Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 154, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1916 — Making the Home Comfy [ARTICLE]

Making the Home Comfy

Needlework. In making children's clothes, sheer underwear, or lingerie waists a neat seam can be turned by putting them thru the smallest hemmer on the sewing machine. Telephone tablets or pads may be bought ready to cover at any stationary store. The covers may be made of cardboard, covered with cretonne, or Just a flap of some pretty colored mounting board. A silk cord Is used to hang the tablet by the telephone, and should, of course, have a pencil attached. For many uses la fine needlework the best scissors are not embroidery scissors at all, but long, slender ones; with curving ends. With them one can cut smoothly the fine threads and yet run no risk of going beyond a certain line of threads and ruining a bit of work on which you have put hours of careful attention, while for cutting the linen away from worked scallops there is nothing equal to them. Oddly enough, the proper way to use them is with the outer curve toward the embroidery, not with the curve following that of the scallop The latter Is far too much of a risk, as the keen little tips will easily cut further than one expects.

After Marriage. There Is something decidedly wrong about the home when a woman ceases to be particular about her appearance after marriage. In too many instances the fault lies not altogether with the wife, but with the husband himself, who is also the first to deplore any such deterioration. If he would look to himself before blaming his wife, he would probably find that he had ceased to pay her the little attentions of which he was so lavish before marriage, that he gave to business the time he used to spend so pleasantly in her company, and that he was growing penurious, fond of exhorting her to be economical, and in many ways making things harder than need be for his wife. It Is no wonder that the life of many married women becomes sordid and miserable under such circumstances, and that instead of being ennobled and strengthened with each passing year by their mutual love, husband and wife drift ever farther apart, until they regard each other with indifference, if not with dislike.

For the Housewife. Copper articles that have become discolored can be made to look hew again by rubbing them with lemon dipped in salt and afterward rinsing In clear hot water and polishing with a soft cloth. Aluminum cooking utensils are a delight until they turn dark Inside — then they are an abomination. It is easy, however, to keep them bright. Either wash them in soda and water or boil tomato parings in them; cuttings from rhubarb and the water it was washed in alone will often do the work. So will lemon and table salt. All the little dried pieces of cheese should be grated and put In a covered glass jar. These cheese crumbs are excellent for many made over dishes and are particularly good with starchy foods, such as potatoes, macaroni, etc. Very tasty crackers can be made by spreading this grated cheese on craokers seasoning them and then putting them in the oven for a few minutes.

Saratoga Chips. Wash and pare the potatoes. Cut In thin slices (using vegetable sllcer preferably) and drop at once into cold water. Let soak two hours, chang- • ing water two or three times; drain, drop into boiling water, and boil one or two minutes. Dip out with skimmer and plunge into cold water again. Take from the water, dry between towels, and fry in deep fat until light brown. Drain on brown paper and sprinkle with salt. Plunging the potatoes into hot water to swell and boiling them for & minute or two causes the starch particles to swell and become set. They will, therefore absorb very little * fat, and are more crisp and palatable than when dropped at once into deep fat.

Recipes. Blueberry Cake. —One cup sugar (scant), one half cup butter, creamed together, two eggs beaten separately, one cup milk, two cups flour, sifted with one spoonful baking powder; flavor with nutmeg; add one cup blueberries lightly floured. Bake in moderate oven until nicely browned. Soft Boiled Eggs.—To boll an egg properly drop it in boiling water, cover, take from stove, and let stand five minutes without cooking. In using this method the white is congealed, yet soft and tender, and Is easily digested, instead of being tough and indigestible, as is often the case when an egg Is boiled. Five mtmtes is the length of time to make an egg medium.

Mashed Potatoes Force five hot boiled potatoes thru a potato ricer or a colander, coarse strainer. Add two tablespoons of butter, one teaspoon salt, a little pepper and one third cup of hot milk; beat with a fork until, creamy. Reheat and servet in a hot vegetable dish. This quantity la sufficient for a family of four.