Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-12-12

-1'stEss-4 Most of us, who
bro thrifty and conscientious, know what
10 do with bits of cold meat or potato:
cut there are some things VIC do not
snow what to do with. For instance.
neat pie. If there is good deal left,
Enough Tor meal, the problem is easy
enough: but if there is only Il s.scrap''
eft, what then? ''Such a good meat
pic! Such nicc crust and gravy! 1t is a
pity to throw it away! will not do it,"
Thus VIC say, and the next day we pat
this nice ''scrap" into little dish, with
ts gravy, cover itso it will not get too
dry, and pat it into the oven just long
enough to heat through-just while we
arc broiling the bit of ham that is to be
the meat (fn the mainD for lunch. Re-
sult: every one wishes the nicely brolcd
ham, and the meat pic ''scrap" remains
the same size as before. At least, that
is what happens in my house, and when
write upon these housekeeping topics,
h am very apt to write about what hap
pens in my" house.
Then there is cold mackcrel! Who
ever knows what to do with cold mack
rrel? One can sousc cold trout. or cscal-
lop cold white fish, or do wonderful
things with cold picked-up Goldfish; but
cold mackcrel is too much of a problem.
have tried broiling it, if it was broiled
at first; and have tried re-broiling if it
was first broilcd; have tried the oven and
the frying-pan; but everything is fail
ure, yet who is willing to deliberately
throw away q good ''scrap' of cold mack
erel? Once l had whole cold mackercl
on my hands. 1t happened in this way:
Tho providcr in our house delights in
buying things by the kit dixie mackercD,
or by the bushel Qike navy bcans), or
by the 6o-pound box Qike cod-fsh), and
everything becomes problem in elimin-
alton before VIC get through. Well. we
had q kit of "beautiful' mackerel, to
which tie family took kindly for ''quite
spell" Then VIC had to take o long
rest. One morning, as we were to have
three extra guests for breakfast, / had
one of those s'bcautiful" mackcrel
cooked. knew could expect nothing
from the family, so ccntcred all my
hopes on the guests. Not one of them
ever ate mackerel! There lay the ma
jcstic, solitary creature untouched upon
the platter! What did do? put on
my hat, took the platter just as it was,
and ran around tho corner to Mrs.
Brown, who sometimes does washing for
me-; kad who has q houseful of growing
II
I was desperate.
Perhaps tho reader may think Mrs.
Brown might solve my problem about
scraps; but she does not. | can.carry
her whole mackarcl but cannot carry
her s'scraps.' There are plenty of peo-
plo Just like her, arc there not?
Again, what can a body do with cold
fried egg? ''It is such nice fresh egg
and the others tasted SO good!'' 1t is
conscientiously Slipped into q saucer, put
in the icc-boX and preferred to the COM
mittee on ways and MEANS" And q
hard time tho "coinmittc'' has with it,
usually putting it Oh the table just as it
is, and urging every one to ''plcase finish
up that egg No ono wishes to, any
more than the committee" docs.
Perhaps we are all too dainty! l am
very much inclined to think we are; but
every time conclude that am, surely,
and that it is high time that disciplined
myself, also find that, when confronted
by that piece of meat pie Offset by
broiled ham, or that cold mackercl or
that cold fried egg, I weaken. l claim
no singularity in this weakness. 1 am
strengthened in it Gf may use u seem
ingly contradictory phrasc) by most OF
my equally dainty friends.
We'll, what shall we do? Shall we
shut our eyes, as it wore, and throw all
these good "scraps" into the garbage
box? That is too bad, with so many
hungry people in the world.
For myself, l have found a poor
woman living alone with one little girl.
who can always use such. 1t is not
easy to find just such a person, and it is
good deal of trouble to carry the little
.sscraps" to her when she is found; but it
is quite worth while. If they are be-
slowed in the right spirit, they will DC
accepted, and will be of decided benefit,
not only to the poor, half-fed woman
and child, but to the doner whose con.
science is made easy. "Taking trouble
is not bad for any of us, if taken rightly,
and 'sgathcr up tho fragments that moth
ing be lost" may be our part III solving
some of the great social questions OF the
day concerning the distribution OF prop
erty." This simple service is not roman
tic, surely; but it will be found ''sort o
SATISFYING if faithfully tried.
Hints TO I:ousekcepers.
Hartshorn will usually restore coiors
that have becn taken out by acid
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