The record-union., 1899-04-23

AT a recent luncheon given by the So
ciety of New England Women at one
of the well-known New York restau-
rants, one course was baked beans with
Boston brown bread. The beans were
baked in tiny individual bean pots of
brown pottery, perfect counterparts Of
the larger vessels sacred to this use in
New England. An inch-square bit of
pork, with rind properly scored, was i'll
each pot, tender, succulent baked beans
surrounding it, the skill of the chef,
making this substantial and rather
homely dish a most palatable delicacy.
When the course had been eaten so
many ladies looked with longing eyes
upon the little pots that the walters
yielded to the inevitable, carried them
off, washed and returned them to the
company, to be borne away in delighted
triumph. Another souvenir of the
luncheon was, at each cover, tiny box,
in stimulation of the famous chests of
Bohea tea that found a resting place in
Boston harbor on that memorable night
Of 1113. The little boxes contained tea
said to be of the same brand, and were
suitably inscribed in commemoration
of that famous tea party of over a CEN
tury ago.
This is the moment when the dangers
of that malady for which sanitarians
have coined the word ''cellaritis' should
be kept before every housekeeper AS
is we'll known, it is the weakening and
undermining of the nervous system due
to cellars damp and dirty to degree.
Tt is not catalogued Infection such as
@I1<.;I
but it is none the less detrimental to
the health of the family. The city
chatelaine is apt to consider that her
slight use of the cellar does away with
its possible dangers. 1t is not wise,
however, to relax vigilance in any way.
It is true that supplies such as vege-
tables and fruits are not so often kept
in cellars in the city as in the country,
but there can accumulate below the
street.-The in almost any house a con-
siderable amount of fiotsam and jet
sam in the course of year. Rubbish
that is difficult to burn in the small
courtyards attached to city homes. and
which the particular ash-man will not
cart away, is carried to the cellar and
forgotten. If even little dampness
exists there-and few cellars are abso-
this accumulation of odds and ends
to become a. nurture place for system
undermining germs. In a paper read
before a club the other day, what was
called 'lady's cellar" was described
This had a cemented floor, swept twice
a week. was airy, we'll lighted, treated
twice a year to a heavy coat of white
wash to which little carbolic acid had
been added, and had nothing standing
in the corners to defy quick inspection.
All boxes and trunks in this cellar stood
upon Stats so that the air could circu-
late beneath them. Only one criticism
suggested itself to a listener, and that
was Of the rope mating with which
the stairs leading to the cellar were
carpeted Better than this dust holding
mating would have been the bare
wooden step. which is so easily kept
clean AS it was forcibly put in the
paper referred to: Let the parlor be
neglected occasionally, if it must be,
but remember that only in eternal
vigilance is cellar safety secured
The housewives who always use sweet
milk and baking powder in articles
where such ingredients or their equiva-
ents are called for little guess the su
perior results which may be obtained
from the use of sour milk or buttermilk
and soda If sour milk is used it must
be freshly soured not stale; hence the
best time to use it is in the summer
time. Buttermilk is preferable all the
year round. Biscuits, griGdle-cakes,
waffles. corn breads, mullins, gems.
gingerbreads. cookies, etc. are all of
them more tender, delicate and prob
ably more wholesome (since the major
itv of baking powders are adulterated)
if they are made of buttermilk and
soda A general rule is one level tea
spoonful of soda to one pint of butter
milk or freshly soured milk. The soda
must be first pulverized by rubbing
with knife on the table or bread
board, then added to the flour. to be
sifted with it. 1t is even well to sltt
the flour. soda and salt together two or
three times. to insure an even blending.
In a very short time one learns to
gauge the soda exactly to the acidity Of
the milk to be used. Baking powder
cannot give the best results in the class
of articles enumerated above.
It is pleasant to be told by woman
who has kept house in several parts of
Europe that nowhere could she get bet
ter coffee than that to be found right
here Even in Turkey it was not pos
sible to procure the article with
choicer flavor. The, raw coffee was good
enough. but it was almost invariably
spoiled in the making. In particular,
the after-dinner coffee served in Lon
don is almost undrinkable from the
standard of Americans.
At one of the colleges an exhibit of
pillows was arranged just before the
Easter recess The undergraduates en-
tered the prettiest of their pillows,
which were displayed in a handsome
suite of rooms belonging to a senior.
Four young ladies of the faculty circle
were invited to act as Judges. A condi-
ton was that the pillows should have
been the work or selection of some fair
friend of the exhibitor. The students
united in the purchase of handsome
prize appropriate to lady's use, which
was awarded for the handsomest pillow.
with the understanding that the prize
should be forwarded to the maker or
chooser of the pillow. The prize pillow
ton, the judges giving it the palm for
artistic design and skill of workman
ship. Honorable mention for unique
excellence was awarded for a black
satin pillow upon which was worked in
dull tints of blue gray, shading to a
white a most realistic skull and cross