Indiana State Sentinel, Volume 28, Number 21, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 May 1879 — Page 7

THE INDIANA STATE' SENTINEL :WED

7

POME-MIKING. , , Mrs. Martha N.McK&j'b Theory of tie True Science of Housekeeping.

lull Text of a Piper Beoently Bead Before the Social Soisno Association r - of Indiana. When There Is Discord la a Man's Stomach There Is Disease la His Brala and Demons Are in His Thought. Following is the full text of the very excellent paper recently read before the Social Science Association of Indiana, byJAIra. Martha N. McKay," of this city: , It is recorded in the eleventh century that when the beautiful Saxon, Margaret, became the wife of Malcolm MacDnncan she also became his teacher, and an inspiration for all the good he did. Although a man of vigorous intellect, this early Scottish king was uneducated, and the . books of devotion, which Margaret brought, he could not read. Bat he caused them to be richly bound and ornamented with gold and jewels. He would hold them while she read and kiss them in token ot his reverence for them and her. Yery many of the duties the responsibilities of housekeeping and homemaking are, it has seemed to me, sealed vol nines to most men. Ever so learned in Other directions, ever so tender and willing, they can at most, as the case now stands, but win the gold and gems for the binding, and hold the book, while the mother, wife or Bister explains the contents. But, with the acceptance of this belief, . comes also the admission that to women will belong the duty of lifting housekeeping into the ranks of the dignified professions. We must ourselves organize to secure the aids which a higher civilization may develop, and the helps which wise co-operation in the future may give. All true women desire and deserve to have homes, bat all women do not like the details of housekeeping, as we now define it Yet where does this work go forward, unless guided by a woman's hand ? To those who devote to it their whole energies, .their lives, more credit should be awarded, and those who would tain "consider the lillies," bat have straggled bravely with the multitude of uncongenial tasks, a place should be given among the unrecorded saints. ., , When housekeeping is considered as a science, and is accorded the high place it deserves, it will still be in the hands of women, as it should be, but, by a division of labor and an opportunity of selecting different deDartments of work, these duties Will fall into willing hands. By early and iudicious training the work will be -easily Derformed. because thoroughly under stood, and will no longer be counted drndeerv. There are women wno are natural Housekeepers. Sweet Phebe Pyncheons, whose very presence dispels the dust and gloom of the House of Seven Gables. I should like to believe that a majority of women possess this talent. But there are gifted women such as Elizabeth Stuart Phelps has described in the character of Avis who can not help, shuddering when the "new girl knocks at the door, asking what shall be had for the next breakfast." The one is a housekeeper, the other an artist, . bat both equally need, and desire a home and relieved of certain details in domestic affairs, which are pleasant to the one and terrible to the other. Avis is no less a bomemaker than Phebe, . Her heroic struggle against inclination is a powerful argument in favor of something akin to co-operative housekeeping, and it was evidently the purpose of the author of "Gates Ajar" to aid the solution of the domestic problem by this touching story. Every year, under the teaching of Bcieace, we are believing more and more that upon the comfort and welfare of the body depends the mental and spiritual growth; for, in this earth life, the .spirit -must be clothed in flesh, and not more essential is the body to the soul than is a suitable dwelling place for that body, while the soul possesses it One of the questions pressing steadily for solution, is how to so order our lives that we shall divide duly the " time between wants, temporal and spiritual. A woman, whose helpful pen ' has done much good ' service to oar country, says: "God has seen best to make us so that we must spend a large part of our time in keeping ourselves clothed, and led, and moused, and clean, and, therefore, we are bound to conclude that, in thus spending our time, we are answering, so far, the end of our -creation; bat one who knows nothing experimentally of woman's work can not appreciate its real worth; can not know what skill, what patience, -what expenditure of nervous and muscular tissue is required, and what masterlv generalship is demanded in the marshaling of domestic affairs, so that everything shall, day by day, and season by .season, come out well." It "order is God's first law," nowhere is - the ' enforcement more needed than in housekeeping. To this end, brothers, sons ' and husbands could aid effectually by putting in their proper places the articles they use. the books and papers they read, and the furniture they disarrange. Here, the ' importance of early training can not be overestimated, for habit does, indeed, be'ome second nature, and the disorderly boy -can not change readily in mature life. Says an Bnglish writer, "Laws and principles are not for the times when there are no temptations. They are for moments when body and soul rise in mutiny against ' their rigor." And to the house and Its govern ment is this especially appucaoie. It is not alone in the steam of Monday, the dust from the broom on Friday, or the hurry of Saturday, that the enforcement of domestic laws is essential, but when "order reiens." when e vervthing seems for the hour . done; then the wise housekeeper mast still post her sentinels and allow no sleeping on the post She must keep the burden of " work ahead, lest it fall back and crash her. She must have a reserve force ready for emergencies, and notwithstanding the rough seas into which her ship may sail. she most, like a true captain, keep herself calm and clear to give the orders which may prevent a wreck. Trnelv. said a wise man of our own genera tion, the woman who has managed her household, settled the inevitable dis putes of her children, borne with serenity the countless and anadvoidable trials of domestic life, has performed a task more difficult - than - presiding over a Senate, or even a' nation. - la soma . respects bouse keeping in the United States is more dif ficult than in other countries, particularly in our mother country. We have here no trained class to aid as. Yet oar young Kennblic is not only, in most things, abreast but ahead of the times, Express trains take the latest fashions for overskirts from New York to San Francisco. We have the latest and most beautiful designs in furniture, in china and Bilver. Yet we most give these delicate and beautiful treasures we bestow as wedding gifts into the hands that have hitherto handled only wooden bowls in Germany or in Erin. It is not ' their fault that they are all untaught, nor is it wholly ours, that we have at present no real help in caring for these treasures that "Moth and rust corrupt and thieves break through and steal." Bat it is oar auty to coa- ' salt together, and work our way oat of the difficulties tnat surround us in 1 this transition period of oar great but yet somewhat unformed country. We do real ize how imnortant is moral training, and how soon it should be begun, bat we scarcely - seem to have realized how much the food we eat affects our mental and moral condi tion. ' We all remember the familiar adage, "Show me what a man eats, and I will tell yon what he is," bat we forget its truth and power

when ordering (Saner. ' Brdnsdn' Aloott was one asked what we should eat in order to secure the best condi lions lor' spiritual growth. . "O, eat the sunshine," he replied i . i, .ui J . ; . .l.i

instantly: uie grains ana iruiia mat grow and ripen In the light and above the ground." We can not all literally obey that gentle philosopher, but we can keep the principle in sight, and cook oar potatoes so that they shall be like meal instead of lead. We are all quite convinced by - the experi ments ol scientists that It la from the undue extraction of the water from viands, that drying, over salting, over-boiling, and fry ing, are so injurious, xet we go, - in tnat disastrous frying, for which the South and West have become famous. -. Experiments prove that very little of the water with which families and schools in cities are supplied is free from deleterious substances, and very little of many kinds of food consumed in cities is free from adulteration. It is little wonder that Wendell Phillips said, in a speech delivered in the Centennial yecr. " x oa can scarcely get an ounce ol honest food in Boston; and if yon are ill, yea can not get an honest drug." What he was plessed to term a national demoralization, makes the work of the good housekeeper, who desires only the purest and best of materials for ber family, doubly hard. Because of the absorbent qualities of milk, the superstition long prevailed in Ireland that milk caused fever, and the peasantry could scarcely be induced to take it without first boiling; but Investigation proved that the sickness could be traced to milk adulterated by impure water, or to that left where the air was loaded with contagion. In a lecture upon the "Food of Man," delivered at the Royal Institute in London, in 1865, Dr. Playfair says: ' English weavers and blacksmiths, when their work is hard and their wages are high, consume more meat and neglect vegetables, and from tnis neglect in a physiological point of view comes the natural instinctive craving for hydro-carbon, and this craving the men will attempt to satisfy by alcohol." Some desire to have housekeepers understand the physical needs of the men most addicted to intemperance doubtless made a worthy minister of our own city tell a company of earnest women in the height of the crnsade when they sought his advice, "You had far better go home and study the science of cookery." Hurt and indignant as they were, who can deny that here was a truth, although harshly spoken, for the subsequent years have but proven how needful it is to use a particular and nourishing diet in conquering that disastrous appetite. - It was seriously asserted not long azo that the success of the German arms in 1870 was largely due to the easily carried, eaily prepared and nutritious food supplied to the troops by the Berlin sausage-makers. It is in one sense humiliating, if not ludicrous, to admit that a principle or a nation's cause should hinge upon a sausage; but as long as the spirit must work through flesh, the physical needs can not be ignored. It is time we ceased to degrade these needs, and quite time we learned than in one wav or another nature will have a sure re venge for the violation of ber simplest law. It has been decided tnat one ot tne serious faults ia the homes of the working elapses in America is the want or variety in their diet. Manv articles which combine ample nutri ment with small cost are neglected because when used exclusively they become distaste ful. Here we need the tact the skill of the French, who give us the suggestion of a fla vor, and so combine and vary their food that an appetite is created, not destroyed, mere is nosavingin theattemptto use food against wkich the mind is set for that subtle power of SDirit over matter will prevent its assiml lation. What an important and complicated duty rests with the mother and housekeeper, when many individual tastes are to oe con suited; but it seems to me that nowhere has individuality a better right to assert itself than in the matter ot roodHarriet Martineau had an unconquerable dislike for milk, but she was one ot an En glish household where the will or the wish of a child was not consulted. She never ceased to believe that this enforced compli ance with the rule for English children was one cause of lifelong sunering to ber. But in no country is there such waste ot the raw material as in oar own. each lack of culinary skill in all classes. Especially are the tablei of many farmers lacking in the variety which might be so easily obtained with a little skill, and more intelligence in regard to the raising of certain vegetables and fruits. A few may arrange for ice houses and cultivate celery, but they are so few as to be almost the exception, which proves tne rule to the contrary. - . A few years ago there was made by the labor bureau of Massachusetts a special in vestigation into the condition of 397 fami lies of skilled and unskilled laborers all through the State. The families were taken with some care as to their being representative, and the most remarkable feature of the statistics collected was the great dispropor tion expended for groceries in the (amines of workingmen. In one instance the totai income was $615, and the amount spent at the grocers $347.89, more than one-halt the entire earnings. Who can doubt that one half this sum would have served a better purpose had the food been judiciously selected and well cooked. In the light of these serious facts it is plain that the domestic problem is the riddle hitherto unsolved. A minister formerly in Bngland, and now preaching in our own country, says in a late sermon: "Where there is discord in a man's stomach, there is disease in his brain and demons are in his thoughts. We need a Moses in oar modern civilization to teach us that physical health is essential to religious life. We need a Paul to declare to us that onr bodies ought to be made pare and healthy, in order to be the temples of God's holy spirit" When we remember that this great work is to be done in the home, and that the mental and spiritual health rests with . the housekeeper, why are we not more sensible of the importance, the sac redness of this responsibility resting in our hands. Some of us do feel sure that before we depart we shall have a glimpse into that "promised land" where oar cnuaren snail aweii anaer netter conditions. Already cooking is dignified as a science in England, where the establishment of the South Kensington Cooking School has done great good. This school was the out growth of the International exhibition of 1873. Lectures were given at that time upon "Food and Its Preparation." These attracted so much attention and developed so great an . interest that the Duke of Westminster, with others, planned to form a permanent school, for it was found that cooking, like music, could only be learned by practice. '. The institution is divided into three courses: The first adapted for those who would fit themselves for cooks in families. The second course covers the science of cookery in general, and Is attended by ladies of the higher, as well as the middle classes, while the third is intended to meet the wants of the working people those who must dispense with servants and attend themselves to the duties of the kitchen. They learn to manage the household with order and economy ; and economy means to them, not only saving all they have, bat the ability to extract the most nourishment from food less expensive than the wealthy classes buy. The president of - this institution is the Duke of Westminster, and on the executive committee are titled members. Last year there were 2,169 pupils attending paying from one shilling to 20 pounds according to the extent of the coarse. There has been an attempt to establish a cooking school in New York, and the reason given for the failure was that it was not sufficiently popular, public opinion failing to sustain the work. Bat there is now being done a wonderful and beautiful work among the poor children of that great city. They are taught housekeeping, while they play with the appropriate toys, and this work, undo? the care of Miss Huntington, will prove a great blessing to the chil

dren, and through them to their future employers, when they take their places in the great army of those who help or hinder the making of a home.

When we look about for a remedy for existing evils, and for aids to oar complicated housekeeping burdens, the very first to suggest Itsell is a co-operative lannary. Could that work be removed from oar kitchens a great care would be taken away with it In a recent article upon London life, Richard Grant White says: "In no English household of a station above tnat in wnicn washing is done as a means of livelihood, is any washing done at alL That ever recurring torment of American housekeepers is never known in England, and I think the effect of this is one element of the greater repose and serenity of English life. In the English kitchen the h replace is comparatively small. and the whole affair much less formidable than our range, which looks lice an lronolad gunboat stranded upon the heirthstone." Very many of us realize what an infinite relief it would be could we banish from our kitchens the washing. Could we' rest in the belief that in a well-managed laundry our soft, unshruoken flannels wonld not be rained by rosin soap, and oar carefully made garments not be liable to come to pieces as mysteriously as did the parson's chaise after not 100 years, bat only a few weeks' wear, that would be a great step, and is not impossible. Then a co-operative bakery where all the bread, the loaf of cake and the roast could be prepared. This would disarm housekeeping of half its terror. The experiment of co-operative housekeeping was tried a few years ago in Cambridge, Mass., bat Mrs. M. F. Pierce, whose able articles in the Atlantic are well remembered, pronounces this experiment a failure, (1) because it was done without the co operative buying, or cooperative store, which would have made the lessened expense an attractive feature, and (2) because of the refusal of families to try the experiment, for, as was then suggested. "Mow can cooperative housekeeping be a success where the housekeepers refuse to cooperate?" There is already an effort in one of oar Western colleges to teach the principles of domestic science in the regular course. A report from the Agricultural College ot Iowa says: "Etch girl in the junior class has learned to bake bread, to cook meats, make plain paddings. They have also taken careful notes from the lectures de livered on many topics connected with household management" It is, I am sure, the hope of the department of domestic science of our association, to in time under take some practical work for the aid of house keepers. To establish it may be a training school for those who are to seek situations as cooks in families, or perhaps to give a gene ral training for the duties required ot an assistant in housekeeping. The effect of all this will be to lift up a service which has hitherto been falsely considered degrading. it ought to be as honorable to make a loaf of bread as to write apoem.since the writing of tbe poem depends upon the quality ot the bread the writer has used.. Perhaps it does require an entirely different order of in tellect (of that I am not sure) for tbe making ot perfect bread is one ot tbe arts in the future to be honored. But if it is, as we be lieve, a necessity to life and health, - give it a place of honor and thus reward the makers for the performace of a duty not always easy and attractive. Bat good housekeeping, as generally defined, although an essential aid, is not in itself sufficient to make a home In tbe truest sense of that word. A home should be the place where the spirit can, as Emmerson declares it needs to do, "bathe in solitude," or else be surrounded by the spirit's needful helps not only a shelter, but a place all your own, where your differences from the multitude need not be concealed, where you can grow as well as rest Too much has not been said; too much can not be said of the sacrednest of tbe family, of its needed influence in all Governments, and it is beginning to be recognized that wherever there is a family there ought to be a home safe from financial disaster and bearing its character in a neighborhood as an individual does in society. And when we think of what ought to be, and what is, even in this land of ours, whose bjiat it is to furnish homes for the multitude, we realize that we are indeed a long way from the millennium. A short time ago a number of the prominent ministers of New York city devoted one Sabbath to the consideration of the subject of homes for the poor in that great city. From the Church ef the Covenant, and Anthon Memorial came touching appeals for those whose only abiding places were the wretched tenement houses, where life could not be considered a blessing. Dr. Vincent said, "Nothing that is physically wrong can be morally right, ana religion must reiterate the truth that nature's laws are God s laws. The Christian church has provided with princely liberality chapels, Sibbath -schools, teachers and tracts for the degraded classes, but their intellects are so blunted, their perceptions so perverted, by the noxious air they 'breathe and the all-pervading filth in which they live, that they are not susceptible to moral or religious influences. Chris tianity must mean to them God's sunlight, a pare air, cleanliness and better homes." From these investigations it was found that 500,000 psople.nearly half the population of the city, live in tenemeit houses; some of them six stories high and with many rooms where the light of day could never enter. These are the places where vies and crime are fostered, and are the very opposite of what the houses of the poor should be. In the face of these facts we are not surprised when a high authority says, "Eighty per cent of all the crimes against person and property are perpetrated by those who have lost connection with home life, or who never had a home." Another earnest minister declared that, - without separate homes, .. a laboring class could not improve, and made an appeal for work, such as the Law association of Philadelphia had done, in enabling laborers to pay for homes. But it is not the poor and degraded classes alone that are in danger physically. It is startling to know that where wealth and taste have furnished the materials for ,a home, a lack of scientific knowledge often makes our most beautiful houses dangerous to health. Professor Chambers, president of the board of health in New York, made this statement in a recent lecture: "I do not believe that one-half the houses in this city are fit to live in. I mean the better class of houses, ior the tenement houses have not the conveniences which lead to these evils. - Investigations have led to the Deuel that the germs ot many contagious diseases are found in sewer gas. Un fortunately this gas is odorless there is no warning of danger, and we breathe it nn aware of its existence. Thus, sometimes, adding conveniences without a better sys tern of drainage is inviting death. The whole household mast be stricken with diphtheria, and the Princess Alice lose her life, before the royal fami y in Germany wasen to the realization of the Tact that the time-honored castle, which was their home, in its dampness and defective drainage bred the fatal malady which took from earth the best-beloved of Victoria's daughters. If more evidence were needed to prove the kinship of the human race, we might nnd it In the universal habit of the primitive man to have for himself al ways a sort of home, a cave if not a rude hat, some shelter from the storm and some protection from wild beasts; the feeble attempts at comfort for tbe baby and its mother. As the centuries are numbered and left behind we see these first protections from enemies and storms, these rude places dear then to the rude hearts of their pos sessors, growing into centers of influence and promoters of culture and affection ; for in these the ideal homes of our own time bad their beginnings. Many and varied as are the streams which have fed the civilization of tbe New World, we nearly all cling to the country of our mother tongue, and so are glad to know that this word home is truly English, for before the Norman con

quest the name given to the 'Anglo-Saxon dwelling place was ham; bnt the pronunda-

wou was so Droaa i( was an easy transition to make of it onr modern word home, and there is no word in other languages to stand for the idea awakened when the Knnh speak this simple word, - xne attempted revival of classical architecture failed in the seventeenth century, because the English were so thoroughly attached to the plain bat comfortable and boms-like mansion. The new style of architecture was a child of Italy and the Sooth, and Lord Chesterfield probably spoke for many beside himself when he said of the new house of a friend: ''That as he found it all in convenience within, notwithstanding its beauty without the best thing he could do would be to hire a lodging across the street and look at his new treasure." it has been often asserted that the Puritan influence during the seventeenth century DataStOD tO all baildinv f mm rl.raioal ri. signs and discouraged the architects who sought to improve and beautify English houses. If it oe true, well could the building of the outside afford to wait while the owners of the pointed hats stood for some thing infinitely more precious than the ar chitecture born to Sourish under the in fluence of Rome. That something in tbe Puritan Influence, so nearly akin to the atmosphere of the Quakers, that guarding of the family, without which the 8tate can not be safe, is the vital principle of true homemaking. When recently studvine statistics. I was not surprised to tiad that the average length of life among the denomination of Friends was longer by a considerable per cent than in other sects. It was consistent with the quiet, the peace and order that their discipline enjoins in the home as well as in the church. With a firm faith that the world does move, still we realize that many wrongs are yet to be righted, many aids now denied to be in the future placed in the hands of woman, since we expect of her the chief duty of msklng the home, ovr which every woman desires to preside. Her duties have been assigned to her, bnt the way in which these labors are to be accomplished has not been settled to ber satisfaction, at least - itzherbert, one of the first writers on husbandry in the seventeenth century, thus defines the duties of the farmer's wife: "Her business is to winnow all manner of corn, to make malt, to wash, to help her husband fill the muck-wain, the farm cart, drive the plow, load the hay or corn, and always go to the market and sell butter, pigs, and fowls." In addition to these small ways of "killing time," she was expected to furnish the average, at least seven more human beings, to swell the number of England's .working population, and in this regard she seldom disappointed the expectations of the most sanguine. That was in the seventeenth century, in England. How is it in the nineteenth in our own country? Fresh from school, our American girl of the oppulent class, finds herself mistress of a house whose furnishings, together with itself, requires for its keeping at least three pairs of well-trained hands. If she has plenty of money, she finds it very difficult to superintend the work that must go on beneath her roof. Her knowledge of sew ing is most likely confined to lace-darning on the various kinds of fancy work. Of the properties of food, and the various methods of preparation) she knows nothing; of tne necessary precautions against tbe army of enemies to perfect housekeeping, of the constant warfare against dust and moth, and spiders, she is not "forewarned." and so is unarmed. She has no trained service at her command, and if she succeeds in train ing ber help into a valuable assistant It is but a little time until this aid goes to display her knowledge of domestic affairs in her own home. This is in keeping with the genius of our republican insti tutions, and not to be condemned, but it complicates the domestio problem. But if our young American housekeeper is poor, but in education and refinement the peer of tbe English nobility, how is it then? Very likely she tries to imitate Hercules she undertakes to do everything with her own hands, one maces ber own dresses. not as did her mother or grandmother, but after Worth's latest model. She trims her hats. She struggle bravely with the mysteries of cooking, and learns at the hands of that most expensive teacher, experiencs, In the meantime she suffers with the keen sensitiveness of a woman when her bread is heavy and her cake rises but to fall. . In her despair she feels that she will, in the matter of housekeeping, never equal her husband's mother; ana alas: there are times and sea sons when she doest not want to. She looks at the piles of neglected music, the silent piano. whieh perhaps came with the wedding gifts. or she remembers the dusty easel stowed away, the Hardened drying oil and the un finished canvass ths picture she was once sore would Boon be finished. She is fall of anxiety to do her whole duty to the child whose little hands have opened the mvs terious fountains of mother love ia her heart nut sne unciasps tne clinging arms to rume tne aprons; sne nas no urns lor tbe sweetest duties of motherhood, the watching and di recting of the child's unfolding newers in calmness and quiet With true American instinet she keeps her interest in tbe march of events, with now and then a glance at Kaper or magazine, and she tries to keep up er social duties, making and recieving calls. At wnat teartui cost she does all this many of us know, and it becomes still less and less a wonder when foreigners declare that Amer ican women, so fair in youth, suddenly fade. ana oiten oecome pnysical wrecks, bull more pathetic is the story when the smoke from her home-fire curls up from some wide prairie or lonely farm in wooded district for the aids to farming have not yet, to any great extent, reached the homes of tbe farmers, and lightened the work of their wives. As tbe years go on tbe universal ambition seizes the children, and they are sent from home to school. At what cost the agricultural colleges are filled only tbe patient mothers know, who take up tbe additional home burdens, and it is not strange that in the statistics of insanity the largest proportion is found to be among tbe wives ot larmers. it is the sad story of over worn Dodiea ana unied minds. That universal love of home, next to the love of kindred, and associated with it, how it has been sung, and how touchlngly por trayed through all time. Charlotte Bronte. in the character of St John Rivers, has made the love of duty stronger than the love for sweet Sosamond. He has renounced the happiness of life on earth for the hope of joy in the life eternal, and is about to leave his native land for tbe work of a missionary in Hindoostan. Believing he has conquered every earthly love he yet bears testimony to tnat love for oar homes which lasts through life, and is present at death, for. standing on the purple moors, he looks at the dear picture, and exclaims: "I shall see it again in dreams when I sleep by tbe (sanges, and again In a more remote hour when another slumber overtakes me on the shores of darker stream." Nothing in all that tragedy connected with the man who valued the laws of God above the laws of Virginia is more touching than his plea to tbe stricken family to try and maintain their home, and close up as well as they can tne ororten c.rcie; for while the gallows was building in sight of tbe Blue Kidge, he wrote from Charleston prison "Let me entreat you all to love the remnant of our once large family. Oh, try to build up again your broken walls, and make the most of every stone that is left" So, also, as far back as record can reach, comes the evidence of tbe worship of that personification of the Divine in the love and care of the human mother. Mother and child, pictured in the Buddhist houses of China and Isle. with young Horus in her arms, carved on the monuments of old Egypt - again tbe same story . painted on the walla of buried ' Pompeii, until later. when the sweet picture bad a new interest and became the chief glory of the Catholio churches for hundreds of yean. The great

est men have in all their later triumphs turned baeer to rest la- the memory of that

love which first watched over them. We do not doubt that what la said of SaDhaal ia true, and that The memory that filled his childhood, On his can vass lea its trace : -For each of his sweet Madonfaja -. Holds hints of his mother's face. -1 - It would seem that the very light of most homes is kindled by the self sacrificing love of women. Housekeeping requires scientific knowledge, but home-making requires something more. It asks for self-denial, the sinking of selfish interests for the good of all; it requires patience, forbearance' , 1 The social talk, the evening fire, .' . , The homely household shrine, .. , Grow bright with angel visits, when '" ' There love pours out the wine. J , And when self-seeking tarns to love ttot knowing utlue nor thine, . The miracle again la wrought . . And water turned to wine. -" ' A gifted American writer has said, "Tbe heart of womanhood has been trained in all ages by blessed cares." And so we have not come into tbe possession of oar birthright as makers of home quite unprepared. Bat ior us the legitimate hardens of life are not yet adjusted. Women are not indolent, nor selfish, nor weak; but on the march some have scarcely anything to carry, while others are staggering under cruel weights. When we organize to help each other, oar work is well begun. I believe in time tbe machinery ot domestic life will be so adjusted that women can be true home-makers, without that personal - superintendence of all the details we now call housekeeping. . That work which at present requires of a housekeeper the eyes of Argus and the hands of Briarius the several professions which are now carried on under the home roof will then each be done in its separate place. Then tbe making and keeping of a home need not interfere with a profession, except in cases where the care of children demands and should always have the immediate supervision of the mother. Then the mother could fulfill her divine mission to the little flock that cluster about ber. We should have perfect housekeeping without the sacrifice of the housekeeper; we should have homes without the constant fear of losing the one who makes the home. There would be less repining; more cheerful, helping service for the family, and through that for tbe world, until we could say with Carlyle, "Blessed are they who have found their work; let them seek no other blessed ness." Old and New Potatoes. , . . . . ..; (.Housekeeper.! Old potatoes, the housekeeper's trial at this season of the year, may be greatly im proved by being soaked In cold water sev eral hours after peeling, or all night being particular to change tbe water once or twice. Peel very thinly as the best part of the pota to 1b nearest the skin. Vat large ones in four and small ones in two pieces. If to be boiled (steaming is preferable) put them on in clear, fresh boiling water. Keep closely covered and at a steady boil for at least 20 minutes, - five or 10 minutes more may be requisite, an cording to the quality of the potato. watch careiuiiy, ana tne very instant they present a mealy and broken surface, remove them from the stove, raise the cover lust enough to admit tbe draining of tbe water. This may be accomplished successfully and quickly, after a little practice, and is far better than turning them into a colander. thus suddenly chilling them and arresting the further development of the istarcbe, which after all, ia : tbe main point to be ac, coniplisbed. Drain the water off thor oughly -and quickly, sprinkle in sufficient salt for seasoning, cover the vessel closely, ' give it a shake and set back on the stove, being careful not to have it too hot in a minute or so give iti other shake to stir up the potatoes; throw in a little hot cream or rick milk with a lump of batter ana a sprinkle of pepper, cover immediately ana leave on tne stove for an other minute.' This last process adds greatly to tbe good cooking of potatoes. They are ready now to be dished whole or mashed. 8ome skill is required to mash them proper ly, simple as tne operation may appear. - The old fashioned wooden masher posseses advantages over the perforated iron plate with handle so nearly reDreeentmar the old time time churn dasher. Masked potatoes should be dipped oat lightly into a hot covered dish and literally cotxed into delicate mealy heap, instead of being stirred and patted and packed and cheesed into shapely mass. ; it potatoes are very watery it is better of coarse to cast them before tbe swine, but they must be used for human food a small lump of lime added to the water while boiling will improve the case. More so than any other vegetable does this one differ in quality according to variety and manner ot culture. However the main crop may be raised, every farmer's wife should secure for - her late spring consumption a supply of some choice variety cultivated entirely in rotten wood soil, or use wood ashes and gypsum in preference to the more common fertilizer. Potatoes for . breakfast are better to bave been . boiled and mashed. Butter a pie tin well, fill np lightly with potatoes, sprinkle. over with bits ot butter, set in the oven nn til nicely browned, turn a plate over them, Invert and reverse onto a hot plate for the table. Or, the mashed potatoes may be formed into . flat oblong -cakes or croquettes, - sprinkled with - butter and baked on buttered tins, or mixed with finely minced cold meat of any kind, seasoned and formed into croquets aad fried brown in hot drippings; or mix potatoes (or any cold vegetables) and meat, turn to a akillet with meat gravy from previous day. Stir up until dry and crisp, resembling a very dry hash; serve in small deep dish. This is what the Philadelphlans call scrapple, and differs from a compound of pork and corn meal called scrapple by some. - ' In baking potatoes with meat, now, is is better also to halve them. xeave them in the water until the meat is within half an hoar of being done. See that the pan con tains plenty of drippings, and witn proper heat the potatoes will be brown and crisp without and white and mealy within. They may be fried in the meat gravy, or warmed up in batter for breakfast Meal Feeding for Cows. . . The Miller system of exclusive meal feed ing for cows coming in is simply to teed corn meal three times a day, without fodder at any time. Mr. Miller s ration is a quart of yellow, meal at each feed. In the trial given by the Kecord, cob meal was used instead, two quarts nigat ana morning, ana one quart at noon five in all. The cows did well, keeping in aa good condition as those fed with fodder ana a lignter feed of meal.! They drink very little water. The beet way is to keep them by themselves, to re vent the longing when other cows arn eing foddered. The cad is lost, bat comes back as soon as hay . is again used. , It is certainly an economical plan, snd a healthy one. The Record's principal, in fact only, objection is the great diminution of tbe manure produced. The amount of droppings is unusually light - A Child's Faith. A little five-year-old New Haven child, who had just lost her father, received a ticket of reward from her teacher a few days ago. as soon as scnooi was out sne ran home to show the ticket to ner mother, ana when she showed it tbe child said: "Mother, I have held the ticket np to the sky all the way home, so that my father might see how good I have been." Another investigation has proven beyond donbt that Dr. Bulla Baby Byrap is the best medicine for teething children. Price 25 cents a bottle.

Th XLAXCXAXiI)

i BLOOD & NERVE FOOD la a UEL1VOTJS DEBIXITY Whloh underlies an rorma or ChmnM Is speedily overcome by the use of this Food. For the year past Ihave eamaxantlv ma,. Berthed The ItlanvrSMird Blaad awd Res-re Faed to my patients of all ages, from eighteen months to eighty-three years. In every case the result has been exactly that claimed by yon. It Is by far the most valuable and railable Tonic I have ever met with. JCDWABJ 8UTTOH SMITH, M. D po Irvine. Place, New York. FOOD AT LAST DRUGS A iOBITmrTB tor. BFOOD is maae a enratrve agent by eoneen tratlon and artificial digestion, and it is so simple In Its application that The adylee as mm sw nfBina. lnoneands er recoveries from chronic dla. lees are renartAd- whi th. ht maiiMi aklll has failed. Many of the best physicians throughout the country are Dlemi-aia- urags and ualnn the Blanc bard Mlowd mod Serve Fee4 wjiu we most gratuylng results, permanently relieving all forma of Physical and Mental Debility. The Aysfteptle aad Caaaanaa. tlve Pattest, sufferers from Malarial Blood Paiaoatas;, together with the entire list of complaints peculiar to the Feanale Sea find in the nee of this Food anre and speedy relief. ",. o Riw York, November 96, 1877. Dl. V. W. BUHCHlln: Dnrlniithanul nu 1 have prescribed your various preparations of Food Core, and feel happy to say they have uo my uum sanguine expectations, givine to patients long enfeebled by blood poison, chronic disease, er over drag dosing the need ed nutrition and nerve toree. raor. ;LJ!.Mi;:N(,E . LOZLEB.M.D Dean of Hem. Med. College and Hospital ' for Women, Sew York City o Hundreds ot eaaaa of Mrta-ailil of the Kidneys have been reported cored. For neoniiKN ana noeBnune in n nsi s u is almost a specific. Physical and Mental Debllilv from the nse of AlMhnl. Onioma i tne u Tobacco or from any unnamable caose, find in this Food a natural and notent remedy. FOB THE IITTKIXEOTITAI. WORKKB THE BLAXCIXABD BLOOD & NERVE FOOD Affords a certain and natural means or supE lying the waste of the brain resulting from kbor that will enable him to do better and more work than ever before, without danger of mental strain. As a remedy for the IVeee af Aaaetlte Want at Vigor, physical and mental, In children this Food has no rival. $1.00 per Bottle, or 6 for $5.00. ' SOLD BY ALL DRUGGISTS. Or Bent by Express on receipt of Prion. o AXSOVBX TRBOLOGICAI. 8XMTSABT, AUDOVaR, MjlUH March 3D, 1H78. MYour Life Food la an excellent thing. I have no nesiiauon, aixer a uaorongn trial or it, in recommending It In eases of chronic dyspepsia and nervous prostration. o THE BL.AKCHAKD FOOD CI7B BTHTEK now raoelvliix such popular ann elation Is olearly set forth in a 64 page pa pniet wnien win be sent to any address on oelptof 25 cents. Address Blanchard . Food Core Co. 27 VJBIOBT SQUARE, HEW YORK. AND CHEAPEST HAIR hi DRESSING IN THE WORLD. FOR THE HAIR It sorrxxs xum nara waasr naaan asro xbt. It soothes Tna raarrrED scalp, ir AJTOBDS TUX niCSXST ICSTBX. IT vxxrs ran Barn raox uunto orr. Ir raon OTES its deaxtht, vieoaoci gbowtb. It is sot oaxasT xoa sticky. It uavxs sro DisiQBKr.tniJi onoa It juus bajt- ' aorvv , , ... . lASlWirTTWIlAiii On red Wltaia a MaejatMl Tlaaa. The TriMpbTiaS Co.,K.Bsr. ery, N. YotTec Sl.fl00fora raptors theyeannot cure. The Triumph Trasses have received the highest honors at all lairs where they have been exhibited. Bend 10 cents for book on the (Jure ox liuptnrs to either ofnoe. . rree. ELECTRIC BELTS. A sore cure for Nenrona Debility, Prematura Decay, Weakness, Consumption, LJver and Kidney dlwssos, General Debility, etc. The Only BellaMe Caro. Clroulars mailed free. Addrrns J. H. RKEVES S CHathaas Mire. New York. KANSAS. IVEUItASlCA. Descriptive matter about Lands, Farming Stock Raining, etc Also, lowest rates for fas. sage and Freight. All information cheerfully furnished Fm. Address, C K. LORD, Oenl Agent, 8U Louis, Mo.

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FREE TO ALL JljaSTWOOD'B v IagOg jXHRICT, Free te an who esad a their sddraa sad sis asaW) SB pastas ef ps aiilr - VXITa-J STATES EIWU C . . lTtalaa4as,taaanaa3.e