The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-06-05
HOUSEKEEPING IN SUMMER.
The Good yvife's Perple xities-Diet for the
Dog Days-Flies and Fresh Air.

Souls OF nOuSekeeperS. PerhapS IL was
so in our grandmothers' days, when
canned fruits and vegetables were un-
known, and the prudent housewife was
forced in summer, like the ant and the
bee, to lay "up stores of sweetness for
use in winter hours !" stores which, if
not large, were likely to run low before
the kitchen garden came again into
bearing. But now, with the grocer at
our backs ready "for compensation"
to supply us with every known fruit and
vegetable all the year round she who
has money or credit may spread her
table bountifully in all seasons, with
small forethought of her own, and the
dog days are those in which she is most
prone to exclaim wearily: 81 wish peo-
pie did not have to eat!' Appetites are
capricious; dinner eaten heartily one day
will be scarcely touched the next, and
though every one has q feeling OF
emptiness, few persons are actually
hungry. Provisions cooked one day are
kept to the next only by the free use of
ice, and even then are apt to taste of the
ice chest. Thus the economy practiced
at King Arthur's court, where "what
they could not eat that day the queen
next morning fried" becomes an inn
possible virtue, and the anxious house
wife stands perplexed between the Scylla
of niggardliness and the Charybdis of
waste. Nature. however. is always
law unto herself, and he who in warm
weather eats much meat is apt to pay
for it by dulled brain and a general
feeling of uncomfortable heaviness. In
all warm countries the laboring classes
eat but sparingly of animal food. The
East Indian coolie subsists almost wholly
on rice; the West Indian grows fat upon
bananas and oranges, and the hardy
Arab of the desert conquered world on
a diet of dates and barley. Milk and
fruits, bread and vegetables, are cooling
and may be freely indulged in. And
since in hot weather the kitchen is
modified purgatory, and preparing
deserts becomes penance, we have
cause to congratulate ourselves on the
delicious deserts which nature brings to
us for the gathering. Strawberries,
raspberries, blackberries and peaches
all these come to the table without the
smell of fire having passed upon them,
and eaten with cream are a dish to set
before king" So also in the country,
where fruit and milk abound, ice-cream,
that most delicious of deserts, costs
almost nothing. Given q pailful of ice
and tive-minute freezer, the rich milk,
or still better, cream, has but to be
mixed with the crushed fruit, sweetened
and let to freeze itself. Covered with an
old blanket or piece of carpeting the pro-
cess of cOngealing will go on slowly but
surely, with small aid from you, even if
your freezer be but tin bucket-only
in this case you must stir the cream with
knife two or three times while freezing
to prevent the formation of crystals of
ice in the freezer.
Breakfast, especially, should never, in
hot weather, be n heavy meal. A cup of
ea or glass of milk, a dish of oatmeal, n
soft boiled egg, with fresh fruit and cold
bread, which need not, however, be
stale, are far better preparations for the
labors of the day than tlapjacks and
fried bacon washed down with abun-
dance of hot coffee. When the Greek
athletes were in training for the Olym-
plan games they were forbidden animal
food altogether, and won their races on
u diet of bread and fruit. In later days
Newton was the most abstemiOus of
meh, and the architect of the Crystal
Palace. Sir Charles Fox, ascribed his
ability to undergo the severe strain of
his almost incessant labor for days on
his drawing, to his temperate habits
and daily plunge bath. Such instances
might be multiplied indefinitely, but it
is scarcely worth while.
Every hOusekeeper knows what a
nuisance flies are in summer. Two
weapons. are powerful against them,
cleanliness and darkness. Therefore the
dining-room should be kept dark be-
tween meals, and care should be taken
to sweep every crum from. table and
floor. But it will not do simply to shut
up the room, shutting up the flies in it.
Close every window and door but one,
anc through that drive the flies out.
This is not so hard as it may seem upon
paper, and practice makes perfect here
as in all else. We have known house
keeper who was so expert that she had
only to wave her broom and the flies
dutifully swarmed out as they saw the
standard raised in air. Fly-nets for the
windows are comfortable appendages
for living and sleeping-rooms. Bought
ready-made they are somewhat eX-
pensive; made at home they cost only a
trif1e. Have the carpenter-or if some
one in the family knows how to handle
tools, let him-make a frame of inch
wide lath, fitting the window frame.
On this stretch mosquito netting-dark
green is best-and fasten with tacks to
the laths. The same netting over II
frame of reeds, of osiers, or wires from
an old hoopskirt make serviceable cake
| and butter covers. Bend one hoop into
a round of the size wanted, then on this
| fasten two semi-circular hoops, crossing
each other at right angles in the center
| above the bottom hoop. This forms the
frame, which, if of wire, should be
wrapped with worsted; on this the net
ting is sewed, and a button on the top
serves as handle.
Air every sleeping-room- thoroughly
every morning, and, if possible, let in the
| sun to shine on the beds and bed-clothes.
Often at night, when the heat is we'll
nigh unbearable, wet cloth hung in the
window over the blind will cool the
room as if a ashowerh had fallen, and every
one knows how water poured ON the
pavement in front of the door will
freshen the hot, dry air. This principle
OF the reduction of temperature by evap-
oration is capable of much practical ap-
| pllcation. In India and other tropical
countries, where ice is almost unknown,
the natives cool their drinking water ty
suspending earthen jars filled with it in
a brisk current of air, which process is
said to cpol it thoroughly and rapidly.
So, also, when ice is unattainable, but
ter may be kept firm and sweet by set
ting the bowl containing it in shallow
vessel of water and covering with nap
kin, the ends of which are we'll i'm
mersed in the water in the bottom dish
| A wet handkerchief or sponge worn in
the hat when exposed to the sun, as in
the harvest field, will prevent sunstrokt
| under the most intense heat known II