The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-09-13
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DOMESTIC SCIENCE.

delicate. Is seldom met with, more's
the pity. The next time YOU want a
veal or chicken potpie try making
your dumplings In this way: Mix
thoroughly by sitting one pint of
flour. saltspoon of salt and a heap
Ing teaspoon of baking powder. Rub
into the flour a teaspoonful Of cola
butter using the tips OF the fingers. =
Stir Into the prepared flour just
enough milk (skimmed milk will an
swer) to make n soft dough-not stiff
enough to roll out. Take the meat
up on platter and with tablespoon.
drop pieces of tho soft dough about
as large as q small biscuit into the
boiling broth. Cover closely and
cook eight minutes without uncover
Ing or allowing the kettle to stop
boiling. Serve at once.
With the growing fancy for collect.
Ing Indian baskets and rugs. word
of caution: Any one who has ever
been among the Indians realizes the
unsanitary conditions prevailing in
their wick-i-ups or hogans. Filth and
disease of all sorts are much more
apt to be- the rule than the exception.
Among the aborigines of the south
west particularly water Is almost an
unknown quantity. They have to de-
pend upon the irrigation bitches
through their reservations and a
two hours run of water every
eight or ten days with no vessels to
conserve the precious fluid for use
In the meantime, gives small leeway
for water to be used for cleansing
purposes The beautiful Pinea ana
Apache baskets will all bear good
scrubbing with some disinfectapt in
the water. The Navajo rugs, If new,
may he disinfected with sulphur or
formaldehyde-but If they show signs
of any wear-wash thoroughly. The
native wool blankets colored with
vegetable dyes are improved. not in
jured, by washing. Those made of
Germantown, where mineral dyes are
employed are not only an offense
against good taste, but much more
liable to fade or shrink
In this connection, a word to en-
courage the preservation of these
beautiful native crafts in their orr
ginal integrity. The Navajo rugs
honestly made are not only practical
ly indestructible. but rarely beauti-
full in design and coloring. Yet since
the advent of the trader with his
spirit of commercialsm, the art has
deteriorated and is in danger of be-
ing lost. These rugs were formerly
made of the pure native WOOL like
the best Persian and Turkish. The
coloring was vegetable. laboriously
gathered from roots. barks and herbs
on mountain and desert. There was
no fade to 1t. Every stitch was knot
ted by hand and beaten down so
closely that the fabric would hold
water. The designs were taken from
sky and cloud, the forked lightning.
the markings on snake and lizard,
or the oldest of NEUROLOGICAL SYM
bols, including even the Swastica.
supposed. until recently, to belong to
India alone.
But with the advance of civiliza-
tion has come the theory anything
goes. so long as it sells" In place of
the thick. fine fleece, there is Ger
mantown wool, all ready prepared,
that can be purchased of the trader;
in lieu of the rich vegetable dyes. rea
and blue, there are crude greens, yell
lows. puppies and "greenery gallery
the output of Il mineral dye house.
Art. too, has lost it's significance; the
tomato can. the railroad train and
Pears soap labels have taken the
place of the old-time beautiful de-
signs. Nor is the work what it used
to be. A modern Navajo. made to
sell. is light in weight. sleazy. imper-
feet. If the day comes quickly that
an intelligent. art-loving public de-
mands a return to the old honest
work. and shows it by a disposition
to pay what it is worth. then. and
not until then. will this wonderful
native craft be preserved to us in it's
integrity.
In another generation the art may
be irrevocably lost.
EMMA PADDOCK TELTORD.