The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-01-02
For the F. VI. Household.
Honors are Easy"

Housekeerer, propose 70 enter the
lists. and divide honors" with YOU
YOU see we arc old-fashoned. and play
Hoyle'S game.
For tho you know all that do about
| housekeeping, there are a few things
that YOU have not remembered To tel
the great sistethood. and those am
going to tell; and herewith challenge
every housckeeper to rise up in meeting
and tell all she knows that she thinks
the great multitude of the faithful have
vet to learn. New discoveries. short
cuts. and sensible departures from old
methods whereby the daily tasks are
lightened. aud duties made more sim
pie. There are many little things which
we pick up in our individual experience
that would help others as much as they
do us. For instance. baking some
cakes to-day the pans were rough. that
inexplicable roughness which besets
them sometimes. and tempts one
to believe in personal devil with very
small malignities: to step into the gar
den, get raw turnip, and wash it. then
cut off an end and rub the turnip over
the bottom of tie hot pans made them
as smooth as satin. The same applIca-
ton to a griddle or frying pan removes
all difficulty in turning batter cakes, or
corn bread.
l always heat the utensli real hot and
rub it with the raw turnip until the tur-
nip is brownish. then | grease the grid
die. or whatever / am using as usual
but the greasing is not necessary-the
raw turnip vii, ensure the easy turning
| of whatever is put on it. Talking about
turnips, did not know until this season
that the green tops were as nice now for
salad as in the spring. and make the
| turnips much nicer if cooked with them
Nanny told me about it. and what an
old-time negro don't know about cook
ing amt worth knowing. l believe
told YOU all about steaming squirrels
and chickens before frying them; it en-
sures their being done without the risk
Of burning. Then with eggs at twenty
five cents dozen everybody will be
glad to know that every snow fall will
be a nest full of eggs for their batter
cakes. Make your batter a usual. only
leaving out all tie eggs. and when ready
to bake them, Just at the moment beat
i'll rs many tablespoonstul OF light snow
as you would have used eggs say four
to each pint Of flour. and bake us usual.
and the cakes will be as light as the
snowllakes that were in them. | sup
pose il would have been the rankest
heresy in our Observation-Disclosures day
to have sugges ted to people that they
could do a great many things in house
keeping sitting dowu--but such is going
to be my heretical conduct. The Ameri-
can woman has the worst made back to
be found in creation, so far as usefulness
goes, and standing up is murderous to
it. little awkwardness and inconven-
ience at first will be the result. but even
tually she will find infinite saving Ct
herself in sitting down to wash up dishes.
mould biscuit, wash and trim vegetables.
CRATE things, and thousand and one
things that she now stands up to do.
and gets the backache every time she
does it. Try it all of you not over
strong ones. and you will find great
comfort in it. The weak ones learn TO
be cunning. and make wit serve for
strength.
Oh. | saw such sensible plan for
using scraps of toilet soap in a paper
lately. 1t was to make flannel bag
about as large as your hand. and leave
one end open, into that end slips all
remnants of cakes of soap as they get
too small to use, and when the bag gets
comfortably full. sew up the open end
and fasten a loop on it. then use the
soap bag in your bath tub, and hang it
up when out of use-and it will be both
comfortable and economical.
Now. Birdie Wren, can't YOU tell us
something as useful as all this just con-
trbuted BY l.. b.