Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1878 — About the House. [ARTICLE]

About the House.

A transparent mucilage of great tenacity may be made by mixing rice flour with cold water, and letting it gently simmer over the fire. Transparent Pies.—Line two plates with crust and fill with a mixture composed of three eggs, two table-spoonfuls of jelly and one of butter, beaten together. Whortleberry Cake.—Beat two eggs with one cup of sugar; stir in half the quantity of butter, and one cup of milk. Sift one teaspoonful of soda in four cups of flour; add a pinch of salt, and one pint of fresh whortleberries. Eat it warm. Good Ginger Cookies.—One cupful of molasses, one cupful of sugar, twothirds of a cupful of shortening, twothirds of a cupful of buttermilk, two teaspoonfuls of ginger, two teaspoonfuls of soda, and roll as soft as possible without sticking. Chintz Curtains.—ln using cretonne or chintz for curtains the right side should be in the room. It is customary to line such curtails with colored silesia, buff, blue or rose color, to match the ground of the chintz, and this makes a pretty show on the outside. Cleaning Cistern Water.—Add two ounces powdered alum and two ounces borax to a twenty-barrel cistern of rainwater that is blackened or oily, and in a few hours the sediment will settle, and the water be clarified and fit for washing and even for cooking purposes. Victorias.—One cupful sugar, one egg, one teaspoonful of soda dissolved in one pint of water; beat butter and sugar together, add the water, stir in enough flour to make a thin batter; bake on a hot griddle without turning over; butter each one the instant it is done. Nice for lunch. Cream Pies.— Six eggs, two cupfuls

of sugar, two teaspoonfuls cream tartar, two teaspoonfuls of soda in one and ahalf cupfuls cold milk; this will fill four jc’ly-cake tins; bake like jelly cake, and spread with the “ rsream” made as follows: One pint-milk, one cupful sugar, two teaspoonfuls corn starch; lemon or vanilla flavor; when cold serve for dessert.

Salad Sauce.—Put the yelks of two hard-boiled eggs on a plate, and with a wooden spoon mash them smooth, mixing with them a table-spoonful of water and two table-spoonfuls of salad oil; then add,' by degrees, a saltspoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of mustard, and a teaspoonful of powdered loaf sugar; when these are all smoothly united, add, gradually, three table-spoonfuls of vinegar.

Beef ITjmplings.—Boil a soup bone until perfectly done, and until the water does not cover it. Peel and slice six potatoes; put them in with the meat, and boil twenty minutes. Make a dough of •ne pint of flour, half teaspoonful of soda, one of cream tartar, pinch of salt, and enough water to make just stiff enough to roll out; cut in small squares about an inch thick; drop them in on top of the meat and potatoes; do not let them go into the gravy; cover tight, and boil fifteen minutes, not moving the lid until done; serve the meat on a platter, add the dumplings, potatoes and gravy in a covered dish; serve at once.

Tn washing delicate-colored muslins and linens several essential points must be observed if we intend preserving their original freshness and beauty. First, they should never be soaped or soaked. If not too soiled, wash in al-most-cold water; make a lather of good bar soap—white is best—and in it dissolve a small piece of alum. Use this dissolved soap in the water, and rub the goods with the hands as far as possible. Put through two waters, and rinse in two more. A handful of salt or a spoonful of vinegar in the rinsing water helps to brighten and hold the color’?. Wash only one article at a time, and that very quickly. Washing Fluid.—Take one-half pound soda ash, and half a pound of unslacked lime, and put them in a gallon of water; boil twenty minutes; let it stand till cool, then drain off and put in a jug or jar. Soak your dirty clothes over night, or until they are wet through, then wring, and rub on plenty of soap on the dirtiest places, and, in one boiler of clothes, well covered with water, add one teacupful of the fluid ; boil half an hour or more; rub through one water, and rinse well, and your clothes will look better than by the old way of washing twice before boiling. This is the original recipe ; but to economize I put one quart of good lye, made from wood ashes, in the place of soda ash, and I found that it was just as good and cheaper, too.— Housekeeper's Companion. Removing Bad Smells.—Smoke will remove a bad smell more effectually and with less labor than anything else. If the hands smell of anything disagreeable, remove the stove-lid and hold them over the smoke a minute and it will all be gone. Fill an empty barrel half ful> of straw and set it on fire; it will clean the barrel, and a little care will keep it from scorching. If any of the young folks go rabbit-hunting and make a mis take in the game they tree (as was the case with our boys a short time ago), they can lose the unpleasant remembrance of it by setting a bunch of straw on fire and standing a while in the smoke. I have removed the taste and smell of turpentine and coal-cil from bottles by washing them with a little vinegar.— Letter to Kansas Farmer.