The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-04-12

AuC uAuS VI puTN(llSe
Wear wings Of living green,
And when they drop the wing feather
The days Of spring begin.
The birds of paradise
With rosy plumeS are ShOd
And when floats down the rose-feathcr
The roses are abroad.
The birds Of paradise.
Their crcStS are gold and light,
And when sails down the gold athcr,
| Lo, autumn burning bright!
Who saw the spring to wake?
The first rose bud or bloom?
Between the sunset and the dawn
Fell down sheeny plume.
Who saw the leaf turn gold?
The first swallow to go?
hut al nave seen the white feather
NnereWlth the world hath snow.
Pail Mall Gazette.
Tho Family Sewing.
March is often month of cold, stormy
days, when Interruptions from the out
| side world will be few, and the attention
OF the housewife can be all the better
concentrated upon new things or fur
blShlng up old Most women like an en-
| tire day now and then to ransack closets.
| ana from their depths to unearth many Il
| treasure which will fill an immediate
want i'll making over an Old garment or
y
the home, but which has been boarded
away so long that it's unexpected reap
| pearance is hailed with us much delight
as miser might evince at sight Of
| new gold-piece. These days afford such
y convenient time for remodeling old
dresses, and few yards of new material
which harmonizes or contrasts with the
better portions of III old gown oft-times
produces such good effect that one al
most falls in love over again with Il
| favorite gown which has hitherto been
considered too shabby to be worn. l
always feel IN honest glow of gratifica-.
ton at my successful attempts at econo-
made-over gown more effective than
when new: Some dreaded repairs are
ever waiting, hanging like Damocles'
| sword over the luckless feminine head;
| one of these is the refining and binding
| of dress-skirts, which seem to wear out
and fray out with most unwarrantcd
! rapidity. But the task should be faith
fully accomplished now, before the code
of New Year resolutions has time to
! grow cold, for determination to never,
never wear an untidy dress-skirt springs
eternal in every tidy woman's breast, and
a few hours Of interrupted work accom-
plishes wonders i'll putting snagged.
draggled skirt-binding into good order.
The worn bed clothing must be re-
placed by new, and there is wrong
way as well as a right way of making
even such a common article as sheets.
Few are large enough. In all my expert
ence in sleeping in strange beds l have
never found any too large. A good meas
urement for Il double bed is two and
half yards wide. A hem three or four
inches in depth should be turned in at one
emu, which is considered the top of the
sheet, and hem one inch deep at the
other end. Our grandmothers then
marked in the center of the sheet, few
inches below the deeper hem, with black
silk thread, the initials in cross stitch, ac-
curately counting the threads in the fin
est muslin or linen. Every letter was
made by rule, seven cross stitches in
length by five in width, and just below
these the number of the sheets, so that
the sheets were always on the beds in
pairs. With their eyesight strained in
doing such work as this: it is not difficult
to understand why their granddaughters
have defective organs of vision and must
resort to the woven letters for mark
ing. These can be purchased in red or
blue letters by the box. each box contain
ing a gross of initials and costing but
few cents. These letters are useful, too.
for making underclothing as well as bed
linen, and in il family where there are
children the care of whose clothing de-
wolves upon !; busy mother. each childs
initial sewed to it's stockings and under
wear facilitates sorting the clothing and
adds in teaching habits of method and or
der.
Sheets are sometimes made of linen,
but our climate is so cold and variable
that their use is not advised. When
used. however, a more elaborate finish
is permissible than in ordinary muslin,
and deep hem-stitching, with perhaps
border of drawn work, is the usual mode.
The family initial, embroidered in floss
below the hem, has superseded the once
done in white always indicates a more
refined taste than if color, no matter
how delicate, is used. The bed linen for
a bride prospective is always marked with
her own initial. as good form does not
permit the slightest intimation of haste
in the matter Of the new name. In max
ing. slips for pillows a measurement three
inches wider than the pillow must be
taken to allow for seams and shrinkage.
When possible, muslin made especially
for pillowcases should be bought and the
selvages sewed together for the required
length in order that the long threads of
the muslin may extend lengthwise Of
customed to using ordinary muslin for
this purpose will be agreeably surprised
at the extra length of time slips made
from the regular pillow casing will wear.
Every housekeeper has her preferred way
of making slips. Sometimes they are
made tritie, longer than the pillows
and secured by buttons and button
holes; sometimes an inch-wide tuck with
embroidered edge, extending all the way
around is added to the buttoned cases.
| best like them made a quarter of yard
longer than the pillow and simply fin
ished with a deep hem, for buttons "come
back missing" from the laundry and bot
fnr hNln hN1n
only that and nothing more. If a more
elaborate effect is desired the pillow
slips may be- like the sheets. Of linen,
with hem hemstitched in and initial en-
broidered to correspond with that of the
sheeting. For general wear l find the
half-bleached shccting and piowcasing
to be the most economical and satisfac-
tory. 1t is fine. soft and firm, soon be-
comes perfectly white, and we'll resists the
gentle wooing of the wintry gale to be
torn quite to shreds while wildly Tapping
on the clothesline.
From Il hygienic point of view blankets
are more desirable than comfortablcs for
covering. yet their price often puts them
beyond the reach of housewives who have
numerous beds to furnish. Ii many per-
sons who sleep complacently beneath the
pretty, bright comfortables which have
been bought already made could but see
the cotton filling beneath the attractive
looking exterior, they would be re-
minded of the old saying of a
white glove that hides a dirty
hand, for nearly always, even in the more
expensive grades, the cotton is of an infe,
r;or quality, dark in color, greasy in ap
pearance and rank in odor as may readi-
~ be found by slightly ripping the cover,
ing. Of one. A better plan is to buy mate,
rial for the covering, fifteen yards being
generous allowance for both sides; then
select three or four rolls of nice clean cot,
ton batting. After half the covering is
sewed together in two long seams joining
at hand, it may be laid smoothly upon
bed wrong side up the cotton spread
evenly over it, and the other half of the
material carefully placed on the cotton.
Then with brig ht colored zephyr or yarn
the tying together of the two outsides is
easy enough, providing care is taken to
uniformly space the knots After the
knotting is completed the edges arc