The record-union., 1898-06-26

found not that an exceptional colleSe
woman was a good fousekeeper, bu'
that college women as a rule were the
best housekeepers, and that their fam
lilies were best cared for, and that their
trained brains were better fitted to
manage the intricacies of the domestic
machine.
While on the subject of children
reading. the work in Boston in this
respect is worth mention. A circle OF
well-known women have constituted
themselves a Ladies' Commission. IL
has existed for some time, and its
object is to select proper reading for
children. During the year all the
children's books published within that
time are read. and reports are issued
at the end of the twelve-mOnth, giving
the list Of what books have survived
their criticism. This criticism, it may
be added, condemns chiefly inane, silly
talks in the books and errors of fact.
A visit to an English silversmith Is
always interesting to the American
housekeeper, and she is wise to bring
away for the use at her home board
some of the useful dishes not often seen
here. Among these is the jam-pot, a
low, circular bowl of glass usually fit
ted with a silver-plated lid through
whose spoon-hole deep-bowl oval
spoon is thrust. Another pretty dish
common to English tables, and possi-
bly, to be had of our own silversmiths,
is what is called a mince-dish, the Eng
liSh objecting to the word hash. This
stands on a silver standard that ele-
Yates it a few inches above the ia
BILE, and has a spirit-lamp beneath to
keep the contents warm. 1t is provided
with silver-plated cover. and it is
both useful and exceedingly ornament
al. Something much less needed is
often seen on English dressing tables.
and that is the silver twine-ball. This
is about the size of an orange, and is
made of two equal parts put together
at the center after the ball is inclosed,
the end of the twine coming through a
hole in the top. The silver ball rests on
little feet.
A woman who is building tiny
house, which, however, is the crystal
lization Of her ingenuity and ideas Of
convenience picked up here, there and
everywhere, has in the china closet
opening from her dining-room two deep
drawers inserted under the bottom
shelf. The drawers are each of them
fourteen inches deep and are lined
throughout with tin. In one of them
bread is to be kept and in the other
cake. They fit snugly the cake drawer
locking. Everybody knows that the tin
bread and cake boxes bought at the
shops and kept on the floors of closets
are very well while new, but the care
less maids opening and shutting them
many times a day soon bang them into
a shape which prevents their tight
closing. When that condition is reached,
they are about as useless as an open
shelf for the purpose for which they
are designed, that of keeping out the
heat ard damp air. and also mice, if
such infest the place. Housekeepers
whose china closets have been in exist
ence for years will find it an easy mat
ter to have such drawers added.
AT a May blossom luncheon the pref
ty menu cards had apple blossom petals
traced in pink scattered over
the card. The real blossoms were
on large circular mirror mat in the
center of the table. From the chande-
lier, reaching down, trailed more of the
bloom, and over the table were sprays
of it intermingled with radiating bands
OF pink satin ribbon. At each plate
was bunch of splendid royal purple
pansies, an effective contrast to the
paler blooms.
A grocer caught in confidential
mood by the reporter of a Philadelphia
paper admitted that the authorizations
of his stock which were known to him
self would fill small volume. A cheap
prand OF tomato catsup. he said, was
fuliy three-fourths pumpkin, and the
plte detected in cheap gingersnaps
was produced. not by ginger. of which
they were wholly free. but by cayenne
pepper. He told more things, but these
TWO may be taken as fair sample The
pubic, perhaps, ought to be grateful if
nothng worse than pumpkin or cay
enne is used. 1t is the price. perhans
that has to be paid for the convenience
of ready-made foods
Scarcely less interesting than the re-
cent exhiDlt at the Health Exposition
OF the old Sairey Camp school of
nursing as contrasting with the mod
ern trained nurse and hospital service
is the difference shown in the war
relief effort of our late war and the
present crisis. Boxes of lint and
bandages prepared by the Sanitary
Commissions of 1S60-64 were shown
against the rolls of antiseptic and mod
ern absorbent cotton with marked con-
trast. The same principle is evidenced
IN the manner in which women are di-
recting their relief effort to-day against
the work of their mothers thirty-fiye
years ago. Nobody picks lint or tears
bandages to-day. but works instead
raising money to buy ice plants and
water distilleries for use. not only on
the hospital ships, but in the field as
we'll
Fan-shaped frames or standards for
the mounting of rare fans. to be used
as a bit of brio -brac. are. of course
to be had, and are useful when ones
collection is not too large A woman
who had number of beautiful fans
for their display by mount
ing them against a banner of maroon
velveteen. The fans were opened and
stitched fast to the velvet at con-
venient points where the stitches would
not show and no injury could be done
to the fam. The whole banner was
then mounted on a brass rod and hung
sometimes on a door against portiere
and, on occasion. with the rod slipped
out, and made fast to a screen panel.
In discoursing to a woman's club re-