HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Advocate, 1894-7-5, Page 3MISCELLANEOUS READING
GRATE AS WELL AS QAT,
Old and Young will find these Selections
Interesting and Profitable as they are
Carefally Selected.
Inasmuch.
I had dwelt "--act mused t tender woman,
All nee emotions stirred
Through pondering o'er that Life, divine yet
human,
Told in the &tend Wel-a—
" If 'had dwelt of old, a Jewish maiden,
In some judtean street,
Where Jesus walked, and heard his word so
laden
With comfort strangely sweet;
" And seen the face where utmost pity blended
With each rebuke of wrong
I would have left my lattice, and descended,
And followed with the throng,
" If 1 had been the daughter, Jewel.girdled,
Of some rich Rabbi there ;
Seeing: the sick, blind, halt, my blood had curdled
At sight of such despair.
" And I had wrenched •the sapphires from my
And let one omit remain;
Snatched up my gold, amid the orowd to spill it,
For pity of then pan,
'•1 wonld have let the -palsied fingers hold me;
'I would have walked between
The Marys and Salome, while they told me
About the Magdalene.
" Foxss xrAvs norms '—I think my heart had
broken
To hear the words so said,
'While Christ had not—were sadder ever spo-
ken ?—
"1 -would have flung abroad my doors before
Hi m,
And in my Joy have been
First on the threshold, eager to adore Him,
And crave His entrance in 1"
Ah, would you so ? Without a recognition,
Yon passed Him yesterday i
Jostled aside, unhelped, His mute petition,
And calmly went your way,
With warmth and comfort, garrnented and
girdled,
Before your window -sill,
Sweep heart -sick crowds—and if your blood is
curdled,
You wear your jewels still.
You catch aside your robes, lest -want should
clutch tbem,
In its implorings I
Or less some woful penitent might touch them,
And you be thus deified.
Oh, dreamers, dreaming that your faith is keeping
All service free from blot,
Christ daily walks your streets, sick, suffering,
weeping.,
And ye pefeeive him not 1
THE BROWN DEATH.
Startnesg Experience of a Grentteman in
Burman.
was living in the town of Akyab,
which is a very old English port in Bur-
nish, and among other TIM there I knew
and had business with a native-born but
Christian man named Mordai. One day
he mine to me and asked me to go over to
some property he had on a neighboring
island. Ile had been having trouble
about boundaries and wanted me to give
him an unbiased opinion. We starter). in
a sailboat about 12 o'clock and got to his
place about 4. He and I got out of the
boat and went up to a small bungalow
he had built there. These jungle bunga-
lows are built on posts about SIX to ten
feet from the ground and consist of
simply the floor, the roof, and sometimes
walls run up six or seven feet. There is
no coiling, and n.othing overhead. but the
roof, which is made of bamboo and
thatched with leaves from the toddy
plan t.
We were sitting on the verandah, the
roof of which was not more than five or
six feet from our heads. Morclai was talk-
ing to me about the boundary, and I had
become quite interested in some maps he
had in his lap. While engaged in exam-
ining them I felt something fall and
strike my shoulder. I rose quite slowly,
still talking to Mordai, and turned about
to see what was in my chair. thinking
that perhaps a piece of bamboo had been
blown down by the wind. As I turned
ray bach was toward Mordai and I was
struels motionless by a hoarse "For God's
sake, don't move, Sahib!" From th.e
horror in his voice I knew as well as if I
could see it the!: a cobra, or a khorite,
equally as deadly and more numerous in
that part, was on. my shoulder. I stood
perfectly motionless, fee I knew that the
snake, being aroused now, would strike
if he felt the least movement. Cold per-
spiration stood out on my forehead, and
I set my teeth har1 and waited. It was
a toss-up, I knew ; either deliverance, and
that speedily, or the sharp, stinging
punctures in my neck or . head, and then
—death. Every minute seemed an age.
My suspense was the more horrible be. -
cause I could not see my enemy, and so
could not tell the moment he would
strike. Probably not a minute elapsed
from the time I stood up until I saw
Mordai approaching me from in front,
but it seemed to me a year. Ile had gone
through one of the rooms and thus got
around in front of me without disturbing;
the snake. In his hand ho held a Bur-
mese da,h (a sword) and I knew that he
Meant to cut the snake down with one
strong stroke. He crept up close beside
me and raised the sword, trembling in
every limb. His face was ghastly and
his eyes seemed glazed with horror. The
sword trembleclfor a moment in his nerv-
less hand, and. then with a hoareo whis-
per of "My God, I can't do it," he let it
fall from his hand and tottered to a
chair. He -Ins an old man and. his nerve
had given way. He dozed not risk the
result of his blow shoold he fail to cut
down the serpent. When the sword fell
I could feel a slight vibration on my
shoulder, and I closed my eyes, expecting
to feel the cold pat and the sharp sting-
ing thrtiSt of the death -dealing fangs. I
stood perfectly motionless, but my mind
'worked .with the rapidity of lightning. I
felt almost grateful that Mordai had not
struck, for 1 could see that his nerves
were so :inserting that he would in all
probability have missed the snake. I
knew thee our servants and boatmen
would soon be up evibh our traps, and my
only hope was to stand quite still until
they arrived. Time will never efface tho
memory of that death wait from my
railed. In the chair, shriveled. and ghast-
ly, his hollow, half -glazed eyes staring at
me with the helpless, fascinated gaze of
a bird half in the toils of a serpent, hud-
dled Mordai. His white, bloodlese lips
moved. spasmodically, MS over and over
he repeated in a dread whisper "Godl the
brown death." I then knew it was a
khoribe. Oliaging to my shotdder was a
Snake ten times more malignant and
merciless than a cobra, and just as dead-
ly—"Tim Drown Deatle"—of the rusting,
a reptile of which it has beet said, that
if a, man were to gaze foe any length of
time into its eye he would become insane.
Unlike all other creatures it hits no pupil
to its eye—aothiug bat a brown Mass of
Maliguity,
t do not know how long ie Was, but it
coined en eternity of time that T steed
thus. At last the swinging Ma,drassi song
of the boatmen carrying the stuff broke
ma my ears like a song of deliveranee.
Dull and monotonous it had seemed to
me often enough, beet now it sounded like
the sweetest music ever caroled. Theis
singing seemed to rouse Mordai from his
trance -like stupor, and staggering oue he
grasped my faithful servant,
by the shoulder, and with his lean, bony
Anger pointed toward me. No need of
explanation for Emir -Alli. My heart gave
a throb of joy when I saw his supple,
careless form straighten up and his black
eyes glisten with the light I had seen in
them before in time of deadly peril.
Twice before had we fronted death to-
gether and his nerves had. been steel and
his heart had not faltered. Even now I
see him as he stood just outside the ver-
anda, one of the few natives a -white man
had trusted, and met trust for trust and
loyalty ever.
Discarding his gaudy jacket, and gath-
ering up his dote tight about his hips, so
that his sinewy limbs gleaned like those
of a statue, he set his square white teeth,
and hissed through them an invocation
to Allah. Grasping the dali in his power-
ful hand, he stole silently and. as swiftly
toward me as the venemous creature on
my bank might have done had he been
malting the attack. Poised aloft was the
glittering steel for well he knew the
snake would keep his eye on the gleam-
ing blade, and and there would be no move-
ment to disturb him till the downward
rush, and then—ah! Who could say? Al-
lah would strengthen his hand, and di-
rect the edge of the blade and kismet
would be.
For a second he stood close beside me,
I might have touched him. His fierce
black eyes gleamecl on the snake. 1 knew
he was drawing the snake's attention
from the sword to himself. I could feel
the slight vibration again and I knew
that the snake was prepared to strike.
And then—like a flash of lightning
went the blade past my eyes—a hissed
"Allah." driven through clenched teeth,
penetrated my half stupefied senses.
I felt a rush of something down my
back, and not knowing -whether the
snake had been cut in two or missed, I
tottered toward a chair. I had not taken
a step before Emir-Alli's strong arms
',vers about me and with tears of joy in
his big lustrous eyes, the poor fellow was
saying "God is great."
The snake lay on the floor, struck in
two, still TiOi.01.13 and striking at his own
body, a khorite about three and. a half
feet long. He had fallen on my back
from the roof where he had been after
rats.
A'GRASSHOPPER REMINISCENCE.
The Man on i he Cracker Box Tells a
Timely Story.
"Talkin' of grasshoppers," said the
man on the cracker -box, "reminds me of
the scourge of 1872, wken the country
out here was overrun with them pesky
critters. Nobody knew whar they came
from, and. nobody knew where they went
to, for they come without warnin' an'
they left in the same fashun. I had kept
my weather eye peeled for a week, but
nary a hopper did I see', when I heerd as
how they was at Blair an' a-comin' lick-
ety split to Decatur."
"Them were lively times," said Long
Tim, the stage driver. "Lor'! how scared
the winamen were with the jurapin'
critters."
"It were afore I married the widder,"
continued the man on the cracker -
box, "when I were living with my
sister after she some out here, an' I had
a right smart of cabbage in the field
by the house, an' I wareat a-gointo let
no pack of measly grasshoppers eat 'em
up, not if 1 knowea it. I heard after sun-
down as they had struck Blair, an' I jes'
set to work an' covered every one of
them cabbages up with blankets and
comfortables."
"An' ril bet you didn't save a one, not
O one," suggested Long Jim.
'It's right you are. I didn't. When I
g tt, up in the mornin' the field was as
bare as ef it had. been strvak by a
cyclone; not a thing left of ' them cab-
bage but the stalks in the ground. The
hoppers had. jes' eaten the coverin' an'
the cabbages like so much provender an'
gone off to another country. I nearly
cried over them cabbages."
"Tell us about them in the cars," said
Long Jim. "This gentleman from. the
east ain't never seen the like."
"They stopped the cars more times
than you could count on your fingers by
gitting on the tracks, and =akin' them
slippery, actin' like so much grease. And
once—gentlemen, you may not believe it,
but it's gospel truth—they pulled the
bell and the engineer stopped the ear
stockstill. It were this a -way, for I were
there, and see it myself. The conductor
came into the car when it stopped, an'
he says, says he:
"Who pulled that bell -rope?" Every-
body was scared, 'cope :me, an I spoke up
an) Says:
"The hoppers did it?"
"Don't talk foolishness," says the con-
ductor, "I don't 'low no galoot to tend to
my duties. When this train is stopped,
I do it myself. Don't none of you ever
tetch that bell -rope agile."
"I'd like to see ennyone teeth it now,"
says I, "an' 1 pinted it out to him
weighted down with hoppers as thick as
a constrietor snake after it has swallowed
a calf, an' the car bell a -ringing like
mad."
"'Holy Moses,' he says, an' looked
skaire but ib wore a fact just the same.
Thom hoppers followed us into the stage,
and -we sat there kneo-cleep in 'em.
Scairb? No, not much to speak of. You
see, them wasn't the seventeett year
locusts with a big "W" on their backs.
These here critters were leeble slim
things kind of A brown-green, but Lord,
how they did eat things! We folks had
skeeter nets in our winders, and in tin
minutes after them hoppers struck us it
hung ie strips and threads, an' they were
siyaranin' round the house like fles."
"If they come agiu," said Long Jim,
"I'd jest fell up every growin' thing with
pizen, an' then when he hoppers -were all
dead I'd, burn am and use 'em for fer-
tilizers."
"Yoe aloes -he" said the man on the
cracker -box With a thoughtful look, "if
they sent cards a-sayin' they was comine
But whoa they steal on yer like a thief
in the night, you cern't mos* always cal-
kerlate just what you would. do. e'm lay-
ing fef 'stn this year, but they ain't sent
on no advance agent with plan of cam-
('
peign, as yet,
And ho enveloped himself in a bite
haze of exnoke that forbade further dis-
Mission.
oea
A 'Ilea' Ghost,
It is all very well for you people who
have paver Neil a ghose to scoff et them.
"He jests at sears who never felt a
wound," but I can give you inyword that
When you Meet a geirairie 'ghost your
knees shake together and a very uncoin-
fortable chill runs up and do-wn your
backbone.
Not long sinee I was stayieg at a real
castle in the Tyrol. I do not moan to say
that its.titled. °eater invited me to be his
guest. The oastle, like many others in
Austria,. had become run down at the
heel, as xt were, and had been turned iabo
A pension, where they took in ehance
comers like myself for three florin e and a
half a day. Nevertheless, it is a fine
castle, 860 years old, and the turning of
it into a boardinghouse had not inter-
fered. ver'ymuch with the arrangement
of its interior. The walls were trentencl-
oasly thick, with here and there inscrip-
tions ou them in the German language,
My room had a lovely baleony at the
front of it, where a person could sit and
see the snoev-coverecl mountains all
around him, The rooms, of which mine
was one, opened out ofa large square
whieh was dark even in the day-
time, This hall had apparently once
been a banqueting room, for there was a
gallery at one end of it which looked as
if musicians had once been placed there.
Two narrow halls entered this large room,
one coming from the general stairway
and the other leading to smaller rooms
that lookea out upon the courtyard. My
chamber, and all the east of them in feat,
had a curious system of double doors, one
on each side of the thick wall. This was
at first a surprising arrangement for me,
.E03.' when I flung open the first I invari-
ably ran my nose up against the second
one, never expecting it,
The time I saw the ghost was the first
night I stayed there, and I had no idea,
whatever that the place was haunted. If
the noble family who owned. the castle
had been living there, and I had. been the
guest instead of a mere boarder, I might
have been. on the look -out for ghosts, but
naturally one does not expect a ghost in
a boarding-house. I had brought up
from the railway station one of Conan
Doyle's " Sherlook Homes " in the
Tauchnitz edition. Most of the stories I
lead read. before, but some of them. I had
missed as they appeared from month to
month in the magazine.
The last story I read is entitled, I
think, "The Speekled Baud." It is a
fearful story of a poisonous Indian snake
that is let down to the bed of an unsus-
picious sleeper through a hole in the
finor above. It is not at all a comfortable
story to read at night, even if a person is
snug in bed with a candle on the table
near his pillow.
Reading various stories time had passed
without my taking very much account of
it, and. right in the middle of this most
horrifying snake incident, just at the
most important point, the, candle flutter-
ed and out it went, the wick dropping in
the grease in the socket of the candle-
stick. It was burnt out.
Now, I was bound to finish the story,
and I knew there evere can.d.les to be had
in some of the other rooms, for they were
all prepared for g-uests. It was early in
the, season and I expected to find the
other rooms empty, for I knew that I was
the only boarder.
A chime in. one of the castle turrets had
just rung twelve o'clock, and. I might
have known, had Istopred to think, that
if I persisted in going about the castle in
my bare feet, and. at that hour, I was
positively certain to run up against a
ghost. I got my warning but r did not
heed it. I groped my way to the door,
flung it open and walked. on, only to run
ray -head up against the second door,
about which I had foreotten. This made
a fearful racket ancaused me to sit
down on the floor and meditate on the
situation. I am afraid that I used lan-
guage that I regretted the moment after.
I aroseopened. the outer door and step-
peci into the huge dark hall with its high
timbered arched roof. It was dark as
pitch, but over my shoulder I seemed to
realize that a light was shining. a dim,
uncertain, mysterious illumination. I
turned suddenly around and then I saw
my ghost.
It was an old knight, fully panoplied
in armor that appeared to be of silver. I
saw hint as plainly as I ever saw a man
walking on the Strand. He had ha lance
poised upwards as if to strike it through
my heart, and I hereby beg to inform you
that my heart went right out of the beat-
ing business for some moments from the
time I first caught sight of him. Every
scale of his silver armor glittered and he
stood as motionless as a statue. I leaned
up against the thick wall and gasped for
breath. I had seen, as I was being shown
as my room, that all around the walls of
the hall hung old oil paintings; paintings
of momand women, and benne g clates15—
something or other, but there was nothing
at all there resenablitg this ancient knight
who stood so brightly before me, looking
as if the man wore illuminated from in -
sue.
It seems ridiculous after the $50 fright
I had to say that a $10 paintingemd caus-
ed it. Thc painting was not in the room
at all, but on the castle wall on the op-
posite side of the courtyard.. The hall
leading to the courtyard. had a door at
the end, and, as ie was a warm night and
there was no danger of anyone coming
in, for the courtyard was protected by
heavy wooden entes, this door had. been
left open for the ventilation of th.e old
hall. What I saw in looking along this
hall and across the courtyard to the wall
opposite, was a very realistic painting of
the patron saint of the castle with the
moonlight shining splendidly down upon
it. The painting had, apparently, been
placed at the end of the hall and opposite
the door to make an artistic termination
to the vista.
Although I stayed at the castle for
more than three weeks I never saw this
painting without an uneasy, creepy feel-
ing- going up and down my backbone. I
never got quits accustomed to the moon-
strueklunght after seeing him so start-
iagly at first on that moonlight night.
That Umbrella.
La,st weok an uptown woman bought
an umbrella; it was ,slender, shapely and
strong; it was light, durable and stylish;
it had. silk, Bei& and bell hisuale, all of a
deep, lapis, lazuli blue—and was, ai fact,
jest what the soul of the woman hed long
desired in the way of an umbrella.
It was a bargain, too -aa special lot gob
by the dealer under one of those extraor-
dinary combination of circumstances
which permits hbm to sell a high ax.eicle
for a low class priee—wo know all about
it. And the herb ol the woman was
glad when sho paid out four dollars a,nd
nieety-eight cents and orderecl her pur-
°hese sent 11,01110.
• When it arrives sho slips off the eover
to gloat over her ereasure. She turns it
OVOT and. over, admiring and rojoieing,
when soddenly a blemish meets her eye,
On the heudid, midway between, the side
which opens ft and the pelf:hod sphere of
blue that is so satisfying, are WO
seratehos aeep enough to penetrate the,
blue (Memel and lay beim two dull grey
spots of stiok, 'They are not large, to be
sure, but they are there, And the spirit of
the woman rises in revolt, She has been
imposed upou, and she will have redreee.
Early the next day she telses her ant-
brella, aacl horriee to the shop where she
bought iteand straight up to elie depart-
ment exceeded aver by tha t sue ve and de-
ceiv in.m
g salesmen..
He la there still suave, and evidently
unsuspieious,
"Tou. remember selling, me this um-
brella yesterday ?" she begies,
Yes, madam."
"I find. thet it is damaged, and I wish
to return IV"
;Damaged, madam?"
"Yes, hero o11 the handle," and the
two spots are shown.
"Oh, I see." A pause. • "It is not very
serious, madam."
Sufficiently, however, to make me
wish to exchange it for a perfect one,"
"Certainly, =dam." He takes the
umbrella and begins to hand down sever-
al from behind him.
"I wish a blue one," says the woman,
"these are blank."
There are no more blue ones in that
lot, madam. You remember there were
only two, and the other is gone, I sold
it yesterday afternoon,"
The woman had not remembered.
"Then 1 shall have to have my money
refunded."
"Certainly, madam."
And you will see that the next pur-
chaser of the nrabrella knows that it is
damaged?" This with an air of high
principle.
"Undoubtedly, madam. I hope you
understand that I did not perceive the de-
fect -when I sold it to you."
"I think ib may have escaped peer
notiee," with endable condescensien.
"And, now, my money, please, as I am
in a hurry."
"Do you wish cash or credit?"
" Cash ; I have no other purchases to
make."
"Very well, madam." He fills out an
order and beckons a floor walker That
dignified official approaches. The situa-
tion is explained to him, and the order
submitted, for his signature. "The um-
brella is from this special lot, you know,
M. Sraith," adds the salesman, "which
WO never duplicate."
"Certainly, certainly," indorses the
floor walker. "We are most willing to
take it back."
The order is sent to the desk to be cash-
ed.
The wonaan waits. Alter a moment
she says: •
"I need. an umbrella badly. I will
look over your stock again. Show me
that one."
"This is a very fine ono," the salesman
says, "the silk is the sa,me'as in that one
you bought; the finish of the handle is
somewhat better."
"It is not so pretty. How much is
it ?"
"Eight sixty-five."
"Oh, that's too high, There's a pretty
one."
"Yes, madam," Takes it down. "Nino
twenty-five."
"Worse yeb, You ought to make a
concession to my disappointment."
"It is impossible, rmadam, in these
goods. They are marked very close."
The stock is looked over and over. The
cheap ones are not blue and the blue ones
are not eb.eap. The clerk is most court-
eously attentive. At length the woinan
picks up the umbrella she has 'brought
back.
"If I should take this again it seems
right that I should have a reduction for
the defect."
"Ordinarily, madam, we should be
glad to give it, but that umbrella damag-
ed ie worth considerably more than its
price."
"Bat ia was sold to me as perfect at
that price."
"Still, madam, it is so short of perfect
that its remarkable value is not affected.
I can sell that umbrella to -day for four
dollars ninety-eight cents with bhe defect
carefully pointed out."
The money arrives from the desk. It
is counted out to the woman. She opens
her purse and is about to put it iu. Then
she lays it down.
"5. believe, after all," she says, with-
out embarrassment, "I will take this um-
brella again." And pieking it up she
walks calmly away.
What Makes Paupers?
One day a gentleman in London was
taking his favorite walk near Regent's
Peals. .A.s he went on his way he saw an
old man sitting dollen under the shadow
of a tree. Ile knew from his dress that
he was an inmate of the neighboring
almshouse.
a What a pity it is' my friend," said
the gentleman, 'thata man of your age
should have to spend the rest of your
days in the poorhouse. How old are
you?
"Close on to eighty, sir."
" What was your trade ?"
" Carpenter, sir."
"That's a good trade to get a living
by. NOW, lab ma ask you plainly, were
you in the habit of taking intoxicating
liquors?"
"Nre sir; that is, I only took my beer
three times a day, as the rest of the men
did. Bat I never was a clrunkard.."
"1 should like to know how neich a day
your beer Cost you ?"
"About sixpeuce a day.
"How long did •you continue to use it
in that way? '
"About sixty years."
• The gentleman took his momil, while
the ola man wexit on &Liking about his
temperance habits and the misfortunes
that had undertaken him.
"Now, my &keel," said the gentleman,
"temperate as your habits have been., lot
me tell you that sixpence a day for sixty
years at eompoun.d interest has cost you
the sem of $10,180., 5.5., instead of spend.-
ing that mouoy for drink, you had laid
it Aside for your olll age, you might now,
iit place of living in a poothouse, and be-
ing dressed:as a pauper, have an income
of ;0150, or $750, a year. That would
give you aa a week for your support."
be the 'United States the cianotint of in-
toxicating liquors used in a year would
13.11 a canal four feet deep, fourteen feet
wide ancl 120 miles in length. If all the
liquor saloons and hotels of Now Yorls
City were placed in opposite rows, they
would make a street like Broaaevay eleven
miles in length. The places in whia
liquer is sold in that country) if placed in
a direct line, would make a, street 100
miles long. The drunkards of Arnerien,
in rauks of five ehreast would form a pro-
eossion 100 milesin length. That great
tunny, 500,000 serong, goes on to swift
and sure destruetion.
London's debt wan inereased last yogc
by k1,200,000, and now &mounts to nor
011,000. The revenue for tho last liseal
year was £4,6213,000,
.14.!••••••••••!POPURI.
FOR, THE WOMEN FOLK
'Carla .4.111) INTERISTIISIL
In this Column will be Found Many Items
of Value to the Women of Canada. It
Will Pay All to Read It.
SUCCESSFUL CAKE MAKING.
One Foundation Mixture for All Good
IUus.
"5. have come to the conclusion," said
an old housekeeper recently, 't that there
is a foundation cake corresponding to
stook, the necessary ingredient for meanly
all soaps. And that foundation is'One,
two, three,' which being interpreted is
one cep of butter and one cup of milk,
two cups of sugar, three eggs and three
cups of flour."
It is true. Given thee roles for a
fouedation and you Gan produce an end-
less variety of good cake.
In its simple form it is cup cake which
may be flavored to baste, with
with fresh lemon juice and half the rind,
with almond or with rosewater.
By dividing the dough 2,nd mixing half
with grated chocolate it makes an excel-
lent marble cake.
With the addition. of currants, (Abram
raisins or all three and. spice, it becomes
a plain fruit cake.
By substituting coffee for milk Baia
adding a teaspoonful of cinnamon, it is a
good coffee cake.
By using the whites of the eggs for
one-half, and the yolks for the other, you
can have gold and silver cake -
It is also a very fair mixture for layer
cake of all kinds.
INGREDIENTS FOR OAKB.
"Good cooks are always extravagant,"
say the uninitiated r but good cooksknow
that good results cannot be obtained from
poor nuteerials nor Beauty supply.
Good •cake requires good butter, as
good as for the table, It demands fresh
eggs, pure flavoring extracts and the
" foundation recipe embodies correet
proportions.
Opinions differ as to the sugar. Some
insist -upon granulated, -which doctors
say is the purest in the market; it
should therefore certainly be used for all
invalid cookery. Loaf is the same sugar
in another form. Some teachers of cook-
ery prefer powdered sugar, which is the
most adulterated. The fact that 'cane
and beet sugars are sold indiscrimin.a,tely
renders it necessary for one to be sure of
the sweetness oi sugar before relying
altogether upon proportions given. in a
recipe. The only way to decide is by
testing.
When sugar is at all hard or lumpy it
should be rolled perfectly smooth. This
is best accomplished by placing ia on
brown paper, folding the paper over ie
and rolling like pastry.
The butter and sugar should always be
creamed together. The mixture shoullt
Pc of the cousistency and. color of hard
sauce. If the butter is too hard to mix
well ia may be softened, but under no cir-
cumstances melte I. The delicacy of the
cake would vanish instantly from such a
mishap.
EGGS.
Old-fashioned cook books give recipes
callingfor the weight of certain ingre-
di
ients n. eggs, and this is certainly the
most definite plan for fine cookery such
as is required for wedding cake, sponge
cake or pound cake. Eggs average eight
to the ponnd, sxnall ones ten.
Whites and yolks should invariably be
beaten separately, and careful cooks strain
them. The test for sufficient beating of
the yolk is that it ceases to " string "
and falls in drops from the beater. Eggs
not properly beaten male a cake coarse
and tough. Yolks should be added to the
weaned butter and sugar. The whites
should alternate with this:flour. A pinc/a
of salt will facilitate stiffening. Chilling
the egg -beater and bowl ie another plan.
The -whites should be stiff enough to cut
with a knife, not a drop of liquid albu-
men shoold be allowed to enter into the
composition of cake.
TAKING PAMS,
Any one can make good cake. There
is no magic about it as there seems to be
in many branches of cookery. It ie a
matter of taking infinite pains. Measure,
sift and weigh every time. The best
cook I ever knew was an old lady nearly
seventy, who brought out her scales and
weightand weighed her flour as care-
fully as if she were selliag it every time.
she made bread.
Cake should be stirred in but one direc-
tion. I have tried reversing the emotion
again and again as an experiment, only
to learn that there is evidently a scientific
principle involved. So, too,there is a
night order for mixing the ingredients,
and. it cannot be altered with impunity.
First the butter and sugars then the
yolks of egg; then a Retie flour before
putting in the milk or liquid to preven-b
possible curdling; then flour and whites;
alternately, the baking powder being
inixecl dry with the flour and the flavor-
ing to be put in last of all.
Where sour milk is used—and sour
milk is much better for many kinds of
cake, such as gingerbread and the old-
fashioned dark molasses cake—soda also
must be used, never baking powder. It
should be dissolved in hot water, and put,
in last of all, even after the flavoring.
Sour naille requires less flour tham swan,
inilk, and this leads us to the considera-
tion of the judgment required in cake -
making,
I have called attention to variations in
sugar and eggs, but these are not of as
much importance aethe ilonn.for whether
a cake is too stiff or too thin It is SPOilea,
and flours so vary that judgment is need-
ed as to useng, according to recipe. Some
absorb moisture like a sponge, others re-
main dry and hard, and, though the given
quantity of liquid be used, neither will be
a success.. Poke should never pour like
batter, nor should it be stiff enough to
hold a spoon upright. It should simply
run caeily from the mixing bowl into the
Pau.
RULE FOR OVEN MAT.
A Fitch anthoritygives this test for
the ono "Try it with a piece of white
paper ; if too hot the paper Will blecken
or blaze up; it it becomes a light brown
31 is fit for pastry; if 3e turns dark yel-
low it is fit for bread and the heavier
einds of mho ; if light yellaw it is ready
for sponge or the light plain cakes."
Leyor caace requires a cmick ovea. ;
sponge cake demands a modenetes ono;
:trait cake needs a slow heat.
With a moderato oven the doce: should
not be (meted for at least twenty min -
Mae. lanit cake may bo truster" an
hone without inspection Bowen of
slamming the door of an oven in closime
ie.
A cake shoold nova be taken out to
test, it. The best tester is a broom strew
eimast into the eako in several places—,
not once
• All calcef •exec p these belred ie site lleve
ties shr uld its (u d n lent err .1 A per,
wbich ehould eat eiel well up the sides;
slo bin should be filled more than three-
fourths full. When rein (Wed hein the
even take the cake out, and sinless you
possess one of the new patent •cake tips
which are provided with slides to obviate
this necessity, beleuce your Oak's halt -
way out of the tin so that it may cool
without c' sweeting,"
TO STIR OR TO BEAT.
That's a Questiou Which a Good, Cook
et
Every youeg housekeeper ,should. thor-
oughly unders:t°1
tlSeacliv;
Eerence between
seining aed beating. Many disaes aro
spoiled because these things are not
clearly truclerstood. In stirring the ob-
ject is to combine the ingredients or to
make a substanee smooth. The spoon es
kept rather close to the bottom and sides
of the bowl and is worked around and
eround in the mixture until the object is
attained.
13eatieg is employed for two purposes:
First, to break up a substance, as in
beating eggs for breading or for custards;
seeond, for making a subetance light by
imprisoning air in it. This is the case
when we beat the whites of eggs, cake,
butter, etc. The movemen t is very differ-
ent from stirring. The spoon or whisk at
every stroke is partially lifted from the
bowl and brings with it a portion of the
niaterials that aro being beaten, -which
carries air with it in falling back.
It is not the number of strokes that
make substances light, but rather the
vigor nod rapidity with which the beat-
ing is done. When using a spoon or
whisk for beating ta/ee bong, upward
strokes, the mere rapid the better. The
spoon should touca the bottom of the
bowl each tircas and the motion must be
7tenulaorther way to beat is to use the cir-
cular motion, in case the side of thespoon
is kept close to the side of thebowl. The
spoon is moved rapidly in a circle, carry-
ing -with it a portion of the ingredients.
Household Hints.
For a bee sting, make a paste of earth
and. water. Cover the stung place -with
it, bind it on and it will soon give relief.
re -When a felon first begins to appear, cut
Off the end of a lemon, put the finger halt
and keep it there as long as it can be
borne.
For a sore throat, try a frequent keret)
of salt aud water. If a little is swallowed,
ie will allay the irritation, cleanse the
throat and do no harm.
• For stains on the hands nothing is bet-
ter than salt moistened with lemon juice.
Rub the spots well with the mixture,
then wash off in claim. water.
It is said. that a good remedy for
strengthening. ancl clearing the TOiC8, 51to beat the white of an egg with -the juice
of a lemon and sweeten it well with sugar
and use as needed.
You cam chive nails into hard wood.
without bending them if you dip them
firstin lard.
The seeds of datss. may be removed and
replaced by freshly roasted peanuts,
shelled and. skinned. The date should.
then be dusted with pulverized sugar.
To cut fresh bread so that it may be
preeentable when served, heat the blab
of the bread knife by laying first one side
and then the other across the hot stove.
In hand sewing, if the work is stiff and
bard, rubbing soap on one's needle and
fingers will beffound helpful. Aethin-
edged piece of white soap is much better
than chalk for making the lines on cloth
Ito cut by.
White or pale ostrich plumes may be
washed in benzine without losing their
color or curl.
Sheets put away for any length of time
laundried are. much more likely to turn
yellow than those which are simply
washed.
Tomato soup is greatly improved. by
the addition of a few slices of orange just
before serving.
Sweetbrier is one of the most delight-
ful of common plants with which to dec-
orate sitting -rooms for its fragrance,
though very sweet, is element. The
leaves, also, are excellent for filling in pil-
lows.
If you want a nice rug that will wear
well and yet not cost a fortune, have oae
made of a long -wool sheepskin.
To clean a wicker chair it is best to use
tepid soap suds made with some good
white soap, into which put a large pinch
of salt. Them after washing the is -hole
chair, rinse ana dry carefully. .A. final
polish may be added with a flannel cloth
and a tiny bit oE oil.
If a shirt bosom or any other article has
been scorched in ironing lay it where the
bright sunshine will fell directly on it.
It will take the color entirely out.
To clean your tea or coffee pot 1351 51
with water and put in a piece of hard
soap. Set it on the stove and let it boil
an hour. It will be as beght, as new.
To make a stove polish equal to the
best, sha-ve up equal quantities of hard
soap and stove polish boil slowly with
enough soft water to dissolve 31.. To use
it, moisten with a little water and rub on
with a brush.
Lord Roselyn, after winning money at
the gaming tables at :Monte Carlo, was
relsbed of 14.000 francs in the billiard
room of a hotel.
• A Calculating Collie.
Paterfamilias—Now, just see, Georgie,
how well the dog can oount. Does he not
make you feel ashamed of yourself?
Your erithmetic report is always so very
bad.
Georgie—Tit:It's time encesgh, papa,
but just a,sk hinesomething in geography.
seee
• eamte—e-mesea
3.'elleveite0 IltOTOesie 'from one-helf troree
eel rower up to Eleven Horse rower, Write
for prices etatinp pewee requised, voltasse of cur-
rent to be used and whether supplied by Street
au line of otherwise,
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