Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-02-13
CURRENT AFFAIRS.
OUR BOSTON LETTER.
SOMETHING MORE FOR THE GIRLS

Mrs White Writes about Engagement
Cups and Saucers, and Various other
Things Dear to the Feminine Heart.
BosToN, Feb. ), 1891.
I've got another word for the girls What
do you think is the very latest notion Do
you give it up Well, | will tell you. 1t
is the engagement cup and saucer. You
know it has come to be quite the fashion to
send to young lady, when her engage
ment is announced, bunch of flowers as
IA congratulation. Well, that was very
pretty, but the posies soon withered, aud
then had to be thrown away. So it enter
ed into somebody's head-whose | don't
know, although | wish / did, for the au-
thor Of such happy thought ought tn be
immortulized-to send something less per
ishable, that could he kept as souvenir.
The object chosen wuS'> n eXquisitely deco
rated cup aud saucer Others took up the
notion, aud now 1t is considered quite the
thing, When you send your congratulations
TO your friend to send them IN "a cup aud
saucer Doesn't II remind you OF the old
nui sery play that We had when We we're
c nd, en-
"Unrr Junn is very sick hat shall We send hini;"
Then the reply
"rhr,-r golu wishes. three gold fishes"
aud they were 10 be sent 10y the governors
daus liter and we're to go III IA golden sau-
Ger
Aad now We senl gold wishes galore 10y
the hand ul the Pneteenth century Mer-
curry, III the very a tuimtlest of decorated
cups aud saucers. ie charm Of It Is that
you eau make the vessels containing your
good wishes matcn yudC pocket-book. saw
at Jones, McDuiiee x Stratton's quaint
" of these dainty affairs, ranging III price
from twenty five cents TO twenty dollars,
aud such beuutles as there were To he sure
You can get Royal Worcester, or the Be
eeK made m Trenton, \. or the Crown
Derby, or Haviland or Wedgewood or
MIntun. lust what w., papt. the best and
can afford ~ pay Tor. " IN N u one that had
been sent to prospec u Mride the other
day. it was IA bit OF hav, aud was Just
as exquisite as possible. 1 re was thin
as an egg shell, almost ira snt II was
Il clear wnIte aud vas dec' with tiny
lunches Of bachelors bt1i IiW3"l and wind
| blown grasses. Pretty CN.nt4d sc It was.
! / almost Wished | could he and again 70
| have such II souvenir sent %tah L
A-speHking OF novelties, - eyNyilli, year
| this is for housekeepers ~ Sbavin. trays
| have almost entirely taken, .TsNN # tue
tall celery glasses. This isAE AESsSyOsSS,,. that
Is great Improvement IN = [NSS the
greater convenience OF the hNSc,. tall
/ glass 1t was almost ImpOssiblN~s9,N put
Il piece Of celery without hngENS,S d.s,er
| pieces, and often, IN spite of tliNcS ratit't
! possible care, two or tnree pieces 'sNCAuH
drawn out and fall on 10 the clot * Mai
all know how frequent that occ( St,'h-
was Now with the tray all this awk\N>'nm
ness is avoided, and one can seleo' y "a
| piece of celery desired aud take 1t wItS y
| disturbing any OF the rest. Beside tn =
convenience the trays are very ornamental;
they are of cut Z lass IN very lovely designs,
uud are shallow, lUug enough to hold
stalk OF celery and aDout half wide
they are long Inc tray is quite popular
! form of table decoration, eItherI IN cut glass
Or some delicate ware notably the beautl
! ful Dresden There are trays for olives,
! sAlted almonds and for bon bons.
And that makes me think. | had a letter
not long since from some one who signed
herself Vera asking me to give the meth
od of preparing salted almonds, so rs have
| Just been talking about the dishes in which
they are to be served, | will take this op-
portunity to give Vera the information
she desires, and possibly it will meet the
desire Of some other readers as we'll. The
rule give you is one that Is given 10y Miss
| Parlua IN the lectures last season.
Shell the required quantity of almonds,
aud bleach them 10y pouring boiling water
over them and letting them stand in 1t for
a moment, then throwing them into cold
water aud finally rubbing them between
the hands In this way every bit of the
brown skin is removed and the almonds are
clean and white ready 10 be salted. For
each cupful of nuts that is put into a bow
add a tablespoonful of melted butter or sal
ad oil, whichever you prefer. | like the
butter best if 1t is fresh aud perfectly
sweet otherw ise choose the oil Stir tn,
almonds well in this and let them stand fol
one hour then sprinkle with salt, allow
ing a tablespoonful for each cupful of nuts
Put the almonds IN a clean baking pan anC
into a moderate oven and let them bake
giving them a stirring occasionally, unit
they tVrn a delicate brown. In about t
o. "A WlOf an hour they should be crisp
1t. NJ IN my rsquire a slight sprinkle Of sal
he In Souf,me from the oven you can de
u 73. hat yourself by tasting. They
I9 Phlla. laced ON the table at the begin
meriv Of "a dinner aud served with tn,
ii months. cheese. Many people keep 1
10 san JOS, and trays of n-bons on tn
to- The lat, "a library or parur, aud offel
tlR9 to nibble as they like.
on the subject of putterl