and subsequent fever 
 have passed ; or, if a day of respite from the chill, take one 
 of these powders every three hours : 
 
 E. — Tannin and Snip. Qninine, aa gr. x. 
 Piperine, gr. vj. 
 Pulv. Eoot Licorice, gr. vij. 
 
 Mix, and divide into five powders. If your residence is 
 malarious, you may get an attack the next season ; but 
 one course as above will cure again, as certain as the sun 
 rises in the firmament." 
 
 Another anonymous writer says he cured himself of the 
 ague, by putting into his boots a half gill of hot Avhiskey 
 and putting the boots instantly on. The very first day he 
 tried it, the fever came as usual, but there icas no chill; the 
 second day the symptoms were all modified ; and after the 
 third application, there was no return of the fever or the 
 ague. He says : "I well remember, when a boy, there being 
 a tavern in our neighborhood where teamsters stopped to 
 rest and water their horses, of seeing the carters, instead 
 of drinking their half gill of whiskey, pouring it into their 
 boots cold, as a protection against the frost. They told 
 me there was nothing equal to it to warm the feet; that it 
 was better than fire, for the feet remained warm for a long 
 time and prevented sickness. It is also excellent for a 
 cold, or when from ex])0sure the feet get wet or damp, and 
 
FAMILY MEDICINE CHEST. 273 
 
 a cold or other disease may be apprehended. I have 
 known it to act like a charm. 
 
 " I would advise your readers who may be attacked by 
 chills and fever to use no other remedy, and particularly 
 to reject all drugs, especially quinine. The foregoing is as 
 simple as can be, and as cheap as can be. Try it and 
 believe." 
 
 How to Prevent Fever and Ague. 
 
 Dr. Hall says miasmatic effects can always be prevented 
 in two ways ; hence, fever and ague and all classes of in- 
 termittents are preventable, and could be swept from the 
 world. The first precaution is, to eat a hearty meal before 
 going out of doors in the morning in warm weather, and 
 take supper before sundown. He says, when he began 
 the practice of medicine, he travelled day and night, 
 through broiling suns and drenching rains, over one of 
 the most malarious districts in the Southern States, and 
 was never sick for a single second ; but he never left the 
 house, or went outside the door after daylight, until he 
 had taken his breakfast. " While one class of persons 
 died off like sheep, it was noticed that another class did 
 not die at all. They lived and lived on indefinitely long 
 and finally dried up. Some of them the author knew ; they 
 were old thirty years ago, are apparently no older now — the 
 French Creole planters ; they would have a cup of strong 
 hot coffee brought to their bedsides every morning before 
 they rose to dress." And the second precaution is, to have 
 a lively fire kindled in the family room half an hour be- 
 fore sunrise and sunset in warm weather, to burn for an 
 hour or longer. This is a most important suggestion to 
 people in many sections of the United States. 
 
274 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 Bleeding from tlie Nose 
 
 Often occurs in young persons from ten to fifteen years of 
 age ; and in cases where it is not excessive, is rather bene- 
 ficial in relieving congestion and preventing headache. 
 
 It often stops of itself; but sometimes it is troublesome 
 to arrest, which should always be done where weakness 
 would result from loss of blood. It may be stopped in 
 many cases by applying cold water or ice to the forehead 
 and nose, the back of the neck, and the roof of the mouth, 
 or wet a plug of dry cotton in strong alum water or tincture 
 of the chloride of iron diluted, and introduce it into the 
 nostril. Bleeding from the arm will often arrest it ; or 
 holding the hands above the head. When all these fail, 
 the doctor should be called in. 
 
 Bleeding at the Lungs 
 Arises from different causes, and will usually require med- 
 ical treatment. Take a tablespoonful of salt at intervals. 
 If the spitting of blood lasts, take five grains of the sugar 
 of lead and five of opium, every two hours as required. 
 The diet should be light, and taken cool. 
 
 Blood Purifiers and Tonics. 
 Sarsaparilla root has long stood at the head of the list 
 of articles used for spring medicines ; but its value has been 
 much overrated. Sassafras bark, which is much used as 
 a blood-purifier in the rural districts, is now rarely pre- 
 scribed by the medical faculty, many of whom think food 
 is the best spring medicine; and to purify the blood, recom- 
 mend people to abstain from the fat meats and gravies and 
 coarse foods of winter ; to use eggs, spinac h, and vinegar. 
 Keep Lent, at least partially ; and wash the body daily. 
 
FAIIILY MEDICINE CHEST. 275 
 
 If a bitter tonic is needed, half an ounce of ground 
 quassia, an ounce of powdered gentian, with a drachm of 
 golden-seal, steeped for several days in one pint of well- 
 rectified whiskey, then strained and mixed with one gallon 
 of clear water, will produce nine pints of " Tonic Sto- 
 machic " as good as the very best on sale. This prepara- 
 tion will cost but a few cents per quart, and is " war- 
 ranted to keep in any climate." 
 
 Bruises and "Black Eyes." 
 
 The remedy for all bruises is a fomentation. This is 
 best applied by wringing a piece of flannel out of hot 
 ■water and keeping it to the injured part as long as it re- 
 mains warm and moist. This should be persevered in 
 while the pain and swelling continue. 
 
 The tincture of arnica is a favorite remedy for bruises ; 
 but it does not deserve the high popular estimation it has 
 acquired. It may be applied, however, without fear of 
 any bad result. A black eye generally must be patiently 
 endured while it passes through the various discolorations, 
 though it may be partially concealed by wearing a shade, 
 or touching the skin artistically with chalk and paint. A 
 " black eye " may generally be prevented, if the part re- 
 ceiving the blow or bruise be well buttered for an hour or 
 two with fresh butter. 
 
 For the very severe kind of bruise caused by jamming 
 the finger in a closing door or drawer, the quickest relief 
 is obtained by plunging the finger into water as hot as it 
 will bear. This will soften the nail, and cause it to yield 
 and give room to the blood, the painful pressure of which 
 will thus be relieved. After giving the finger a thorough 
 soaking in hot water, you should wrap it up in a thick 
 poultice of bread and water or milk. On the next day 
 
276 H03£E COMFOETS. 
 
 after, if the pain is troublesome, it is a good thing to scrape 
 the nail, -with a knife, so thin that it may readily yield to 
 the pressure of blood or matter which frequently forms 
 below. If this does not produce the desired relief, it will 
 be well to make an opening into the scraped nail and le; 
 out the fluid beneath. The same remedy may be applied 
 to a bruised toe as to a finger. 
 
 Chilblains and Frosted Feet. 
 
 Take a half pound of alum in a gallon of warm MT.tor ; 
 immerse the feet in this alum water, and let them reniaiu 
 ten or fifteen minutes ; repeat until relief is obtained, and 
 this will prove an effectual cure. Also, it is said that two 
 white turnips, cut into thin slices without paring, mixed 
 with three large tablesjioonfuls of the best lard, simmered 
 slowly for two hours, and mashed through a sieve, and ap- 
 plied to a chilblain at night on a soft linen cloth, will cure 
 the most inveterate chilblain or frosted feet. 
 
 Diarrhoea— Eints for Travellers. 
 
 During the summer, persons travelling are liable to 
 derangements of the bowels ; and some one recommends 
 as a safe remedy for diarrhoea, to stir a little wheat flour 
 in a glass of water until it is of the consistency of thick 
 cream ; drink it down, and repeat it several times in the 
 course of the day, if needed. Meanwhile, eat nothing, 
 drink nothing, and lie down if practicable. The flour may 
 act mechanically, not medicinally, by plugging up the 
 relaxed mouths through which the watery particles are 
 poured into the intestinal canal. Diarrhoeas are often 
 the result of the greater coolness of morning and evening 
 over midday, and the injurious effects of bad air on an 
 empty stomach ; hence, one of the most important rules 
 
FAIIILY MEDICINE CHEST. 277 
 
 for travellers, in all seasons, climates, and countries, is, 
 Never fail to hreahfast before you ride. 
 
 Another authority on the subject claims that the follow- 
 ing will always cure diarrhoea : 
 
 Procure "brandy coloring" from a rectifying liquor 
 dealer, or make it by placing an ounce or two of good 
 brown sugar in a pan or skillet; drop upon it just suffi- 
 cient water to dampen the sugar ; place the vessel over a 
 quick fire ; stir until the mass emits a thick, black smoke, 
 but do not burn it crisp. Pour on half a pint of boiling 
 water and stir till all is dissolved. Dose — a wineglassful 
 every hour until relieved ; after wliich eat an ounce or two 
 of very tender beefsteak slightly broiled, dusted sparingly 
 with pure black pepper. The regulars generally prescribe 
 for diarrhoea, small doses of calomel. 
 
 How to Escape Cholera, 
 The premonitory symptom of an attack of cholera is 
 looseness of the bowels ; hence, when cholera is epidemic 
 in a district, every one should watch carefully the action 
 of his bowels ; and whenever they are moved over once in 
 twenty-four hours, recourse should be had to the proper 
 remedies for checking diarrhoea. The body should be kept 
 quiet; all drinks should be avoided, and the food should 
 consist principally of common rice, parched brown and then 
 boiled, and eaten with salt and butter. A tight compress 
 should be bound around the abdomen ; and the best mate- 
 rial for a bandage for this purpose is a strip of stout flannel 
 about a foot broad, and sufficiently long to double in front, 
 but to be of but one thickness behind. Tape-strings should 
 be attached to the outer end, and also to another part of 
 the piece, a few inches beyond the lapping point, so as to 
 make the flannel conveniently tight, and also aid in keep- 
 23 
 
278 H03IE COMFOETS. 
 
 ing it in place. When the cliolera was prevailing in Eu- 
 rope, and broke out so suddenly among the Prussian sol- 
 diers that it was impossible to procure medical attendance 
 for any considerable number, an order was issued that 
 every soldier, sick or well, should instantly wear a flannel 
 bandage around the stomach ; and the disease disappeared 
 in a few days. 
 
 Dysentery. 
 
 Sir Charles Locock, one of the Queen of England's phy- 
 sicians, says, " that in severe dysentery, especially where 
 there is sickness, there is no remedy equal to pure calomel, 
 in full dose," and recommends at the very outset of the dis- 
 ease to give from three to five grains (according to the ago 
 of the patient) of calomel, mixed with an equal quantity of 
 powdered white sugar, and put dry on the tongue. In three 
 hours after, let the following mixture be administered: 
 
 Take of compound ipecacuanha powder, five grains; 
 ipecacuanha wine, half a drachm ; simple syrup, three 
 drachms; cinnamon water, nine drachms: to make a mix- 
 ture. A teaspoon ful every three or four hours, first well 
 shaking the bottle. 
 
 Dr. Baily, who made this disease his particular study, 
 recommends in cases where dysentery has continued for 
 several days, a combination of castor-oil and opium — as for 
 instance: Take of mixture of acacia, three drachms; sim- 
 ple syrup, three drachms; tincture of opium, ten drops 
 (not minims); castor-oil, two drachms; cinnamon water, 
 four drachms. Mix, and take a teaspoonful every fonr 
 hours, first well shaking the bottle. A warm bath, at the 
 commencement of the disease, is very efficacious ; and a 
 flannel bag, filled with hot table-salt, made hot in the 
 oven, and applied to the bowels, will afford nuich comfort. 
 
FAMILY MEDICINE CHEST. 279 
 
 An American physician says raw minced beef, adminis- 
 tered as the almost sole article of food, at the usual inter- 
 vals of eating, and in quantities as great as the patient can 
 comfortably swallow, seems to have an admirable effect in 
 mastering this disease; and even in consumption some 
 physicians are prescribing it, and with this agreeable cir- 
 cumstance, that although it is so repellent to our tastes at 
 first thought, to be eating raw, bloody meat, yet the stomach 
 soon becomes reconciled to it, and even to crave it. In 
 the case of one of the members of the cabinet recently 
 deceased, who had been using it in the hope of its benefit- 
 ing a disease of the lungs, there seemed to be such a liking 
 for it, that when the last meal was brought to his bedside, 
 his eye brightened and he exclaimed, "Ah ! that is a dish 
 good enough for a king." 
 
 When raw beef is administered for dysentery, indicated 
 by bloody discharges and a most distressing and ineffectual 
 "bearing down," it should be minced very fine, and given 
 every four hours, a tablespoonful at a time, eating nothing 
 else in the meanwhile. 
 
 Dyspepsia or Indigestion 
 Is the great national disease of America. Bad cookery 
 and eating too fast without proper mastication, and eating 
 too much, have ruined thousands of stomachs. 
 
 We doubt whether there is any remedy in medicine, for 
 confirmed dyspepsia. Medicine, says Dr. Hill, cannot 
 make gastric juice, which is one of the essential requisites 
 of a healthy digestion. " It is a liquid prepared as a con- 
 sequence of the need of repair ; this need of replenishment 
 and repair is occasioned by a previous waste or wear ; that 
 waste or wear cannot be brought about without motion of 
 the muscles, which is expressed by the word exercise ; it is 
 
280 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 musGidar exercise which creates gasti'ic juice." Hence, the 
 first essential element in the cure of dyspepsia is exercise, 
 more particularly out-of-door exercise. 
 
 Some years ago, a physician in New York attained so 
 great a reputation for curing dyspepsia, that he was able 
 to charge a fee of five hundred dollars for each case he 
 undertook, payable in advance. His patients were bound 
 by solemn oaths not to reveal the method of treatment ; 
 but after his death, some of them considered themselves 
 absolved from their obligation, and revealed the secret, 
 which consisted mainly in slapping the stomach or boicels 
 with the palms of the hands for five or ten minutes on rising 
 in the morning, a quarter of an hour or more about eleven 
 o'clock, and in the evening before going to bed. Dr. Lewis 
 calls this excellent treatment, and says he cannot conceive 
 of a case of chronic indigestion which such manipulation 
 would not relieve. Rubbing and kneading for chronic 
 maladies is no new thing. For hundreds of years a class 
 of women, known as " rubbers," liave figured conspicuously 
 in England and Mexico; and the authority just quoted 
 says, " the most remarkable cures ever achieved among us 
 have been the work of the rubbers." 
 
 In addition to slapping and kneading the stomach, and 
 exercising freely out of doors, a dyspeptic should eat only 
 when he is hungry, select digestible food, and chew it well. 
 Voltaire claims that he cured himself of dyspepsia by 
 living for nearly a year on the yelk of eggs, beaten up 
 with flour of potatoes and water. The mode of prepara- 
 tion, as recommended by Sir John Sinclair, is as follows : 
 Beat up an egg in a bowl ; then add six tablespoonfuls of 
 cold water; mix the whole together; then add two table- 
 spoonfuls of the farina of potatoes, to be mixed thoroughly 
 with the liquor in the bowl. Then pour in as much 
 
FAMILY MEDICINE CHEST. 281 
 
 boiling water as will convert tlie whole into a jelly, antl 
 mix it well. It may be taken either alone or with a little 
 milk and sngar not only for breakfast, but in cases of 
 great stomach debility, or in consumptive disorders, at 
 other meals. The dish is light, easily digested, extremely 
 wholesome and nourishing. Bread or biscuit may be 
 taken with it as the stomach gets strono-er. 
 
 On the other hand, Mrs. Swisshelm announces that she 
 was cured of a very bad case of dyspepsia, by the hard 
 bread and beer, prescribed by a German ])hysician. She 
 says : " Some years after, when Pennsylvania doctors sent 
 me back to Minnesota to die among my kindred, a German 
 physician was called in ; but heart and stomach were on a 
 strike, and refused to assimilate food. In great perplexity 
 he said: 'Can you take peer?' I could try, and he went 
 on to prescribe : ' You get de Gheneral to get you some coot 
 peer, fresh from the prewery. Dake von leetle half a glass, 
 mit a pit of hart pread and leetle pit uv cheese. Chew de 
 pread schlow, and sip de peer. Do not culp it like some 
 beebles do ; schust sip schlow, and eat de pread and cheese 
 mit it. I dinks maype dat set de stoomach do vork vonce 
 more ! ' 
 
 "His prescription worked like a charm, and in any fit 
 of dyspepsia now, I go back to the hard bread and beer." 
 
 For indigestion produced by over-indulgence in an extra 
 rich meal, immediate and generally perfect relief may be 
 obtained by taking a cup of Thomson's Composition 
 powders, which are made as follows : 
 
 Bay berry bark, two pounds ; ginger root, one pound ; 
 cayenne pepper, two ounces ; cloves, two ounces — all finely 
 l)ulverized and well mixed. Take one-half of a teaspoon- 
 ful of this, and a spoonful of sugar; put them into a tea- 
 cup and pour it half full of boiling water; let it stand a 
 
282 BO ME COMFORTS. 
 
 few minutes, and fill the cup with milk or hot water, 
 and drink. 
 
 This will stimulate the stomach to action, promote diges- 
 tion, prevent the accumulation of gas which causes belch- 
 ing, and give tone to the whole system. 
 
 This dyspeptic tea or Composition powder may also be 
 made a cure for drunhenness. Whenever the craving for 
 liquor is felt, take a cup of this tea, which will give 
 warmth and tone to the stomach ; and, by avoiding ])laces 
 where intoxicating spirits are ke})t or sold, the desire for 
 them will gradually pass away, and the whole system be 
 restored to manly vigor. 
 
 Earache and Deafness. 
 
 Earache is often an extremely painful affection ; and, 
 when severe, a physician should be called in, as the in- 
 flammation may affect the brain. First, an examination 
 should be made, to see whether an insect or any foreign 
 body has been introduced into the ear; and if not, ap- 
 ply a neuralgia plaster behind the ear, and pour into 
 the ear two or three drops of laudanum, with a little 
 sweet-oil, or a few drops of glycerine. A teaspoonful of 
 warm melted butter, dropped into the ear, is a favorite 
 remedy for earache with a noted Philadelphia physician. 
 
 Glycerine is the best remedy for all cases of earache or deaf- 
 ness originating in concrete wax. It is perfectly safe, and as 
 mild as milk and w'ater ; while it retains its moisture longer 
 than any other substance yet discovered ; hence, if hard- 
 ened wax causes the deafness, it will certainly be softened 
 and brought away. Auricles, or other aids to hearing, 
 improve for a time, but only to bring ultimate deafness 
 the sooner, and more certainly, as well as more completely. 
 In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred of deafness, in the 
 
FAMILY MEDICINE CHEST. 2S3 
 
 ordinary walks of life, all tampering with the ear is per- 
 nicious; and quite as often it will be found that wiiatever 
 general good health, and the constant (once daily) moisten- 
 ing with pure glycerine does not accomplish in the way of 
 an improved hearing, nothing else will. 
 
 Erysipelas 
 Is a blood poison, originating in causes not very well un- 
 derstood by physicians ; though cold, mental anxiety and 
 constipation are supposed to be the principal causes, while 
 by some it is regarded as a contagious disease. 
 
 A poultice of cranberries, pounded when raw, affords a 
 soothing and pleasant relief in erysipelas, and sometimes 
 arrests its progress; while the repeated application of 
 oxide of zinc ointment, which is preferable to the white- 
 lead coating recommended by some physicians, relieves 
 irritation by excluding the air from the parts affected. 
 
 Physicians in Philadelphia, however, mainly rely upon 
 a remedy discovered by one of their number, Dr. Andrew 
 Nebinger, which by some is regarded as a specific in ery- 
 sipelas. It is used both internally and externally. The 
 recipe, when anglicized, is as follows : 
 
 Bisulphite of sodium 2 drachms. 
 
 Syrup 2 ounces. 
 
 Water 2 ounces. 
 
 Mix — Take a tablespoonful every two hours. For ex- 
 ternal application, use bisulphite of sodium, one ounce, in 
 eight ounces of water. 
 
 In case the bisulphite of sodium does not agree with the 
 stomach, take, as the next best remedy, twenty drops of 
 tincture of iron, evory hour, in water. 
 
284 HOME COMFOETS. 
 
 Fainting. 
 
 When a person faints, that is, becomes unconscious, with 
 paleness, coldness, cessation of the pulse and breathing, he 
 or she should be laid down at once, with the head lower 
 than the body. The upright position might endanger life ; 
 as in fainting the heart fails to send fresh blood to the 
 brain, and its flow must be favored by the recumbent 
 posture. 
 
 In fainting there must be plenty of air, and avoidance 
 of crowding; open the windows, unloose the patient's cloth- 
 ing and neck-tie, and apply hartshorn or sal volatile near 
 to the nostrils at intervals. 
 
 When unconsciousness arises from apoplexy, or liquor, 
 the head is warm or hot, the cheek flushed, the pulse full, 
 and the breathing loud. In such cases the body should 
 be laid down, having the head and shoulders elevated. 
 
 PelODS. 
 
 Venice turpentine, one ounce ; put into it half a tea- 
 spoonful of water, and stir with a rough stick until the 
 mass looks like candied honey ; then spread a good coat 
 of the mixture on a cloth and wrap around the finger. If 
 the case is only recent, this will remove the pain in 
 six hours. 
 
 A poultice of fresh poke-root on a felon cures by ab- 
 sorption, unless matter is already formed ; if it is, this soon 
 brings it to a head, and saves much pain and suffering. 
 
 Lobelia is preferred, by many physicians, to either of 
 the above ; and by some is regarded as a " sure cure " 
 of a felon. 
 
FAMILY MEDICINE CHEST. 285 
 
 Heaclache 
 
 Arises from snch a variety of causes, that no one remedy 
 will meet all its varying phases. In delicate females, it is 
 often purely sympathetic ; but the principal and general 
 cause of headache is some derangement of the stom.ach 
 or indigestion. 
 
 For Sick Headache arising from this cause, take a glass 
 of warm water, into which has been rapidly stirred a heap- 
 ing teaspoonful of salt and kitchen mustard; and this, 
 by causing instantaneous vomiting, will empty the stomach 
 of the bile or undigested sour food, and a grateful relief 
 is often experienced on the spot; then rest, with a few 
 hours of sound, refreshing sleep, completes the cure, 
 especially if the principal part of the next day is spent in 
 mental diversion and out-door activities, not eating an 
 atom of food (but drinking freely of water or hot teas), 
 until you feel as if a piece of plain, cold bread and butter 
 would "taste really good." 
 
 Two teaspoonfuls of pulverized charcoal, stirred in half 
 a glass of water, and drunk, generally give instant relief, 
 especially when the headache arises from superabundance 
 of acid in the stomach. 
 
 In nervous headaches, the elixir of valerianate of am- 
 monia is generally prescribed ; and a new remedy, called 
 Gunrana, is growing in favor. 
 
 For Biliousness or Bilious Headache, Dr. Lewis recoin- 
 monds the patient, on getting up and on going to bed, to 
 drink plenty of cold water, to eat for breakfast a little stale 
 bread and a piece half as large as your hand of boiled beef 
 or mutton, for dinner about the same thing ; to go without 
 supper ; and exercise freely, so as to produce perspiration. 
 In a few days the biliousness will all be gone. A speedier 
 
286 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 remedy is a close or two of anti-bilious or IMandrake Pills, 
 when the first symptoms of bilious headache appear. 
 
 Heartburn or Waterbrash 
 
 May be relieved by taking twenty drops of lemon juice at 
 the close of each meal, and by abstaining from drinks or 
 fluids at meal-time. Any alkali, as bicarbonate of soda, 
 will relieve; but Dr. Lewis says he has been in the habit 
 of advising his patients who are temporarily afllicted with 
 heartburn, to chcic spruce gum and swallow all the saliva. 
 This affords a grateful relief, and is not liable to the 
 objections which may be urged against soda, saleratus, and 
 other strong alkalies. 
 
 An agreeable effervescent drink for heartburn, which is 
 highly recommended, is, to mix the juice of one orange, 
 water and a lum]) of sugar in proportion to the acidity of 
 the orange, together, and then add about half a teasjwonful 
 of bicarbonate of soda ; stir, and effervescing will ensue. 
 
 Hysterical Fits and Nervousness 
 
 Are very alarming to those who witness them for the first 
 time. Women of all ages are liable to this complaint, as it 
 generally arises from some irregularity in the functions of 
 the parts peculiar to women ; and it is very frequent with 
 girls during the first few months of puberty, and with 
 women when they have reached the " change of life." 
 
 A sensible writer recommends cold bathing, open-air 
 exercise, strengthening diet, cheerful surroundings, with 
 the removal of all care and per})lexities ; attention to a 
 jjroper regularity of the bowels ; frequent change of air 
 and scene — are positively required. All irhsoyne family 
 requirements should be suspended. Iron pills may be 
 taken two at a dose, night and morning ; and a bitter 
 
FAMILY MEDICINE CHEST. 287 
 
 tonic (quassia, gentian, etc.), in half wineglass doses, two 
 hours before dinner and supper. At the proper season, 
 sea-bathing will prove beneficial. Kindness from family 
 and friends is imperatively required. Hysterical women 
 should not nurse infants. Snuff, opium and camphor are 
 not recommended. Strong tansy tea, taken cold and in 
 small quantities, will be found serviceable. A long narrow 
 strip of strengthening-plaster, worn the entire length of 
 the spine during cold weather, will do good. This may be 
 made by mixing by heat, dark resin with half its propor- 
 tion of beeswax, adding a few drops of olive oil. 
 
 As a relief for nervousness, the following recipe has 
 proved of great benefit to many : 
 
 Ammoniated tincture of valerian 1 drachm. 
 
 Compound tincture of bark 1 do. 
 
 Compound tincture of aloes 10 drops. 
 
 Camphor mixture li ounces. 
 
 Mix, and take from twenty to thirty drops three or four 
 times a day. 
 
 Neuralgia. 
 
 A remedy, which is sometimes successful in instanta- 
 neously allaying neuralgic pains, is found in mixing equal 
 parts of sweet oil, spirits of hartshorn, and chloroform ; 
 siiake well, and before time is allowed for the particles to 
 separate, wet a bit of rag or lint, place it on the painful 
 spot for about a minute, or less if relieved sooner; but 
 hold a handkerchief on the lint, so as to confine the volatile 
 ingredients ; if kept on too long, the skin may be taken off. 
 
 The application of bruised horseradish to the wrist, on 
 the side of the body suffering from pain, is a remedy, 
 recently discovered, for the cure of " Nerve Ache." or 
 neuralo-ia. 
 
288 HOME COMFOETS. 
 
 Pleurisy, 
 Which is an inflammation of" the serous membrane en- 
 veloping the lungs, is a very painful affection, and usually 
 requires the services of* a physician. In nine cases out of 
 ten, however, it is believed, the disease may be arrested, 
 if the patient, at the beginning of the attack, take an 
 alcohol or vapor bath until perspiration freely ensues, 
 drinking freely of a strong tea made of pleurisy-root and 
 catnip, and keeping well covered in bed. Turpentine may 
 be ap}>lied over the seat of the ]iain and mustard upon the 
 feet; and rul)bing the arms and legs with dry flannel tends 
 to moderate the sevei'ity of the attack. Call in a doctor, 
 if relief is not obtained in a few hours. 
 
 Liver Complaint, 
 
 Or inflammation of the liver, also requires the services of 
 a physician ; but in its first or acute stage, the sweating 
 process recommended in pleurisy will be beneficial, espe- 
 cially in combination with the use of Mandrake Pills. 
 
 Piles, or Hemorrhoids, 
 Are painful swellings at the lower extremity of the in- 
 testines, and are both internal and external. The internal 
 are the most painful. The external vary in size and the 
 pain often ceases when they break and discharge blood, 
 but the swelling partially remains and they are soon as 
 large as before. In cases of piles it is important to avoid 
 strong and stimulating food, to take regular daily exercise, 
 and to guard against costiveness. 
 
 The most successful treatment, judging from the certifi- 
 cates of cures which have been made, is the introduction 
 into the rectum of an ointment com2)osed of some astrin- 
 
FAMILY MEDICINE CHEST. 28£ 
 
 gent aiul oil or grease, as, for instance, two drachms of 
 powdered gall nuts and an ounce of lard, or the extract 
 of white oak bark and bacon oil, or powdered opiuni, 
 rosin, and tallow, each one ounce, or equal weights of 
 glycerine and tannin. All of these ointments, it is claimed, 
 have cured piles. 
 
 Dr. Harriman, of Indiana, it is reported, has been very- 
 successful in curing piles with an ointment made of the 
 extract of white oak bark, half a pint, and oil of old and 
 strong bacon, half a pint, simmered together until an 
 union takes place when cold. Apply every night until 
 well. 
 
 For use internally, take a tablespoonful of sulphur in half 
 a pint of milk every day. This of itself has been used 
 with complete success by individuals who had spent scores 
 of dollars in medical advice. 
 
 When the intestine falls down after evacuation, restore it 
 by pressing gently with the finger, and use some astringent 
 as a lotion to prevent its return. 
 
 Cold cream, or even fresh lard or tallow may often, if 
 applied in time, be preventive of erysipelas and piles, the 
 one a complaint dangerous to life, and the other painful and 
 troublesome. For instance, if one feels a peculiar tender- 
 ness and soreness on the face about the eyebrow, which on 
 examination shows a line of redness, the application of 
 cold cream at once may ward off an attack of spreading 
 erysipelas. Or, should the lower bowel feel ill at ease, 
 and at the same time pain and soreness at its extremity, in 
 going to stool, the free application of cold cream or lard 
 three times a day may arrest the inflammation and prevent 
 the formation of piles. 
 24 
 
290 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 Quinsy, How to Prevent. 
 .Quinsy is an inflammation of the fauces or tonsils of the 
 throat, attended by a painful and impeded deglutition, 
 sometimes causing death by suffocation. When allowed 
 to progress beyond a certain point very little can be done 
 in tiiis disease except to hasten suppuration. But if the 
 patient applies in time to a physician possessing the 
 requisite knowledge, there is seldom occasion for any one 
 to have an attack of quinsy. Medical science has achieved 
 one of its greatest triumphs in discovering a means of 
 arresting the progress of this painful disorder. The editor 
 of this work has been subject to occasional attacks of 
 quinsy, but recently he had the good fortune to consult 
 Dr. James Simpson, of Philadelphia, who dissipated a 
 threatened attack by the following treatment : 
 
 Mix — Tincture of iron i ounce. 
 
 Sulphate of quinine 24 grains. 
 
 Chlorate of potash 2 drachms. 
 
 Glycerine 2^ ounces. 
 
 Syrup i ounce. 
 
 Take two teaspoonfuls every two hours in a wineglass 
 of water. The peculiarity of this prescription is, that the 
 chlorate of potash is not dissolved. 
 
 As a gargle, dissolve an ounce of chlorate of j)otash in a 
 pint of water, and for external application use the follow- 
 ing liniment : 
 
 Oil of amber (rectified) i ounce. 
 
 Oil of turpentine 2 ounces. 
 
 Camphora 3 drachms. 
 
 Castor oil 2 drachms. 
 
 To be rubbed well and frequently over the throat. 
 
FAMILY MEDICINE CHEST. 291 
 
 This treatment, the doctor referred to, has found in an 
 extensive practice to be ahnost a specific, not only for in- 
 cipient attacks of quinsy, but for most inflammatory diseases 
 of the throat, including even diphtheria. 
 
 Eheumatism. 
 
 Rheumatism is of two kinds, acute and chronic, and the 
 former is divided into inflammatory and articular. All gen- 
 uine rheumatism is a blood poison, originating, it is sup- 
 posed, in excess of uric acid, and though not often fatal, is a 
 serious disease requiring the services of a skilful physician 
 to eliminate it from the system. The regulars generally 
 prescribe alkalies, especially potash, in large doses to 
 neutralize the acid, and do not believe much in liniments 
 or external applications. 
 
 Chronic rheumatism, of two years' duration, has been 
 cured, it is said, in twenty-four hours by mixing equal 
 parts of alcohol, spirits of turpentine, sweet spirits of nitre, 
 and oil of juniper, and rubbing this well into the parts 
 aifected; also taking internally ten drops in water at bed- 
 time. 
 
 Many of the pains in the muscles and joints, which 
 readily yield to liniments and rubbing, though called 
 rheumatism, are not genuine rheumatism. 
 
 For mercurial rheumatism the following is recommended : 
 
 With four ounces of good oatmeal make three quarts 
 of well-boiled gruel. In this dissolve four drachms of the 
 nitrate of potassium. Stir well, and take of the mixture half 
 a pint every two hours until all is consumed. Meantime 
 bind a cloth steeped in turpentine one part, proof whiskey 
 ten parts, to the region of the pain. Cover up quite 
 warmly. If necessary, repeat the gruel remedy. In the 
 interim take two " compound cathartic pills " every other 
 night. 
 
292 JI03[E COMFORTS. 
 
 Sore Throat. 
 
 Batlie the throat externally with the liniment recom- 
 mended in quinsy sore throat; gargle with alum water 
 or alum in sage tea, and drink often and freely of flax- 
 seed tea. A large draught of the latter may be made more 
 agreeable ;y the addition of lemon juice and sugar, and 
 may be taken at bed-time after a warm mustard foot bath. 
 
 Flaxsei 1 tea should be made by pouring a pint of boil- 
 ing water on one or two tablespoonfuls of whole flaxseed 
 and stirring it up for a few minutes. The flaxseed should 
 not be boiled, as that would bring out the oil, which is too 
 heavy for the stomach. It is only the mucilage from the 
 outside of the seeds that is useful. 
 
 Chlorate of potash, an ounce, in a pint of hot water, 
 makes a very good gargle for a simple or ulcerated 
 sore throat. It is nearly tasteless, and being not at all 
 offensive to take, is well adapted for children. But for 
 those who prefer something not so simple the following is 
 recommended : 
 
 Take of very strong sage tea, half a pint ; strained honey, 
 common salt, and strong vinegar, of each two tablespoon- 
 fuls ; one teaspoonful of pulverized cayenne pepper ; steep- 
 ing the cayenne with the sage, strain, mix, and bottle for 
 use, gargling from four to a dozen times daily, according 
 to the severity of the case. This is no doubt one of the 
 very best gargles in use. 
 
 To smoke dried mullein leaves in an ordinary but new 
 clay pipe has been found very beneficial where there is a 
 tickling in the throat, or hacking cough, or other irritation. 
 It is recommended by the Eclectic Medical Journal. 
 
 General Washington's remedy for sore throat and which 
 others have found quite effectual in this disease, especially 
 when accompanied by hoarseness, was — onions boiled in 
 molasses. 
 
FAJIILY I'lEDICINE CHEST. 293 
 
 Scrofula and Old Soresi 
 
 Nicholas Longwortli, the Cincinnati millionnaire, used to 
 say that he had done wonders in curing scrofula, and old 
 sores, with the following recipe: 
 
 Pnt one ounce of aquafortis in a bowl, or saucer; drop 
 into it two copper cents — it will cifervesce — leave the cents 
 in ; when the effervescence ceases, add two ounces of strong 
 vineti;ar. The fluid will he of a dark-y;reen color. It 
 should and will smart. If too severe, put in a little rain- 
 water. Apply it to the sore, morning and evening, with a 
 soft brush or a rag. Before applying it, wash the sore well 
 with water. 
 
 Small-Pox, or Variola. 
 
 This is one of the terrible scourges of humanity, baffling 
 often the best medical skill, and we would not allude to it 
 except to show how pitting may be prevented, a matter 
 that physicians overlook or regard as of secondary im- 
 portance. We may state, however, that the mode of treat- 
 ment prescribed for the English army in China, by general 
 orders, is, just before the eruption appears the chest should 
 be thoroughly rubbed Mith croton oil and tartar emetic 
 ointment. This causes the whole of the eruption to appear 
 on that part of the body to the relief of the rest, and 
 prevents the disease from attacking the internal organs.* 
 
 *A Californian professes to have talis being a poison, non-profes- 
 
 discovered, in sulphate of zinc and sional readers sliould not experi- 
 
 digitalis, a speedy remedy for small- nient with it. He says: "It is as 
 
 pox. But as his announcement, unfailing as fate, and conquers in 
 
 though couched in the strongest every instance. It is harmless when 
 
 language, has not attracted the at- taken by a well person. It will also 
 
 tention of the medical faculty, there cure scarlet fever. Here is the 
 
 is probably nothing in it ; and digi- recipe as I have used it, and cured 
 
291 HOIfE COMFOETS. 
 
 But to guard against small-pox, the main reliance is 
 upon vaccination in infancy and re-vaccination every seven 
 years. Dr. Getchell, of tlie Jefferson INIedical College, says, 
 "Small-pox is a disgrace to any civilized land. My firm 
 belief is, that if every person were, every seven years, duly 
 and projKi'iy vaccinated, small-pox might be utterly exter- 
 minated. Even vaccination, however, is no certain pre- 
 ventive, unless the system is saturated with the vaccine 
 virus, until it refuses, after repeated experiments, to absorb 
 any more. 
 
 To Prevent Pitting in Small-Pox. 
 
 There seem to be so many remedies that will prevent 
 pitting in this disease, that its fiequcncy is disgraceful to 
 the med; I profession. Any doctor who brings a patient 
 safely through the small-pox, yet has taken no measures to 
 prevent pitting, deserves to lose his fee. 
 
 In all cases of small-pox, or variola, light should be 
 excluded from the room as much as possible, as it aggra- 
 vates the disease. One remedy to prevent pitting is to 
 dissolve gum arabic in honey, and sufficient lamp-black 
 to color the whole mixture. Tlicn witii a camel's-hair 
 brush paint over every jiustule or spot. Dr. Schonlien, of 
 Hanover, has a still simpler process, which he says he has 
 used most successfully to prevent pitting in small-pox and 
 
 my children of the scarlet fever ; of water. Take a spoonful every 
 
 here it is as I have used it to cure hour. Either disease will disappear 
 
 small-pox, when learned physicians in twelve Jwurs. For a child smaller 
 
 said that the patient must die, it doses, according to age. If counties 
 
 cured: — Sulphate of zinc, one grain ; would compel their pl.ysi-cians to 
 
 foxglove (digitalis), one grain ; half use this, there would be no need of 
 
 a teaspoonfnl of sugar; mix with pest-houses. If you value advice 
 
 two tablespoonfuls of water ; when and experience, use this for that 
 
 thoroughly mixed, add four ounces terrible disease." 
 
FAIIILY MEDICINE CHEST. 29f 
 
 also in measles, scarlatina, eliicken-pox, to relieve the 
 itching and irritation of these complaints. It consists in 
 smearing the whole surface of the body, after the eruption 
 is fairly out, with bacon fat, and the simplest way of em- 
 ploying it is to boil thoroughly a small piece of bacon 
 with the skin on, and when cold cut off the skin with the 
 fat adhering to it, which is to be scored crosswise with a 
 knife, and then gently rubbed over the surface once, twice, 
 or thrice a day, according to the extent of the eruption 
 and the recurrence of itching and irritation. 
 
 Dr. Allshorn, of Edinburgh, uses three parts of oil 
 and one of white wax, mixed by heat, and while warm to 
 paint the face and neck with a camel's-hair brush dipped 
 into the fluid. As this cools and hardens, it forms a mask 
 which effectually excludes the air and prevents pitting. 
 
 A solution of India rubber in chloroform is used by 
 some physicians, but others consider it injurious if npt 
 dangerous in suppressing the natural exudation of the skin. 
 
 How to Prevent Hydrophobia. 
 
 If hydrophobia be once developed in the human system 
 we believe no cure for it has yet been found. But hydro- 
 phobia may be effectually prevented by the prompt use of 
 proper remedies. As soon as a person has received a bite 
 from an animal, whether dog or cat, that may possibly be 
 mad, he should instantly run a stick of nitrate of silver 
 (lunar caustic) into the wound for the space of five or ten 
 seconds — not minutes. The stick of lunar caustic should 
 be pointed, in order the more thoroughly to enter the 
 wound, and may be obtained, ready for use, from any 
 druggist. The nitrate of silver acts not only as a caustic, 
 but neutralizes the poison. Mr. Youatt, the celebrated 
 English veterinary surgeon, regarded this as an infallible 
 
296 II03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 preventive if properly and immediately applied. He 
 himself had been bitten many times by rabid animals, but 
 regarded that as a slight circumstance when he could 
 apply lunar caustic. 
 
 Sea-Sickness. 
 
 An eminent French physician, Dr. Guardes, having 
 heard that American physicians use syrup of chloral as a 
 preventive of sea-sickness, experimented with it on two 
 trips across the English Channel, and with successful 
 results. He compounded a draught, composed of 45 grains 
 of chloral, 50 grammes distilled water, 60 grammes goose- 
 berry syrup, and tw^o drops French essence of peppermint ; 
 and took half of the draught when the vessel left the har- 
 bor, and the other half on the return trip ; and though as 
 a rule affected by sea-sickness when crossing the Channel, 
 he^ entirely avoided this disagreeable malady, and regards 
 chloral as an efficacious preventive. — Journal de Thera- 
 peidiquc. 
 
 Colonel Knox, an extensive traveller, says the following 
 prescription has saved him, and many others to whom he 
 has given it, from being sick at sea : 
 
 The night before you are to sail, take a blue pill^ten 
 grains — -just before going to bed ; and when you get up in 
 the morning, take, the first thing, a dose of citrate of mag- 
 nesia. Then eat your breakfast and go on board, and I will 
 wager four to one that you will not be sea-sick a moment. 
 
 How to Treat Sprains of the Wrist or Ankle. 
 As soon as possible after the accident, get a cotton band- 
 age one or two yards long, and two to two and a half inches 
 wide; wet it in cold water, and roll it smoothly and firmly 
 around the injured part. Keep the limb at rest, exposed 
 
FAMILY MEDICINE CHEST. 297 
 
 to the air, and continually clamp with cold water. The 
 sooner after the accident the bandage is applied, the less 
 pain and swelling there will be ; but if pain becomes ex- 
 cessive, care must be taken to slightly loosen the bandage. 
 
 What to do in Cases of Sunstroke and Fits. 
 
 Sunstroke, Avhich is an instantaneous inflammation oc- 
 casioned by the sun's rays aifecting an enfeebled brain, 
 requires prompt treatment or the patient will speedily 
 die. The approved treatment for sunstroke is, to remove 
 the sufferer into the shade, free the neck from all that binds 
 it, and pour warm water on the head and dash it upon the 
 body, or apply rags dipped in warm water, and renewed 
 every minute. Sometimes it requires an hour or two, be- 
 fore relief is obtained. This, like all other inflammations, 
 is more safely subdued by the use of warm than cold 
 water. 
 
 Sunstroke may be prevented by wearing a silk handker- 
 chief or a cabbage leaf, or a wet cloth of any kind, in the 
 crown of the hat. Persons who indulge in stimulating 
 drinks are more liable to sunstroke than others. Laborers 
 exposed to the sun's rays should wash the head in cold 
 water several times a day, and the body with a wet towel 
 every night before going to bed, rubbing sufficiently to 
 cause redness of the skin. 
 
 When a man falls in a Jit, loosen the clothing but keep 
 the head and shoulders raised. Give him plenty of air ; 
 the bystanders must not be permitted to crowd around him. 
 He will soon come to himself if let alone, and should then 
 be kept quiet till he is able to go or be removed to his home. 
 
298 HOME COMFOnrS. 
 
 Tetter, Ringworm and Barber's Itch. 
 
 Dr. Cliase, of iNIic'lii^an, says he speaks from extensive 
 experience in reooniniending cigar ashes, as a cure for these 
 complaints. He says, that half of one cigar cured him of 
 itch when a barber would not undertake to shave him. 
 His remedy is as follows : 
 
 Take the best Cuba cigar, and smoke a sufficient length 
 of time to accumulate a (quarter or half inch of ashes upon 
 the end of it; then wet the whole surface of the sore with 
 saliva from the mouth, and rub the ashes thoroughly into 
 and all over the sore or crui)tion ; do this three times a day, 
 and inside of a week all will be smooth and well. A more 
 reliable remedy for itch and tetter is given in the succeeding 
 chapter. 
 
 How to Avoid Curvature of the Spine. 
 
 In nineteen cases out of twenty, crook-back results from 
 "weakness of some of the ligaments and muscles which sup- 
 port and move the spine, or from irregularity of strength in 
 their various parts. The age of curvature is from eight 
 to eighteen ; the subjects most liable to it are delicate chil- 
 dren of the upper and middle classes, particularly school- 
 girls. At this tender age, the bones, ligaments and muscles 
 of the spine have not yet acquired that consolidation and 
 firmness which is necessary to sujijwrt the weight of the 
 head, shoulders and chest. The ]irevention and remedy 
 for this disease are as simple as is the mode of its pro- 
 duction. The muscles must be strengthened by regular 
 exercise; and that is the best exercise which calls all the 
 muscles on each side of the spine into action. Nothing 
 excels the old skipping-rope for the purpose, if used 
 in moderation The swing of the arms expands the 
 chest and strengthens the respiratory muscles, thereby 
 
FAMILY MEDICINE CHEST. 299 
 
 giving room for the admission of a larger amount of air 
 to the lungs. The rapid bending of the body and the 
 jump exercise every muscle of the back and hip 
 equally. But the swing-rope and other calisthenic ap- 
 paratus are also useful. Great fatigue must always be 
 avoided, whether curvature has already taken place or is 
 only impending. 
 
 When curvature has already occurred, the patient must 
 not be taken to a quack or a specialist, to have all sorts of 
 irons and cramping bandages applied. Gentle, but fre- 
 quent and regular, exercise must be used, always short of 
 fatigue ; a little skipping, light dumb-bells, or the swing- 
 rope, will answer the purpose better than long walks. 
 The patient must maintain the erect position for a very short 
 period of time at once, and then the horizontal position must 
 be resorted to. Alternations of short periods of activity with 
 long ones of repose, several times a day, succeed the best. 
 For repose, a sofa with a hair mattrass, and with a cushion 
 to rest the arms and forehead upon, is far preferable to the 
 old-fashioned back board ; or Verral's apparatus may be 
 used. In any case, the patient should lie principally on 
 her face, as the spine is thus placed in a better position for 
 falling into its normal shape than when the supine position 
 is adopted. In this position, the weight of the body is 
 taken from off the spine and thrown upon the chest and 
 abdomen, resting upon the couch. 
 
 In this connection, we submit two or three thoughts that 
 seem to be of great practical importance ; and the first is 
 in relation to 
 
 Cold Water in Disease. 
 
 An anonymous writer remarks, forcibly : " It is very 
 doubtful if there is a single possible disease in which the 
 patient should not have cold water ad libitum. Oh, hoAV 
 
300 HOME COMFOTiTS. 
 
 tlie babes often suffer for cold water ! A nursing babe is 
 given, no matter how thirsty, nothing but milk. The little 
 lips are dry and cracked, and the little tongue so parched 
 it can scarcely nurse, and yet it has nothing but milk to 
 assuage its craving thirst. Try it yourself, mother, when 
 you have a fever, and we are sure that ever after, when 
 your darling is dying with thirst, the teaspoon and a tum- 
 bler of cold water will be in constant use." 
 
 Uses of Alcohol as a Medicine. 
 
 Surgeon-General Hammond said in a recent lecture 
 before the New York Neurological Society, " that alcohol, 
 even in large quantities, is beneficial to some persons, is a 
 point in regard to which I have no doubt, but those per- 
 sons are not in a normal condition, and when they are 
 restored to healtli their potations should cease. I have 
 seen many weak, hysterical women drink a pint of whiskey 
 or brandy a day, without experiencing the least intoxicating 
 effects, or even feeling excited by it. 
 
 " The exhausted tissue has seemed to absorb it with an 
 energy as though it were the one thing craved, and re- 
 covery has been rapid under its use when all other means 
 have failed. I have seen strong men struck down with 
 pneumonia and fever, and apparently saved from the 
 grave by brandy or other alcoholic liquors. I have 
 prevented epileptic seizures by its moderate use. Neu- 
 ralgic attacks are often cut short by it, and sometimes 
 entirely prevented. It has been efficacious in catalepsy, 
 and in tetanus ; it is one of the best antidotes to the bites 
 of poisonous serpents, as I have repeatedly witnessed ; in 
 the convulsions of children from teething and other 
 sources of reflex irritation it is invaluable; in the si)inal 
 irritation to which M'omen, and esjiecially American 
 
FA^IILY MEDICINE CHEST. 301 
 
 •\vomon, are so subject, nothing takes its place, and in 
 certain forms of gastric dyspepsia it must be given if we 
 wish to cure our patients." 
 
 Of Pyaemia, which is a dangerous disease and regarded 
 as incurable by many physicians, Mrs. Swisshelm says she 
 cured every case that came under her care in the array 
 hospitals, by rubbing the body externally with alcohol 
 and water, and giving internally milk punch, sherry wine, 
 esss, and broths. 
 
 Keep Ammonia in the House. 
 
 No housekeeper should be without a bottle of spirits of 
 ammonia, for besides its medical value, it is invaluable for 
 household purposes. It is nearly as useful as soap, and its 
 cheapness brings it within reach of all. " Put a teaspoon- 
 ful of ammonia in a quart of warm soap suds, dip in a 
 flannel cloth, and wipe off dust and fly-specks, and see 
 for yourself how much labor it will save. No scrubbing 
 will be needful. It will cleanse and brighten silver 
 wonderfully ; in a pint of suds mix a teaspoonful of the 
 spirits, dip in your silver spoons, forks, etc., rub with a 
 brush, and polish with chamois skins. 
 
 " For washing mirrors and windows it is very desirable ; 
 put a few drops of ammonia on a piece of paper and it 
 will readily take off every spot or finger-mark on the 
 glass. It will take out grease spots from every fabric ; 
 yut on the ammonia nearly clear, lay blotting paper over 
 the place and press a hot flat-iron on it for a few moments. 
 There is no better remedy for heartburn and dyspepsia, 
 and the aromatic spirits of ammonia is especially prepared 
 for these troubles. Ten drops of it in a wine-glass of 
 water are often a great relief. The spirits of ammonia 
 can be taken in the same way, but it is not as palatable. 
 25 
 
302 HOME COMFOliTS. 
 
 " In addition to all these uses, the effect of ammonia on 
 vegetation is beneficial. If you desire roses, geraniums, 
 fuchsias, etc., to become more flourishing, you can try it 
 upon them by adding five or six drops to every pint of 
 ^varm water that you give them, but don't repeat the dose 
 oftener than once in five or six days, lest you stimulate 
 them too highly. So be sure and kec]) a large bottle of it 
 in the house and have a glass stopper for it, as it is very 
 evanescent and also injurious to corks." 
 
 Also keep a small quantity of 
 
 Clilorate of Potash in tlie House. 
 
 An anonymous writer says we have never found any- 
 thing equal to it for a simple, idceratcd sore throat. Dis- 
 solve a small teaspoonful of it in a tumbler of water; 
 then occasionally take a teaspoonful of the solution, and 
 gargle the throat. It is nearly tasteless, and not at all 
 offensive to take, and is hence well adapted for children, 
 Nothing is better than this for chapped or cracked hands. 
 Wash them in the weak solution, and they will soon be 
 well. It is also good for a rough, jHmply, or chapped 
 face. It may be had of any druggist. Common salt 
 has been recommended for the incipient stages of the 
 dreaded disease, diphtheria; but we have no doubt this 
 would be better. If some scheming medicine-man should, 
 under a high-sounding Greek or Oriental name, introduce 
 some ingredients to conceal its nature, and expend a hun-'^ 
 dred thousand dollars in advertising, lie might make a 
 fortune out of it, and possibly as honestly as some of the 
 great patent-medicine vendors. 
 
FAIIILY MEDICINE CHEST. 303 
 
 Medicinal Uses of Ice and Vinegar. 
 
 In all inflammations, whether internal or external, ice 
 diminishes rapidly the size of the blood-vessels, and thus 
 relieves the pain they give when thus swollen by their 
 pressing against the nerves, which are always in the neigh- 
 borhood of the arteries of the system. Swallowing ice 
 freely in small lumps is the chief treatment in inflamma- 
 tion of the stomach, and the constant application of ice, 
 pounded fine, and enveloping the head with it by means 
 of a bladder or other contrivance, is said to be the best 
 remedy for that dangerous malady, inflammation of the 
 brain. 
 
 To "settle the stomach" when some discomfort is ex- 
 perienced after eating, some persons find relief by taking a 
 pickle, or a little vinegar, which, in its action on food, is 
 more nearly like the gastric juice than any other fluid 
 known. A teaspoonful of vinegar in each glass of water 
 will prevent any ill effects from using the water of lime- 
 stone localities by those accustomed to other kinds of 
 drinking water. 
 
 Hot Water Believes Pain. 
 
 Tliere is scarcely an ache or pain in the whole body 
 which is not soothed or removed by hot water if applied 
 as follows : Dip a piece of flannel or any cloth, of five or 
 six folds or layers, in boiling water and lay it on the pain- 
 ful part, covering it instantly with a dry flannel of which 
 the edges should extend over the wet one an inch or more : 
 as soon as the wet flannel has dried a little, or in about 
 five minutes, slip it out under one edge of the dry cloth 
 and introduce another flannel as hot as can be handled ; 
 do this in so adroit a manner as to allow as little cold air 
 as possible to get to the skin touched by the hot flannel ; 
 
804 H03IE C03IF0RTS. 
 
 persevere until the pain is removed. Physicians assert 
 that by this hot-water poultice the most violent, dry, and 
 distressing coughs have been relieved in a few minutes, and 
 some forms of croup subdued in half an hour. 
 
 We cannot, perhaps, close this chapter with any obser- 
 vation more practically useful than the following from one 
 of the most prolific writers on health topics America has 
 produced : 
 
 The great practical lesson which I wish to inculcate, to 
 be engraven as on a plate of steel, on the memory of chil- 
 dren and youth, young men and women, the mature and tlie 
 gray-headed : Allow nothing short of fire or endangered life 
 to induce you to resist, for one single moment, nature^ s cdvine 
 call. So far from refusing a call for any reason short of 
 life and death you should go at the usual time and solicit, 
 and doing so you Mdll have your reward in a degree of 
 healthfulness, and in a length of life, which very few are 
 ever permitted to enjoy. 
 
 If tlie love of health and life, or the fear of inducing 
 painful disease cannot induce you to adopt the plan I have 
 recommended, there is another argument Avhich, to young 
 gentlemen and young ladies, may appear more convincing 
 — personal cleanliness. [If you snft'er yourself to become 
 and remain costive you will smell badly ; the breath of a 
 costive child even is scarcely to be endured.] 
 
 Cold feet, sick headache, piles, fistulas, these, with scores 
 of other diseases, have their first foundations laid in con- 
 sti[)ation, which itself is infallibly induced by resisting 
 nature's first calls. Reader, let it be your wisdom never 
 to do it airain. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CHILDREN AND THEIR DISEASES. 
 
 "Nothing can be too insignificant for the attention of the wisest 
 which is not too insignificant to give pleasure or pain to the meanest." — 
 Macaulay. 
 
 CHILDREN, in their health and appearance, are one 
 of the tests of thrift and sources of comfort within a 
 household. To rear up a family of children, strong 
 in body and sound in mind, is about the only evi- 
 dence that most persons can leave behind them that they 
 have not lived in the world in vain ; while puny, nervous, 
 sickly and silly children betray their parents' secret weak- 
 nesses, and are living monuments that the laws of health 
 have been somehow violated.* 
 
 * Travellers have frequently re- 
 marked, that females among the 
 Indian and other uncivilized races 
 bring forth children with far less 
 pain, difficulty and danger than the 
 women in Europe and the United 
 States. The secret of this exemp- 
 tion from the pains of parturition 
 appears to be, according to the views 
 of modern physiologists, that their 
 food consists less of those articles 
 that form bone or osseous mat- 
 ter; and consequently the child, 
 I^revious to birth, is an elastic, 
 
 yielding and India-rubber-like sub- 
 stance, easily born. It is believed, 
 therefore, by some, that if white 
 women, during the last three or four 
 months of gestation, were to con- 
 fine their food principally to ripe 
 fruits and green vegetables, roasted 
 apples, oranges and fresh animal 
 food, with very little bread and 
 butter and no pastries, they would 
 have no more difficulty in bringing 
 forth children than their tawny or 
 copper-colored sisters. Jlany in- 
 stances are given in medical works 
 305 
 
306 H03IE COMFOETS. 
 
 Proper Food for Infants. 
 
 In infancy, as all tlirough life, food is an object that 
 deserves especial attention. Dr. Combe remarks: 
 
 " Take particular care of the food of an infant. If it is 
 nourished by the mother, her own diet should be simple, 
 nourishing and temperate. If the child be brought up 
 ' by hand,' the milk of a new milch cow, mixed with one- 
 third water and sweetened a little with white sugar, should 
 be the only food until the teeth come. This is more suitable 
 than any preparations of flour or arrowroot, the nourish- 
 ment of which is too highly concentrated. Nev-er give a 
 child bread, cake or meat before the teeth appear. If the 
 food appear to distress the child after eating, first ascertain 
 if the milk be really from a new milch cow, as it may other- 
 wise be too old. Learn also whether the cow lives on 
 proper food. Cows that are fed on still-slops, as is often 
 the case in cities, furnish milk which is very unhealthful." 
 
 of women who, tliough they had information is now possessed mainly 
 
 sufTered fearfully in child-bearing by the wealthy and intelligent, who 
 
 so long as they ate what people may or may not need it, while it is 
 
 generally eat, by changing their withheld from the poor, feeble and 
 
 food to fruits and articles not diseased who do need it. All tlieo- 
 
 containing bone-making elements, ries for the improvement of society 
 
 brought forth their children with are mere vapor, so long as there are 
 
 so little difficulty that, had they not born into the world every day thou- 
 
 been influenced by custom, they sands of children who should never 
 
 could have resimied their duties have been born, and who of ncces- 
 
 the next day. sity must become a curse to their 
 
 It is greatly to be deplored that fellows. " Fools die for want of 
 
 science has not discovered some cer- wisdom," and thousands of feeble 
 
 tain method of regulating the num- women are dying slow deaths daily ; 
 
 ber of offspring ; so that parents need households are wrecked, and idiots 
 
 not have more children than they are mul'iplied, for want of an item 
 
 want or can care for; or rather, it of scientific knowledge which every 
 
 is greatly to be deplored that this husband and wife ought to possess. 
 
CHILDBEN AND THEIR DISEASES. 307 
 
 Dr. Clarke, physician in ordinary to the Queen of Eng- 
 land, adds : " There is no greater error in the management 
 of children, than of giving them animal food very early. 
 Children so fed become very liable to attacks of fever and 
 inflammation, affecting particularly the mucous membranes ; 
 and measles and other diseases incident to childhood are 
 generally severe in their attacks." 
 
 Condensed Milk for Infants. 
 
 Many mothers arc now using "Condensed Milk" for 
 their infants, and when perfectly pure, it is well suited for 
 the purpose. Dr. Cuibourt, of the French Academy, says, 
 " Cow's milk with the addition of its weight of water and 
 a little sugar is as nearly as possible equal to woman's 
 milk." The "Condensed Milk" diluted with seven to 
 nine parts of water exactly answers this description, and as 
 it keeps sweet for a length of time without any tendency 
 to sourness and without undergoing any chemical change, 
 " it is superior as food for infants even to the present 
 ordinary milk." 
 
 How to Treat Young Infants. 
 
 On the birth of an infant light should be excluded from 
 its eyes for an hour, and when dressed it should be put to 
 the breast, for though the secretion of milk may not have 
 taken place, the effort will promote it and do the child 
 good. The mother's milk is the only food the infant will 
 require for months, and it should not be spoon-fed until it 
 begins to cut its teeth. 
 
 Food from the first should be given at stated times, and 
 with punctual regularity. A mother when healthy should 
 suckle her own child, and if unable to do so, a wet nurse 
 of good health and morals should be selected. She should 
 
SOS HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 be careful to liave milk in good supply, and it should be 
 of an age and quality suited to nourish the child. It should 
 have a blue thin appearance, and sweet to the taste ; it is 
 not likely to be good when thick and yellow, and if the 
 milk is not good the child will cease to thrive. Suckling 
 infants at the breast exercises all their muscles, and the 
 effort does them good, far more than taking food in any 
 other way. The saliva promoted in suckling is carried 
 into the stomach with the food and is a great aid to diges- 
 tion. 
 
 Mental emotions have a direct influence on the secre- 
 tions of the milk, and suckling mothers should be careAil 
 to avoid agitations as much as possible, or the heat of the 
 milk may affect the bowels of the child and perhaps cause 
 convulsions. 
 
 What is the proper ])eriod for iceaning a child seems not 
 to be definitely settled — some say six months, others 
 twelve ; but we think, when circumstances admit of it, and 
 the mother is healthy and careful, it is better to continue 
 the nursing until after tlie second summer, which is always 
 a critical period in a child's existence. Infants should l)e 
 weaned gradually, not suddenly, and rubbing the nipple 
 with some innocent caustic solution, as a little powdered 
 aloes made into a paste with a few drops of water, m ill 
 soon give them a distaste for the breast. It is a good plan 
 for a mother to send her infant away, or leave home her- 
 self for a week or two, in order to wean it. 
 
 The drink of young children at meal times should 
 always be liot, but not hot enough to injure the teeth, and 
 some very serious maladies result from eating cold food, in 
 cold weather, for a long time. The verv young and the very 
 old are deficient in heat, and this should be supplied to the 
 stomach by Avarm drinks. A good drink for young 
 
CHILD BEN AND THEIR DISEASES. 309 
 
 children is known as Cambric tea, which is made by pour- 
 ing half a cup of hot milk into half a cup of boiling water, 
 adding as much sugar as is agreeable. This resembles the 
 eau de Sucre, or sweetened water, so popular on the Boule- 
 vards of Paris. 
 
 A very good pap, for infants not old enough to eat meat, 
 is made as follows : 
 
 Put a tablespoonfid of flour into a pap saucepan, to 
 which add by degrees two gills of milk, mixing it into a 
 very smooth batter with a wooden spoon : place the sauce- 
 pan upon the fire, let it boil ten minutes, keeping it stirred 
 the whole time or it is liable to burn or become brown ; 
 then add about half an ounce of sugar and a little salt ; 
 put it into a basin and it is ready for use. A little butter 
 is also very good in it. 
 
 Soyer says that he has known a very robust man to 
 make a hearty dinner of two plates of this pap by intro- 
 ducing bread into it. 
 
 Bread and milk is a good breakfast dish for infants of 
 twelve months old. The bread should be cut into slices, 
 the milk heated to the point of boiling and poured over the 
 bread, the cup covered and allowed to stand for five 
 minutes. This is better than to boil the bread and milk 
 together, or to break bread into cold milk. When chil- 
 dren are delicate, porridge is often preferable to bread and 
 milk. Put two tablcspoonfuls of Scotch grits or oatmeal 
 in the milk saucepan, and pour over it half a pint of 
 milk : let it boil ten minutes, keeping well stirred ; add a 
 small piece of butter and a little sugar, and the porridge is 
 ready for use. 
 
 Dr. John Hunter, one of the most eminent of English 
 physicians, summed up the proper treatment of infants 
 by saying, "Give them a plenty of milk, a plenty of sleep, 
 and a plenty of flannel." 
 
310 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 What to do when a Baby Cries. 
 
 [Whenever an inlant begins to cry, without any appar- 
 ent cause, by day or night, says ISIrs. Henry Ward Beecher, 
 let your first act be to examine its clothing, loosen 
 it, remove the pins, or untie the strings, and see if the 
 lungs have full space to expand, and the body a chance to 
 move every limb and muscle. Rub the body gently Avith 
 your warm hand, particularly the back, lungs and bowels, 
 to promote the circulation Avhicli tlie barbarous swaddling-. 
 bands have all day impeded. Try this remedy particu- 
 larly at night, and unless you again " ])ut on the screws," 
 in most cases your baby will fall into a peaceful slumber 
 and you may hope for unbroken rest. 
 
 But though the garments may be all properly adjusted 
 it may be suffering from cold. Touch the little blue 
 liands, and you will find them like ice; take the child 
 in your lap, draw your chair to the fire, heat a blanket 
 and wrap about it, lay it on the stomach, across your lap, 
 shake out the foolishly long robes, and hold its toes to the 
 fire till warm. Many a child who has cried for hours will, 
 under this simple treatment, in a few minutes be fast 
 asleep. 
 
 Endeavor to imagine yourself in an infant's place when 
 it manifests symptoms you do not well understand. You 
 wrap its hands and feet so closely, when you lay it down 
 to sleep, that it cannot stir; could you remain two hours 
 thus fettered without becoming cramped and full of pain ? 
 Loosen the wrappings ; shake up the pillow, and turn it 
 over occasionally (and by the way a good hair pillow, not 
 too full, and well beaten every day, that it may not become 
 lumpy, is far more healthful for any child than feathers). 
 If awake, change its position ; or if it has lain long, take it 
 
CHILDREN AXD THEIR DISEASES. 311 
 
 up, toss it gently and play with it a while to give it a 
 pleasant variety, and cause the blood to circulate freely 
 through the whole body. 
 
 If these simple methods do not pacify a crying child it 
 is very probable that some of the above-mentioned causes 
 have produced colic, but do not give the simplest medicine 
 till you have tried what virtue there is in an injection of 
 tepid water. Unless the crying indicates the beginning of 
 some acute disease, we have invariably found the effects 
 almost magical, and in no case will it be hurtful.] 
 
 We may add to these excellent suggestions, that infants 
 often cry because they are tormented with thirst, which 
 most nurses and mothers do not gratify. They suppose 
 the crying proceeds from hunger, and the breast milk is 
 given, but this does not satisfy. Dr. Dewees says, that he has 
 often seen infants, when seeming to suffer exquisite agony, 
 rendered perfectly quiet and easy by a draught of cool 
 water. 
 
 What Crying sometimes Indicates. 
 
 The crying of a child will often indicate to an experi- 
 enced medical man the nature of the trouble. The cry of 
 teething, says Dr. Chavasse, is a fretful cry : the cry of 
 earache is short, sharp, piercing, and decisive, the head 
 being moved about from side to side, and the little hand 
 being often put up to the affected side of the head ; the 
 cry of bowel-ache is also expressive — the cry is not so 
 piercing as from earache, and is an interrupted straining 
 cry, accompanied with a drawing up of the legs to the 
 belly ; the cry of bronchitis is a gruffy, phlegmatic cry ; the 
 cry of inflammation of the lungs is more a moan than a 
 cry ; the cry of croup is hoarse, and rough, and ringing, 
 and is so characteristic that it may truly be called " the 
 
312 HOME C031F0ETS. 
 
 croupy cry," moreover ho breathes as though he breathed 
 through muslin ; the cry of inflammation of the membrane 
 of the brain is a piercing shriek — a clanger signal — most 
 painful to hear ; the cry of a child recovering from a 
 severe illness is a cross, and wayward, and tearful cry ; 
 he may truly be said to be in a quarrelsome mood ; he 
 bursts out without rhyme or reason into a passionate flood 
 of tears ; tears are always in a severe illness to be looked 
 upon as a good omen, as a sign of amendment; tears, when 
 a child is dangerously ill, are rarely if ever seen. 
 
 Proper Treatment in Childhood. 
 
 During infancy children should be encouraged to sleep, 
 and to promote this object light should be excluded from 
 the bed-room as much as jiossible, the bedding should be 
 soft, the blankets fine and the counterpanes very light; 
 the pillows should be small and not made of feathers, as 
 they are too heating to the head. A good pillow for 
 infants may be made of cotton-batting, enclosed in ticking, 
 with threads run through it to keep the batting in place 
 or from forming knots. 
 
 Towards evening the child should be kc})t active and 
 wakeful, so that its rest during the night may be prolonged 
 and undisturbed. Mothers will save themselves a world 
 of trouble by not accustoming their babies to be rocked to 
 sleep either in the cradle or in the arms. Young mothers 
 are apt to err in this way, and bring upon themselves a 
 vast deal of unnecessary trouble, and then resolve never to 
 have any more children. A child, if placed in a crib or 
 bed, without being rocked, will probably cry at first, but 
 an hour's cry will not hurt it and it will soon get into the 
 habit of going to sleep, especially if stated times are ad- 
 
CHILDREN AND THEIR DISEASES. 313 
 
 hered to. During teething, children are always restless 
 and fretful, but medicines should be administered with 
 caution, and if the gums show indications of festering, or 
 white spots, a physician should be called in, who will prob- 
 ably lance them. 
 
 Nothing tends so much to promote the comfort and the 
 health of children as frequent bathing — in winter in warm 
 or tepid water — but the operation should not be prolonged 
 so as to weary or give pain, and the towels used in drying 
 should be soft. 
 
 Teething children, says Dr. Hall, have often been cured 
 of looseness of bowels by being allowed to chew the rind 
 of bacon freely with some of the fat attached, and they 
 chew it greedily ; it seems to have a beneficial effect on the 
 gums. 
 
 When a child has taken cold it is a good plan to spend 
 five or ten minutes two or three times a day in rubbing 
 into the whole breast, with a soft warm hand, about ten 
 drops of common sweet-oil. The doctor just quoted thinks 
 if such a course were promptly taken the moment a child 
 is observed to be not as well as usual, nine-tenths of the 
 ailments of children loould be averted. It has a powerful 
 influence in helping nature to cure the very worst forms 
 of diseases to which childhood is liable. 
 
 AVhen children have cut their teeth they should be 
 allowed a variety of nutritious but easily digested food — 
 no pork, veal, fried or greasy meats — -and whatever meat 
 is given should be cut fine or minced to facilitate mastica- 
 tion; white crushed wheat, boiled and sweetened should 
 form a staple article in their diet. 
 
 In the nursery or room where children play, fenders should 
 be placed around the stove, the furniture should have 
 26 
 
314 H03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 rounded, not sharp corners, and the windows shouhl be 
 well guarded to prevent accidents; a panelling of black- 
 board is very suitable for a nursery. Parents are often 
 ambitious to see their infants walk early, and this is the 
 cause of the bow or curved legs and weak ankles so fre- 
 quently seen. Children should be encouraged to crawl, 
 but all are not prepared to walk at the same age, and this 
 is a matter they can best regulate for themselves. 
 
 The clothing of infants should be warm, light, and free 
 from compression. The practice of leaving children's 
 limbs bare, especially in cold weather, which some parents 
 adopt, is cruel as well as unsightly. The shoes should fit 
 easily, and care should be taken that they do not become 
 too short before they are worn out. Tight shoes are as 
 torturing as tight-lacing. 
 
 It is very unsafe to change the winter clothing of chil- 
 dren before tlie first of INIay, or to permit them to remain 
 at any season out in the night-air. A well-known physi- 
 cian remarks, that if children were sent to bed within 
 half an hour after sundown and not allowed to go out of 
 doors in the morning until they have had a plain hearty 
 breakfast, " half the diarrhoeas, and summer complaints, 
 and croups, which desolate our hearths and hearts so often 
 in summer time," would be prevented. 
 
 Parents should compel each of their children, who are 
 over five years of age, to go to a good dentist twice a year 
 and have their teeth examined, and the first symptom 
 of decay removed, and thus children will be spared much 
 suffering and have reason for gratitude during life. 
 
 [The London Sanitary Record condemns the following as 
 common fauljts in the treatment of young infants : 
 
 When they first wake up it is no uncommon thing to 
 
aillLDllE^ AND THEIR DISEASES. 315 
 
 have a candle flared before their eyes to amuse them with 
 the "pretty red light;" then, perhaps, they are jumped, 
 screamed or whistled at, tossed up in the air so violently 
 that their nerves are thoroughly shaken. At other times 
 the infants are "poked in the ribs," unclean fingers are 
 thrust into their mouths, whether the poor things like it 
 or not, or they may be tickled into spasms, or "bo-peeped" 
 at so vigorously as to thoroughly scare them, if it does not 
 induce St. Vitus' dance. Should the poor, helpless victim 
 scream, which is the only protest it can make, it is libelled 
 by being called fractious, and perhaps dosed with soothing 
 syrup. 
 
 Other kind friends of the baby will, in the most 
 thoughtless manner, kiss and hug the poor little victim, 
 even when suffering themselves from sore throat or colds, 
 and so entail an unknown amount of evil on the child, 
 simply from want of common thoughtfulness. If some 
 of these boisterous nurses and friends would remember 
 that a very little violent excitement goes a long way with 
 infants, they would save them much needless suffering, 
 both in the present and in the future. Rest and quietness 
 are the chief things they require, and yet seldom get, 
 especially in a large family, or where there are many friends 
 who take their turn to tickle and amuse the victim into a 
 sort of hysterical spasm, and then think him or her happy. 
 Again, in playing music to them, the most noisy and start- 
 ling tunes are generally selected, to the acute torture of the 
 sensitive tympanum, instead of those airs which are most 
 soothing and gentle. 
 
 These are a few of the many needless sufferings to which 
 children are thoughtlessly exposed. Another .very common 
 source of torture is carelessness in wheeling the perambu- 
 
316 H03IE coif FOB TS. 
 
 lator. In street crossings these vehicles are more often 
 than not allowed to bump down the full height of the 
 curbstone, and then driven full tilt against the opposite 
 curb. Such shocks try severely the spine and nerves of 
 the tender infants who are unfortunately consigned to the 
 mercies of a careless nurse. We once heard of a baby who 
 was reported to have said, " How stu[)id parents are ! " and 
 if that infant prodigy should live to be a hundred it would 
 never say a truer thing of the majority of fathers, mothers 
 and relatives in general.] 
 
 Physical Defects. 
 
 In infancy or childhood is the proper time for remov- 
 ing all physical blemishes or imperfections, such as hare- 
 lip, bad teeth, club-foot and the like. On these subjects, as 
 Dr. Tichnor remarks, parents too often allow themselves 
 to be governed by wrong motives ; they start at the idea 
 of causing pain to an infant, not thinking that their tender- 
 lieartedness will cause his feelings to be pained through a 
 long life; and because a blemish or deformity does not 
 seem particularly disagreealjle to parents, they, therefore, 
 conclude it is not so to others. Children, when they arrive 
 at maturity, do not thank their parents for this misplaced 
 tenderness, and Avould cheerfully endure almost any suffer- 
 ing to rid themselves of physical imperfections which 
 could easily have been removed in childhood. 
 
 Infantile Diseases, 
 
 It often happens that within a few weeks after birth a 
 
 chikl is affected with a common disease of the skin, called 
 
 the red gum,- or red spots on the breast, back, and loins. 
 
 It will often disappear without treatment, or after taking 
 
CHILD REX AXD TIIEUt DISEASES. 317 
 
 a slight (lose of aperient me.licine. There is another skin 
 aflcction with a reel bkish and slight excoriation, arising 
 from want of cleanliness or the rubbing against each other 
 of such parts as the tliighs or arms. The best remedy is 
 to wash gently with Castile soap, and use a little zinc oint- 
 ment. 
 
 Vomiting is very common, and often arises from reple- 
 tion, and in very young children ordinarily needs no treat- 
 ment. The soured milk may be the cause, and in older 
 children may be cured by two or three grains of powdered 
 ipecacuanha in a little water. Should this not answer, send 
 for the doctor. 
 
 Colic is a very common affection among children. Some 
 infants are constantly tormented with colic for the first 
 three or four months of their life, but probably a proper 
 attention to clothing and food from the beginning will 
 prevent these unpleasant visitations. Simple remedies will 
 frequently remove the malady. Give the baby a tea- 
 spoonful of soda mint every hour or two, and it will be 
 relieved. Place a warm flannel over the bowels and be 
 sure that the feet and hands are warm. Sometimes a few 
 teaspoonfuls of catnip tea will be effectual. A warm foot- 
 bath or an injection of warm water with a little sweet-oil 
 or soap in it are good remedies. 
 
 Worms may often be suspected to exist in the intestines, 
 and are characterized by many and varied symptoms, of 
 Avhich the most certain are : irregular appetite, and craving 
 for food after a meal, bowels one time relaxed and again 
 costive ; the child is feverish, often picks its nose or grinds 
 its teeth, has fetid breath and often a livid circle under 
 the eyes. Finding w^orms in the stool, however, is the 
 onlv positive proof. There are several kinds of worms, 
 of which the principal are the thread or common seat worm, 
 
318 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 and tlie long worm. Thread worms, which lodge in the 
 lower part of the intestines, may be removed by injec- 
 tions of cold water, or a little aloes in water, or an infusion 
 of quassia, or lime-water. Oil of chenopodium given, 
 say, two drops in syrup, three times daily, will destroy 
 seat worms. 
 
 Santonin is almost a specific for long worms ; say, one 
 or two grains every four hours. This is a favorite remedy 
 in Germany, where it is known as the German Worm- 
 Sccd. 
 
 Children troubled with worms should have plenty of 
 salt in their food, and be induced to partake freely of 
 boiled onions. 
 
 Thrush is an inflammatory disease of the mouth and a 
 name given to several diseases of a similar character, but 
 distinct. It consists in small white vesicles inside of the 
 mouth, or on the tongue, or inside the cheeks, and is usu- 
 ally accompanied with some derangement of the digestive 
 organs, loss of appetite or diarrhoea. The child sucks 
 with difficulty and pain, and the mouth is sore. It may 
 be cured by the use of a little magnesia, and a lotion com- 
 posed of borax, two drachms, in an ounce of glycerine, 
 applied frequently by means of the finger on the parts 
 affected. 
 
 Convulsions or Jits frequently attend difficult teething, 
 and are very alarming to inexperienced parents. As soon 
 as a child has the symptoms of an attack it should be 
 placed in a warm bath or tub of warm water, and cold 
 water applied to the head if hot, and friction all over the 
 body. When there is a succession of convulsions, with 
 hours of interval between, there is danger, and a physician 
 should be called in, who will probably lance the gums and 
 order an enema composed of one tablcspoonful of salt, one 
 
CHILDREN AND THEIR DISEASES. 319 
 
 of olive-oil, and a tcacupful of gruel to be administered 
 until the bowels are well opened. 
 
 Irritant or Remittent Fever in infants, arising from dis- 
 ordered digestion, is very common between the ages of two 
 and six. The symptoms are a dry burning skin, quick 
 pulse and flushed face, redness of the eyes, headache, thirst, 
 restlessness, and delirium. A child two years old should 
 receive an emetic of five grains of ipecacuanha, and a dose 
 of castor-oil. The warm bath will be useful, and the 
 child will, it is likely, get better in a few hours, after a 
 peaceful slumber. Abstinence is recommended, and a phy- 
 sician will probably not be needed. In this disease, after 
 ■whooping-cough, scarlatina, or measles, more attention is 
 required, and medical advice is necessary. If such is not 
 at hand, use the warm bath, diet of barley-water, arrow- 
 root, etc. 
 
 Croup. 
 
 This is a disease that frequently attacks children at 
 night, and is distinguished by a peculiar resonant, barking 
 sound from the throat, which any one who has once 
 heard will never forget. Hoarseness is one of the earliest 
 symptoms of croup. If treated properly in its first stage 
 it is rarely dangerous ; if allowed to pass to the second 
 stage it is frequently fatal. Promptness in treatment is 
 very essential. Every fiimily with children should have a 
 bottle of some kind of emetic in the house, as ipecacu- 
 anha syrup, or tinctures of lobelia and blood-root, equal 
 parts ; and as soon as a child shows symptoms of croup, 
 apply hot water to the throat for fifteen or twenty minutes 
 with a sponge or soft cloth, and give an emetic until 
 vomiting takes place. Dr. Simpson, of Philadelphia, 
 recommends powdered alum mixed in syrup, as the most 
 efficient and least dangerous emetic; it can be given in 
 
320 HOIIE COMFORTS. 
 
 half-teaspoonful doses, repeated every twenty minutes until 
 vomiting takes place. He says no family containing young 
 children should be without powdered alum and syrup of 
 ipecac. 
 
 In child-crovHng, or spurious croup, which sometimes 
 occurs during teething, and which is very dangerous if not 
 instantly relieved, the proper treatment is to imitate arti- 
 ficial respiration as soon as the paroxysm is upon the 
 child, then put his feet and legs into hot water with salt 
 and mustard in it ; and, if necessary, place him up to his 
 neck in a hot bath, still dashing water upon his face and 
 head. If he does not quickly recover hi 5 breath, sharply 
 smack his back and buttocks. The doctor when he arrives 
 will probably lance the gums and prescribe some simple 
 remedy. Regulate the diet, and watch the child, for the 
 spasm is liable to recur, and may be instantly fatal. 
 
 Measles. 
 
 In the treatment of measles ordinarily very little med- 
 icine is required. Castor-oil may be given to keep the 
 bowels open. 
 
 Children with the measles should not have their usual 
 food, but plenty of warm milk and water, and as many 
 roasted apples as they want. Warm teas of elderberry 
 blossoms, sweet marjoram, or sage, may be used, until the 
 rash is well defined. Keep the room moderately warm 
 and of an equable temperature, not one hour hot and the 
 next cold. Remember, children sick with the measles 
 should be kept tolerably warm, Avhile in small-pox the 
 air which surrounds them should be cold rather than warm. 
 To allay the itching which comes when the spots begin to 
 disappear, powder with violet powder, ^yhen the breath- 
 ing is short, and the wheezing is great, fifteen drops of 
 
CHILDBEJS' AND THEIR DISEASES. 321 
 
 ipecacuanha wine mixed with simple syrup and water 
 should be given every two hours. Some physicians say 
 that even in a mild case of measles and in favorable 
 weather, a child should not be allowed to leave the house 
 under a fortnight. 
 
 Mumps 
 
 Is a contagious disease, indicated by swelling and inflam- 
 mation of the large salivary glands situated just in front 
 of the ear, near the joint of the lower jaw. The peculiar 
 appearance and irritable temper induced have given the 
 name of mumps to this disease. 
 
 The treatment is simple, and friction with soap or camphor 
 liniment will ordinarily cause mumps to disappear in four 
 or five days, leaving not a trace behind. An oatmeal poul- 
 tice, or a bag containing bran heated, may be applied at 
 night. When the mumps show symptoms of migrating 
 from the glands of the neck to the scrotum, call in a good 
 physician. 
 
 Whooping-Oough. 
 
 Whooi^ing-cough cannot be entirely cured until it has run 
 its course, but it can be greatly mitigated by the use of 
 proper remedies. Dr. Dailey says he has successfully 
 treated more than one hundred cases by the following 
 syrup : 
 
 Take the strongest West India rum 1 pint. 
 
 Anise oil 2 ounces. 
 
 Honey 1 pint. 
 
 Lemon juice 4 ounces. 
 
 Mix. Dose for children one teaspoonful with as much 
 sugar and water, three or four times a day ; for adults 
 one tablespoonful. 
 
 The physicians in Philadelphia prescribe nitric acid, 
 chloral and bromide of ammonium, one grain for each 
 
322 JI03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 year of tlie child's age; and tlicsc remedies and judicious 
 diet will greatly relieve the distressing spasms. If restless 
 at night, give the child a warm bath. 
 
 To relieve soreness in the chest rub it with the following 
 mixture : 
 
 Half an ounce of oil of amber ; half an ounce of oil of 
 cloves; one ounce of olive oil; and two teaspoonfuls of 
 laudanum. The diet to consist principally of barley 
 water and whey. 
 
 Dr. Delamere says whooping-cough may be simply and 
 quickly cured, " if the child take, morning, noon, and 
 night, a dose of finely-ground alum mixed in a small quan- 
 tity of powdered sugar for three or four days. The dose 
 varies from one to two grains, according to the age of the 
 child, and goes on gradually increasing. If necessary, after 
 the fourth day a child eight years old must take seven 
 grains of ground alum three times a day. Milk diet must 
 be abstained from, and all draughts of cold air carefully 
 avoided." 
 
 When whooping-cough is not cured within a month, try 
 a change of air, even from a pure country air to the air 
 of a smoky, gas-laden town. Some persons assert that the 
 best remedy for an obstinate case of whooping-cough is for 
 a child to live the great part of every day in gas-worJcs. 
 Sea-breezes will often as by magic drive away the disease. 
 
 Dr. Valentine Mott strongly recommended the following 
 prescription for whooping-cough : 
 
 Hydrocyanic acid 6 drops. 
 
 Extract of belladonna 2 grs. 
 
 Paregoric elixir 3 drachms. 
 
 Syrup of balsam of tola 1 ounce. 
 
 Water 3 ounces. 
 
 Mix. A teaspoonful three or four times daily. 
 
CHILBBEN AND THEIR DISEASES. 323 
 
 Cholera Infantum. 
 
 This is commonly known to mothers as summer com- 
 plaint, and at its commencement can, in most cases, be re- 
 lieved by simple treatment. The patient should be put to 
 bed, and a mustard plaster placed over the stomach and 
 bowels. A small lump of ice should be given every few 
 minutes, and take of this mixture: 
 
 Husband's magnesia, and aromatic spirit of ammonia, 
 one teaspoonful of each, mixed and shaken in a bottle, 
 with one-half tumblerful of peppermint water — a tea- 
 spoonful every twenty minutes. This is for common 
 summer complaint or Cholera Infantum, and to be given 
 at its commencement. 
 
 Diarrhoea. 
 
 Very many children as well as grown persons die an- 
 nually of this disease, who might be saved by the use of 
 the proper remedies. Rest in bed is the first requisite to 
 effect a cure, in this and all other bowel disorders. If 
 locomotion is compulsory, the misfortune of the necessity 
 may be lessened by having a stout piece of woollen flannel 
 bound tightly around the abdomen, so as to be doubled in 
 front, and kept well in its place. Take a teaspoonful every 
 three or four hours of the following 
 
 Diarrhoea Drops — Tincture of rhubarb, and com- 
 pound spirits of lavender, of each four ounces; laud- 
 anum, two ounces ; cinnamon oil, two drops ; mix. In 
 very bad cases it might be well to use after each passage 
 an injection, composed of new milk, with thick mucilage 
 of slippery elm, of each one pint; sweet oil, one gill; 
 molasses, one-half pint; salt, one ounce; laudanum, one 
 drachm ; mix, and inject what the bowels will retain. 
 
 In all bowel cgmplaints the only remedy, however, that is 
 
824 IIOIIE COMFOBTS. 
 
 worthy the name of specific, is a tea made of the bark of 
 the sweet gum tree (liquid amber), that grows all over 
 the United States, south of latitude 41°. It is said to be 
 an invaluable medicine for children. 
 
 Diphtheria. 
 
 A physician of Jersey City, who claims that he has 
 treated two hundred and ninety-three cases of diphtheria, 
 within three months, without losing a single patient, 
 though a majority of his cases M'ere of the worst or malig- 
 nant type of the disease, has published an outline of his 
 treatment, which is as follows : 
 
 [Our first treatment is directed to destroying the fun- 
 goid virus which is deposited in the throat, bronchial 
 tubes, or both : apply with camel's-hair pencil chromic 
 acid, properly diluted, to every patch of diphtheritic 
 membrane within your reach ; give inhalations regularly 
 by means of Codnian & Shurlelf 's steam atomizer of prep- 
 arations containing lactic acid, acpia calcis, and chlorate 
 potassa. If the patient is old enough, let him gargle his 
 throat also with the above. 
 
 The effect of the atomizer is, that no matter how young 
 the patients, every breath they draw will deposit the anti- 
 septic spray directly upon the diphtheritic membrane, or 
 the fungoid virus, where membrane is not deposited, there- 
 by destroying and neutralizing its poisonous influence on 
 the system, and controlling the spread of the disease, no 
 matter how deep down in the bronchial tubes it may have 
 reached. From the commencement give the most nourish- 
 ing fluids, consisting of milk punch, Wommel's extract of 
 malt ferrated, in milk and wine; ale, syrups lactate ferri; 
 by this means we prepare the system to stand the debili- 
 tating influence of the disease which may follow. 
 
CHILDREN AND THEIR DISEASES. 325 
 
 To the throat apply cloths wet in cold water ; if there is 
 much inflammation use ice-water; if there is great swell- 
 ing, endangering closure of the throat, use ice cracked fine 
 and applied by means of a rubber ice-bag ; this always 
 relieves ; also give small lumps of ice to hold in the mouth. 
 When diphtheritic membrane is shedding off, there is at 
 times great hemorrhage ; the patient may bleed to death if 
 it is not stopped shortly. A preparation of per chlor. 
 ferri, used in a steam atomizer, will stop it immediately 
 when nothing else can roach it. Never be without it. 
 
 Give directions, if patient in your absence suddenly 
 turns cold and has a livid expression about the face, with 
 very feeble pulse, evidencing danger of collapse, to give 
 brandy freely and apply mustard and heat to extremities, 
 with free rubbing of body with stimulating liniment or 
 heated spirits. The third <langer arises principally from 
 weakness of the heart's action and albuminous deposits in 
 kidneys, the latter inviting uraraic poisoning, which causes 
 coma, convulsions and death. Electricity in both cases 
 will assist in removing the trouble.] 
 
 Diphtheria is decidedly contagious, and when one child 
 in a family is taken down with it, the rest should be re- 
 moved. 
 
 Earache. 
 
 Some children suifer exceedingly with pain in the ear, 
 but generally instant relief may be had by dropping into 
 the ear a little ether combined loiih almond oil, or apply- 
 r.'ig a small flannel bag, filled with salt heated, or a hog's, 
 bladder partially filled with hot water. A bladder is the 
 most effective instrument for applying moist heat, as it 
 adapts itself to all the little inequalities of the external ear. 
 
 Among the domestic remedies for earache is this : put 
 boiling water with a little soda or laudanum in it into a 
 27 
 
32G H03fE COMFOETS. 
 
 teapot^ and hokl tlie spout as near tlie car as can l)e en- 
 dured; keep a shawl or other covering around the head, 
 and over the teapot, so as to confine the steam. 
 
 Another remedy is to take the heart from a roasted 
 onion, cool it, and dip in sweet oil and laudanum, press 
 the onion slightly into the ear, and tie a handkerchief 
 around the head. Avoid all co/cZ applications. 
 
 Burns, Scalds, etc. 
 
 Molasses, carbolic acid, flour, or the white of an egg 
 well beaten' up in a tablesjioonful of lard, are good to re- 
 lieve the pain of a burn. For serious burns, tlie following 
 salve has proved excellent, curing without blistering, or 
 leaving a scar. 
 
 Take equal parts of turpentine, sweet-oil, beeswax ; 
 melt the oil and wax together, and when a little cool, 
 add the turpentine, and stir until cold ; apply by spreading 
 on thin cloth — linen is the best. This is also good for 
 chaps on hands or lips, or sore or cracked nipples. 
 
 To Cure Itching Feet from Frost Eites. 
 
 Take hydrochloric acid, one ounce; rain water, seven 
 ounces ; wash the feet with it two or three times daily, or 
 wet the socks with the preparation, until relieved. 
 
 Itch. 
 
 A quaint writer says, ''that about five dollars Avorth of 
 advertised ointment will help the itch wonderfully, but s^ 
 warm bath, a very coarse towel, and a few applications of 
 dry sulphur in powder, which will cost five cents, will cure 
 the trouble." 
 
 This may do for -the common or dirty itch, which comes 
 between the fingers, but for the regular Psora, or "seven 
 
CHILDBEN AND THEIR DISEASES. 327 
 
 years' itcli,'' which is much more common, even among 
 people of good circumstances, than most persons suppose, 
 nothing will succeed so well as rerf precipitate, in lard or 
 butter. Dr. Chase says the following ointment will cure 
 all cases of " the Itch," and also pimples, blotches, etc. : 
 
 Unsalted butter, one pound; Burgundy pitch, two 
 ounces ; spirits of turpentine, two ounces ; red precipitate 
 pulverized, one and one-quarter ounce ; melt the pitch, 
 and add the butter, stirring well together; then remove 
 from the fire, and when a little cool add the turpentine, 
 and lastly the precipitate, and stir until cold. 
 
 Dr. J. F. Bird, of Philadelphia, who has been remark- 
 ably successful in curing cutaneous diseases, uses for the 
 Itch the following ointment : Red precipitate, one ounce ; 
 Venice turpentine, half ounce ; simple cerate or unsalted 
 butter, one quarter pound. 
 
 Even tetterous affections are often readily cured, by the 
 application of this ointment. 
 
 Hiccough 
 
 Is generally of such a trivial nature as not to require in- 
 terference. But should it be severe, give four or five grains 
 of calcined magnesia, with a little syrup, and anise-seed 
 water. Hiccough may generally be traced to over-eating. 
 
 Scarlet Fever 
 
 Is one of those diseases that are very much dreaded when 
 they make their appearance in the household, though it is 
 by no means so fatal as is generally supposed. With 
 proper treatment and careful nursing there is really very 
 little danger to be apprehended from scarlet fever, unless 
 it be of the malignant type. In order to distinguish a 
 case of scarlatina from other eruptive diseases, as measles, 
 
328 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 erysipelas, etc., a Frencli physician has discovered a very 
 simple method ; that is, by drawing the back of the nail 
 or a penholder along the skin where the eruption is 
 situated ; and if a white line appears, or, in other words, if 
 the skin is observed to grow pale, and to present a white 
 trace which remains for one or two minutes or longer, then 
 disappears, that is scarlatina. 
 
 It was the opinion of Dr. Sydenham that scarlet fever 
 is oftentimes fatal " through the officiousness of the doctor ;" 
 and Dr. Chavassc says a truer remark Mas never made. 
 The following plan of treatment has proved successful in 
 so many cases, that, it is believed, if carefully observed, 
 any ordinary case of scarlet fever may be cured by it and 
 "without leaving any ill consequences behind. 
 
 1. For the first five or six days, keep the room cool, 
 thoroughly ventilated, and scant clothes on the bed. 
 
 2. Note carefully and warily when there is a change in 
 the temperature of the skin, and the patient feels chilly, 
 then instantly close the windows and put extra covering 
 on the bed 
 
 3. Apply to the throat a barm and oatmeal poultice, 
 changed three times a day, and give every four hours a 
 tablespoonful of the following mixture : 
 
 Diluted sulpliuric acid 1 drachm. 
 
 Simple syrup 1^ ounce. 
 
 Infu.sion of roses (rose leaves and boil- 
 ing water) 4^ ounces. 
 
 [The sulphuric acid in the mixture is regarded by some 
 physicians as a specific in scarlet fever as much as quinine in 
 ague.] 
 
 4. Administer no opening medicines for the first ten 
 
CHILDEEy AND THEIR DISEASES. 329 
 
 (lays at least ; and no leeches, blisters, emetics, spongings 
 or painting the tonsils with caustic. 
 
 5. Keep the patient on a low diet for the first few days, 
 but give cold water freely, 
 
 6. The patient must not leave the house in the summer 
 Under a month ; in the winter under six weeks. 
 
 [This is the plan of treatment recommended by Dr. 
 Chavasse, of Birmingham, England, who has written a 
 })aper on the Treatment of Scarlet Fever, which has been 
 witlely copied into medical journals, and as he claims to 
 liave been remarkably successful in his treatment, and the 
 subject is a very important one, we will give his directions 
 in full. He says : 
 
 Pray pay particular attention to my rules, and carry out 
 my directions to the very letter — as I can promise you that 
 if the scarlet fever be not malignant, the plan I am about 
 to recommend will, with God's blessing, be generally suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 What is the first thing to be done? Send the child to 
 bed ; throw open the windows, be it winter or summer, 
 and have a thorough ventilation ; for the bed-room must 
 he kept cool — I may say cold. Do not be afraid of fresh air, 
 for fresh air, for the first few days, is essential to recovery. 
 Fresh air and plenty of it, in scarlet fever, is the best doctor 
 a child can have; let these Avords be written legibly on 
 your mind. Take down the curtains of the bed, remove 
 the valance. 
 
 If it be summer time, let the child be only covered 
 with a sheet : if it be winter time, in addition to the sheet, 
 he should have one blanket over him. 
 
 Now for the Throat. — The best external application is 
 a barm and oatmeal poultice. How ought it to be applied 
 and how made? Put a half teacupful of barm into a 
 saucepan, put it on the fire to boil ; as soon as it boils take 
 
330 II031E COMFORTS. 
 
 it off the fire, and stir oatmeal into it, until it is of the 
 consistence of a nice soft poultice ; then place it on a rag 
 and apply it to the throat; carefully fasten it on with 
 bandage, two or three turns of tiie bandage going round 
 the throat, and two or three over the crown of the head, 
 so as nicely to ap])ly the poultice where it is wanted — that 
 is to say, to cover the tonsils. Tack the bandage ; do not 
 pin it. Let the poultice be changed three times a day. 
 The best medicine is the acidulated infusion of roses, 
 sweetened with syrup : diluted sulphuric acid, one drachm ; 
 simple syrup, one ounce and a half; infusion of roses, four 
 ounces and a half; let the infusion of roses be made 
 merely with the rose leaves and boiling water — a 
 tablespoonful to be given every foiu* hours. It is 
 grateful and refreshing, it is pleasant to take, it abates 
 fever and thirst, it cleans the throat and tongue of mucus 
 and is peculiarly efficacious in scarlet fever ; as soon as the 
 fever is abated it gives an appetite. My belief is that the 
 sulphuric acid in the mixture is a specijic in scarlet fever, 
 as much as quinine is in ague, and sulj)hur in itch. I 
 have reason to say so, for, in numerous cases, I have seen 
 its immense value. Now with regard to food. — If the 
 child be at the breast, keep him entirely to it. If he be 
 weaned, and under two years old, give him milk and water 
 and cold water to drink. If he be older, give him toast 
 and water, and plain Avater from the pump, as much as he 
 chooses ; let it be quite cold — the colder the better. Weak 
 black tea, or thin gruel, may be given, but not caring, 
 unless he be an infant at the breast, if he take nothing but 
 cold water. If the child be two years old and ujDwards, 
 roasted apples with sugar, and grapes will be very refresh- 
 ing, and will tend to cleanse both the mouth and the throat. 
 Avoid broths and stimulants of every kind. When the 
 appetite returns you may consider the patient to be safe. 
 The diet ought now to be gradually improved. Bread 
 
CHILDREN AND THEIR DISEASES. 331 
 
 and butter, milk and water, and arrow-root made with 
 equal parts of new milk and water, should for the first 
 two or three days be given. Then a light batter or rice 
 pudding may be added, and in a few days afterward, either 
 a little chicken or a mutton-chop. 
 
 The essential remedies, then, in scarlet fever, are, for 
 the first few days : (1) plenty of fresh air and ventilation ; 
 (2) plenty of cold water to drink; (3) barm poultices "to 
 the throat ; and (4) the acidulated infusion of roses' mixture 
 as a medicine. 
 
 Now, then, comes very important advice. After the first 
 five days, probably five or six, sometimes as early as the 
 fourth day, ivatch carefully and loarily, and note the time 
 the skin will suddenly become cool, the child will say that he 
 feels chilly ; now is the time you must change your tactics 
 — instantly close the windows, and put extra clothing, a 
 blanket or two, on his bed. A flannel night-gown should 
 be now worn next to the skin, until the dead skin has 
 peeled off, when it should be discontinued. The patient 
 ought, however, to wear in the daytime a flannel M^aistcoat. 
 His drinks must now be given with the chill off; he ought 
 to have a warm cup of tea, and gradually his diet should, 
 as I have previously recommended, be improved. There is 
 one important caution I wish to impress upon you : do not 
 give opening medicine during the time the eruption is out. 
 In all probability the bowels will be opened ; if so, all well 
 and good ; but do not, on any account, for the first ten days, 
 use artificial means to open them. It is my firm conviction, 
 that the administration of purgatives in scarlet fever is a 
 fruitful source of dropsy, of disease, and death. AVhen we 
 take into consideration the sympathy there is between the 
 skin and the mucous membrane, I think that we should 
 pause before giving irritating medicines, such as purgatives. 
 
332 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 The irritation of aperients on the raucous membrane may 
 cause the poison of the skin disease (for scarlet fever is a 
 blood poison) to be driven internally to the kidneys, to the 
 throat, to the pericardium (bag of the heart), or to the 
 brain. You may say. Do you not purge if the bowels be 
 not open for aw^eek? I say emphatically, No! I con- 
 sider my great success in the treatment of scarlet fever to 
 be partly owing to my avoidance of aperients during the 
 first ten days of the child's illness. If the bowels, after 
 the ten days, are not properly opened, a dose or two of the 
 following mixture should be given : take of simple syrup, 
 three drachms; essence of senna, nine drachms: to make 
 a mixture. Two teaspoonfuls to be given early in the 
 morning occasionally, and to be repeated in four hours, if 
 the first dose should not operate,] 
 
 These directions are plain, practical and based upon ex- 
 tensive experience in the treatment of scarlet fever ; but 
 there is one thing omitted, which physicians in Philadel- 
 phia regard as very important — and that is, to anoint the 
 body all over, two or three times daily, with some fatty 
 substance, as bacon or ham fat. This allays irritability, 
 and is found to be very beneficial to the patient. 
 
 The late Simon Gartland, of Philadelphia, was in the 
 habit, for many years, of distributing the following direc- 
 tions for use in cases of scarlet fever and typhus fever, 
 and said he never knew a death to occur when they were 
 followed : 
 
 Put one peck of charcoal in a furnace and burn the gas off 
 in the open air ; take it to the sick-room, and sprinkle over 
 it gradually about five pounds of common brown sugar ; 
 then sprinkle over this one gallon of cider vinegar. It 
 should be tried every day for three days to make it effec- 
 tual. Of course medical advice is required besides. 
 
CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 SLEEP AND ITS APPLIANCES. 
 
 " Tlie real cause of sleep lias been a matter of much gue'^sing and 
 speculation with medical men, and even very learned philosophers have 
 disagreed in opinion on the subject. Napoleon, whose genius seemed 
 capable of sei>;iiig every subject of contemplation with giant grasp, re- 
 marked, while distinguishing between sleep and death, that sleep was the 
 suspension of the volantary powers of man, and death was the suspension 
 of those that were involuntary ^ — Dii. GuNN. 
 
 F all medicines for the cure of most of life's ailments, 
 the best is sleep. It is what Shakspeare called it, 
 
 " The death of each day's life, sore labor's bath, 
 Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, 
 Chief nourisher in life's feast." 
 
 One-third of nearly every man's life is spent in sleep ; 
 and to many of the busy dwellers in cities, home has no 
 other meaning than a place in which to sleep. 
 
 Proper Time to Sleep. 
 
 In former times, it was supposed that six hours passed 
 in sleep were sufficient to recruit the wasted powers of 
 man ; but modern physiologists think eight hours little 
 enough for the majority of grown-up persons, especially 
 those whose nervous waste is great, whether occasioned by 
 anxieties in business or study. Children should be allowed 
 a larger quantity of sleep than adults, in proportion to their 
 
 333 
 
334 H03IE C03IF0RTS. 
 
 youth. Up to six or seven years of age, tliey require, in 
 winter, twelve hours ; in summer, an hour less. From 
 this age to fourteen or sixteen, nine or ten hours may be 
 allowed ; and so, gradually diminishing to the eight hours, 
 as above stated. Women are supposed to require more sleep 
 than men. This is only partly true. Those Avho have 
 the cares of a family, perhaps the duties of child-bearing 
 and nursing in addition to the routine of the household to 
 undergo, may take an hour extra with advantage; but 
 hidies in society, and young females employed in indoor 
 labor, frequently require less sleep than men. 
 
 As so nuich of our short lives is passed in bed, it be- 
 comes an important question for thrifty housekeepers to 
 know what kind of bed is best. There are writers on 
 hygiene who argue that to be healthy, a man should live 
 on " hard tack," and sleep on the soft side of a plank; but 
 the weight of authority is altogether in favor of 
 
 Luxurious Eeds. 
 
 In former times it was considered a great luxury to 
 possess a feather bed, and a straw tick laid upon a net- 
 work of cords ; but of late years, feathers have fallen 
 into disfavor ; though Dr. Strange, of London, still thinks 
 that the best bed that can be devised is a moderately-soft 
 feather bed, placed over a hair mattress in winter, and 
 under it in summer. But in cities, feathers are now nearly 
 discarded, and mattresses filled with wool, hair or other 
 materials are substituted in their stead. 
 
 A good icool mattress is at once the most costly and the 
 most desirable for all seasons. Curled hair ranks next to 
 wool or down, and is the substance of which most first-class 
 beds are made. IJnshs, pahi-Ieaf, and oah-splits, make beds 
 which are about alike in softness, and all equally whole- 
 
SLEEP AND ITS APPLIANCES. 335 
 
 some and durable. Spanish moss, which grows in loig 
 festoons upon most of the trees in extensive forests in the 
 Southern States, makes a better mattress, if well prepared, 
 than poor hair. For lower mattresses, corn kusJcs, Ger- 
 man grass, and beeeh leaves, are a very clean and durable 
 material. Probably there is no material which makes so 
 economical and at the same time so comfortable a bed as 
 husks, or " shucks," as they are sometimes called. They 
 have also the advantage of being very easily obtained ; so 
 that almost every housekeeper in the country can prepare 
 and make her own beds at a very small expense. Lyman 
 says, " the labor of children may be successfully employed 
 in sorting and splitting the shucks, and removing all ends 
 and fragments of the stalk that are found adhering. A 
 mattress needle may be purchased for twenty-five cents. 
 The cost of ten yards of ticking is from three to five dol- 
 lars, according to quality ; so that by labor that would 
 otlierwise be unproductive, or nearly so, and an expendi- 
 ture of about five dollars, almost any housekeeper can 
 readily produce a mattress comfortable, durable, new, fresh 
 and wholesome." 
 
 It must be admitted, however, that only wool and hair 
 mattresses make an entirely comfortable bed without either 
 springs beneath them or a softer substance above. The 
 ordinary spiral coils, which make the best springs, may be 
 obtained at any upholstery establishment, for about seventy- 
 five cents a dozen, and five dozen are sufficient for the 
 longest bed. A person moderately skilled in the use of 
 tools can bore the holes, and fasten them to the slats of an 
 ordinary bedstead. With proper usage, these springs will 
 last a lifetime. 
 
336 n03IE COMFOliTS. 
 
 Best Covering for Beds. 
 
 Tlie value of bed-clothing depends more on the quality 
 than the quantity of the articles used. The most satisfac- 
 tory covering for a bed in cold weather is a double rose- 
 blanket, thick and warm. No other substance will com- 
 pare with fine avooI, or comforter of down, in the jjroperty 
 of retaining warmth, and of feeling light and agreeable. 
 Blankets, however, to be comfortable and Avholesome, 
 must be frequently exposed to fresh air. Even those 
 made of the finest wool, if constantly used, without careful 
 airing, will cease to be the luxurious covering that they 
 are when new. When washed, they should be dried as 
 rapidly as possible, and the nap raised by going over 
 them with a fine and short toothed icool card. By this 
 means the newness of feeling may be retained in blankets 
 and other woollens, as long as they are worn, and their 
 warmth greatly increased. 
 
 With regard to sheets, the preference that so many 
 housekeepers show for linen sheets rather than cotton is 
 not, in the opinion of })hil'osophical Avriters, supported by 
 sound rules of health. Sheets of fine bleached cotton, cost- 
 ing not half as much as fine linen, are more comfortable 
 in cool weather, nearly as much so in warm : are washed 
 and ironed with greater facility, and are wholly unobjec- 
 tionable on sanitary considerations. Linen retains its 
 whiteness longer than cotton, is somewhat more durable, 
 and in the hottest weather is cool and soothing to the 
 touch. But for pillow-slips, linen is decidedly, and at all 
 times, preferable to muslin, being whiter, pleasanter to the 
 touch, smoother and more lasting. 
 
 When sheets are perfectly dried and laid away for the 
 ironing table, if sprigs of lavender or some other pleasant 
 
SLEEP AXD ITS APPLIANCES. 337 
 
 perfume, as little perfume-bags of powdered orris-root, are 
 laid between the folds, the luxury of tlie bed will be very 
 much increased. 
 
 Some writers on hygiene think horse-hair pillows much 
 more conducive to health than feathers, especially for chil- 
 dren, as they keep the head cooler. 
 
 How to Ventilate Sleeping ApartmentSt 
 
 So soon as the occupants have left the room, the bed- 
 clothes should be entirely removed from the bed, and hung 
 upon a clothes-horse or the backs of chairs, the bed shaken 
 up, and all curtains, if used, drawn closely to the balposts. 
 The windows should then be opened both at top and at 
 ])ottom. Dr. Strange, in his treatise on health, says: "I 
 find in warm weather, healthy people wish to dress with 
 the windows open, to enjoy the invigorating breeze: this 
 should not be done until the proper amount of friction 
 shall have braced the relaxed skin." 
 
 The windows should remain open in summer, or in very 
 fine weather, until a little before sunset ; in very sultry wea- 
 ther some outside air may be admitted all night. In winter 
 and early spring, windows should remain open until a little 
 after midday, when the warmth of the air is greatest, and 
 then close<^l. In this way the air of the best portion of the 
 day is shut in and reserved for respiration during the 
 night, when the external air is at the worst. When it is es- 
 sential, from the construction of the room or the number of 
 persons sleeping in it, a fire should be lighted for a few hours 
 during the afternoon, in very cold and damp weather, so as 
 to dry the air which has been shut in. This is the only way 
 in which the exhalations from the bed-elothing can be got 
 rid of in such a state of the atmosphere, and the sweetness 
 28 
 
338 HOME COMFOBTS. 
 
 and purity of the clothing and other materials, which are 
 kei)t in drawers and wardrobes, secured. 
 
 It sometimes happens that sleep is partial and fickle, 
 visiting " the ship-boy on the high and giddy mast," yet 
 denied to a king " with all appliances and means to boot;" 
 and it therefore is important to consult physiologists, to 
 learn 
 
 What can be Done to Induce Sleep. 
 
 The first rule they recommend is, to exclude the light 
 from acting on the tired retina of the eye, and, as much as 
 possible, noises or sounds from the ear, except such as are 
 of a low, monotonous character. Cold air must not blow 
 upon the face, or rush into the lungs to excite the circula- 
 tion ; and the warmth of the skin should be preserved 
 by an immovable layer of warm air in contact with it. 
 Second, with regard to the amount of warmth required to 
 be furnished by the bedding and bed-clothes, there is great 
 difference in the feelings of individuals. Whilst weight 
 of clothing is o})pressive to some and prevents sleep, 
 others are cold and uncomfortable without it. Invalids and 
 aged people should have fires in their bed-rooms ; and in 
 severe weather, fires should be kindled in bed-rooms gen- 
 erally, both to heat and to dry them. For tins purpose, it is 
 best to light them some hours before retiring to rest and 
 after the windows have been closed. They may then with 
 advantage be allowed to go out at, or soon after, bed-time, 
 except in very severe weather or in the case of very deli- 
 cate or invalid persons. Used in this way, there is no 
 weather when sleeping apartments may not be sufficiently 
 ventilated ; and in low or damp situations and the closer 
 part of towns, this is the only way in which pure air can 
 be secured during a considerable portion of the winter and 
 early spring. 
 
SLEEP AND ITS APPLIAXCES. 339 
 
 Thirdly. It is better to go to sleep on the right side 
 than the left ; for " then the stomach is very much in the 
 position of a bottle turned u])side-down, and the contents 
 are aided in passing out by gravitation. If one goes to 
 sleep on the left side, the operation of emptying the 
 stomach of its contents is more like drawing water from a 
 well. After going to sleep, let the body take its own posi- 
 tion. If you sleep on your back, especially soon after a 
 hearty meal, the weight of the digestive organs and that 
 of the food, resting on the great vein of the body near the 
 back-bone, compresses it and arrests the flow of the blood 
 more or less. If the arrest is partial, the sleep is dis- 
 turbed, and there are unpleasant dreams. If the meal is 
 more recent or hearty, the arrest is more decided, and the 
 various sensations, such as failing over a precipice or the 
 pursuit of a wild beast, or what is commonly called ' night- 
 mare,' attacks us ; and the desperate effort to get rid of it 
 arouses the sleeper." 
 
 Fourthly. The condition of the body exercises a great 
 influence, either good or evil, upon the chances of obtain- 
 ing sleep. When the feet are cold or damp on going to 
 bed, a refreshing sleep is impossible; therefore it is a good 
 plan to spend a few minutes, before going to bed, in dry- 
 ing and heating the feet before the fire, with the stockings 
 off. Indians and hunters, it has been observed, always 
 sleep with their feet towards the camp fire. 
 
 The condition of the stomach, also, has a great effect 
 upon the quality of the sleep. When the food is not being 
 properly digested, the sleep will be disturbed ; and some 
 physiologists recommend that persons should not try to 
 sleep until digestion has been completed. But too long 
 a time since the last food was taken should not be allowed 
 to elapse before bed-time, or the want of sustenance in the 
 
B40 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 system Avill cause, especially in weakly persons, a feeling 
 of exhaustion and sinking, which is antagonistic to sleep. 
 Many persons rest better after talcing a little supper a 
 short time before going to bed. Dr. Strange recommends 
 a cup of cocoa, with bread and butter, or a cupful of arrow- 
 root with a tablespoonful of brandy in it, to divert the 
 blood from the brain to the stomach. 
 
 Mr. Buckland, the son of the author of the " Bridge- 
 port Treatise," has given this subject considerable atten- 
 tion, and is in favor of sleeping after eating. He says 
 " I have no hesitation in saying that the proper thing to 
 do is to go to sleep immediately (or at least very soon) 
 after the meal of the day. All animals always go to sleep, 
 if they are not disturbed, after eating. This is especially 
 noticeable in dogs ; and the great John Hunter showed by 
 an experiment that digestion went on during sleep more 
 than when the animal was awake and going about. Tiiis 
 is his experiment: He took two dogs and gave them both 
 the same quantity of food. One of them was then allowed 
 to go to sleep ; tlie other was taken out hunting. At the 
 end of three or four hours, he killed both these dogs. The 
 food in the stomach of the dog which had been asleep was 
 quite digested ; in that of the one which had been hunting 
 the food was not digested at all. This fact, I think, shows 
 the advisability of going to sleep immediately after eating." 
 He condemns both tea and coffee as evening drinks; for 
 they stimulate the brain, and are therefore unfavorable to 
 rest, though he admits they " actually send some people 
 into sound slumber." 
 
 If the brain be overexcited by amusement, or important 
 business transacted in heated apartments, a stroll for a 
 half liour or more in the cool air will often calm the nerves 
 and promote sleep. 
 
SLEEP AND ITS APPLIANCES. 341 
 
 Professor Terrier, of King's College, London, "who has 
 made the phenomena of sleep a special study, recently said 
 in a lecture thereon, that anything which has a tendency 
 to abstract blood from the brain favors sleep. Exercise 
 does this, because the moment the weary muscles are at 
 rest the blood rushes to them to repair their loss, and is 
 absorbed by them. Digestion and hot drinks produce the 
 same result by drawing the blood supply from the brain 
 to the stomach. Conversely, anything that stimulates the 
 brain, such as sights, sounds, tliought or anxiety, will keep 
 a man awake. If we, therefore, wish for a refreshing 
 slumber, we must begin by avoiding care and anxiety and 
 take sufficient bodily exercise to induce the necessary mus- 
 cular exhaustion. 
 
 Fifthly, with regard to the use of narcotics, it may be 
 said, generally, that they should be used sparingly, or only 
 "with the concurrence of a physician. One of the best 
 medicines for this purpose is the syrup of lactucarium ; 
 though sometimes the effect is produced by Hoffmanns 
 anodyne. Hop tea is unobjectionable, and sleep may be 
 procured by laying the head on a hop-pillow, made from 
 hops heated and sprinkled with alcohol. Onions are also 
 soporific in their nature. Mr. Buckland, already quoted, 
 remarks : " I now venture to suggest a new but simple 
 remedy for want of sleep. Opiates in any form, even the 
 liquor opii sedat, and chloroform, will leave traces of their 
 influence the next morning. I therefore prescribe for 
 myself — ^and have frequently done so for others — onions ; 
 simply common onions raw, but Spanish onions stewed will 
 do. Everybody knows the taste of onions : this is due to a 
 peculiar essential oil contained in this most valuable and 
 healthy root. This oil has, I am sure, highly soporific powers. 
 In my own case they never fail. If I am much pressed with 
 
342 II02IE COMFORTS. 
 
 work, and feel I shall not sleep, I eat two or three small 
 onions,' and the effect is magical. Onions are also excellent 
 things to eat when much exposed to intense cold." 
 
 Franklin's Art of Procuring Sleep. 
 
 When you are awakened by uneasiness, and find you 
 cannot easily sleep again, get out of bed, beat up and turn 
 your pillow, shake the bedclothes well with at least twenty 
 shakes ; then throw the bed open and leave it to cool, in 
 the mean while continuing undressed ; walk about your 
 chamber, till your skin has had time to discharge its load, 
 which it will do sooner as the air may be drier and colder. 
 When you begin to feel the cold air unpleasant, then re- 
 turn to your bed and you will soon fall asleep, and your 
 sleep will be sweet and pleasant. All the scenes presented 
 by your fancy will be of a pleasing kind. I am often as 
 agreeably entertained with them as by the scenery of an 
 opera. If you happen to be too indolent to get out of bed, 
 you may, instead of it, lift up your bedclothes so as to 
 draw in a good deal of fresh air, and, by letting them fall, 
 force it out again. This, repeated twenty times, will so 
 clear them of the perspirable matter they have imbibed as 
 to permit your sleeping well afterward. But the latter 
 method is not equal to the former. 
 
 Those who do not love trouble, and can afford to have 
 two beds, Avill find great luxury in rising when they wake 
 in a hot bed and going into a cool one. Such shifting of 
 beds would be of great service to persons ill in fever, as it 
 refreshes and frequently procures sleep. A very large bed 
 that will admit a removal so distant from the first situa- 
 tion as to be cool and sweet, may, in a degree, answer the 
 same end. 
 
 These are the rules of the art ; and observing them, and 
 
SLEEP AND ITS APPLIANCES. 
 
 343 
 
 maintaining a conscience void of offence, one may realize 
 " that to be able to lie down at nights and fall to sleep 
 within ten minntes, and to know no dream or waking until 
 morning comes; and then to bound out of bed, full of 
 health, freshness and good humor, is a blessing well Avorthy 
 tlie warmest outgushings of a thankful heart towards Him 
 who giveth us all things richly to enjoy." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE ART OF PEOLOXGIXG LIFE. 
 
 "Acute theologists have shown tliat tlie clironology of tlie early ages 
 •was not the same as that used at present. Some, particuharly Heiisler, 
 have proved, with the highest probability, that the year till the time 
 of Abraham consisted only of three months ; that it was afterwards ex- 
 tended to eight ; and that it was not till the time of Joseph that it was 
 made to consist of twelve. These assertions are, in a certain degree, 
 confirmed by some of the eastern nations, who still reckon only three 
 months to the year; and besides, it would be altogether inexplicable 
 why the life of man «hould have been shortened one-half immediately 
 after the flood. It would be equally inexplicable why the patriarchs 
 did not marry till their sixtieth, seventieth, and even hundredth year; 
 but this difficulty vanishes when we reckon these ages according to the 
 before-mentioned standard, which will give the twentieth or tliirtieth 
 year; and consequently, the same periods at which people marry at 
 present. The whole, therefore, according to this explanation, assumes 
 a different appearance. The sixteen hundred years before the flood will 
 become four hundred and fourteen ; and the nine hundred years (the 
 highest record) which Methuselah lived, will be reduced to two hun- 
 dred, — an age which is not impossible, and to which some men in 
 modern times have nearly approached." — De. Hufeland. 
 
 'ROM the earliest ages, men have sought to discover 
 some means by which deatli may be averted and h'fe 
 may be prolonged. The favorite prescription of the 
 old Egyptian physicians to remove disorders from the 
 human system was a frequent emetic and to keep up perspira- 
 tion. "So general was this idea, that it became a custom 
 araon^- the people to address each other with 'How do you 
 344 
 
THE ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 345 
 
 sweat ? ' instead of ' How do you do ? ' The degree of 
 perspiration was supposed to indicate the state or degree 
 of health." In Greece and Rome, the physicians prescribed 
 pills and balsams, and the philosophers wrote in favor of 
 gymnastics, bathing, bodily friction, and temperance in 
 eating and drinking, as the best means of preserving health 
 and prolonging life. 
 
 Among the empirical ideas that have from time to time 
 had their advocates, was the belief that there are fountains 
 in some parts of the world that will renew the youth of 
 those who bathe in their waters. One of these was located 
 in the island of Negropont, in the Grecian Archipelago ; 
 another at Lefucaya, in Peru ; and Ponce de Leon reported 
 that he had discovered one of these priceless fountains in 
 Florida. In order to relieve persons from the necessity 
 of travelling to foreign countries to enjoy these waters, 
 physicians at different times have announced that they 
 had compounded some wonderful preparation from min- 
 eral, vegetable and animal substances, as the Stone of Fire, 
 the Quintessence of Ambergris and the Essence of Vipers — 
 which, if taken as they direct, would re-establish broken 
 constitutions, purify the blood, substitute new spirits, re- 
 animate those which were exhausted ; in short, restore youth 
 and give immortality. Paracelsus boasted that by his 
 " Mercury of Life " it was as easy for him to metamor- 
 phose an old man into a young one, as to change iron into 
 gold ; and yet the very man who promised to prolong the 
 life of others died at the early age of thirty-seven. 
 
 The average period of human life has considerably de- 
 clined since the days of Noah, when, and for several cen- 
 turies after, it was reckoned at 120 years; but there are 
 well-authenticated instances of individuals in modern 
 
346 II03IE COMFORTS. 
 
 times, who lived more than six-score years. In Great 
 Britain there are records containing the names of over 
 fifty persons who lived to be centenarians, some of them 
 by no means models of sobriety and abstemiousness, quite 
 the contrary ; and at least three of them lived for one 
 hundred and fifty and more years. 
 
 Francis Confit, a native of Yorkshire, England, 
 lived to be one hundred and fifty years okl, and retained 
 his senses to the last. No extended notice of his life has 
 been written, but it appears that he was temperate in his 
 living, that he used a great deal of exercise, and ate largely 
 of raw new-laid eggs. 
 
 Old Thomas Parr M-as one of the most notoble in- 
 stances of longevity in English history. He was born in 
 1483, and died in 1635, in the one hundred and fifty- 
 second year of his age. He was first married when he was 
 eighty-eight, and again at the age of one hundred and 
 twenty; and when he was one hundred and forty-five, he 
 was able to run races, thrash out grain, and accomplish 
 almost any kind of laborious work. He was accustomed 
 to eat at night as well as in the daytime, but always of the 
 plainest food. His body was covered with hair; and of 
 him it was written : 
 
 " From head to heel, his body liail all over, 
 A quick set, thick set, nat'ral hairy cover," 
 
 Henry Jenkins, though less known than Parr, it ap- 
 pears was the longest-lived Englishman of whom there is 
 any reliable record. He was born in Yorkshire, on the 
 17th of May, 1500, and died in 1670, in his one hundred 
 and seventieth year. He was the son of a market gar- 
 dener, and in his early years assisted his father as a fruit- 
 grower. He rose early, drank a half pint of water every 
 
THE ART OF PBOLONGING LIFE. 347 
 
 morning before breakfast, and lived simply; his food 
 consisting principally of cold meats and salads. Following 
 the directions of his mother, he always continued the use 
 of flannel and warm clothing which had been commenced 
 in infancy. When hops were introduced into England 
 from Flanders, he became interested in the manufacture 
 of beer, and drank a moderate portion of that beverage 
 every day. 
 
 In his youth he was crossed or disappointed in a love- 
 affair, which gave him a distaste for marriage, but not for 
 the fair sex ; for it is recorded, that in his hundredth year 
 he became involved in a " woman scrape," for which he 
 was severely lectured by the minister of the parish, " and 
 nothing but his age excused him from doing penance." 
 
 When Jenkins was in his hundred and sixtieth year, 
 Charles II. heard of him, and sent a carriage to convey 
 him to London. He, however, declined the carriage, 
 though he accepted the invitation, and actually walked to 
 the metropolis in easy stages — a distance of two hundred 
 miles. On his arrival in London, he was introduced to 
 the King, and by him to the Queen, who, among other 
 questions, asked him, " Well, my good man, may I ask of 
 you, what you have done in the long period of life granted 
 you, more than any other man of shorter longevity?" 
 The old man, looking the Queen in the face, with a low 
 bow, naively replied, " Indeed, madam, I know of nothing 
 greater than becoming a father when I was over a hundred 
 years old." He was allowed a pension, which he enjoyed 
 the remainder of his life. 
 
 It is a remarkable circumstance that very little addition 
 has been made to our knowledge of the best means of pre- 
 serving health and prolonging life, by modern discoveries; 
 
348 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 and that some of the best books on the subject are more 
 than a century old. One of the early writers on health 
 and regimen was Comiers, a learned Italian, who obliged 
 the world by publishing rules for a long life ; some of 
 which, like the following, cannot even at this day be im- 
 proved upon : 
 
 One should eat to live, and never eat to Satiety. 
 
 One should act in every thing with Moderation to Keep the Body in 
 a reasonable Activity. 
 
 One should live chastely, if one would live long. 
 
 One must abstain from eating different Meats, and drinking several 
 sorts of Drink at the same Repast, lest the heterogeneous Juices hurt 
 the stomach by their contrary Qualities. 
 
 One must chew perfectly wliat one eats. Mastication is the first Diges- 
 tion ; it is performed by the acid Humor which issues out of the Salival 
 Glands near the eye-teeth. 
 
 At Meals one should eat alternately moist things after dry, fat after 
 lean, sweet after sour, and cold after hot, to the end that one may be cor- 
 rective of the other. 
 
 In an extraordinary Sweat one should not be uncovered in the least ; 
 and one should walk moderately when one is heated, for fear of catching 
 cold, drinking then a little wine, but no water, unless first warmed, and 
 that too drop by drop, to avoid Pleurisy or Rheumatism. 
 
 After coming out of bed, one should never go to look out of the win-, 
 dow, no more than to run to the Fire immediately coming out of the 
 Cold ; because every sudden change is dangerous. 
 
 One should eat very little of new Fruits at one time, that the Stomach 
 may be accustomed thereto by degrees, and may also be freed from Fer- 
 mentations whence proceed most dangerous Fevers. 
 
 One should sleep not only with the eyelids, but even lay our thoughts 
 asleep likewise; which will never be the happy lot of those wlio use 
 Wine immoderately, and Liquors composed of Brandy and (wliat is 
 much worse) Spirit of Wine. 
 
 One should Sweat three times in the year, in Autumn, Winter, and 
 the Spring, and be rubbed twice a week, at least, with hot cloths to excite 
 Transpiration, so necessary for Life. 
 
 If one has a bad stomach, one must keep Diet for 24 hours, and walk 
 
THE ABT OF PROLONGING LIFE. 319 
 
 in the open Air, to reanimate the natural Heat, loaded with too much 
 nutritive Juice. 
 
 Diet and Sweating are a Species of universal Medicine, capable of pre- 
 serving^our bodies, and to acquire a long Life. Diet restores appetite ; the 
 Appetite moderately contented, augments Strength ; Strength contributes 
 to Health ; and Health bestows Life. Sweating disperses ill Humours, 
 and eases Obstructions, whence proceed all our Distempers. 
 
 Near the close of the last century, a book was written 
 by a German physician, a professor in the University of 
 Jena, on the Art of Prolonging Life, which is remarkable 
 from the fact that it contains about all that more modern 
 writers have said pertinent to the subject. Its English 
 editor, Erasmus Wilson, remarks : " The reader will be 
 struck with the little real progress which has been made 
 in the science of living, during more than half a century 
 since the original work was first written." A brief digest 
 of this important treatise will appropriately close this 
 volume. 
 
 What Shortens Life. 
 
 In the first place, in order to prolong life, it is necessary 
 to avoid all those things that tend to shorten life. Of these 
 the principal are, Delicate nursing and treatment in infancy, 
 as keeping the infant from every breath of air, burying it 
 in pillows and blankets, and at the same time stuffing it 
 with food ; physical excess in youth, especially indulgence 
 in physical love at an immature age ; overstrained exertion 
 of the mental faculties, as thinking hard, and neglecting 
 bodily exercise, or curtailing sleep ; using artificial means 
 to stimulate the mind, as wine, coffee, and snuff; studying 
 in a confined air and in a bent posture (students should 
 accustom themselves to study lying down, standing, walk- 
 ing, not always in the closet, but sometimes in the open air) ; 
 diseases, and the injudicious manner of treating them, as 
 29 
 
350 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 taking food wlien there is no appetite, and stiniulatip.g 
 drinks in feverish disorders ; excluding tlie air in scarlet 
 fever and small-jiox; neglecting cokls ; and especially neg- 
 lecting to regulate the bowels, which is the cause of three- 
 fourths of all the ailments that afflict humanity ; impure 
 air ; eating too 7nuch, and improperly, as eating until one 
 experiences a heaviness or fullness of the stomach, yawning, 
 and confusion of the head ; and eating highly-spiced or 
 highly-concentrated food, and drinking spirituous liquors; 
 fear, as fear of thunder, fear of ghosts, and fear of death ; 
 idleness, inactivity and languor ; no idler ever attained to 
 a great age, and regular employment is favorable to health ; 
 overstrained pjoiver of the imagination, as constant fear and 
 dread of diseases, by reading of their symptoms or indul- 
 gence in imaginary sorrows from reading sentimental nov- 
 els; exposure to j)oisons and infectious diseases ; and, lastly, 
 engrafting old age on yoidh, by wasting the vital power 
 profusely, by exposure to great fatigue early in life, as 
 taking long journeys, continual dancing, sitting up all 
 night, or by indulging in care, fear and sorrow, and 
 especially by attempting to harden the oi'gans by means of 
 cold bathing, indulged in frequently and for a long time in 
 cold water. *' Nothing," says Dr. Hufeland, "can be more 
 proper to produce every symptom of age." 
 
 What Prolongs Life. 
 
 Secondly, in order to prolong life, it is necessary to adopt 
 those means and observe those precautions Avhich promote 
 health and physical vigor. Of these, the principal are 
 proper care, nursing and feeding in infancy ; an active and 
 laborious youth free from indulgences that weaken the 
 system ; a hapjiy marriage ; not less than six nor more than 
 eight hours sleej) in well-ventilated apartments, free from 
 
THE ART OF FEOLONGIXG LIFE. 351 
 
 poisonous exhalations, whetlier of ])]ants or of animals ; 
 exercise in the free air ; occasional journeys and excursions, 
 avoiding travelling in the night-time ; cleanliness and care 
 of the skin, washing in cold Avater frequently, taking tepid 
 baths occasionally, and sea-baths when practicable; and 
 wearing flannel next the skin the greater part of the year ; 
 using jjroper food in moderation, and preserving the teeth 
 to chew it well; cultivating a contented, hopeful, even 
 joyful, disposition ; guarding against diseases, especially 
 those to which one is constitutionally disposed ; and a 
 knowledge of the proper remedies to employ in case of 
 danger of sudden death, as from drowning, suifocation, 
 poisoning or being struck by lightning. 
 
 What to do in Cases of Suffocation. 
 
 In all cases of danger of death from suffocation, as 
 drowning or hanging, be as expeditious as possible to draw 
 the body from the water or to cut the rope ; in a word, to 
 remove the cause of death. This alone is sufficient to save 
 the unfortunate person, if it be done speedily ; but atten- 
 tion to that point is too much neglected. 
 
 2d. The body should be immediately stripped, and every 
 endeavor should be made as speedily as possible to excite 
 in it a general warmth. Heat is the first and most general 
 stimulus of life. The same means which Nature employs 
 to quicken life in the beginning are also the most power- 
 ful to restore animation. The best thing for that 
 purpose is the tepid bath ; but if this cannot be had, the 
 patient may be covered with warm sand, ashes, or thick 
 blankets in a bed ; and hot stones should be applied to 
 various parts of the body. Without these means, all others 
 will be of little avail ; and it is much better to warm 
 thoroughly persons apparently dead, than to use cupping. 
 
352 HOME COMFOETS. 
 
 friction or the like, and at the same time to suffer them to 
 become stiff with cold. 
 
 3d. To convey air into the lungs is the next process in 
 point of importance, and may be connected with the ex- 
 citation of heat. It is, indeed, most beneficial when it is 
 done with oxygen gas by means of a pipe and a pair of 
 bellows. But in urgent cases, and to save precious time, 
 it will be sufficient if one presses on the chest so as to 
 expel the air Avhich it contains, and then by its withdraw- 
 ing the pressure, allows it to expand by its own elasticity, 
 and thus fill the lungs with air. This should be done 
 with regularity, so as to imitate ordinary breathing. 
 
 4th. Let fall now and then, from a certain height, drops 
 of frigid water or wine on the pit of the stomach. This 
 sometimes has given the first stimulus to restore the motion 
 of the heart. 
 
 5th. Rub with a cloth or a flesh-brush the hands, 
 soles of the feet, the belly and the back ; irritate the sensi- 
 ble parts of the body, such as the soles of the feet and 
 hollow of the hands, by friction with stimulating oils ; the 
 nose and throat by means of a feather, or by holding to 
 the nostrils and dropping on the tongue volatile spirit of 
 ammonia, etc. 
 
 6th. As soon as signs of life begin to appear, pour a 
 spoonful of good wine into the mouth ; and Avhen the 
 patient swallows it, repeat the same thing often. In cases 
 of necessity brandy may be used, but mixed with two- 
 thirds of water. 
 
 To Eestore those Struck by Lightning-, 
 For those who have been struck by lightning, the earth 
 bath is to be recommended. The body may be either laid 
 with the mouth open, against a spot of earth newly dug up. 
 
 I 
 
THE ABT OF PBOLONGING LIFE 353 
 
 or fresh earth may be scraped around it up to the neck. If 
 tliese simple means, which every one can and ought to use 
 in behalf of his fellow-man, when exposed to the danger 
 of sudden death, be speedily employed, they will be of 
 more service than anything science can suggest, if applied 
 half an hour later; and at any rate the intermediate time 
 will not be entirely lost, and the feeble vital spark may be 
 prevented from being totally extinguished. 
 
 To Eestore those who have been Frozen. 
 These require a mode of treatment entirely different; 
 for by warmth they would be destroyed altogether. 
 Nothing further is to be done than to immerse them in 
 snow up to the head ; or to place them in a bath of the 
 coldest water that can be procured without being frozen. 
 Then life will return of itself; and as soon as any signs of 
 it appear, give the patients a little warm tea or wine, and 
 put them to bed. 
 
 Antidotes for Poisoning. 
 
 The third class includes those who have been poisoned. 
 It is here to be observed, that we are in possession of two 
 invaluable remedies, says the doctor, which may be every- 
 where found, and which require no previous acquaint- 
 ance with medicine — I mean milk and oil. By the help of 
 these only, the most dreadful of all the kinds of jDoisoning, 
 that by arsenic, has been cured. Both of them answer the 
 principal object, which is to expel the poison or to destroy 
 its power. Let persons, therefore, who have been poisoned, 
 drink as much milk as they can (if it in part comes up 
 again, so much the better) ; and let them, every quarter of 
 an hour, take a cupful of oil of any sort ; for it is all the 
 same whether it be oil of linseed, almonds, poppies, or 
 
354 HOIIE COMFORTS. 
 
 common oil. If it be known with certainty tliat the poison 
 is arsenic, corrosive sublimate, or any other metallic salt, 
 dissolve soap in water, and let the patient swallow it. 
 This will be sufficient till a physician arrive, and will often 
 render his assistance unnecessary. 
 
 Among the modern theories for the prolongation of 
 human life, which have been advanced by modern writers, 
 that seem worthy of attention, are those of Drs. Bostwick 
 and Hall, and George Catlin. 
 
 Homer Bostwick, of New York, has written a book 
 to demonstrate that the cause of "Natural Death," or 
 death from old age, is an obstructed circulation of the 
 blood ; and the direct cause of this obstruction is the pres- 
 ence of earthy inorganic matter, derived originally from 
 food and drink. His grand secret for preserving health, 
 activity and life, therefore, is to diminish the necessity, so 
 far as possible, for eating and drinking, and to select from 
 different kinds of food those which contain the least solid 
 earthy matter. According to his analysis of articles of 
 diet, common table salt, Indian corn, spices, wheat flour, 
 and beans, contain the largest proportion of the matter 
 which ossifies and chokes up the system, while eggs, cheese, 
 cabbage, and greens in general, turnips, carrots and onions 
 contain very little ; and grapes, oranges, apples and fruits 
 generally, scarcely any at all.* He thinks he has brought 
 
 * Grapes are very conducive to the fact will be surprised to be told, 
 
 health, not only in consequence of the aged whose hands and other 
 
 being free from earthy matter, " but parts of the body are much dried up 
 
 they possess the power of thinning will rapidly become soft, and the 
 
 the blood and gently stimulating it little vessels that have for years been 
 
 and causing it to be sent througli closed will reappear, as also will the 
 
 all the countless capillary vessels, fine vessels of the cheeks again put 
 
 And those who liave never observed on the hue of youth ; the appetite 
 
THE ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 355 
 
 forward facts that will prove incontestably that In propor- 
 tion as individuals, classes, or even nations, subsist upon 
 aliment containing the smallest proportion of earthy 
 elements, so do they prevent or retard the process of consoli- 
 dation, maintain a state of health and activity, and prolong 
 existence. "As long," he says, " as we can supply fuel to 
 the fire and keep it free from the ashes, it will continue 
 to burn. If this can be done for one hundred or a thou- 
 sand ages, the fire will continue to warm and enliven for 
 that period ; so, in the same manner, if we can supply the 
 body with proper food, and keep it free from earthy 
 matter — the ashes which choke it up — will it continue to 
 live. Time, or the number of years, has nothing whatever 
 to do with old age or death." 
 
 The late Dr. Hall, of New York, laid great stress on 
 the posture of the human body in walking, as aifecting the 
 health and longevity of mankind. He says, walking with 
 the head downward, or with a staff or cane, promotes a 
 stooping position and brings on an appearance of old age 
 prematurely, not only by the effects upon the structure of 
 the spinal column, but by throwing the weight of the body 
 on the chest, thus compressing the lungs, and diminishing 
 their capability of receiving an adequate quantity of pure air, 
 thus gradually purifying the blood less and less perfectly, 
 until the whole mass of it becomes imperfect, impure and 
 diseased ; then slight causes carry a man to the grave. An 
 absolute preventive of all this is an habitual, persistent 
 attention to the following rules : 
 
 Walk with the toes thrown outward. 
 
 will improve, the bowels will be- follow those who eat plentifully of 
 come regular, elasticity of limb and good grapes. The old man will 
 a more buoyant spirit are sure to again become young i 
 
356 HOME COMFOETS. 
 
 Walk with the cliin slightly above the horizontal line, 
 as if looking at the top of a man's hat in front of you, or 
 at the eaves or roof of a house. 
 
 Walk a good deal with your hands behind you. 
 
 Sit with the lower portion of your spine pressed against 
 the eh air- back. 
 
 Geoege Catlin, who for many years resided among 
 the Indian tribes, in North and South America, became 
 so much impressed with the conviction that he had made an 
 important discovery in the art of prolonging life, that he 
 issued a pamphlet in script, entitled " The Breath of Life, 
 a manugraph." He observed that Indian mothers, be- 
 fore transferring their infants from the arms to the crib 
 or plank, pressed the lips tightly together and placed under 
 the head a small curved cushion or pillow just high enough 
 to elevate or bow the head a little forward, so that the 
 mouth would not fall open during sleep ; thus establish- 
 ing in infancy the habit of breathing through the nostrils. 
 He ascertained that the Indian men, when they wished to 
 express contempt for another, said he was a man who kept 
 his mouth open.* He noticed that the Indians of all ages 
 were exempt from most of the diseases that afflict civilized 
 humanity, especially asthma, bronchitis, quinsy, croup, and 
 other throat and lung diseases, and had good teeth and 
 well-shaped mouths ; and these considerations led him to 
 reflect that the nostrils were made to convey air to the 
 
 *A Sionx brave, who had gone lie liad not felt afraid of a white 
 
 out to figlit a duel with knivt's, man who was so much stronger and 
 
 and no quarter, with a Hudson Bay larger tlian himself — replied: "I 
 
 trader, who was physically his never fear harm from a man who 
 
 superior, was asked, after a recon- don't keep his mouth shut, no matter 
 
 ciiiation had been eflected, whether how large or how strong he may be." 
 
THE ART OF PROLONGING LIFE. 357 
 
 lungs which is their food, while the mouth was made to 
 select and masticate food for the stomach. The more he 
 reflected upon his discovery, the more he became convinced 
 of its importance, until he believed that if mankind would 
 walk and sleep with their mouths shut, not only would 
 snoring in a great measure be abolished, but consumption 
 would become a comparatively rare disease, and men could 
 walk unharmed through epidemics of cholera and yellow- 
 fever. Finally, he says, " If I were to endeavor to be- 
 queath to posterity the most important motto which human 
 language can convey, it should be in three words — 
 
 ' Shut — your— mouth.' " 
 
 There are, undoubtedly, the elements of important truths 
 in these suggestions ; and thousands of men would greatly 
 prolong their lives by keeping their bowels open, their 
 heads up, and their mouths shut, even if they did not ob- 
 serve that other rule, which is, in sleeping the head should 
 always be towards the north. 
 
 How the Old may become Older. 
 
 Passing on to those means by which people, already 
 old, may prolong their life, Dr. Plufeland prescribes the 
 following rules: 
 
 1st. As the natural heat of the body decreases in old 
 age, one must endeavor to support and increase it exter- 
 nally as much as possible. Warm clothing, warm aj^art- 
 mcnts and beds, heating nourishment, and, when it can be 
 done, removal to a warmer climate, are all means, therefore, 
 that contribute greatly to the prolongation of life. 
 
 2d. The food must be easy of digestion, rather fluid 
 than solid; abundant in concentrated nourishment; and 
 at the same time much more stimulating than would be 
 
358 HOME COMFOETS. 
 
 advisable at an earlier period. Warm, strong, and well- 
 seasoned soups are therefore benefit-ial to old age ; and also 
 tender roast meat, nutritive vegetables, good nourishing 
 beer, and, above all, oily generous wine, free from acid, 
 earthy and watery particles, etc., such as Tokay, Spanish, 
 Cyprus and Cape wines. Wine of this kind is one of the 
 most excellent stimulants of life, and that best suited to old 
 age. It does not inflame, but nourishes and strengthens : 
 it is milk for old people. 
 
 3d. The tepid bath is exceedingly well calculated to 
 increase the natural heat, to promote excretion, particu- 
 larly of the skin, and to lessen the aridity and stiffness of 
 the whole frame. 
 
 4th. Guard against all violent evacuations, such as let- 
 ting blood, unless when required b}' particular circum- 
 stances; strong purging, exciting perspiration by too much 
 heat, indulging in excesses of any kind. These exhaust 
 the few powers still remaining, and increase aridity. 
 
 5th. People, with increasing years, should accustom 
 themselves more and more to a certain order in all the 
 vital operations. Eating, drinking, motion and rest, the 
 evacuations and employment, must have their determined 
 periods and successions. Such mechanical order and regu- 
 larity at this season of life may contribute greatly to the 
 prolongation of it. 
 
 6th. The body, however, must have exercise, but not 
 violent or exhausting. That which is rather passive will 
 be the best, such as riding in a carriage, and frequent 
 friction of the whole skin, fur which sweet-scented and 
 strong ointments may be employed with great advantage, 
 in order to lessen the rigidity of the skin and to preserve 
 it in a state of softness. Violent bodily shocks must in 
 particular be avoided. 
 
THE AET OF PBOLONGINQ LIFE. 3^9 
 
 7th. A pleasant frame of mind, and agreeable employment 
 for it, are also of uncommon utility; but violent passions, 
 which disturb equanimity and which in old age may occasion 
 instant death, ought to be avoided. That serenity and 
 contentment which are excited by domestic felicity, by the 
 pleasant review of a life spent not in vain, and by a con- 
 soling prospect of the future even on this side the grave, 
 are the most salutary. The frame of mind best fitted and 
 most beneficial to old age is that produced by intercourse 
 with children and young people. Their innocent pastimes 
 and youthful frolics have something which tend, as it were, 
 to renovate and revive. Plope, and extending our views 
 of life, are especially valuable assistants for this purpose. 
 New proposals, new plans and undertakings, which, how- 
 ever, must be attended with nothing dangerous, or that 
 can create uneasiness, in a word, the means of continuing 
 life longer in idea, may even contribute something towards 
 the physical prolongation of it. We find, therefore, that 
 old people are impelled to this as if by internal instinct. 
 They begin to build houses, to lay out gardens, etc., and 
 seem in this little self-deception, by w^hich they imagine 
 they secure life, to find an uncommon degree of pleasure. 
 
 Such is, in brief, an abstract or digest of the rules pre- 
 scribed by doctors, for the prolongation of human existence. 
 
 But there comes a time for all men, when the wisdom 
 of the wisest piiilosophers and the skill of the most skilful 
 physicians will avail nothing to prolong life. We may 
 bar the doors for many years against the arch-enemy who 
 rides on the passing breeze and " lurks in every flower," 
 but sooner or later he effects an entrance into every habi- 
 tation and robs every human being of what most persons 
 would give all else that they possess to retain. What 
 
360 HOME COMFORTS. 
 
 Death is, except it be the permanent cessation of all the 
 vital functions, the disintegration of tlie minute cells com- 
 posing the human body, no one certainly knows; and 
 \vhether natural death be painless or the extremest agony, 
 no one who has undergone the ordeal has ever returned to 
 tell us (though the few who have been resuscitated, when 
 almost dead, have described their last sensations of con- 
 sciousness as delightful); but we do know, from the records 
 of many death-beds, that a child-like faith in the promises 
 of the gospel, a belief that the tomb is but a tunnel through 
 which it is necessary to pass in order to reach the mansion 
 in the skies prepared for us by our heavenly Father, will 
 deprive death of its terrors and the grave of a victory. 
 "When the blood courses through the veins in riotous, 
 vigorous health, we may indulge in the luxury of skepti- 
 cism, we may propound questions that the most learned 
 theologians cannot answer, and then mock at their per- 
 plexity; but when we see the ghostly finger beckoning to 
 us from the firther shore of the mysterious river, we in- 
 stinctively grasp at the hand of religion as tiie only pilot 
 that can carry us safely over. So, dear reader, when the 
 dread summons comes, as it will come sooner or later, may 
 you have the consciousness not only that you have used 
 this world wisely and contributed something for the com- 
 fort of others, but that you have also secured a well- 
 founded hope of happiness in the eternal \vorld, and thus, 
 
 " Sustained and soothed 
 
 By an unfaltering trust, approach tliy grave 
 Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch 
 About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Acid, hydrochloric, 225; hydrocyanic, 321 ; sulphuric, 330. 
 
 Ague, proper treatment for, 271 ; whiskey a novel remedy for, 272 ; how 
 
 to prevent fever and, 273. 
 Alcohol, uses of, as a medicine, 300. 
 Ammonia, a remedy for bites of insect? 2G4; should be kept in every 
 
 house, 301. 
 Ants, how to expel and destroy, 263. 
 Apples, machines for paring, 75 ; how to preserve, 95 ; how to thaw, when 
 
 frozen, 95 ; an excellent dish of, 197. 
 Apple sauce, the garnish for roast pork, 175; an improved, 197. 
 Art of prolonging life, chapter on, 344. 
 Asthma, remedies for, 271 ; preventive of, 356. 
 
 Bacon, points in good, 88; fried rashers of, 144; how to boil, 171; 
 how to extract salt from, 171 ; bacon-fat prevents pitting in small- 
 pox, 295. 
 
 Bain mari^, a useful utensil, 172. 
 
 Baldness, remedies for, 247. 
 
 Bathing, cold, injurious to health, 350 ; in the sea, 351 ; tepid, beneficial 
 to old persons, 358. 
 
 Bass, how to cook, 97. 
 
 Beans, new method of shelling, 69 ; nutriment in, 137 ; how to cook, 138. 
 
 Beds, luxurious, recommended, 334 ; best coverings for, 336. 
 
 Bedding, airing of, in sickness, 267; shaking up, induces sleep, 337. 
 
 Bed-bugs, how to exterminate, 262. 
 
 Bedrooms, proper size of, 47. 
 
 Bedsteads, different kinds of, 59. 
 
 30 361 
 
362 INDEX. 
 
 Beef, how to choose, 81 ; how divided, 81-83; most economical pieces to 
 
 buy, 83; for roasting, 83 ; analysis of, 12-4; best parts of corned, 143; 
 
 beef-stew an economical dish, 144 ; what may be done with cold, 
 
 146 ; how to roast, English style, 180-182. 
 Beef's liver, how to distinguish good, 84. 
 Beef's heart, an economical food, 84 ; how to roast, 145. 
 Beefsteaks, how to broil, 152 ; fungi equal to, 149 ; Macbeth's recipe for 
 
 broiling, 152; should look well on the table, 156; how to broil, 
 
 Wakefield style, 184. 
 Beef's tongue a great delicacy, 84. 
 Benzine will extract grease from marble, 61. 
 Bills of fare, for the sick, 176 ; for young children, 177 ; for sedentary 
 
 persons, 177; of food containing brain-making elements, 178; 
 
 costly, 207 ; of a dinner for twelve persons, 208. 
 Birthmarks, how to eradicate, 246. 
 Black eyes from bruises, remedies for, 275. 
 Bleeding from the nose, a cure for, 274; from the lungs, 274. 
 Blood, food best purifier of the, 274, 
 Boiling meats, points in, 151. 
 Boots and shoes, suggestions on buying, 222 ; how to preserve, 223 ; to 
 
 cure squeaking, 223 ; whiskey in, a preventive of ague, 272. 
 Borax, value of, in washing clothes, 237 ; will drive away roaches, 261. 
 Brains, developed by certain kinds of food, 178. 
 Breath, causes of bad, 254 ; how to sweeten, 254 ; best toilet preparation 
 
 for, 254. 
 Bread, how to make good family, 158-163 ; how to make stale, fresh, 164 ; 
 
 how to keep, 164; various uses of, dough, 164 ; an elegant, pudding, 
 
 196. 
 Bread and milk, best metliod of preparing, 309. 
 Breakfast, importance of a substantial, 39 ; standard dishes for, 177 ; a 
 
 nice dish for, 197. 
 Breasts, how to reduce, 242; how to enlarge, 243. 
 Broiling, secret of, 152. 
 Brooms, how to preserve, 67. 
 Broth, the foundation of cookery, 72 ; Blot's recipe for making French 
 
 beef, 166. 
 Bunions, cures for, 260. 
 Bureaus, depth of drawers in, 59. 
 Burns, admirable remedies for, 120, 326, 
 Butter, how to make drawn, 176. 
 
INDEX. 3G3 
 
 Cabbage, how to keep, 94 ; how to boil, 151 ; with milk, to render 
 
 digestible, 171. 
 Cake, recipe for making the national French, 200 ; imperial southern, 
 
 201 ; Baltimore tea, 201 ; southern waffles, 201. 
 Candles, improved by age, 102. 
 Cambric tea, how to make, 309. 
 Carpets, points in buying, 64 ; large patterns in, objectionable, 65 ; how to 
 
 make cheap, 64 ; Brussels, the best, 65 ; economical way of laying, 
 
 65 ; in bedrooms, 65 ; how to sweep, 66 ; how to destroy moths in, 
 
 67 ; to clean and brighten Brussels, 67. 
 Calves' heads, how to buy, 85. 
 Calves' feet, how to judge, 85. 
 Calves' sweetbreads a delicacy, 85. 
 Cauliflowers, points in good, 93. 
 Ceilings should be only moderately high, 47. 
 Celery, how to choose, 93 ; how to preserve, 94 ; the garnish for boiled 
 
 turkey, 75. 
 Chairs, faults in construction of, 57; for drawing and dininsj rooms, 58; 
 
 for bedrooms, 59 ; how to clean and tighten cane-seat, 62. 
 Charles II., interview of, with Jenkins, 347. 
 Charcoal, value of, 105. 
 Cheerfulness promotes digestion, 42. 
 Cheese, how to judge, 102; how to make macaroni, 169. 
 Chilblain.s, remedies for, 276. 
 Children and their diseases, 305. 
 Chimneys, best form of. 47. 
 China, how to cement broken, 63. 
 Chocolate, points about, 174. 
 Cholera, how to escape, 277, 357. 
 
 Cinders, how to remove from grates, 110 ; value of, 112. 
 Cinder-sifters, economy of, 77. 
 Clams, how to judge fresh, 97 ; best recipe for making, chowder, 193 ; 
 
 best method of baking clams, 193, 
 Closets should be numerous, 49. 
 Cloth, to extract grease from, 63 ; points in buying, 217 ; how to cleanse 
 
 broadcloth, 221 ; to render, waterproof, 222. 
 Clothing, chapter on, 216; for children, suggestions on, 218; on men's, 
 
 219-221 ; how to treat wet, 221 ; suggestions on women's, 223; of 
 
 infnnts, 314. 
 Clothes lines, protection for, 78. 
 
 Coal, how to judge good, lOS ; how to kindle a, fire, 109; economical use 
 of, 110; waste in burning, 111 ; how to measure, 112. 
 
364 INDEX. 
 
 Coffee, liow to buy advantageously, 101 ; how to keep, 101 ; substitutes for, 
 
 148 ; novel mode of making, 172 ; Turkish method of making, 172. 
 Coffee-pots, best kinds of, 74. 
 Coke, utility of, 106. 
 Cold-cream, useful in piles, 289. 
 
 Colds, proper treatment of, 268 ; how to avoid catching, 269. 
 Colic, in infants, remedy for, 317. 
 Comfort, definition of, 33 ; elements of, 33-43. 
 Complexion, how to beautify, 43. 
 Convulsions in children, remedy for, 318. 
 Cookery, extravagance of American, 131 ; in France, 132 ; of cold meats, 
 
 146 ; best books on, 155 ; high class, 206. 
 Cook-books, practical value of, 41. 
 Coughs, best syrups for, 270 ; stopping, in children dangerous, 271 ; 
 
 whooping-cough, how rcliev^rd, 322. 
 Corn-bread, how to make, 139 ; best recipe for, 202; Virginia corn pone, 
 
 202. 
 Corn-fritters, recipe for, 198. 
 Cornmeal, quantity to buy at a time, 99 ; healthfulness of, 99, 123 ; errors 
 
 in preparing, 139. 
 Corns, cured in ten minutes, 259 ; remedies for, 258, 260. 
 Cranberries, how to keep, 95. 
 
 Cream, good substitute for, 172 ; recipe for fried, 215. 
 Croup, treatment of, 319 ; spurious or cliild-crowing, 320. 
 Crying, of babies, how to prevent, 310 ; what it sometimes indicates, 312. 
 
 Dainty dishes, chapters on, viz., domestic cookery, 179; high-class 
 cookery, 206. 
 
 Dandruff, an effectual remedy for, 248. 
 
 Deafness, a relief for, 282. 
 
 Death, reflections on, 357, 358. 
 
 Diarrhoea, hints to travellers for curing, 276; simple remedy for, 277; 
 treatment of, in children, 323. 
 
 Digestion, process of, illustrated, 129; food easy of, suitable for old peo- 
 ple, 357. 
 
 Dinners, bills of fare for, 177, 179, 208. 
 
 DiplUheria, remarkable success in the cure of, 324. 
 
 Domestic economy, an interesting study, 33. 
 
 Doors, faults in construction of, 46. 
 
 Dress, suggestions on, 224-228 ; combinations of colors in, 228. 
 
 Drowning, what to do in cases of, 351. 
 
INDEX. 365 
 
 Drunkenness, a cure for, 2S0. 
 
 Ducks, how to roast canvas-back, 182 ; to extract fishy flavor from, 182. 
 Dysentery, recipes of eminent physicians, 278. 
 
 Dyspepsia, tiie national disease, 279 ; slapping the stomach a remedy for, 
 280 ; other novel remedies, 281. 
 
 Earache, the best remedy for, in adults, 282 ; in children, 325. 
 
 Earth-closets, advantages ot] 49. 
 
 Eastlake, his directions for hanging wall-paper, 53. 
 
 Eating, chapter on, 121 ; philosophy of, 126 ; how and when to eat, 130 ; 
 before going to sleep, 340. 
 
 Economical food, chapter on. 131. 
 
 Edge tools, new way of sharpening, 78 ; how to remove rust from, 79. 
 
 Eggs, different ways to keep fresh, 103 ; how to fry, 165 ; how to boil, 
 167 ; and cheese an excellent dish, 189. 
 
 Egg-beaters, different kinds of, 74. 
 
 Egg-boiler, peculiarity of a novel, 73. 
 
 Egg-steamer, a recent invention, 73. 
 
 Egg-plants, characteristics of best, 93. 
 
 Erysipelas, a specific for cure of, 283. 
 
 Exercise, physical, neglected by ladies, 38 ; kind best suited for old peo- 
 ple, 358. 
 
 Eyes, care of, 251 ; how to remove cinders from the, 252; how to cure 
 squinting in, 252 ; veils injurious to the, 252. 
 
 Eyelashes, how to secure beautiful, 249. 
 
 Fainting, proper remedy for, 284. 
 
 Fairies, anecdote of, 43. 
 
 Feet, proper care of the, 255 ; remedies for fetid, 256 ; for frosted, 276 ; for 
 itching, 326 ; when cold, prevent sleep, 339. 
 
 Felons, cure for, 284. 
 
 Fever, remittent, in infants, treatment of, 319. 
 
 Filter, how to make a cheap, 77. 
 
 Fire, protection against, 47 ; how to kindle a coal, 109 ; how to extinguish 
 clothing on fire, 118; how to regulate in cooking, 157. 
 
 Fires, how to extinguish, 116; home brigade for extinguishing, 117; 
 suggestions for preventing, 117. 
 
 Fish, how to judge frcvsh, 97 ; how to cook, 97; Chinese method of catch- 
 ing, 98; chemical analysis of, 125. 
 
 Fits, hysterical, how to treat, 286 ; what to do when a man falls in a fit, 
 297 ; in children, 318. 
 
36ff INDEX. 
 
 Flannel, not suitable for infants, 218; healthfulness of, 235; when to 
 
 change, 236 ; how to wash, 236 ; wearing of, promotes long life, 
 
 347, 351. 
 Fleas, how to destroy, 261. 
 
 Flies, how to banish from houses and animals, 261. 
 Flour, how to test quality of, 99 ; how to keep sweet, 99 ; how to buy 
 
 rye, 100; a remedy for burns, 120; to select, for bread, 158. 
 Food, quantity consumed by epicures in a lifetime, 35 ; may be divided 
 
 into four classes, 120 ; most economical kinds of, 129 ; quantity of, 
 
 necessary to sustain life, 132 ; for the sick, 176 ; for young children, 
 
 177 ; for sedentary persons, 177. 
 France, cookery in, 36. 
 Franklin, his rules for inducing sleep, 342. 
 Freckles, remedy for, 245. 
 
 Frost-bites, cures for, 276 ; how to restore those who have been frozen, 353. 
 Fruits, to neutralize the acid in, 157 ; pleasant dessert of, 196 ; eating of 
 
 promotes long life, 347, 351. 
 Frying, process of, 152 ; defects in pans for, 72 ; how to clean pans for, 
 
 157. 
 Fuel and fikes, chapter on, 105; best woods for, 107. 
 Furnace and refrigerator, a combined, 50. 
 Furniture, what to avoid in buying, 56 ; points in buying, 58 ; novelties 
 
 in, 59 ; marble tops on, 61 ; to take bruises out of, 62. 
 Furs, how to protect from moths, 238 ; how to judge, 239. 
 
 Game, how to judge, 91 ; currant jelly the garnish for, 175 ; how to add 
 to flavor of, 182. 
 
 Garnishes, different kinds of, 175. 
 
 Gas, how to save, 113 ; as a fuel, 113 ; burners, importance of, 114 ; differ- 
 ent kinds of, 114; regulators, economy in the use of, 115; carbon- 
 izing, 116 ; best way to regulate flow of, 116. 
 
 Gas-stoves desirable in summer, 77. 
 
 Geese, points of young, 90. 
 
 Gloves, kid, 231 ; hints to wearers of, 231. 
 
 Grapes, conducive to health, 354. 
 
 Gridirons, revolving, a novelty, 73. 
 
 Grits, a cheap and palatable food, 137. 
 
 Groceries, hints on buying, 99. 
 
 Guinea fowls roasted, a dainty dish, 184. 
 
INDEX. 367 
 
 Hair, how to secure beautiful, 247 ; rules for improving children's, 247 ; 
 wash for dandruff in, 248 ; how to darken, 248 ; to remove super- 
 fluous, 248; Circassian method of clipping, 249. 
 
 Hams, liow to select, 87 ; best method of frying ham and eggs, 165. 
 
 Hands, how to whiten, 249; good recipe for chapped, 250; to remove 
 warts from, 250. 
 
 Headache, difl'erent kinds of, 284 ; remedies for, 285. 
 
 Health, how to preserve, 38, 349, 350. 
 
 Pleartburn, how to relieve, 286. 
 
 Herbs, when to gather, 95. 
 
 Hominy, how to buy, 100 ; valuable for laborers, 123; how to cook, 140, 
 
 Horses, to keep flies from, 261. 
 
 Horseradish, a remedy for neuralgia, 287. 
 
 Household conveniences, chapter on, 69. 
 
 Housekeeping, few improvements in, 69. 
 
 House furnishing, chapter on, 55. 
 
 House planning, chapter on, 44. 
 
 House-thrift, meaning of, 33. 
 
 Hydrophobia, how to prevent, 295. 
 
 Ice, medicinal uses of, 303. 
 
 Ice-cream, best methods of making, 205 ; freezers, a household conven- 
 ience, 76. 
 
 Indigo, how to buy, 101. 
 
 Indians, a valuable secret known to the, 356. 
 
 Indigestion, remedies to relieve, 281. 
 
 Infants, clothing of, 218 ; proper food for, 306 ; condensed milk for, 307; 
 how to care for, 307 ; cold water refreshing to, 300. 
 
 Ink, a cure for warts, 250. 
 
 Itch, cures for, 326 ; a specific for the seven years, 326 ; how Dr. Chase 
 cured the barber's, 298. 
 
 Jealousy, danger of exciting, 42. 
 Jenkins, Henry, oldest man in English history, 346. 
 Joluison, Samuel, his opinion of women as cooks, 36 ; his remark on 
 dinners, 40. 
 
 Kitchen, best location of, 45 ; advantage of towels in, 69 ; compact in 
 steamships, 70 ; sinks in, 70 ; what a, should contain, 70; a labora- 
 tory, 155 ; cleanliness in utensils in, 156. 
 
 ICitohiner, Dr., his rules for marketing, 80. 
 
 Knife-cleaners save labor, 77. 
 
868 INDEX. 
 
 Lamb, how to choose, 86; analysis of, 124; mint, the best garnish for 
 
 roast, 175. 
 Lamps, liow to keep from smoking, 79 ; how to prevent explosions of, 
 
 119. 
 Lard, adulterations of, 89. 
 
 Larding-needles, common in French kitchens, 72. 
 Leanness, how to cure, 242. 
 Lent, the keeping of, recommended, 128. 
 Lentils, an excellent vegetable, 142. 
 
 Life, art of prolonging, 344 ; Comicr's rules for prolonging, 348. 
 Lightning, to restore those struck by, 352. 
 Linen, how to detect cotton in, 234. 
 Liver complaint, remedy for, 288. 
 Lobsters, how to select, 98. 
 Longevity, before the flood, 344 ; illustrations of, in modern times, 346, 
 
 347 ; rules for promoting, 357-359. 
 
 Marble, uses of by cabinet-makers, 61 ; how to choose, tops for furniture, 
 61 ; recipe for extracting stains from, 61. 
 
 Marble cement, valuable recipe for, 62. 
 
 Mackerel, Lyman's method of cooking salt, 170. 
 
 Marketing, chapter on, 80. 
 
 Markets, excellence of American, 37. 
 
 Marmalade, an exquisite, 203. 
 
 Mattresses, best kinds of, 335. 
 
 Measles, proper treatment for, 820, 
 
 Meats, recipes for keeping sweet in warm weather, 89 ; economy in buy- 
 ing, 143; how to use cold, 116 ; how to boil, 151 ; how to broil, 
 152 ; how to fry, 152 ; French method of saut^ing, 153 ; how to roast, 
 154, 180 ; how to stew, 154. 
 
 Medicines, family, chapter on, 266. 
 
 Milk, a substitute for, 172 ; uses of condensed, 307 ; an antidote for 
 poison, 353. 
 
 Mirrors, how to clean, 62. 
 
 Molasses, where to be kept, 102. 
 
 Moles and birthmarks, how to eradicate, 246. 
 
 Moths, how to destroy, in carpets, 67 ; in furniture, 68 ; protection against, 
 68 ; in woollens and furs, 238 ; in sofas, 289. 
 
 Mumps, best remedy for, 321. 
 
 Mushrooms, how to distinguish edible from poisonous, 93; good test of, 
 93 ; recipes for cooking, 191. 
 
INDEX, 36d 
 
 Musquitoes, best protection against, 264. 
 
 Mutton, how to select, 86 ; analysis of, 124 ; what can be done with cold, 
 146 ; equal to venison, 187. 
 
 Nails, how to beautify, 249 ; a cure for ingrowing, 256. 
 
 Narcotics, the best, 341. 
 
 Nervousness, a recipe that will relieve, 287. 
 
 Neuralgia, remedies for, 287. 
 
 Noah, longevity in days of, 345. 
 
 Nutmegs, how to test, 102. 
 
 Oak, best wood for dining-room furniture, 56. 
 
 Oatmeal, value of, as food, 123 ; best way to make porridge of, 143. 
 
 Oil, how to test good kerosene, 104 ; an antidote to poisons, 353. 
 
 Oilcloth, points in buying, 67 ; how to clean, 68. 
 
 Omelettes, French recipe for making, 190; how to make a sweet, 190; 
 
 recipe for a cheap, 190; souffle, 215. 
 Onions, how to preserve, 95 ; how to cook without smell, 169 ; boiled, 
 
 a remedy for worms, 318 ; an excellent narcotic, 341. 
 Oysters, how to judge fresh, 97 ; best for frying, 97 ; the remedy when too 
 
 many have been eaten, 98 ; suitable for the sedentary, 126 ; broiled 
 
 on the shell, 187 ; finest way of stewing, 188. 
 
 Paper-hangings, suggestions on, 51 ; how to clean, 53. 
 
 Parr, Thomas, biographical sketch of, 346. 
 
 Parsley, the garnish for cold poultry, 175. 
 
 Pasty-pans, utility of, 73. 
 
 Peas, when best, 93 ; how to eat, 124 ; how to boil, 152 ; a novel machine 
 
 for shelling, 76. 
 Peat, peculiarities of, and objections to, 106. 
 Pepperpot, how to make a genuine, 145. 
 Photograph, how to dress for, 232. 
 Pictures, proper arrangement of, 52 ; proper height for hanging, 60 j wire 
 
 cords for, 60. 
 Pickles, what kind to avoid in buying, 102. 
 Pie, the nicest ever eaten, 199 ; delicious mince, 204. 
 Pig, Lamb's eulogy of roast, 186. 
 Pigeons, how to broil, 183. 
 Piles, remedies for, 288. 
 Pillows, of cotton batting for infants, 312 ; horsehair better than feathers, 
 
 337. 
 
370 INDEX. 
 
 Pleurisy, how to treat first attacks of, 288 ; how to avoid, 348. 
 
 Poisons, antidotes for, 353. 
 
 Pork, how to judge, 87 ; best piece for roasting, 87 ; how to cook, 87 ; 
 Soyer's plan for testing freshness of, 87 ; analysis of, 124 ; and beans, 
 when wholesome, 125 ; how to cook pork and beans, 138. 
 
 Porridge, recipe for making oatmeal, 143. 
 
 Potatoes, how to select, 92 ; for meats, 91 ; how to keep, 94 ; how to thaw 
 when frozen, 94 ; value of, as food, 124 ; how to boil, 152 ; Irish 
 method of boiling, 167; cold, utilized, 168; how to cook sweet, 
 168 ; Saratoga and Philadelphia fried, 203. 
 
 Potato-slicer, an ingenious invention, 75. 
 
 Potash, chlorate of, the gargle for quinsy, 290 ; in sore throat, 292 ; many 
 uses of, 302. 
 
 Poultry, how to judge, 90 ; how to make tender, 90 ; contains muscle- 
 making elements, 125 ; how to roast, 154 ; the garnish for cold, 175. 
 
 Puddings, queen of, 196 ; an excellent bread, 196 ; green-corn pudding, 199. 
 
 Pyaemia, a remedy for, 301. 
 
 Quaker, anecdote of a, 42. 
 
 Quinsy, how to prevent an attack of, 290. 
 
 Rabbits, how to barbecue, 183. 
 Raisins, a novel invention for seeding, 75. 
 
 Rarebit, recipe for making a Swiss, 191 ; the genuine Welsh, 191. 
 Rats, how to destroy, 262 ; to drive away, 263, 264. 
 Reedbirds, broiled, a dainty dish, 186. 
 
 Refrigerators, utility of, 76 ; the remedy for impure gases in, 76. 
 Rheumatism, difierent kinds of, 291 ; remedies for, 291 ; how to avoid, 348. 
 Rice, a popular food, 123 ; how to cook, 141 ; to make a pudding of, with- 
 out eggs, 141 ; how to make farmer's, 142 ; croquettes, 214. 
 Ringworm, novel cure for, 246. 
 Roaches, how to destroy, 261. 
 Roasting, secrets in, 154; beef, English style, 180. 
 Rooms, novel method of cooling, 50. 
 Rust, how to prevent, 79 ; to remove, from cutlery, 79. 
 
 Sago, most desirable kind of, 102. 
 
 Salads, novel method of preparing, 174; best method of dressing, 194; 
 
 Valadon's recipe for dressing, 213. 
 Salt, best for table use, 101. 
 Santanin, a specific for worms, 318. 
 
INDEX. 371 
 
 Sauces, suitable for every kind of fish, 192; recipes for, 214. 
 
 Sausages, how buyers may be protected against deception in, 88 ; meat for, 
 
 88 ; fried, a garnish for poultry, 175 ; machines for making, 76. 
 Savarin, remark of, on food, 80 ; experiments of, in coffee, 172. 
 Scales and weights, useful in kitchen, 173. 
 Scarlet fever, specifics for the cure of, 327-332. 
 Scrofula, Longworth's remedy for, 293. 
 Sea-sickness, how to prevent, 296. 
 Seasoning, rules for, 155. 
 Secrets in cooking, chapter on, 150, 
 Secrets of the toilet, chapter on, 240. 
 Seeds, how to test quality of, 96. 
 Shawls, when becoming to ladies, 226. 
 
 Short-cake, an excellent buckwheat, 199 ; how to make strawberry, 200. 
 Sickness, a burden on society, 266. 
 Silks, what kinds to buy, 225 : how to test, 225. 
 Sleep, and its appliances, 333 ; importance of, to health, 39; proper 
 
 time for, 333 ; how to induce, 338 ; best narcotics, 341. 
 Small-pox, novel remedy for, 293 ; to prevent pitting in, 294. 
 Snoring, how to abolish, 357. 
 Soap, economy in buying, 102. 
 Sofas, defects in, 57. 
 Sore throat, remedies for, 292 ; Washington's treatment of, 292 ; in scarlet 
 
 fever, 329. 
 Soups, Soyer's recipes for cheap, 134; for French beef broth, 166; h la 
 
 Julienne, 167. 
 Soyer, Alexis, a remarkable calculation by, 34; his cheap soups, 134; 
 
 his plan of broiling steaks, 152; novel mode of making coffee, 
 
 172 ; his method of making tea, 173; his recipe for melted butter, 
 
 176 ; for cooking mushrooms, 192. 
 Spine, how to avoid curvature of, 298. 
 Spices, how to preserve, 102. 
 Sprains, proper treatment of, 296. 
 Squinting, cure for, 252. 
 Starch, most economicai, to buy, 101. 
 Stewing, best fire for, 154. 
 Stock-pot, a fixture in French kitchens, 171. 
 Strawberries with orange juice, 194. 
 Students, suggestions for, 349. 
 Sturgeon, how to cook equal to veal-cutlet, 148. 
 Suffocation, what to do in cases of, 351. 
 
372 INDEX. 
 
 Sugars, how to buy, 100 ; different kinds of, 100. 
 Sulphuric acid, a specific in scarlet fever, 330. 
 Sulphur baths, efBcacy of, in destroying vermin, 261. 
 Sunstroke, the approved treatment for, 297. 
 Sweating, recommended by old physicians, 348. 
 Sweden, ladies of, good cooks, 40. 
 Sweetbreads, how to cook, 185. 
 
 Tables, how to remove stains in, 63. 
 
 Tapers, best light for the sick, 267. 
 
 Taste, a thing of culture, 44. 
 
 Tea, how to keep, 101 ; best methods of making, 173. 
 
 Tea-kettles, faults in, 79. 
 
 Teeth, how to preserve sound, 252 ; a good powder for the, 253 ; cures for 
 
 aches in the, 253 ; frequent examination of, recommended, 314. 
 Teething, a relief for pain of, 313; convulsions resulting from, 318. 
 Terrapin, how to select, 98 ; chicken dressed as, 188. 
 Tetter, remedies for, 246, 298, 327. 
 Thrush, in infants, cure for, 318. 
 Tinware, which is the cheapest, 71. 
 Toast, to make good, 165. 
 Toilet, preparations for the, 240-260. 
 
 Tomatoes, best kinds of, 92 ; accompaniment for roast-beef, 92. 
 Toothache, cures for, 253. 
 
 Trout, salmon and brook, baked and broiled, 185, 186. 
 Turkeys, how to tell young, 90. 
 Turnips, how to select, 92 ; how to boil, 168. 
 Typhus, to prevent infection in, 268. 
 
 Veal, points of good, 84 ; choice part of, 84 ; most economical piece to 
 buy, 85; how to roast, 86; analysis of, 124; what can be cone 
 with cold, 147, 170 ; veal-cutlets, 148 ; how to cook cutlets, 15G ; 
 cutlets with tomatoes or oysters, 184. 
 
 Vegetables, how to select and preserve, 92-95 ; as food, 123, 124 ; injurious 
 when not sufficiently cooked, 155; how to cook greens, 155; 
 washing greens, 175. 
 
 Venison, how to buy, 91. 
 
 Ventilation, of bedrooms, 39, 337 ; of sick-rooms, 267. 
 
 Vermin, how to destroy, on the body, 260. 
 
 Vinegar, a corrective of stomach disorders, 303 ; which is the best, 101. 
 
 Voltaire, his recipe for curing dyspepsia, 281. 
 
INDEX. 37o 
 
 Walking, a heaWiful exercise, 38 ; proper carriage of body in, 355, 356. 
 
 Wall-paper, selecting, 44 ; suggestions on, 51. 
 
 Warts, remedies for, 250. 
 
 Warren's cooker, advantages of, 75. 
 
 Washing, of body neglected by women, 39 ; comfort of, in sickness, 267 ; 
 
 preferable to cold bathing, 351 ; of clothes, viz., chintz and summer 
 
 dresses, 234; of flannels, 236 ; an easy way to wash clothes, 237. 
 Water, how to soften hard, 237 ; drinking of, a relief to the sick, 299 ; 
 
 beneficial to infants, 300, 311 ; hot water, a remedy for pain, 303. 
 Water-closets, defects in the construction of, 49. 
 Water-pipes, danger of metallic, 48. 
 Weaning infants, proper time for, 308. 
 
 Wheat, value of, as food, 122 ; crushed, an excellent food, 137. 
 Whitewash, a recipe for a permanent, 54. 
 Whooping-cough, remedies for, 321. 
 
 Wife, qualifications of a good, 37-43 ; should be a physician, 42. 
 Wine, quantity consumed by ladies, 40 ; how to decant and cool in bottles, 
 
 96 ; good wine is milk for old people, 358. 
 Woods, best kind for buildings, 47 ; for furniture, 55 ; for fuel, 106. 
 Working-classes, extravagance of, 34. 
 Worms, in children, 317 ; remedies for thread, 317 ; a specific for long, 
 
 318. 
 Wrinkles, how to prevent, 246. 
 
 Yeast, how to make hop and potato, 159. 
 
 Yellow-fever, observation of Dr. Eush on, 47 ; a protection against, 357. 
 
 Youth, fountains that were said to restore, 345. 
 
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