Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 205, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 August 1912 — Page 2

TO BE COMFORTABLE THOUGH CAMPING

m ■ HEN you go Into the B jk K woods or mountains to Aalya camp for your vacation, BV jH you must have a comj[» jr pl«te cooking outfit, dry and plenty a °* same, which some member of the Ipllypr' j'l party will furnish daily. wh®*/ I Bad cooking has spoiled many a vacation in camp * and caused many abacksliding from the outdoor creed and yet there is no particular use in being uncomfortable when camping or in having bad or indigestible food. Kits especially designed for campers can be purchased at a moderate cost and it is wisest to purchase one erf these outfits, as often some of the most necessary utensils are liable to be forgotten when the camper is making selections. The kit includes a folding baker, pans with hinged handles, and dishes that fit into- one another, so that the whole occupies but little space. The simplest way to cook while in camp is over a fireplace made by digging a hole about one foot deep and two feet square and partly filling it with stones. Build a wall about eight Inches high around three sides, allowing a small opening at the back for the smoke to escape. Of course, if you have brought a collapsible cooking range with you, the fire can be made in any convenient spot, with flat stones on either side. Rest two of the steel bars of the range upon the stones and lay the Dther two across them. It is a good plan to gather a plentiful supply of wood and keep it in a dry spot. Otherwise, after a rainfall, you may have considerable difficijjly in getting the wood to burn. Any sort of wood will do for ordinary cooking, but for broiling or baking in the hot ashes, you must have coals from hard wood. For the supplies the lists vary a great deal, but the most desirable and nutritious articles that can be easily transported are flour, baking powder, rice, beans, sugar, baking powder, coffee, tea, salt, pepper, bacon, pork, butter, onions, potatoes, raisins and some kind of dried acid fruit —prunes or apricots are good. Vegetables you must get as you can. Condensed soups, especially tomato and tomato-okra, are particularly appetizing. To make good coffee is an aft. Many people claim that the best Is made in this way: For six cups of strong coffee, take one cup of ground coffee, mix up with one egg or the shells of two, add a few grains of salt, and six cups of fresh cold water. Place over the fire where It will heat slowly, and bring to a boll. Let it boil up three times, stirring well, then place where it will keep hot but not boil until it settles, the addition of half a cup of cold water will settle it more quickly, and the coffee when poured should be clear and strong. Camp bread is one of the tests of the outdoor cook. If you have brought with you a baker, biscuit or bread may be baked in it. If not, you will have to make use of the frying pan for that purpose, covered '♦tth a saucepan lid, or even two frying pans. Such a baker must be placed right in the heart of the fire and live coals piled again on top. The commonest fault Is In having too much beat; the beginner “ usually burns the first few batches of biscuit. Camp biscuit are made by mixing one quart of flour, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, one teaapoonful of salt, and a small piece of lard or butter, with sufficient water to make a dough

EARTH GRADUALLY DRYING UP

Scientific Theory That Water le Pawing Into the Upper Air aa Hydrogen, Never to Return. When-water ia decomposed by radittm or by ultra-violet rays It produces hydrogen aud peroxide of hydrogen, and it does not form oxygen. Electrolytic decomposition forms oxygen. A German investigator bases a mm theory relating to the drying of

easily handled. Mold Into small, flat cakes, and bake In your baker or on a griddle over a moderate fire. Very convenient for the camper is the prepared flour, which is accurately mixed with the lightening agent, and which only requires wetting with milk or water to make biscuits or pancakes. Add four level tablespoons of buiter or lard to a quart of prepared flour with enough milk to make a very soft dough. Drop from the .point of a spoon on a hot greased pan. These should be cooked first on one side and then on the other for eeven minutes, and should be eaten with butter and syrup. The ordinary formula for pancakes Is: A small-sized can of condensed milk, three cups of flour, half a cup of cornmeal, two eggs, a pinch of salt, and a teaspoonful of baking powder. Be careful, however, to mix the milk and eggs together with some water in one vessel, while you keep the other Ingredients In another. Having stirred each mixture, pour them together and continue stirring until all the lumps have disappeared. A little syrup will make the cakes brown better, but too much will make them stick to the griddle or pan, which should be kept Well greased. The bean pot is one of the reliances of the woodsman, and beans are ideal baked In a regular beanhole. This must be dug deep and wide and lined with stones. In making the fire hardwood should be employed, and when the fire has been reduced to a bed of coals, remove half of them, Insert the bean pot, and pack the coals that were removed closely about the sides and top. Pile the dirt on top of all, stamping It down well, to make It absolutely airtight. The beans should remain in the hole about 14 hours. Soak one quart of beans in cold water over night. In the morning, drain, cover with fresh water, heat slowly, keeping the water below boiling point, and cook until the skins will burst, which is best determined by taking a few beans on the tip of a spoon and blowing on thejn, when the skins will burst If sufficiently cooked. Drain beans N Scald rind of three-fourths of a pound of fat salt pork, scrape, remove onefourth inch slice, and put in bottom of the bean pot. Cut through rind of remaining pork every one-half inch, making cuts one inch deep. Put beans In pot and bury pork in beans, leaving rind exposed. Mix one tablespoon salt, one tablespoon molasses, and three tablespoons sugar; add one cup of boiling water,- and pour over beans, then add enough more boiling water to cover beans. Cover bean pot and place In the hole. Game can be cooked better In camp than In any restaurant in the world. It Is better for hanging at least over night. For broiling, game should be carefully skinned, cleanly drawn, and washed- Then split your bird up the back, flatten it with the side of an

the earth on the fact that one form of decomposition oxygen, while the other form does not. Part of the water vapor emitted by the seaa la decomposed by the ultra-vio-let rays of the sun; the hydrogen foraged rises toward the high atmospheric strata, and all the water does not return to the surface. Therefore, the quantity of water on the faoe of the globe Is always diminishing and the earth is incessantly, If gradually, drying.

axe, salt and pepper it, and broil II over the coals. Add butter to finish the cookihg and browning. For this work you ought to have a broiler, the kind that clamps down In two halves, one on each side of the bird. If you have an oven large ducks can be roasted in it. In cooking a bird you want sharp heat and continued heat so that the outer tissues may be seared as soon as possible. Fish is more difficult to cook than game. The main thing is to have plenty of grease in the frying pan and to keep it hot. Some people prefer olive oil to bacon in camp cooking, and certainly brook trout may be cooked most deliciously in olive oil. Large fish may be embedded in hot ashes and cooked for 30 minutes or longer, according to size. First split your fish open, clean carefully, wash out the interior and season well with pepper and salt and put it in the hot ashes. When done, remove from the ashes, wipe clean with a cloth, and peel off the burnt outside. A delicious camp dish is a stew of meat, game, birds rice, potatoes, onions—anything you happen to have —seasoned with plenty of salt and pepper, and a dash of sherry, or a touch of chili sauce. It is hard to go wrong if you give your stew plenty of time and plenty of water. An hour or two will not be too much; in fact you can go on cooking your stew day after day, for warming over a stew improves its richness. If you have in your kit a big and little keb tie, you can fill the large one with water, put a few stones in the bottom, and set your stew kettle in on top of the stones. This will lessen the danger of burning. The theory of the stew kettle is a slow fire, a low fire, and & long fire. Let your housekeeping arrangements while in camp be as concise and cleanly as in. your home kitchen. Do not throw refuse of any kind —least of all food —around the camp. Burn all garbage every night. Keep everything in its proper placce. Be careful of the fire while in the woods. It is well to be certain before leaving camp for any length of time that no treacherous spark is lingering behind a log or under some leaves where It may kindle a blaze and do untold dam* age In your absence.

In for It.

"Always eat the skin of the fruit," ordered the doctor. "The skin contains essentials that you need.” “That may be, doc. But I know .I’m going to get my throat all scratched up the first time I try to eat a pineapple with Its skin on."

Her Preference.

“The leading lady of your company used to do her own cooking." "I suppose that is one reason why she wants roles with the most ‘dough’ in them."

To cite one example: On the north efde of the Alps there 1s a continual falling off in the depth of the lakes and a gradual formation of swamps. Two hundred and fifty years ago there were 149 lakes in the canton of Zurich, today ther are sevehty-eix. The destruction of the forests and the cultivation of the land partly explain this, but the loss of hydrogen is an Important factor. The hydrogen accumulated In the higher atmosphere la diffused in interstellar apace.—Harper's Weekly

MAKE YOUR OWN ICE CREAM

Attention to Details Wilt Insure Dab icacy Being Turned Out In Perfect Fashion. As in candy making, the essential thing to perfect success is attention to details. Carelessness with Hhe freezing is responsible for most of the failures with this delicious dainty. In packing the freezer for the service, it must be remembered that the smaller the ice is broken the better, while the salt should never be too fine. A salt prepared especially for the purpose is known as “ice cream salt.” This salt and the finely broken ice are put fat: alternate layers about the cream can, which Is generally set in a washtub. Begin with a layer of ice, making this about three inches deep. Then put In a layer of salt about an Inch in depth, and continue in this alternate way up to the top of the cream can. The ice c«.n be put In a gunny sack and then broken up with a heavy hammer or hatshet. To prevent the cream from “lumping," as it will do if frozen rapiily, tiirn the freezer slowly at first, increasing the speed as the freezelng progresses. If the lid of the freezer does not fit securely the salt water will get the creanj, when it will be rained for sensitive palates. Every utensil used in making the cream should be kept scrupulously clean. See that the can Is carefully cleaned after every using and also well sunned. Before using it again give It another scalding. Bo careful, too, of letting the children eat cream that has stood over night in the can. There is always danger of ptomaine In stale Ice cream or In ibe cream made In an imperfectly cleansed can.

THINGS WORTH KNOWING

When juice is left from canning it may be boiled low, made into jelly or sirup for flavoring purposes. The skin of new potatoes can be removed more quickly with a stiff vegetable brush than by scraping. Rub your stove off daily with newspapers; It will keep it in flue polish and it will not be so hard on the hands. Don’t use a galvanized ir<;in lemon squeezer. When brought in contact with the lemon it forms a poisonous salt-. When anything is accidentally made too salt it can be counteracted by adding a tablespoonful of vinegar and a tablespoonful of sugar. For the destruction of ante, spiders and cockroaches, a strong solution of alum in boiling water, poured over the Infested parts, will be found excellent. Whisky will take out every kind of fruit stain. A child’s dress will be entirely ruined by the dark stain on It; but if whisky is poured on the discolored places before sending It Into wash it will come out as good as new.

Turbot a la Creme.

A pint of cooked white fls 1, picked from the bone. Make a sauce of a pint of milk, a few sprigs o' parsley and a slice of onion. Simmer together until well flavored; wet one tablespoonful of flour and stir in with butter the size of an egg. Seascn with a teaspoonful of salt and dast of pepper. Use individual fish dishes. Put a little sauce in a dish, then a layer of fish and so ou, putting :iauce on the top. Cover with rolled crackers or bread crumbs and brow*, in a moderately heated oven.

Cream Scones.

Sift one and one-hall cupfuls flour into a basin, add one tensjoonful sugar and one teaspoonful baking powder. Rub in one heapiig tablespoonful butter, then make into soft paste with some cream. Divide it in two pieces. Take one piece and roll it out quite thin and round, then roll out. the second piece and '.ut them Into eight pieces. Lay then on hot griddle and hake them for dve minutes, turnin#them once.

Short Oatcake.

One pound of oatmeal, *4 pound of butter, % teaspoon carbonate of soda, 1 teaspoon salt; put the oatmeal in a bowl, add the soda and Balt, rub in the butter, make into a paste w.th about % pint of cold water, cover tie pasteboard with meal, turn paste on to it; make it into a small ball, flatten it with the backs of your flnirers, roll out to the thickness of a crown piece, cut into shapes and bake on a hot stove or griddle.

Tape Should Always Be on Hand.

If a roll of Inch wide tape ia kept on hand a great deal of time may be saved. It is a strong, easily applied binding for the armholes of widst/and similar garments, serves to strengthen belts and is Invaluable for mending breaks in many ordinary cot :on garments. It can be used speedily and without .bulky seams.

When Breaking Eggs.

Very frequently when separating the ■whites from the yolks of ejgs, the yolk becomes^,broken and fills Into the white. Dip a cloth In warm water, wring It dry and touch the yolk with s corner. The yolk will adhere to the cloth and may easily be removed. „

Mixed Vegetables.

801 l one-third carrots chopped fine with two-thirds peas, a small piece of butter, salt and pepper to tsste. Can be served on lettuce leaves.

CONSTITVITION'S MIGHTY BLOW WON A HAT

LATE on the afternoon of August 19, one hundred years tain Isaac Hull, one of America’s greatest naval commanders, won a wager of a hat from Captain James Richard Dacres of the British navy. In addition to the hat, the Englishman lost the first action between frigates in the war of 1812, and his country suffered a blow to Its pride and prestige from which it was long in recovering. A few days later the Constitution, one of the vessels which the British commanders had sneeringly called the “fir-built Yankee frigates flying a piece of striped bunting at their mast-heads," appeared oil Boston lighthouse gaily decked with flags and proudly passed up the- harbor to tell of the capture and destruction of the Guerriere. Only a month before this . momentous engagement Captain Hull had had an exciting experience with the Guerriere and her consorts, the Bevidere and Eeolus. These three vessels pursued the Constitution for more than 66 hours and Captain Hull escaped only by indomitable perseverance and most skillful seamanship, putting into Boston for supplies. Early in August the Constitution started out again on a hunt for the enemy, and on August 19 a sail was sighted that proved to be a British fr:gate which, from her maneuvers, was evidently desirous of engaging. When the vessels were three miles apart Captain Hull sent down his royal yards, reefed his topsails and sent the crew to quarters. This crew was remarkably disciplined and drilled at the guns, and more than that, scarcely a man of them but had a score to settle with the English. On the bare backs of most of them were the scars made by the lashes of the brutal English press gangs, and many were descendants of American sailors who had suffered martyrdom in the British prison ships during the Revolution. Hull himself kept in mind the fact that his father died in a pest ship from the cruel treatment he had received.

Hull Wanted the Hat. - Soon after 4 o’clock the two frigates exchanged Ineffectual broadsides while maneuvering for position and constantly drawing closer. About C o’clock Hull, becoming impatient, ordered the Constitution to be steered directly for the enemy and rapidly closed upon his port quarter. By the orders of Hull the Americans now ceased firing and made all preparations Tor an effective broadside, reloading the guns carefully with round shot and grape and training them upon the British ship. The Englishmen were to be seen working their guns steadily, and their frequent cheers were plainly heard. What followed is thus told by Edgar S. Maclay in his "History of the Navy”: “As yet no order had come from the quarter-deck of the American frigate, and perfect quiet prevailed along her decks as the men stood by their guns, nearly all of them -barefooted and many stripped to the waist, ever and anon oasting inquiring glances at their officers. At this moment a__ shot struck the Constitution’s bulwarks and threw innumerable splinters over the first division of the gun deck, wounding several men. Observing the effect of this shot, the Englishmen gave three cheers; but still the American frigate remained silent. First Lieutenant Morris now approached the quarter-deck, where Captain Hull was coolly pacing back and forth, and said: ‘The enemy has opened fire and killed two of our men. Shall we return it?’ ‘Not yet, sir,’ was the response from the quarter-deck, and. the men saw their mutilated shipmates hurried below to the surgeon’s table, while they stood silently at their guns in momentary expectation of meeting a similar fate. Nothing but the perfect discipline in the American frigate restrained the impatience of the gun crews and prevented thorn from returning the Englishman’s cannonading. Three times Lieutenant

Morris asked if he could open fire, and three times he was answered with a calm ‘Not yet, sir.’ “But at last, having gained a position about 40 yards off the enemy's port quarter, Captain Hull gave the order to fire as the guns bore. In an Instant the frigate belched forth a storm of iron hail that carried death and destruction into the opposing ship. The splinters were seen to fly over the British frigate like a cloud, some of them reaching as high as the mizzen-top, while the cheers of her men abruptly ceased and the shrieks and groans of the wounded were heard. The Americans had struck their first earnest blow, and it was a staggering one. The Englishman felt Its full weight, and perhaps for the first time realized that this was no child’s play.” British Vessel Shattered. Serving their guns with extraordinary rapidity and accuracy, the Americans inflicted great damage on the Guerriere’s hull and rigging, and a round shot brought down the Englishman's mizzenmast. This brought the Guerrlere up into the wind and the Constitution got In two raking broadsides. The vessels came together with the Englishman’s Jib boom extending across the Constitution’s quarter deck. Both crews prepared for boarding, but tbe rolling of the ships prevented this. Meanwhile the sharpshooters in the tops were working with energy and several officers and many men on both sides were killed or Wounded. Captain Hull stepped upon a chest to lead the boarders, but a seaman pulled him down, begging him not to so expose himself while wearing “those swabs," referring to his epaulets. The ships were so close together that an American sailor, after firing bis pistol at an Englishman, threw the weapon at his enemy, hitting him In the face. Another of the Americans, young John Hogan, won a pension just about this time. The American flag at the main top gallantmasl head was carried away by a shot and Hogan ran up the. rigging and nailed the flag to the mast, descending unhurt. Captain Dacres was among those wounded by the riflemen, a bullet striking qim in the back. The frigates now fell apart, and in dropping astern the Guerrierp’s bowsprit struck the American’s taffraii, her forestays were slackened and her foremast went by the side, falling across the main stays. This brought down the mainmast and the vessel fell Into the trough of the sea, a complete wreck, at each wave rolling the main deck guns In the water. Caputain Hull, seeing that the enemy was done for, drew off to repair damages 60 that he should not be caught by any other British vessel that might come along, and returning later, sent Lieutenant Bead to take possession. Captain Dacres reluctantly admitted that he could not continue the combat and accompanied Read to the Constitution. As he came up tbe side on a rope ladder Captain Hull assisted him, saying: “Give me your hand, Dacres. I know you are hurt.” And when the conquered commander offered his sword, Hull cried: “No, I will not take the sword from one who knows so well how to use i< but I’ll trouble you for that hat” The wager on the outcome of a possible meeting between their respective trigates bad been made before the breaking out of hostilities. - Hull did all that was possible to relieve the suffering of the wounded Englishmen. The Guerrlere was found to be in a sinking condition and was blown up. This victory of tbe Constitution was the first of moment won by the Americans in the war and cheered up tbe young nation jrtghtlly. It was followed by'many another, one of the most famous being Commodor' Perry’s victory in the battle of Lake Erie, the centenary of which Is to celebrated next summer with great ceremonies and long continued fetfs. - ’ , a