Home Talk.
We have no kitchen cabinet, and we keep a small table set for three in our kitchen, which is not large. The cooking stove, sink, and cupboards taking most of the room. I needed a small table to use for work and mixing table. There was a space behind the stove. I bethought me of the crate in which my sewing machine came. It is just the thing. The table is just about the right height, and the shelf below is as convenient as the top. I find that on baking day it helps very much to get everything one needs before commencing work. I use an earthen mixing bowl. After the bread and biscuits, I make pies, as the lard is then cold. Then I make my cakes and afterward doughnuts. It is a saving of time and fuel if one can bake a variety at once, as in cold weather victuals keep longer than in summer. A convenience for storing pies can be made by having several shelves sawed out large enough to hold your tins. One can use laths (four of them) for uprights, fastening them well at the four corners of the bottom shelf; then fasten the others about three inches apart. This gives more space, and keeps pies from being mussed.
Did you ever experience the difference between two neighborly calls? Mrs. A. relates the latest bit of gossip, making up in insinuations what she lacks in fact. She talks about her dressmaker, criticizes the appearance and dress of her friends, and gives you an uncomfortable feeling—thinking perhaps you will be the subject of unpleasant remarks. Mrs. B. is fresh and cheery. She asks about your plants, and tells of the growth of her own—of every new bud. She tells of the cunning things her baby has said, of the nest her canary is building, of the new book she is reading. She tells, perhaps, of some ludicrous mistake she has made in her cooking, laughing at the same. This woman may not be intellectual in the highest sense, but she is charming. Her call will have made you happy all the day. We leave the effect of our presence—sometimes for long. So should we act that no sting of uneasiness be left in the hearts of those with whom we come in contact.—Alicia E. Storm, Plessis, N. Y.
Valuable Pointers
Every work is easy and pleasant if you go at it as you go to a picnic. In house cleaning I fix one room at the time. It takes a week, but I have the most of each day and I do my work better, as I don’t have to hurry. No confusion in the regular routine of work; one thorough sweeping and dusting is enough for one day. If the tablecloth is clean enough for the home folks, it is all right for company. Don’t try to cook a variety of dishes each day. You won’t hold out so well, and one or two will do as well, and change them every day. Sheets, towels and some other things can be used all right without ironing. If you smoothed all the wrinkles out of all the rough clothes, you might have the wrinkles in your face. I read and rest some every day. Prepare two dinners on Saturday, and go to church and Sunday-school. I do have some trouble and everyone does, but I am always thankful, and my life-work is a delight to me. Let us try to do all things to the glory and honor of God. Although in the country, we have one of the best “teachers.” Our children attend, cold or hot, regularly. They are taught the Sunday-school lesson at school Friday afternoon.—Mrs. E. A. Richardson, Thomaston, Ga.
To Make Sure of Milk Churning in Cold Weather
Many persons who churn in winter have trouble because butter will not come if chilled, and are obliged to throw the milk away, or feed it to the stock. If they will steam, not boil, the milk after milking, they can allow it to freeze solid and it will churn all right if thawed and warmed properly. This recipe has been worth many dollars to me, and hope it will help other women housekeepers.—Mrs. D. L. Burrows, Gibson, Ga.
To Polish Nickel on Stoves
Use stove polish. It is the very best thing. Rub a light coating over it and polish with polishing cloth or brush. The cloth or brush is generally sufficient. Only give an occasional coat of polish.—Mrs. D. L. Burrows, Gibson, Ga.