years ago, I was struck with the clearness and legibility of the
writing, owing in a great measure to the permanent quality of the ink,
which had not faded in the least, although many of the MSS. were at
least two hundred years old. It was remarkable, that the writer must
have been celebrated in his day for the excellence of his calligraphy,
for I met with a letter or two from his correspondents in which there
was a request for the recipe of the ink he used. I found his recipes,
which I copied, and from one of them, dated in 1654, I have, during the
last fifteen years, made all the ink I have used. The recipe is as
follows:
Rain water, one pint; galls, bruised, one and one-half ounces; green
copperas, six drachms; gum Arabic, ten drachms. The galls must be
coarsely powdered and put in a bottle, and the other ingredients and
water added. The bottle securely stoppered, is placed in the light (sun
if possible), and its contents are stirred occasionally until the gum
and copperas is dissolved; after which it is enough to shake the bottle
daily, and in the course of a month or six weeks it will be fit for use.
I have ventured to add ten drops of carbolic acid to the contents of the
bottle, as it effectually prevents the formation and growth of mold,
without any detriment to the quality of the ink, so far as I know.
THE SECRET OF LONGEVITY.
A French medical man who has just died at the age of one hundred and
seven, pledged his word to reveal the secret of his longevity, when no
more, for the benefit of others. It was stipulated, however, that the
precious envelope containing the recipe for long life was not to be
opened until he had been buried. The doctor's prescription, now made
known, is simple enough; and easy to follow; but whether it is as
available as he pretends, the Journal of Chemistry says, is extremely
doubtful. He tells his fellow-men, that, if they wish to live for a
century or more, they have but to pay attention to the position of their
beds. "Let the head of the bed be placed to the north, the foot to the
south; and the electric current, which is stronger during the night in
the direction of the north, will work wonders on their constitutions,
insure them healthier rest, strengthen their nervous system, and prolong
their days." It is, he adds, to scrupulous attention to the position of
his bed that he ascribes his longevity, the enjoyment of perfect health,
and the absence of infirmity.
HOW THE INVENTOR PLAGUES HIS WIFE.
A facetious chap connected with one of our daily newspapers gave the
following amusing burlesque on the trials of an inventor's wife:
"It is all very well to talk about working for the heathen," said one,
as the ladies put up their sewing, "but I'd like to have some one tell
me what I am to do with my husband." "What is the matter with him?"
asked a sympathetic old lady. "William is a good man," continued the
first, waving her glasses in an argumentative way, "but William will
invent. He goes inventing round from morning till night, and I have no
peace or comfort. I didn't object when he invented a fire escape, but I
did remonstrate when he wanted me to crawl out of the window one night
last winter to see how it worked. Then he originated a lock for the door
that would not open from midnight until morning, so as to keep burglars
out. The first time he tried it he caught his coat tail in it, and I had
to walk around him with a pan of hot coals all night to keep him from
freezing." "Why didn't he take his coat off?" "I wanted him to, but he
stood around till the thing opened itself, trying to invent some way of
unfastening it. That's William's trouble. He will invent. A little while
ago he got up a cabinet bedstead that would shut and open without
handling. It went by clockwork. William got into it, and up it went.
Bless your heart, he staid in there from Saturday afternoon till Sunday
night, when it flew open and disclosed William with the plans and
specifications of a patent washbowl that would tip over just when it got
so full. The result was that I lost all my rings and breastpin down the
waste pipe. Then he got up a crutch for a man that could also be used as
an opera-glass. Whenever the man leaned on it up it went, and when he
put it to his eye to find William, it flew out into a crutch and almost
broke the top of his head off. Once he invented a rope ladder to be worn
as guard chain and lengthened out with a spring. He put it round his
neck, but the spring got loose and turned it into a ladder and almost
choked him to death. Then he invented a patent boot heel to crack nuts
with, but he mashed his thumb with it and gave it up. Why, he has a
washtub full of inventions. One of them is a prayerbook that always
opens at the right place. We tried it one morning at church, but the
wheels and springs made such a noise that the sexton took William by the
collar and told him to leave his fire engines at home when he came to
worship. The other day I saw him going up the street with a model of a
grain elevator sticking out of his hip pocket, and he is fixing up an
improved shot tower in our bed-room."
RECIPES.
A hot shovel held over furniture removes white spots.
A paste of equal parts of sifted ashes, clay, salt, and a little water
cements cracks in stoves and ovens.
Fried potatoes: Chop fine cold boiled potatoes; heat some butter in a
frying pan and put the potatoes in. A few minutes before taking them
from the fire stir in some well beaten eggs. Serve hot.
Sardines picked up fine, and mixed with cold boiled ham also minced
fine, and all well seasoned with a regular Mayonnaise dressing, make a
delicious filling for sandwiches.
Rye Bread: Make sponge as for wheat bread; let it rise over night; then
mix up with rye flour, not as stiff as wheat bread. Place in baking
pans; let rise, and bake half an hour longer than wheat bread.
One of the best ways to cure sore throat is as follows: Wring a cloth
out of salt and cold water, and keeping it quite wet bind tightly about
the neck. Cover this with a dry cloth. It is best to use this remedy in
the night.
A delicious hot sauce for puddings is made of six tablespoonfuls of
sugar, two of butter, and one egg; beat the butter, sugar, and the yolk
of the egg together, then add the white beaten to a froth; lastly stir
in a tea-cupful of boiling water and a teaspoonful of vanilla.
A Dish for Breakfast: Take six good cooking apples, cut them in slices
one-fourth of an inch thick; have a pan of fresh, hot lard ready, drop
the slices in and fry till brown; sprinkle a little sugar over them and
serve hot.
A little curry-powder in chopped pickle gives a delicious flavor to it.
A tablespoonful of the powder to four quarts of pickle is about the
right quantity to use, unless you like to use the curry in place of
pepper; then at least twice this quantity should be put in.
A good way to extract the juice of beef for an invalid is to broil the
beef on a gridiron for a few minutes, and then squeeze the juice from it
with a lemon-squeezer. Put a little salt with it. This may be given, as
the sick one prefers, cold or hot, or it may be frozen, and given in
small lumps.
Rolls: Flour, two quarts; sugar, one tablespoonful; one half cup of
yeast; one pint of scalded milk, or water if milk is scarce, and a
little salt. Set to rise until light; then knead until hard, and set to
rise, and when wanted make in rolls. Place a piece of butter between the
folds and bake in a slow oven.
For Earache.--A writer in the Druggists' Circular says: "The remedy
which I here offer has, after repeated trials, never failed to afford
almost instant relief. It is perfectly simple, easy of application,
costs but little, and can be procured at any drug store: Olive oil, 1
ounce; chloroform, 1 drachm. Mix, and shake well together. Then pour
twenty-five or thirty drops into the ear, and close it up with a piece
of raw cotton to exclude the air and retain the mixture."
* * * * *
THE PRAIRIE FARMER AND YOUTH'S COMPANION
ONE YEAR, $3 FOR THE TWO
It is not required that both papers be sent to one address, nor to the
same post-office.
Address Prairie Farmer Pub. Co.,
150 Monroe Street Chicago.
PAMPHLETS, ETC., RECEIVED.
Gunnison, Colorado's Bonanza County, by John K. Hallowell, Geologist,
Denver, Col. Price 50 cents, postpaid.
Midland Florida: The Eden of the South. By "Carl" Webber, New York.
United States Consular Reports, No. 35, for November, 1883.
The Saskatchewan Fife Wheat: Its history, from its first importation
from the Saskatchewan Valley, in Manitoba, six years ago, till the
present time. By W.J. Abernethy.
Price list of Huntsville nurseries, Huntsville, Ala.
Oscar Close, Greendale. Catalogue of nurseries, Worcester, Mass.
Price list of L.R. Bryant's cider vinegar works, Princeton, Ill.
Vich's Floral Guide. Here it is again, brighter and better than ever;
its cover alone, with its delicate tinted background and its dish of
gracefully arranged flowers, would entitle it to a permanent place in
every household. The 1884 edition is an elegant book of 150 pages, three
colored plates of flowers and vegetables, and more than 1,000
illustrations of the choicest plants, flowers, and vegetables, with
directions for growing. The price, only 10 cents, can be deducted from
the first order sent for goods. Rochester, N.Y.
The Great Rock Island Cook Book, dedicated to the women of America,
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway. This book contains a selection
of the most useful recipes and other valuable information in the
culinary art. It will be found especially valuable for the young
housekeepers, as they can hardly fail to become good cooks with such a
guide.
Buist's Almanac and Garden Manual for 1884, Philadelphia. This little
book is in its fifty-sixth year, and is one of the best of its kind
published. It contains a full descriptive list (with cuts) of all kinds
of vegetables, and many kinds of flowers.
Report of the crops of the year, December, 1883. Department of
Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
The Household Magazine for January comes to us in its usual bright,
readable form. It is an unusually good number and will be enjoyed by the
ladies.
Catalogue of Clydesdale and Cleveland Bay horses. Imported and bred by
the Door Prairie Live Stock Association, Door Village, La Porte, Ind.
* * * * *
REMEMBER _that_ $2.00 pays _for_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER _one year and, the
subscriber gets a copy of_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER COUNTY MAP OF THE UNITED
STATES, FREE! _This is the most liberal offer ever made by any
first-class weekly agricultural paper in this country._
OUR YOUNG FOLKS.
THE CITY CAT.
He is gaunt and thin, with a ragged coat,
A scraggy tail, and a hunted look;
No songs of melody burst from his throat
As he seeks repose in some quiet nook--
A safe retreat from this world of sin,
And all of its boots and stones and that--
For the life of a cat is a life of din,
If he is a city cat.
He is grumpy and stumpy, and old and gray,
With a sleepy look in his lonely eye,
(The other he lost at a matinee--
Knocked out by a boot from a window high.)
Wherever he goes, he never knows--
Quarter or pause in the midnight spree,
For the life of a cat is a life of blows,
If he is a city cat.
He is pelted by boys if he stirs abroad,
He is chased by dogs if he dares to roam.
His grizzled bosom has never thawed
'Neath the kindly blare of the light of home.
His life's a perpetual warfare waged
On balcony, back yard fence, and flat;
For the life of a cat is a life outraged,
If he is a city cat.
The country cat is a different beast.
Petted, well-housed, demure, and sleek;
Three times a day he is called to feast,
And why should he not be quiet and meek?
No dreams of urchins, tin cans, and war,
Disturb his sensuous sleep on the mat;
Ah! cat life is a thing worth living for,
If he isn't a city cat.
And even when dead, the cat
With strident members uneasy lies
In some alley-way, and seems staring at
A coming foe with his wild wide eye,
Nobody owns him and nobody cares--
Another dead "Tom," and who mourns for that,
If he's only a city cat.
--_Providence Press._
AMUSING TRICKS.
THE FRUIT CANDLE.
Procure a good, large apple or turnip, and cut from it a piece of the
shape to resemble the butt-end of a tallow candle; then from a nut of
some kind--an almond is the best--whittle out a small peg of about the
size and shape of a wick end. Stick the peg in the apple and you have a
very fair representation of a candle. The wick you can light, and it
will burn for at least a minute. In performing you should have your
candle in a clean candlestick, show it plainly to the audience, and then
put it into your mouth, taking care to blow it out, and munch it up. If
you think best, you can blow the candle out and allow the wick to cool,
and it will look, with its burned wick, so natural that even the
sharpest eyes can not distinguish it from the genuine article.
Once, at a summer resort in Massachusetts, I made use of this candle
with considerable effect. While performing a few parlor tricks to amuse
some friends, I pretended to need a light. A confederate left the room,
and soon returned with a lantern containing one of these apple
counterfeits.
"Do you call that a candle?" I said.
"Certainly," he replied.
"Why, there is scarcely a mouthful."
"A mouthful? Rather a disagreeable mouthful, I guess."
"You have never been in Russia, I presume."
"Never."
"Then you don't know what is good."
"Good?"
"Yes, good. Why, candle ends, with the wick a little burned to give them
a flavor, are delicious. They always serve them up before dinner in
Russia as a kind of relish. It is considered bad taste in good society
there to ask a friend to sit down to dinner without offering him this
appetizer."
"The bad taste would be in the relish, I think."
"Not at all. Try a bit."
I took the candle out of the lantern, and extended it toward my
confederate, who shrank back with disgust.
"Well," I said, "if you won't have it, I'll eat it myself." And so
saying, I put it into my mouth and munched it up, amid the cries of
surprise and horror of the assembled party. Two old maids insisted on
looking into my mouth to see whether it was not concealed there.
Having soaked a piece of thread in common salt water, tie it to a small
finger-ring. When you apply the flame of a candle to the thread it will
burn to ashes and yet sustain the ring.
A DIFFICULT CIRCLE TO JUMP FROM.
Take a piece of chalk, and ask, if you make a circle, whether any boy
standing in it thinks he can jump out of it. As soon as one proposes to
do so, bring him into the center of the room, draw a circle with the
chalk around his jacket, and say, "Now jump out of it!"
AN IMPOSSIBLE WALK.
Ask one young lady in the company whether she thinks, if she clasped her
hands, she could walk out of the room. On her saying she could, request
her to pass her arm round the leg of the table or piano, join her hands,
and walk away.
THE HAT TRICK.
Fill a small glass with water, cover it with a hat, and profess your
readiness to drink it without touching the hat. Put your head under the
table, make a noise, as if drinking, rise, and wipe your lips. The
company, thinking you have drunk the water, one of them will certainly
take up the hat to see. As soon as the hat is removed, take up the glass
and drink its contents. "There!" say you, "you see I have not touched
the hat."
THE INCOMBUSTIBLE THREAD.
Wind some linen thread tightly round a smooth pebble, and secure the
end; then, if you expose it to the flame of a lamp or candle, the thread
will not burn; for the caloric (or heat) traverses the thread, without
remaining in it, and attacks the stone. The same sort of trick may be
performed with a poker, round which is evenly pasted a sheet of paper.
You can poke the fire with it without burning the paper.
AN IMPOSSIBLE JUMP.
Take a ruler, or any other piece of wood, and ask whether, if you laid
it down on the ground, any of the company could jump over it. Of course
one or two will express their readiness to jump over so small an
obstruction. Then lay the ruler on the ground, close against the wall,
and tell them to try.
A DIFFICULT LOAD TO CARRY.
Take a piece of wood, such as a lucifer match, and say to one of the
company, "How long do you think it would take you to carry this piece of
wood into the next room?" "Half a minute." perhaps one will reply.
"Well, try, then," say you; "carry it." You then cut off little pieces,
and give them to him one by one. He will soon be tired of the
experiment.
TO TURN A GLASS OF WATER UPSIDE DOWN WITHOUT SPILLING ITS CONTENTS.
Fill a glass carefully, place a piece of paper on the top, place your
hand on the paper, and tilt the glass round sharply, when it will be
found that the pressure of the air upward on the paper will retain the
water. The glass may then be held by the bottom.
Health and Home says: I want to tell you of something very funny to do,
if you have a little brother or sister who does not mind dressing up and
standing still for a few moments. My aunt showed me how to do it the
other day, when sister Nelly had a birthday party. We took little
brother Tommy out into the library and stood him upon a high wooden
stool, and dressed him up very finely in mamma's clothes. The stool made
him so full that the dress was of just the right length. Then Uncle Ned,
telling him to stand straight and firm, carried him, stool and all, into
the parlor. I wish you could have heard the girls and boys laugh! He had
such a comical look--with his tall body and little round face--just like
some of those French Parian figures. One little girl handed him a fan,
and then it was too funny to see the tall lady fan herself affectedly
with her very small, dimpled hands. All the boys and girls just
shouted.--_Young People._
BRIGHT SAYINGS.
A writer in the School-Boy Magazine has gathered together the following
dictionary words as defined by certain small people:
Bed time--Shut-eye time.
Dust--Mud with the juice squeezed out.
Fan--A thing to brush warm off with.
Fins--A fish's wings.
Ice--Water that staid out in the cold and went to sleep.
Nest-Egg--The egg that the old hen measures to make new ones.
Pig--A hog's little boy.
Salt--What makes your potato taste bad when you don't put any on.
Snoring--Letting off sleep.
Stars--The moon's eggs.
Wakefulness--Eyes all the time coming unbuttoned.
* * * * *
If you would have good health, go out in the sunshine. Sickness is
worse than freckles.
* * * * *
HYPOCHONDRIA.
THE MYSTERIOUS ELEMENT IN THE MIND THAT AROUSES VAGUE
APPREHENSIONS--WHAT ACTUALLY CAUSES IT.
The narrative below, by a prominent scientist, touches a subject of
universal importance. Few people are free from the distressing evils
which hypochondria brings. They come at all times and are fed by the
very flame which they themselves start. They are a dread of coming
derangement caused by present disorder and bring about more suicides
than any other one thing. Their first approach should be carefully
guarded.
_Editors Herald_:
It is seldom I appear in print and I should not do so now did
I not believe myself in possession of truths, the revelation
of which will prove of inestimable value to many who may see
these lines. Mine has been a trying experience. For many
years I was conscious of a want of nerve tone. My mind seemed
sluggish and I felt a certain falling off in my natural
condition of intellectual acuteness, activity, and vigor. I
presume this is the same way in which an innumerable number
of other people feel, who, like myself, are physically below
par, but like thousands of others I paid no attention to
these annoying troubles, attributing them to overwork, and
resorting to a glass of beer or a milk punch, which would for
the time invigorate and relieve my weariness.
After awhile the stimulants commenced to disagree with my
stomach, my weariness increased, and I was compelled to
resort to other means to find relief. If a physician is
suffering he invariably calls another physician to prescribe
for him, as he cannot see himself as he sees others; so I
called a physician, and he advised me to try a little
chemical food, or a bottle of hypophosphates. I took two or
three bottles of the chemical food with no apparent benefit.
My lassitude and indisposition seemed to increase, my food
distressed me. I suffered from neuralgic pains in different
parts of my body, my muscles became sore, my bowels were
constipated, and my prospects for recovery were not very
flattering. I stated my case to another physician, and he
advised me to take five to ten drops of Magende's solution of
morphine, two or three times a day, for the weakness and
distress in my stomach, and a blue pill every other night to
relieve the constipation. The morphine produced such a
deathly nausea that I could not take it, and the blue pill
failed to relieve my constipation.
In this condition I passed nearly a year, wholly unfit for
business, while the effort to think was irksome and painful.
My blood became impoverished, and I suffered from incapacity
with an appalling sense of misery and general apprehension of
coming evil. I passed sleepless nights and was troubled with
irregular action of the heart, a constantly feverish
condition, and the most excruciating tortures in my stomach,
living for days on rice water and gruel, and, indeed, the
digestive functions seemed to be entirely destroyed.
It was natural that while in this condition I should become
hypochondrical, and fearful suggestions of self-destruction
occasionally presented themselves. I experienced an
insatiable desire for sleep, but on retiring would lie awake
for a long time, tormented with troubled reflections, and
when at last I did fall into an uneasy slumber of short
duration, it was disturbed by horrid dreams. In this
condition I determined to take a trip to Europe, but in spite
of all the attentions of physicians and change of scene and
climate, I did not improve, and so returned home with no
earthly hope of ever again being able to leave the house.
Among the numerous friends that called on me was one who had
been afflicted somewhat similarly to myself, but who had been
restored to perfect health. Upon his earned recommendation I
began the same treatment he had employed but with little hope
of being benefited. At first, I experienced little, if any,
relief, except that it did not distress my stomach as other
remedies or even food had done. I continued its use, however,
and after the third bottle could see a marked change for the
better, and now after the fifteenth bottle I am happy to
state that I am again able to attend to my professional
duties. I sleep well, nothing distresses me that I eat, I go
from day to day without a feeling of weariness or pain,
indeed I am a well man, and wholly through the influence of
H.H. Warner & Co's Tippecanoe. I consider this remedy as
taking the highest possible rank in the treatment of all
diseases marked by debility, loss of appetite, and all other
symptoms of stomach and digestive disorders. It is
overwhelmingly superior to the tonics, bitters, and dyspepsia
cures of the day, and is certain to be so acknowledged by the
public universally. Thousands of people to-day are going to
premature graves with these serious diseases, that I have
above described, and to all such I would say: "Do not let
your good judgment be governed by your prejudices, but give
the above named remedy a fair and patient trial, and I
believe you will not only be rewarded by a perfect
restoration to health, but you will also be convinced that
the medical profession does not possess all the knowledge
there is embraced in medical science."
A.G. RICHARDS, M.D.,
468 Tremont street, Boston, Mass.
COMPILED CORRESPONDENCE.
E.B.F., Scotia, Neb., writes: The weather, so far this winter, has been
extremely warm. No snow to exceed one inch since October. Cattle and
hogs doing finely. Corn planted early is a good crop both as to quality
and quantity, but late planted is soft. Wheat and oats were an extra
good crop, wheat yielding from 25 to 35 bushels per acre, and oats from
50 to 75 bushels.
E.B.F.
* * * * *
Cobden, Ill., Jan. 6.--We have been through the coldest weather ever
experienced here since weather records have been kept, which is
twenty-five years or more. Yesterday morning the mercury reached 24
degrees below at my house, which is 200 feet higher than the village.
Reports from lower situations run down to 26, 28, with one of 30. This
is six degrees lower than the lowest record ever made here, which was
twenty years ago, when on the 1st of January it marked 18 below at my
house, with some other records two or three degrees lower. At that time
peach orchards were badly killed. There can be no doubt that such is the
case now. And if it has been proportionately cold north, I fear that the
injury to all kinds of fruit trees must have been very serious.
PARRER EARLE.
* * * * *