THE FAMILY AT HOME.
_A Good Table--Bread, etc.--Meats--Vegetables--Household
Management--Beverages--Useful Receipts, etc.--Maxims,
Dietetic and Moral--Tool-Chests--Dressmaking,
etc.--Pets--Swimming--Riding--Amusements--Children--Letter-Writing
--Debt--Flowers--Time--Air--Laws--Phrenology--Historical--Words
of Washington._
3535. A good table is necessary to health and domestic comfort.
3536. Nearly every family in our Republic has, or might have, the
means of living very comfortably; if nothing was wasted, and all food
was properly cooked, good tables would abound.
3537. In my "New Cook Book" these subjects are so fully treated that
little can be added.
3538. Still a few "Choice Receipts" on Cookery will be found in this
volume, at page 319 and on. I shall add such other directions in this
chapter as seem necessary to complete the system: and first of the
staff of life--_bread._
3539. _Bread._--To make good bread, or to understand the process of
making it, is the duty of every woman; indeed, an art that should
never be neglected in the education of a LADY.
3540. _The Lady_ derives her title from "dividing or distributing
bread:" the more perfect the bread the more noble the lady.
3541. In "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book," and in the following
directions, the art is made plain; and the process may, by practice,
be easily acquired.
3542. _Proportions of Nutriment in articles of Food._--See "Mrs.
Hale's New Cook Book--Introductory," etc.
3543. _Bread_ contains eighty nutritious parts in one hundred; meal
thirty-four in one hundred; French beans, ninety-two in one hundred;
common beans, eighty-nine in one hundred; peas, ninety-three in one
hundred; lentils, ninety-four in one hundred; cabbages and turnips,
the most aqueous of all the vegetables compared, produce only eight
pounds of solid matter in one hundred pounds; carrots and spinach
produce fourteen in the same quantity; while one hundred pounds of
potatoes contain twenty-five pounds of dry substance.
3544. From a general estimate it results, that one pound of good
bread is equal to two pounds and a half or three pounds of potatoes;
that seventy-five pounds of bread and thirty of meat may be
substituted for three hundred pounds of potatoes.
3545. The other substances bear the following proportions: four parts
of cabbage to one of potatoes; three parts of turnips to one of
potatoes; two parts of carrots and spinach to one of potatoes; and
about three parts and a half of potatoes to one of rice, lentils,
beans, French beans, and dry peas.
3546. _To test flour_, people in the trade generally knead a small
quantity by way of experiment; if good, the flour immediately forms
an adhesive elastic paste, which will readily assume any form that
may be given to it, without danger of breaking.
3547. Pure and unadulterated flour may likewise be easily
distinguished by other methods: seize a handful briskly, and squeeze
it half a minute; it preserves the form of the cavity of the hand in
one piece, although it may be rudely placed on the table; not so that
which contains foreign substances, it breaks in pieces more or less;
that mixed with whiting being the most adhesive, but still dividing
and falling down in a little time.
3548. _Indian Bread._--One quart of buttermilk, one quart of
Indian-meal, one quart of coarse flour, one cup of molasses; add a
little soda and salt.
3549. _Bread making_ is an art, the importance of which is too
frequently overlooked or underrated. Heavy, sour, hard bread
should never be tolerated, because good bread is more palatable,
more healthy, and it should be borne in mind, is really much less
expensive. There is great saving in baking bread at home, and this
saving is greatest when flour is cheapest.
3550. _Good flour_ and good yeast are requisites, but the goodness of
the bread depends much on the kneading: the more the dough is turned
and pressed and worked, the lighter and better the bread will be.
3551. _Proportions._--Two gallons flour, half pint strong fresh
yeast; if home-made, add more.
3552. _The Process._--Make a hole in the flour, in which pour the
yeast mixed with half a pint warm water. Stir in the flour round
the edge of this liquid with a spoon to form a thin batter. After
stirring it well for two minutes, sprinkle a handful of flour over
the top of this batter, lay a warm cloth over it, and set it to rise
in a warm place. When it rises so as to crack on the top add four
spoonsful fine salt, and begin to form the mass into dough, pouring
as much soft, lukewarm water as is necessary to make the flour mix
with the batter. When the flour and batter are thoroughly mixed,
knead and work the whole till it is light and stiff. Roll into a
lump, sprinkle dry flour over it, cover and put into a warm place,
when in half an hour it will rise enough for baking. See "Mrs. Hale's
Cook Book," page 375. _The quality_ depends much on the time of
putting the dough in the oven. Dough readily runs into three stages
of fermentation. It should be put in the oven during the first
or _saccharine_, when if sufficiently baked it will be sweet and
wholesome. It afterward becomes sour and heavy. If put in too soon,
it will be light and as tasteless as saw-dust.
3553. _Good bread_ is marked by fine pores and a sort of network of
uniform appearance.
3554. _Keep bread_ wrapped in a coarse towel, and where it will not
dry up, or in a tight box.
3555. _If sour_, from being mixed over night, melt a teaspoon of
pearlash in a little milk-warm water, sprinkle it over the dough, and
in half an hour knead it again.
3556. _Frozen_ dough is spoiled.
3557. _Indian_ is a good addition to wheat, and requires more water,
or make mush of it and then mix in.
3558. _The bitterness_ of yeast may be remedied by putting in a
little charcoal and then straining it.
3559. _Rye and Indian Bread._--Mix two quarts of each with three
pints boiling milk, table-spoon salt, and stir well. Let it stand
till lukewarm, then stir in half pint good yeast. Knead to a stiff
dough and put to rise near the fire. When the top is cracked over,
make into two loaves and bake moderate two and a half hours.
3560. _Common Yeast._--Boil a large handful hops in two quarts of
water twenty minutes. Strain and pour the liquid into three pints
flour. Stir in half a pint strong yeast. Its strength is increased by
five tea-spoons brown sugar or five large spoons molasses. Cork the
bottles loose till next day, and then tight.
3561. _If turning sour_ put tea-spoon pearlash in each bottle.
3562. _Another._--Boil, peel and mash mealy potatoes, which reduce
with water or ale as thin as common yeast. To every pound add two
ounces coarse sugar, and when just warm stir in two spoons of yeast.
Keep warm till fermentation is over and in twenty-four hours fit for
use. Let sponge eight hours before baking.
3563. _Yeast._--Boil one pound of good flour, a quarter of a pound
of brown sugar, and a little salt, in two gallons of water for one
hour. When milk-warm, bottle it close; it will be fit to use in
twenty-four hours. One pint of this will make eighteen pounds of
bread.
3564. _Pulled Bread._--Take from the oven an ordinary loaf when it
is about _half baked_, and with the fingers, while the bread is yet
hot, dexterously pull the half-set dough into pieces of irregular
shape, about the size of an egg. Don't attempt to smooth or flatten
them--the rougher their shapes the better.
3565. Set upon tins, place in a very slow oven, and bake to a rich
brown. This forms a deliciously crisp crust for cheese. If you do not
bake at home, your baker will prepare it for you, if ordered. Pulled
bread may be made in the revolving ovens.
3566. It is very nice with wine instead of biscuits.
3567. _A great increase on home-made bread_, even equal to one-fifth,
may be produced by using bran water for kneading the dough. The
proportion is three pounds of bran for every twenty-eight pounds of
flour, the bran to be boiled for an hour, and then strained through a
hair-sieve.
3568. Indian cake made with buttermilk, or sour milk with a little
cream or butter rubbed into the meal, and a tea-spoonful of pearlash
in the milk, is very light and nutritious.
3569. _Use of Lime-water in making Bread._--It has lately been found
that water saturated with lime produces in bread the same whiteness,
softness and capacity of retaining moisture, as results from the use
of alum; while the former removes all acidity from the dough, and
supplies an ingredient needed in the structure of the bones, but
which is deficient in the _cerealia_.
3570. The best proportion to use is, five pounds of water saturated
with lime, to every nineteen pounds of flour. No change is required
in the process of baking.
3571. The lime most effectually coagulates the gluten, and the bread
weighs well; bakers must therefore approve of its introduction,
which is not injurious to the system, like alum, &c.
3572. _Cheap Bread._--Indian meal is the cheapest, and a bushel
furnishes more nutriment than the same quantity of wheat. It is
also a generally healthy diet, and those who wish to practice close
economy should use much of this meal in their families.
3573. It makes excellent puddings and warm cakes, which are much less
apt to oppress the stomach than hot wheat bread or short cakes of any
kind. And good, light, nourishing bread may be made by using five
parts of Indian and one of rye or wheat flour, (see receipts for "Rye
and Indian Bread;") which is better than to cook it hot at every meal.
3574. Remember that _four_ loaves of _cold bread_ will go as far in a
family as _five loaves of hot bread_.
3575. _Excellent paste_ for fruit or meat pies may be made with
two-thirds of wheat flour, one-third of the flour of boiled potatoes,
and some butter or dripping; the whole being brought to a proper
consistence with warm water, and a small quantity of yeast added when
lightness is desired. This will also make very pleasant cakes for
breakfast, and may be made with or without spices, fruit, &c.
3576. _Picnic Biscuits._--Take two ounces of fresh butter, and
well work it with a pound of flour. Mix thoroughly with it half a
salt-spoonful of pure carbonate of soda; two ounces of sugar; mingle
thoroughly with the flour; make up the paste with spoonfuls of
milk--it will require scarcely a quarter of a pint.
3577. Knead smooth, roll a quarter of an inch thick, cut in rounds
about the size of the top of a small wine-glass; roll these out thin,
prick them well, lay them on lightly floured tins, and bake in a
gentle oven until crisp. When cold put into dry canisters.
3578. Thin cream used instead of milk, in the paste, will enrich
the biscuits. Caraway seeds or ginger can be added, to vary these at
pleasure.
3579. _Rye and wheat flour_, half and half, makes excellent household
bread.
3580. _Common Black Cake._--Beat separately the whites and yolks
of three eggs. Mix half a pound of butter with one pound of flour;
one tumbler of milk; one tumbler of molasses; one pound of sugar.
Then put in the eggs and one and one-half teaspoonful of soda. Wine,
currants, raisins and citron to your taste.
3581. _Maize Cake._--Take six eggs, a paper of Oswego corn starch,
one pound of loaf sugar, half pound of butter, half teacup of milk,
half a teaspoon of soda, one teaspoon of cream of tartar, the grated
rind of the lemon; dissolve the soda in half the milk, and add it
the last thing. Bake in an oven as quick as you can make it, without
burning.
3582. It is a very delicate cake to bake well. Use flat pans, a
little deeper than Spanish bun pans, and put paper over the top.
3583. _Composition Cake._--Take three pounds of flour, half pound
of butter, one and three-quarter pounds of sugar, three eggs--beat
the eggs--add half a pint of yeast to them, half a pint of new milk,
three spoonsful of rose-water, and a little cinnamon and cloves; put
the butter in the flour and half the sugar, the other half mix with
the eggs; make a hole in the flour, pour the ingredients into it; set
it to lighten in the morning by the fire; after it is made out into
rolls, you may put it into tins, and set it before the fire for an
hour or two; when sufficiently risen, bake it in rather a slow oven.
3584. _Ginger Biscuits and Cakes._--Work into small crumbs three
ounces of butter, two pounds of flour; add three ounces of powdered
sugar and two of ginger, in fine powder; knead into a stiff paste,
with new milk, roll thin, cut out with a cutter; bake in a slow oven
until crisp through; keep of a pale color.
3585. Additional sugar may be used when sweeter biscuit is desired.
For good ginger-cakes, butter six ounces, sugar eight, for each
pound of flour; wet the ingredients into a paste with eggs; a little
lemon-grate will give an agreeable flavor.
3586. _Loaf-cake._--Six pounds of flour, three and one-half pounds
of butter, three and one-half pounds of sugar, three pints of milk,
six eggs, four pounds of fruit, one-half pint of yeast, three gills
of wine, four nutmegs, and one and one-quarter ounce of mace citron.
Stir butter and sugar to a froth; boil the milk, and turn in the
wine; put the curds and whey _warm_, but not _hot_, into the flour;
then add the eggs and yeast, and only one-third of the beaten butter
and sugar; let it rise until very light, and then add the remainder
of the butter and sugar, and let it rise _again_; when light, put in
the spices, fruit, &c., bake it in a _not_ very hot oven.
Another receipt leaves out one-half pound of butter and also one-half
pound of sugar to the same quantity of flour, fruit, eggs, &c.
3587. _Sponge-Cake._--Take three-quarters of a pound of white sugar,
and pour one-half tumbler of cold water into it, and set it over the
fire until it _boils clear_; beat up seven eggs, the whites and yolks
separately, and, after the sugar and water has cooled, add the yolks,
stirring them well; flavor it with the peel of a lemon, and half the
juice of the same; add the whites of the eggs, and then sift in one
half pound of flour. This cake has the advantage of remaining moist
and spirited, longer than other sponge-cake.
3588. _A Cheap and Quick Pudding._--Beat up four eggs, add a pint of
milk and a little salt, and stir in four large spoonsful of flour, a
little nutmeg and sugar to your taste. Beat it well, and pour it into
buttered teacups, filling them rather more than half full. They will
bake in a stove or Dutch oven in fifteen minutes; and if you have
company to dinner, and wish to add a little dish, this is a good and
cheap one.
3589. _Sago and Apple Pudding_ (very nice).--Let half a pound of sago
steep in water enough to cover it until dissolved. This will take
about half an hour. Pare and core eight nice apples without cutting
them apart. Fill the middle with sugar, putting in each a little
cinnamon. Arrange the apples in a pudding-dish, and pour over them
the sago. Let it bake from one to two hours. This is equally as nice,
although it does not look so well, if the apples are cut in quarters
instead of being left whole, and the sugar and cinnamon sprinkled
over them. It is good either cold or hot.
3590. _Pea Pudding._--Dry a pint or quart of split peas thoroughly
before the fire; then tie them up loosely in a cloth, put them into
warm water, boil them a couple of hours, or more, until quite tender;
take them up, beat them well in a dish with a little salt (some add
the yolk of an egg) and a bit of butter. Make it quite smooth, tie
it up again in a cloth, and boil it an hour longer. This is highly
nourishing.
3591. _Calves' Feet Jelly._--Boil four feet in four gallons of
water till it comes to half a gallon; strain it, let it stand till
cold, and skim off all the fat clean. Take the jelly up, leaving
the settlings at the bottom. Put your jelly into a clean saucepan
or skillet, and to every quart of jelly add one pint of wine, half
pound of loaf-sugar beaten, the juice of a large lemon; beat up the
whites of three eggs to a froth--put all in together--stir well till
it boils, let it boil a few minutes, have ready a double flannel
bag, pour it in again till it runs clear; have a china bowl with
lemon-peel cut as thin as possible, let the jelly drip on the peel
and it will give it a flavor, and a fine amber color; with a clean
silver spoon fill your glasses.--(See "Mrs. Hale's Cook Book," p.
324.)
3592. _Calves' Feet Jelly made with Gelatine._--Take three quarts
of water, one pint of white wine, six table-spoonsful of brandy;
six lemons, peel and all; six eggs, the whites slightly beaten,
the shells crushed, and the yolks not used; three pounds of white
sugar, four ounces of gelatine. Soak for half an hour the gelatine in
one quart of the water. Mix the other ingredients in the other two
quarts. Put all together, and let them boil twenty minutes without
stirring. Strain it through a flannel bag without squeezing. Wet the
mould in cold water. Pour the jelly in, and leave it to cool. Three
hours is generally sufficient.
3593. _Meats._--A few hints, or general rules will be given here.
(See "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book" for Receipts, &c.)
3594. _Animal food._--The quantity of animal food required to sustain
the constitution, in its most perfect state, is greatest in the
coldest countries, and, decreasing according to the warmth of the
climate, when we reach the torrid zone, but a small quantity is
needed.
3595. In temperate climates, like our own, the largest quantity is
required during the winter.
3596. None should use it freely during the hottest weather, except it
be those who labor hard in the open air; it rarely appears to injure
such, yet probably it would be best for them to eat less meat and
more bread and vegetables during summer. They would not then suffer
so much from thirst, which often induces the desire for stimulating
liquids.
3597. As a general rule, animal food is more easily and speedily
digested than vegetable food of any kind--and this it is which makes
meats more heating and stimulating.
3598. The great essentials for the easy digestion of animal food are
that the fibres be tender and fine grained.
3599. Of the different sorts of butcher meat, _Pork_ is that of which
the least quantity should be taken at a time. It requires longer to
digest roasted pork than any other kind of meat.
3600. Beef agrees well with most constitutions; it is cheapest in
the autumn, but best in the winter season. Many have a distaste to
mutton; but for those who relish it, it is a nutritious food, and
easy of digestion.
3601. Lamb, veal, and fowls are delicate and healthy diet for the
young and sedentary; and for all who find fat meats and those of
coarse fibre do not agree with them.
3602. The most economical way of cooking meat is to _boil_ it, if
the liquid be used for soup or broth, as it always ought to be.
3603. Baking is one of the cheapest ways of dressing a dinner in
small families, and several kinds of meat are excellent done in this
way.
3604. Legs and loins of pork, legs of mutton, and fillets of veal
will bake to much advantage; especially if they be fat.
3605. Never bake a lean, thin piece, it will all shrivel away. Such
pieces should always be boiled or made into soup.
3606. Pigs, geese, and the buttock of beef are all excellent baked.
3607. Meat always loses in weight by being cooked.--In roasting,
the loss is the greatest. It also costs more in fuel to roast than
to boil--still there are many pieces of meat which seem made for
roasting; and it would be almost wrong to cook them in any other way.
3608. The other pieces of the animal are best salted and boiled; or
if used fresh, stewed or in soups. Beef should rarely be fried.
3609. _Roasting beef._--Ten pounds of beef require from two hours to
two hours and a-half roasting, eighteen inches from a good clear fire.
3610. Six pounds require one hour and a-quarter to one hour and
a-half, fourteen inches from a good clear fire.
3611. Three ribs of beef, boned and rolled, tied round with paper,
will require two hours and a-half, eighteen inches from the fire;
baste once only.
3612. The first three ribs of fifteen or twenty pounds, will take
three hours or three and a-half; the fourth and fifth ribs will take
as long, managed in the same way as the sirloin. Paper the fat and
the thin part, or it will be done too much before the thick part is
done enough.
3613. When beef is very fat, it does not require basting; if very
lean tie it up in buttered paper, and baste frequently and well.
3614. Common cooks are generally fond of too fierce a fire, and of
putting things too near to it.
3615. Slow roasting is as advantageous to the tenderness and flavor
of meat as slow boiling.
3616. The warmer the weather, and the staler killed the meat is, the
less time it will require to roast it.
3617. Meat that is very fat requires more time than other meat.
3618. _Cooking meats._--The proper manner of preparation is, to cook
it till it is entirely _separated from the blood_, and the fibres are
rendered soft and easy of digestion.
3619. Lamb is a delicate and tender meat; but it requires to be kept
a few days, when the weather will permit--and should be thoroughly
cooked to be healthful. Never take lamb or veal from the spit till
the gravy that drops is white.
3620. _Preserving meats._--Salt is the grand preservative of meats;
but in using these, care should be taken to soak them if too salt. It
is not healthy to eat our food very salt.
3621. In the summer season, particular attention must be observed,
lest fresh meat be injured. In the country this care is very
necessary.
3622. Be sure to take the kernels out of a round of beef; one in the
udder, in the fat, and those about the thick end of the flank.
3623. To salt the meat thoroughly, rub in the salt evenly into every
part, and fill the holes where the kernels were taken out.
3624. A pound and a-half of salt will be sufficient for twenty-five
pounds of beef, if you only want to corn it to be eaten in a few days.
3625. In the summer, the sooner meat is salted, after it is cool, the
better. In winter, it is better to be kept a few days before salting.
3626. Pork ought not to be allowed to freeze before it is salted for
family use.
3627. If you wish beef to look red, rub it first with saltpetre and
sugar; half an ounce of each mixed together, is sufficient for twenty
pounds of meat.
3628. _Poultry._--No kind of animal food is so delicate and delicious
as the flesh of fowls and birds, and no kind is so generally
healthful. Rarely does it disagree with those who are well; even the
feeble in constitution, or those debilitated by sickness, find this a
most agreeable and nutritious diet.
3629. The white meat of a young turkey, when well boiled, is easier
of digestion than that of any other fowl.
3630. In a young turkey, the toes and bill are soft.
3631. A young goose (a very old one is not fit to be eaten) is plump
in the breast, and the fat white and soft--the feet yellow, the web
of the foot thin and tender.
3632. Ducks, if young, feel very tender under the wing, and the web
of the foot is transparent.
3633. The best fowls have yellow legs--if very old, the feet look
stiff and worn.
3634. Pigeons should be quite fresh, the breast plump and fat.
3635. Poultry should lie one night after being killed in warm weather
to make it tender; in cold weather it may be kept a much longer time
to advantage.
3636. Take care of the liquor you have boiled poultry or meat in; in
five minutes you may make it into soup.
3637. The good housewife never boils a joint without converting the
broth into some sort of soup.
3638. If the liquor be too salt, only use half the quantity, and the
rest water; wash salted meat well with cold water before you put it
into the boiler.
3639. Fish is much less nutritious than flesh. The white kinds
of fish, cod, haddock, flounders, white fish, &c., are the least
nutritious; the oily kinds, salmon, eels, herrings, &c., are more
difficult to digest.
3640. Shell-fish have long held a high rank as restorative food; but
a well-dressed chop or steak is much better to recruit the strength
and spirits.
3641. _Hashes._--All the pieces and bits of cold meat should be
minced and warmed; if this is rightly done, the dish is generally a
favorite one.
3642. It is best to chop the meat very fine, (gristles and gelatinous
matter from the bones may be included;) then make a gravy by putting
a lump of butter (what you judge necessary) into a stewpan; when it
is hot, add a little flour, and stir it into the butter; then add a
teacupful of the broth the meat was boiled in, and a little catsup.
Let this boil up, then put in the mince meat, with a little chopped
parsley, pepper and salt.
3643. Let it stand and simmer a few minutes covered, but do not let
it boil--it hardens the meat to boil it. Lay slices of toasted bread
in the dish, and pour the meat and gravy over.
3644. _Meat_ may be kept several days in the height of summer, sweet
and good, by lightly covering it with bran, and hanging it in some
high or windy room, or in a passage where there is a current of air.
VEGETABLES.
3645. The importance of using a portion of vegetable food can hardly
be overrated, though to make this our only diet does and must prove
injurious, because contrary to man's nature and the arrangements of
the Creator.
3646. The farinaceous (or mealy) are far more nutritious than other
vegetables; but none are sufficiently so to sustain the constitution
under the cares and labors necessary to the full development of the
energies of body and mind.
3647. And unless these can be developed and sustained, the rational
and moral character of the human race will never be perfected.
3648. Still, though animal food is never, except in peculiar cases
of disease, to be wholly abandoned, we must be quite as scrupulous
not to neglect the vegetable part of our diet. This is necessary in
order to prevent the concentrated diet of flesh from too sudden and
stimulating action.
3649. Besides, our nature demands a portion of vegetables to keep the
system in proper and healthy order. A _mixed diet_ is the only right
regimen--the proportions of the different kinds of food vary, with
different ages and constitutions, in different climates and seasons;
still, in some degree, this rule should never be abandoned.
3650. The very young require a large portion of mild farinaceous
vegetables, such as rice, sago, tapioca, and potatoes; the two first
are very easy of digestion.
3651. There are three things to be attended to in cooking vegetables;
make them sufficiently soft, develop their best flavor, and correct
any rank or disagreeable taste they may have.
3652. These things are very easily accomplished--boil them
sufficiently; change the water if they are rank or unpleasant, and
add a little salt, sugar or spice, as the case may require.
3653. Vegetables are always best when newly gathered, except the
potato; that is better in winter, if well kept.
3654. They are in greatest perfection when in greatest plenty; that
is, in their proper season.
3655. Except spinach, all vegetables should be boiled quickly (soft
water is much the best) in an open vessel, and carefully skimmed.
3656. _To Clear Vegetables of Insects._--Make a strong brine of one
pound and a half of salt to one gallon of water, into this place the
vegetables with the stalk ends uppermost, for two or three hours;
this will destroy all the insects which cluster in the leaves, and
they will fall out and sink to the bottom of the water.
3657. _Potatoes._--There are few articles in families more subject
to waste, both in paring, boiling, and being actually thrown away,
than potatoes; and there are few cooks but what boil twice as many
potatoes every day as are wanted; and fewer still that do not throw
the residue away as totally unfit in any shape for the next day's
meal.
3658. Yet if they would take the trouble to beat up the despised
cold potatoes with an equal quantity of flour, they would find them
produce a much lighter dumpling or pudding than they can make with
flour alone; and by the aid of a few spoonfuls of good gravy, they
will provide a cheap and agreeable appendage to the dinner table.
3659. _Bad Butter_ may be improved greatly by dissolving it
thoroughly in hot water; let it cool, then skim it off, and churn
again, adding a little good salt and sugar. A small quantity can be
tried and approved before doing a larger one. The water should be
merely hot enough to melt the butter or it will become oily.--(See
"Mrs. Hale's Cook Book.")
3660. _Dinners._--The appearance a dinner-table presents does not
depend so much upon a profuseness of viands, as upon the neatness,
cleanliness, and well-studied arrangement of the whole. Taste, if
well directed, may produce a handsome dinner; whereas three times the
amount of money may be expended upon another, and yet not make even a
respectable appearance.
HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT.
3661. Have you ever observed what a dislike servants have to any
thing cheap. They hate saving their master's money. I tried this
experiment with great success the other day.
3662. Finding we consumed a vast deal of soap, I sat down in my
thinking chair, and took the soap question into consideration, and
found reason to suspect we were using a very expensive article, where
a much cheaper one would serve the purpose better.
3663. I ordered half a dozen pounds of both sorts, but took the
precaution of changing the papers on which the prices were marked
before giving them into the hands of Betty.
3664. "Well, Betty, which soap do you find washes best?"
3665. "Oh, please sir, the dearest, in the blue paper; it makes a
lather as well again as the other."
3666. "Well, Betty, you shall always have it then." And thus the
unsuspecting Betty saved me some pounds a-year, and washed the
clothes better.--_Rev. Sidney Smith._
3667. _Receipt for Obtaining Good Servants._--Let them observe in
your conduct to others just the qualities and virtues that you would
desire they should possess and practice as respects you. Be uniformly
kind and gentle.
3668. If you reprove, do so with reason and with temper.
3669. Be respectable, and you will be respected by them. Be kind, and
you will meet kindness from them.
3670. Consider their interests, and they will consider yours. A
friend in a servant is no contemptible thing.
3671. Be to every servant a friend; and heartless, indeed, will be
the servant who does not warm in love to you.
3672. Four important rules:
3673. 1. A suitable place for everything, and every thing in its
place.
3674. 2. A proper time for every thing, and every thing done in its
time.
3675. 3. A distinct name for every thing, and every thing called by
its name.
3676. 4. A certain use for every thing, and every thing put to its
use.
3677. _Oil-cloth_ should never be scrubbed with a brush, but after
being first swept, it should be cleansed by washing with a large
soft cloth and lukewarm or cold water. On no account use soap or hot
water, as either will bring off the paint.
3678. _Straw Matting_ may be cleaned with a large coarse cloth dipped
in salt and water, and then wiped dry: the salt prevents the matting
from turning yellow.
3679. _Oil Paintings_ hung over the mantle-piece are liable to
wrinkle with the heat.
3680. _Ottomans and Sofas_, whether covered with cloth, damask, or
chintz, will look much the better for being cleaned occasionally with
bran and flannel.
3681. _Furniture_ made in the winter, and brought from a cold
warehouse into a warm apartment, is very liable to crack.
3682. _Rosewood furniture_ should be rubbed gently every day with a
clean soft cloth, to keep it in order.
BEVERAGES.
3683. _Water_, pure, sweet, cool water is, undoubtedly, the most
healthful drink for thirst.
3684. _Bad water_ should be filtered.--(See pages 42, 43.)
3685. _Tea and coffee_ are the best and least hurtful stimulants.
3686. Liebig, with his chemical discoveries, demonstrates that they
have become necessaries of life to all nations; that they were both
originally met with amongst nations whose diet is chiefly vegetable;
and by contributing to the formation of bile, their peculiar
functions have become a substitute for animal food to a large class
of the population whose consumption of meat is very limited, and to
another large class who are unable to take regular exercise.
3687. _In making coffee_, observe that the broader the bottom and the
smaller the top of the vessel, the better it will be.
3688. _Substitute for Cream in Tea or Coffee._--Beat the white of an
egg to a froth, put to it a very small lump of butter, and mix well.
Then turn into it gradually, so that it may not curdle. If perfectly
done, it will be an excellent substitute for cream.--(See page 352.)
3689. _Iceland Moss Chocolate--For the Sick Room._--Iceland moss has
been in the highest repute on the continent as a most efficacious
remedy in incipient pulmonary complaints; combined with chocolate it
will be found a nutritious article of diet, and may be taken as a
morning and evening beverage. _Directions_--Mix a teaspoonful of the
chocolate with a tea-spoonful of boiling water or milk, stirring
constantly until it is completely dissolved.
3690. It is not easy to persuade laboring men that _water_ is
the best beverage. Where the _water is bad_, some corrective or
palliative will be had. Then home-brewed _beer_ is to be commended.
3691. _Beer and Beverages._--(See "Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book," page
397.)
3692. _To restore a Barrel of Stale or Sour Beer._--Put a quarter
of a pound of good hops, and two pounds of sound chalk into the
bung-hole, stop it close, and in a few days it will be fit for use.
3693. Or, a small teaspoonful of carbonate of soda may be mixed with
each quart as it is used.
3694. _To give New Beer the flavor of Old._--Take out the bung, and
put into the cask a handful of pickled cucumbers, or a sliced Seville
orange. Either mode will add an apparent six months to the age of the
beer.
3695. _Common Beer._--Two gallons of water, a large handful of hops,
fresh gathered spruce or sweet fern, and one quart of wheat bran;
boil two or three hours, strain and stir in, while hot, two cups of
molasses. When lukewarm, pour into a clean barrel, and add a pint of
yeast. Shake it well together, and use next day.
3696. _To give Beer a rich Flavor._--Put six sea-biscuits into a bag
of hops, and put them in the cask.
3697. _Table Beer, cheap and wholesome._--Eight bottles of water,
one quart of molasses, one pint of yeast, one tablespoon of cream of
tartar, mixed and bottled in twenty-four hours.
3698. _Table Beer from Sugar._--To four pounds of coarse brown sugar
add ten gallons of water and three ounces of hops. Let the whole
boil three-quarters of an hour, and then work it as usual. It should
stand a week or ten days before being drawn, and will improve daily
afterward for a moderate time.
3699. _Treacle Beer._--Take a pound and a half of hops, and boil in
thirty-six gallons of water for an hour, then add fourteen pounds of
treacle, and a little yeast to work it; ferment, and bottle.
3700. _Summer Drinks._--Ice may be used in all these beverages.
3701. _Tamarind Drink._--Boil three pints of water with an ounce and
a half of tamarinds, three ounces of currants, and two ounces of
stoned raisins, till about a third has evaporated. Strain, add a bit
of lemon-peel, which is to be removed in half an hour, then cool.
3702. _Sangaree._--Mix a bottle of Marsala wine with a bottle and
a half of iced water, sweeten with loaf sugar, and flavor with
lemon-juice and grated nutmeg.
3703. _Curds and Whey_ (cheap method).--Add six grains of citric
acid to a wine-glassful of milk, and the result will be a pleasant
acidulous whey, and a fine curd.
3704. _Currant Water._--Take a pound of currants, and squeeze into
a quart of water; put in four or five ounces of pounded sugar. Mix
well, strain, and ice, or allow to get cold.
3705. _Eau Sucré._--Dissolve sugar in boiling water, and drink cold.
3706. _Lait Sucré._--Boil a pint of milk, sweeten with white sugar,
and flavor with lemon.
3707. _Effervescing Lemonade._--Boil two pounds of white sugar with
a pint of lemon-juice, bottle and cork. Put a tablespoonful of the
syrup into a tumbler about three parts full of cold water, add twenty
grains of carbonate of soda and drink quickly.
3708. _Quince Syrup._--Grate quinces, pass the pulp through a sieve,
then set before the fire for the juice to settle and clarify; strain,
and add a pound of sugar (boiled down) to every four ounces of juice;
remove from the fire, and when cold, bottle for use. A tablespoonful
of this syrup will flavor a pint of water.
3709. _Effervescing Saline Draughts._--White sugar powdered eight
ounces, tartaric acid two ounces, sesquicarbonate of soda two ounces,
essence of lemon a few drops. Mix well and keep in a corked bottle.
3710. _Summer Champagne._--To four parts of selter water add one of
Moselle wine (or hock), and put a teaspoonful of powdered sugar into
a wine-glassful of this mixture; an ebullition takes place, and you
have a sort of champagne which is more wholesome in hot weather than
the genuine wine known by that name.
3711. _An excellent Spring Beverage._--The yolk of eggs beaten up,
lump sugar (_quantum sufficit_), Rhenish wine or not, citric acid,
powdered, or tartaric acid (small quantity, exact quantity soon
found); one or two drops of essence of lemon on a lump of sugar,
to make it mix readily with the water; one quart of water. This is
really an excellent, agreeable, and, without the wine, an inexpensive
beverage. _Good for bilious complaints._
USEFUL RECEIPTS FOR FAMILY PRACTICE.
3712. _Prevention of Baldness._--Eau de Cologne two ounces, tincture
of cantharides two drachms, oil of rosemary, oil of nutmeg, and oil
of lavender, each ten drops. To be rubbed on the bald part of the
head every night.
3713. _Cramp in Bathing._--For the cure of the cramp when swimming,
Dr. Franklin recommends a vigorous and violent shock to the part
affected, by suddenly and forcibly stretching out the leg, which
should be darted out of the water into the air if possible.
3714. _Biting the Nails._--This is a habit that should be immediately
corrected in children, as, if persisted in for any length of time, it
permanently deforms the nails.
3715. Dipping the finger-ends in some bitter tincture will generally
prevent children from putting them to the mouth; but if this fails,
as it sometimes will, each finger-end ought to be encased in a
finger-stall until the propensity is eradicated.
3716. _Flour of Brimstone_ is a mild aperient in doses of about a
quarter of an ounce; it is best taken in milk.
3717. _To Fill a Decayed Tooth._--Procure a small piece of gutta
percha, drop it into boiling water, then, with the thumb and finger,
take off as much as you suppose will fill up the tooth nearly level,
and while in this soft state press it into the tooth; then hold on
that side of the mouth cold water two or three times, which will
harden it.
3718. _Cod-liver oil._--Cod-liver oil is neither more nor less than
cod-oil clarified; and consequently two-thirds of its medicinal
qualities are abstracted thereby.
3719. _Cod oil_ can be purchased pure at any wholesale oil warehouse,
at about one-thirtieth part of the price charged for the so-called
cod-liver oil. Many persons who have used cod-oil pure as imported,
have found it to answer much better than the cod-liver oil purchased
of a druggist.
3720. The best vehicle for taking cod-liver oil in, is new milk; and
the disagreeable flavor of the drug can easily be covered by the
addition of one drachm of orange peel to every eight ounces of the
oil.
3721. _To prevent Lockjaw, from a Nail run into the Foot, or any
other injury._--Pour some turpentine into a tin cup and hold it over
a lighted candle or the fire until it boils. It boils at so low a
temperature that it will not burn when applied to the skin. Make a
swab by wrapping soft muslin or linen round a stick. Dip this in the
turpentine and apply it to the wound, rubbing it in carefully for
some time. Apply it as warm as can be borne.--(See page 375.)
3722. _Squinting._--Squinting frequently arises from the unequal
strength of the eyes, the weaker eye being turned away from the
object, to avoid the fatigue of exertion. Cases of squinting of long
standing have often been cured by covering the stronger eye, and
thereby compelling the weaker one to exertion.
3723. It is often a question amongst people who are unacquainted
with the anatomy and physiology of man, whether lying with his head
exalted, or even with the body, is most wholesome. Most, consulting
their own ease on this point, argue in favor of that which they
prefer.
3724. Now, although many delight in bolstering up their heads at
night and sleep soundly without injury, yet we declare it to be a
dangerous habit. The vessels through which blood passes from the
heart to the head, are always lessened in the cavities when the head
is resting in bed higher than the body, therefore, in all diseases
attended with fever, the head should be pretty near on a level with
the body; and people ought to accustom themselves to sleep thus to
avoid danger.
3725. _Dyeing the Hair._--It may be stated once for all that this
practice is decidedly injurious. It may fail altogether in producing
the desired result; it is never unattended by a certain amount of
unpleasant circumstances, and frequently with evil results.
3726. _In the first place_, the alteration of the abnormal color, so
far as the general aspect of the face is concerned, has an effect the
very reverse of that which was intended. Every constituent part of
man tends to make the human machine one harmonious whole. The figure,
the stature, the skin, the hair, the gait, &c.
3727. _Fair hair_ is associated with a sanguineous and lymphatic
temperament, a fine and white skin, blue eyes, and a soft and mild
expression.
3728. _Black hair_, on the contrary, is generally connected with a
bilious habit of body, a muscular and nervous temperament, a dark
and yellowish skin, lively black eyes, and a bold, proud air.
3729. _Red hair_ is associated with a peculiar constitution, although
closely approaching to the fair type. In this variety the skin is
transparent, fresh, and presents a peculiar limpidity, which belongs
exclusively to the color of hair mentioned.
3730. _The Contrast._--If, then, from the impression that red hair is
a disfigurement, it is dyed black, what relation can exist between
this new color and the soft blue eye, and a skin so fine and so
susceptible, that the sun's rays seem to penetrate it, in the form of
those lentiginous spots commonly called freckles.
3731. Be at much pains to keep your children's feet dry and warm.
Don't bury their bodies in heavy flannels and wools, and leave their
knees and legs naked.
3732. _For Nausea._--Three drops of hartshorn in a wine-glass of
water.
3733. _For Sick Headache._--One teaspoonful of pulverized charcoal
and one-third of a teaspoonful of soda mixed in very warm water.
3734. _Decoction of Sarsaparilla._--Take four ounces of the root,
slice it down, put the slices into four pints of water, and simmer
for four hours. Take out the sarsaparilla, and beat it into a mash;
put it into the liquor again, and boil down to two pints, then strain
and cool the liquor. Dose--a wine-glassful three times a day.
3735. Use--to purify the blood after a course of mercury; or indeed
whenever any taint is given to the constitution, vitiating the blood,
and producing eruptive affections.
3736. _Cough Syrup._--Steep for twelve hours or more a teacupful of
wild-cherry bark in a quart of water. Add sugar enough to make it
quite sweet and let it boil to a syrup.
3737. _Cough Syrup--Very Good._--Take a large handful of the herb
hoarhound, and the same quantity of boneset. Steep them in a quart of
water till it is reduced to a pint. Then strain the tea and mix with
it a pint of syrup and a pint of sugar. Let it simmer for three or
four hours, skimming it.
3738. _Cure for Pain in the Ear._--Take a teaspoonful of brown sugar,
put it on a shovel or any thing that you can place over hot coals of
fire until it gets thick, dissolve it in camphor, and drop it in the
ear.
3739. _Gingerbread Aperients._--Gingerbread, made with oatmeal or
with barley flour, is a very agreeable aperient for children. Beware
of giving children medicines too frequently.
3740. _For Bowel Complaints._--One tablespoonful of flour, one ditto
of brandy, one ditto of loaf sugar, mixed together.
3741. _Jaundice._--One pennyworth of allspice, ditto of flour of
brimstone, ditto of turmeric; these to be well pounded together,
and afterward to be mixed with half-a-pound of molasses. Two
table-spoonsful to be taken every day.
3742. _Night Sweats._--Drink freely of cold sage tea; said to be a
certain remedy; or, take elixir of vitriol in a little sweetened
water. Dose from twenty to thirty drops.
MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS, RULES, ETC.
3743. _To Cure a Soft Corn when between the Toes._--A small piece of
cotton wool applied fresh every morning--gives no inconvenience, is
cleanly and efficacious. Castile Soap placed between the toes is both
cure and preventive of soft corns.
3744. _Excellent Remedy for Lumbago._--Dip a piece of flannel
in scalding water; wring it out, and sprinkle some turpentine
immediately over it, and apply it quickly to the part affected by the
pain. Repeat this process a few times, and it will afford certain
relief.
3745. _Burns and Scalds._--Cold water is the readiest, surest, most
plentiful, and, for these reasons, the best remedy for burns and
scalds. Use it instantly, it will remove pain and smarting; keep a
cloth wet and _cold_ upon the affected part for five or six hours
after the injury has occurred; a blister will never rise, and the
skin will be quite free from pain afterward.--(See 109, 110.)
3746. _Scratches._--Trifling as scratches often seem, they ought
never to be neglected, but should be covered and protected, and kept
clean and dry, until they have completely healed.
3747. If there is the least appearance of inflammation, no time
should be lost in applying a large bread and water poultice, or hot
flannels repeatedly applied.
3748. _Ringworm._--The head to be washed twice a day with soft soap
and warm soft water; when dried, the places to be rubbed with a piece
of linen rag dipped in ammonia from gas tar; the patient should
take a little sulphur and molasses, or some other general aperient,
every morning; brushes and combs should be washed every day, and the
ammonia kept tightly corked.--(See page 99.)
3749. _Another Cure for Ringworms._--Common sulphur mixed with butter
and pepper till it is a salve: apply twice a day.
3750. _Invaluable Ointment._--Obtain a pint of real cream, let it
simmer over the fire, or on the side, till it resembles butter, and
forms a thick oily substance, which maybe used as ointment for fresh
or old wounds, cracked lips or hands.
3751. _To avoid catching Cold._--Accustom yourself to the use of
sponging with cold water every morning on first getting out of
bed. It should be followed with a good deal of rubbing with a wet
towel. It has considerable effect in giving tone to the skin, and
maintaining a proper action in it, and thus proves a safeguard to the
injurious influence of cold and sudden changes of temperature.
3752. _Friction_ of the body is one of the most gentle and salutary
kinds of exercise, cleaning the skin, dispersing stagnating humors,
promoting perspiration, strengthening the fibres, and increasing the
warmth and energy of the whole body.
3753. _Depilatory._--Take of sulphate of sodium, or hydro-sulphate
of soda, crystallized, three parts; quick-lime in powder, ten ditto;
starch, ten; mix. This powder, mixed with a little water, and applied
over the skin, acts so rapidly as a depilatory, that if it be removed
in a minute or two after its application by means of a wooden knife,
the surface of the skin will be entirely deprived of hair.
3754. By this process, the removal of hair becomes so simple, rapid,
and safe in operation, that it will possibly supercede the use of
the razor in many cases; it is only after several days that the hair
begins again to appear.
3755. _Brandy and Salt as a Medicine._--It is useful in the reduction
of inflammation of fractured limbs or bruises, the alleviation of
incurable sores, cure of ringworms, headache, toothache, inflammation
in the eyes, ague, colic, pains in the side, chilblains, burns and
scalds, cancers, sprains, open sores, asthmas, and complaints of the
lungs.
3756. Fill a bottle three-quarters full with good brandy, after
which add as much salt as will fill the bottle for corking; shake it
together twenty minutes; let the salt settle to the bottom, and do
not shake it up before using. The clearer it is used the better.
3757. A bottle of this preparation should be constantly kept ready
for use, as its virtues have been fully tested. When taken inwardly,
for asthma, bowel complaints, &c., mix two spoonfuls with equal
quantity of warm water.
3758. _Cancer._--Five out of six cases have been cured by brandy and
salt, described above. The pain is very severe, but temporary.
3759. _Poison_, from vines, may be cured by bathing in whiskey
and cream, and cooling with rye flour; if obstinate, use a strong
solution of copperas.
3760. _Simple Remedy for a Pain in the Side._--At bed-time take a
fresh cabbage-leaf, hold it near the fire till quite warm, and then
apply it to the part affected, binding it tight with a cloth round
the body; let it remain for twelve hours or more, when it will
generally be found to have removed the pain.
3761. If not entirely removed, it will be well to repeat the
application of a fresh leaf, allowing it to remain on the same time
as the first.
3762. _Boils._--See page 109.
3763. _Carbuncles._--These should be brought to a head by warm
poultices, by fermentation with hot water, or by stimulating
plasters. When ripe, they should be discharged by a needle, or the
lancet. But this should not be attempted until they are fully proved.
3764. _Constitutional Treatment._--Stimulating food and drinks, such
as ale, porter, champagne and other wines. Strong beef tea should be
taken freely--it is very nourishing.
3765. _Carbuncles reduce the strength greatly._--To recover this,
Peruvian bark and sea-bathing are recommended.
3766. _An inflamed bunion_ should be poulticed, and larger shoes be
worn. Iodine, twelve grains; lard or spermaceti ointment, half an
ounce, makes a capital ointment for bunions. It should be rubbed on
gently twice or thrice a-day.--See page 97.
3767. _Frost-Bitten Feet._--Dissolve half pound alum in one gallon
warm water, and soak fifteen minutes.
3768. _Valuable Aperient Pills._--Four drachms Castile soap, four
drachms soccotrine aloes; make into the pills with a sufficient
quantity of syrup. Two or three may be taken when costive.
3769. _Good Eye-Water._--Ten teaspoonsful of water, one ditto of
brandy, and one ditto of vinegar.
3770. _Lip Salve._--Spermaceti ointment, half an ounce; balsam of
Peru, one quarter of a drachm. Mix. It is not _couleur de rose_, but
it will _cure_--often with but a single application. Apply a _thin_
coating with the forefinger, just before getting into bed.
3771. _An Excellent Tooth Powder._--Cuttle-fish, prepared chalk, and
orris-root, commingled together in equal quantities, which any one
may procure separately from any respectable chemist, and mix himself.
3772. _To remove Tartar from the Teeth._--Strawberries, ripe, or
dried and powdered, are excellent to clean the teeth.
3773. _To drive away Rats._--Potash strewn around rat holes, will
drive the vermin away.
3774. _To kill Flies._--Cobalt in powder, moistened with hot water,
and covered with a little sugar.
3775. _Gum Water._--It is a fact not generally known that gum should
be dissolved in vinegar instead of water, especially when it is
wanted for immediate use.
3776. _To remove Water-stains from Black Crape._--When a drop of
water falls on a black crape vail or collar, it leaves a conspicuous
white mark. To obliterate this, spread the crape on a table (laying
on it a large book or a paper weight to keep it steady), and place
underneath the stain a piece of old black silk. With a large camel's
hair brush dipped in common ink, go over the stain; and then wipe off
the ink with a little bit of old soft silk. It will dry immediately,
and the white mark will be seen no more.
3777. _Copper in liquids_ maybe detected by spirits of hartshorn,
which turns them blue.
3778. _Arsenic_ may be detected by a solution of blue vitriol dropped
into the suspected liquid, which will turn green, if arsenic be
present.
3779. _To remove Ink Stains from Silver._--The tops and other
portions of silver inkstands frequently become discolored with ink,
which is difficult to remove by ordinary means. It may, however, be
completely eradicated by making a little chlorid of lime into a paste
with water, and rubbing it upon the stains.
3780. _To remove Ink Stains from Wood, &c._--As much oxalic acid as
will lay on a sixpence, dissolved in a tablespoonful of hot water;
lay some on the wood, and rub hard with a cork until the stain
disappears; then wash and repolish. The above will remove the stain,
without injury to the color of the wood, mahogany or any other kind.
It also cleans the brass-work.
3781. _To Clean Plate._--Take of cream of tartar, alum, and common
salt, each an ounce, and boil in a gallon of water, throw the plate
in and boil; when taken out and rubbed dry it will look beautiful.
Plate, when laid aside, will generally tarnish, but if cleaned by
this method, at stated periods, it will always look well.
3782. _Washing Paint._--The best method to wash paint is to rub some
Bath-brick fine, and when you have rubbed some soap on the flannel,
dip it in the brick. This will remove the grease and dirt speedily,
without injury.
3783. _Glue Paste._--Instead of pure water for mixing the flour, use
glue-water, to which add some alum and resin to keep it from turning.
It must be made very thick.
3784. _Whenever oil is used_ for the purpose of artificial light,
it should be kept free from all exposure to atmospheric air; as it
is apt to absorb considerable quantities of oxygen. If oil is very
coarse or tenacious, a very small quantity of oil of turpentine may
be added.
3785. _Bugs._--Spirits of naphtha rubbed with a small painter's brush
into every part of a bedstead is a certain way of getting rid of
bugs.--(See p. 87.)
3786. _Calcareous Deposits in Boilers._--In a common tea-kettle,
potatoes boiled a few times, will remove the calcareous deposits,
and a few oyster-shells, kept constantly in the kettle, will prevent
future accumulations.
3787. _To remove the Stoppers of Glass Bottles._--Dip a piece of
linen or cloth in hot water, and wrap it tightly round the neck of
the bottle. In a few minutes the stopper will probably be loosened;
if not, repeat the application. I have never found this method to
fail.
3788. _How to get a Tight Ring off a Finger._--Thread a needle, flat
in the eye, with a strong thread, pass the head of the needle with
care under the ring, and pull the thread through a few inches toward
the hand; wrap the long end of the thread tightly round the finger,
regularly all down to the nail, to reduce its size. Then lay hold of
the short end, and unwind it.
3789. The thread repassing against the ring, will gradually remove it
from the finger. This never-failing method will remove the tightest
ring without difficulty, however much swollen the finger may be.
3790. _Cleaning Knives._--Mutton fat made hot, and put on a
leather or buff-board, with emery-dust--not powder, as that is too
sharp--well rubbed in with an old brush, is the best way of giving a
knife as good a polish and edge as any razor.
3791. _To restore the Color to Mahogany._--Wash well with soap and
water, and then polish daily with the following oil: Take half an
ounce of alkanet root, cut small, and add to a pint of linseed
oil; when this has stood for a week, add half an ounce of powdered
gum-arabic, and an ounce of shellac varnish; let them stand in a
bottle by the fire for a week, then strain. Rub well in.
3792. _Rice Flour Cement._--An excellent cement may be made from
rice flour, which is at present used for that purpose in China and
Japan. It is only necessary to mix the rice flour intimately with
cold water, and gently simmer it over a fire, when it readily forms
a delicate and durable cement, not only answering all the purposes
of common paste, but admirably adapted for joining together paper,
cards, &c., in forming the various beautiful and tasteful ornaments
which affords much employment and amusement to the ladies.
3793. When made of the consistence of plaster-clay, models, busts,
bas-relievos, &c. may be formed of it, and the articles, when dry,
are susceptible of high polish, and very durable.--(See p. 70.)
3794. _Oil of Lavender._--A few drops in a library will keep the
books from moulding. A single drop of the same will prevent a pint of
ink from mouldiness for any length of time. Paste may be kept from
mould entirely by this addition; and leather is also effectually
secured from injury by the same agency.
3795. _Ink._--To make five gallons of good ink, costing but
twelve-and-a-half cents, take half a pound of extract of logwood, and
dissolve it in five gallons of hot water, and add half an ounce of
bichromate potash. Strain and bottle it.
3796. _Blue Tracing Ink._--Indigo tied in a flannel bag, moistened
with water. Put a lump of white sugar into an egg-cup, and squeeze
out the blue on it; the sugar stiffens it, so as to prevent its
running, and the color depends on the quantity of water used. Use a
quill pen.
3797. _Marking Linen, preparation._--The preparation used for wetting
linen, previous to marking it with ink, is a drachm of salt of tartar
in one and a half ounces of water.
3798. _Economy in Candles._--If you would burn a candle all night,
unless you use the following precaution, it is ten to one an
ordinary candle will gutter away in an hour or two, sometimes to the
endangering the safety of a house. This may be avoided by placing
as much common salt, finely powdered, as will reach from the tallow
to the bottom of the black part of the wick of a partly-burnt
candle, when, if the same be lit, it will burn very slowly, yielding
sufficient light for a bed-chamber; the salt will gradually sink as
the tallow is consumed, the melted tallow being drawn through the
salt, and consumed in the wick.
3799. _Deafness._--Take three drops of a sheep's gall, warm, and drop
it into the ear on going to bed. The ear must be thoroughly syringed
with warm soap and water in the morning.
3800. _Times of Application._--The gall must be applied for three
successive nights. It is only efficacious when the deafness is
produced by cold. The most convenient way of warming the gall is by
holding it in a silver spoon over the flame of a candle.--(See p. 95.)
3801. _For Heartburn, &c._--Orange juice (of one orange), water
and lump sugar to flavor, and in proportion to acidity of orange,
bicarbonate of soda, about half a teaspoonful. Mix orange juice,
water and sugar together in a tumbler, then put in the soda, stir,
and the effervescence ensues.
3802. _Remedy for Rheumatism, Lumbago, Sprains, Chilblains, (before
they are broken) Bruises, and Bites of Insects._--One raw egg well
beaten, half a pint of vinegar, one ounce of spirits of turpentine,
a quarter of an ounce of spirits of wine, a quarter of an ounce of
camphor. These ingredients to be beaten well together, then put in
a bottle and shaken for ten minutes, after which, to be corked down
tightly to exclude the air. In half an hour it is fit for use.
3803. _How to use it._--To be well rubbed in, two, three, or four
times a day.--For rheumatism in the head, to be rubbed at the back of
the neck and behind the ears.--(See page 101.)
3804. _Asthma._--The following is recommended as a relief.--Two
ounces of the best honey, and one ounce of castor oil mixed. A
teaspoonful to be taken night and morning.--(See page 103.)
3805. _For Scurf in the Heads of Infants._--Lard, two ounces;
sulphuric acid, diluted, two drachms; rub them together, and anoint
the head once a day.
3806. _For Moth on the Skin._--These unpleasant discolorations may be
entirely removed by a wash made of borax and vinegar.
3807. _Sunburn._--A little scraped horseradish mixed in warm milk and
rubbed on the face and hands will whiten the skin.
3808. _Cold Cream._--A piece of sperm candle two inches long, a
small cake of white wax, three table-spoonsful of fresh sweet oil;
just melt it on the fire, stirring it, and take it off stirring it
till it is cold. Before it is quite cold stir in any perfume you
prefer.--(See page 136.)
3809. _A New Method for the Hair._--Carefully avoid all lotions and
pomades.
3810. Keep the hair and scalp clean by the use of the brush and comb.
3811. Twice a day, at least, comb it out in such a manner that the
air may pass through it freely; then, with the fingers, moisten the
roots with soft water, at the same time gently rubbing the scalp.
3812. This will not only fasten and renovate the old hair, but
actually bring out a fine new suit; the length of time for this
purpose varying with the health and constitution of the patient.
3813. Should the hair become too dry, lessen the quantity of water
employed, and use a very little cocoanut or perfumed castor oil.
This receipt is also invaluable as a remedy for headache or neuralgia.
3814. _Headache--A Sure Remedy._--Wet paper, white or brown, bound
tightly on the forehead with a bandage or kerchief, the part pressing
over the forehead to be also made wet with cold water, though not
dripping. This process, if followed nightly, will entirely prevent
headaches, and also keep the forehead free from wrinkles. Try it.
3815. _To Promote the Growth of Whiskers, Mustaches, &c._--The best
method to force the growth of whiskers and mustaches, is to shave the
parts frequently. Use as a stimulant the ashes of burned tobacco, and
bay-water.
3816. _Cosmetics generally._--(See page 152 and on.)
3817. _The Complexion_ can only be preserved in freshness, softness
and beauty, by cleanliness, regular exercise, temperance, a plain
diet and pure air, and a cheerful temper.
3818. _Offensive Breath._--Use the concentrated solution of chlorid
of soda. From two to five drops of it in a wine-glass full of pure
spring water, taken immediately after the operations of the morning
are completed.
3819. In some cases the odor arising from carious teeth is combined
with that of the stomach. If the mouth be well rinsed with a
teaspoonful of the solution of the chlorid in a tumbler of water, the
bad odor of the teeth will be removed.
3820. _Breath tainted by Onions._--Leaves of parsley, eaten with
vinegar, will prevent the disagreeable consequences of eating onions.
3821. _Toothache._--Put a small piece of the inside of a nut-gall
into the hollow tooth, and replace by another bit every half-hour, as
long as white matter comes away with the piece taken out.
3822. _Black eyes_ may be cured by a lotion made of equal parts of
gin, vinegar, and cold water mixed. Bathe the eye for ten or fifteen
minutes, and repeat in an hour if the pain continues.
3823. _Bilious Disorders._--If a person is bilious, it is generally
owing to errors in regimen. Let these be reformed, and the complaints
will cease. But if a person would be always bilious, let him be often
taking calomel, or blue pill, or active purges. Lee's antibilious,
&c., and he will certainly succeed: the soundest liver will not be
proof against such remedies for bile.
3824. _Remedy for Bile._--The yolks of eggs taken fasting. If
required, beat up the egg with a little sugar and lemon-juice.
3825. _Household Hints, etc._--(See page 210.)
3826. _Hard Water._--When water is hard, and will not readily unite
with soap, it will always be proper to boil it before use.--(See
pages 42, 43; also "General Washing," pages 46, 47.)
3827. _Materials for Washing._--The meal of many kinds of seed
may be used for washing, as well as various kinds of bran. That
of almonds, which, on account of its oil, is remarkably soft, is
employed at present for washing the hands, by those who are desirous
of having a white delicate skin. Cloth, the colors of which easily
fade, and which will neither endure soap nor hard rubbing, may
be washed extremely well with bran. Our fullers, therefore, and
stocking-manufacturers, use oats, barley, and bran meal, especially
when they wish the cloth to be slowly milled.
3828. _To Wash White Lace._--Cover a glass bottle with calico or
linen, and then tack the lace or collar smoothly upon it, rub it with
soap, and cover it with calico. Boil it for twenty minutes in soft
water; let all dry together, and the lace will be found to be ready
for use.
3829. A long piece of lace must be wound round and round the bottle,
the edge of each round a little above the last, and a few stitches to
keep it firm at the beginning and end will be found sufficient, but a
collar will require more tacking to keep it in its place.--(See page
53.)
3830. _Bleaching Liquid._--Take one pound of chlorid of lime, empty
it into a stone jar, and pour on it one gallon of water; stir it well
with a stick for fifteen minutes; then let it settle, and pour off
the clear liquor into clean bottles, and cork them up. A tumblerful
of this preparation, added to a tubful of water, in which the clothes
are rinsed, will add very much to their whiteness.
3831. _Washing Windows._--The nicest article for washing windows is
deer skin, as no particles come off to adhere to the glass and make
it look as if washed with feathers.
3832. Wash-leather and a bowl of suds are all that are necessary.
Wipe the glass first with the wet cloth or leather, and after it has
become dry, with the clean cloth; and it will look clear, and far
more so than if rinsed in a dozen pails of water.
3833. _Cleaning Kid Gloves._--Lay the gloves flat on a towel, and
wash them with a piece of clean flannel and the best _yellow_ soap,
being careful to squeeze the flannel as dry as it is possible to use
it. When the dirt is removed, with another piece of flannel wash them
lightly with plain milk.--(See page 53.)
3834. _Stains_ may be removed from the hands by washing them in a
small quantity of oil of vitriol and cold water without soap.
3835. _Cleaning Velvets._--A very simple method of cleaning velvets
is to procure a small square of pipe-clay (such as the soldiers
use to clean their uniforms with) and scrape a little off upon
the velvet; then take a brush, made of the same material as the
carpet-whisk, and lightly brush it off. This raises the pile, and
restores the bloom.
3836. _Silk articles_ should not be kept folded in white papers, as
the chlorid of lime used in bleaching the paper will impair the color
of the silk.
3837. _Papier-Mache_ articles should be washed with a sponge and cold
water without soap, dredged with flour while damp, and polished with
a flannel.
3838. _Worsted and Lambs'-Wool Stockings_ should never be mended with
worsted or lambs'-wool, because the latter being new it shrinks more
than the stockings, and draws them up till the toes become short and
narrow, and the heels have no shape left.
3839. _In choosing Paper for a room_, avoid that which has a variety
of colors, or a large, showy figure, as no furniture can appear to
advantage with such. Large figured papering makes a small room look
smaller.
3840. _Bright green colors_ are dangerous when first put on, because
poisons are used in the coloring matter.
3841. _Gilt frames_ may be protected from flies and dust by oiled
tarlatan pinned over them. Tarlatan already prepared, may be
purchased at the upholsterers'. If it cannot be procured, it is
easily made by brushing boiled oil over cheap tarlatan. It is an
excellent material for keeping dust from books, vases, woodwork, and
every description of household ornament.--(See page 18.)
3842. _To Pack Glass or China._--Procure some soft straw or hay to
pack them in, and if they are to be sent a long way, and are heavy,
the hay or straw should be a little damp, which will prevent them
slipping about. Let the largest and heaviest things be always put
undermost, in the box or hamper.
3843. Let there be plenty of straw, and pack the articles tight; but
never attempt to pack up glass or china which is of much consequence,
till it has been seen done by some one used to the job. The expense
will be but trifling to have a person to do it who understands it,
and the loss may be great if articles of such value are packed up in
an improper manner.
3844. _To Polish Enameled Leather._--Two pints of the best cream, one
pint of linseed oil; make them each lukewarm, and then mix them well
together.
DIETETIC MAXIMS.
3845. A healthy appetite is to be acquired by early rising, regular
exercise in the open air, a cheerful mind, and abstinence from
intoxicating liquors.
3846. The food should be eaten slowly, so that it be well masticated
and mixed with the saliva.
3847. Animal food is sooner digested in the stomach than vegetable;
but it is more stimulating or heating to the system. Flesh that has
been long salted, dried hams, beef, &c., are less easily digested and
less nutritive than fresh meat.
3848. Farinaceous and vegetable food, generally, is slower of
digestion than animal, but it is less heating; many kinds of
vegetable food are very nutritive.
3849. Solid food, or food of a certain fibrous or pulpy consistence,
is more fitted for digestion in the stomach than rich soups, jellies,
and all highly concentrated sauces. The latter are rendered more
digestible by the addition of bread.
3850. Fish are not so nourishing as the flesh of land animals, and
with many stomachs entirely disagree. The white fish, when in season,
are generally lighter, and less apt to disagree with the stomach than
the red.
3851. In summer the food should consist principally of vegetables; in
winter, a larger amount of animal matter may be taken, especially by
the laborer.
3852. Boiling renders food more tender and digestible, but it
deprives it of a considerable portion of its nutritive principle.
3853. Animal food should not be over boiled; vegetables should be
boiled until perfectly tender.
3854. Roasting dissipates less of the nutritive parts of the meat.
Roasted meat is, therefore, more nourishing than boiled, but much
more stimulating.
3855. Bread constitutes a wholesome addition to all our meals. It
should be perfectly raised, fully baked, and one day old.
3856. All excess in eating should be avoided, but the quantity
of food proper to be taken at one time depends entirely on the
constitution, age, habits, degree of health, season of the year,
climate, &c. The best guide is to be found in the calls of a healthy
appetite.
3857. Health, and strength of body, depend upon the health of the
stomach, and consequent perfection of the digestive powers, much more
than upon the quantity or even quality of the food taken.
3858. Water is the most wholesome drink. Toast and water, sweetened
water, or water with a slight addition of a vegetable acid, are
useful diluents during the summer.
3859. Distilled and fermented liquors impede digestion; and, when
drank to any great extent, invariably destroy the tone of the
stomach, and of the system generally.
3860. The stomach ought not to be over distended with fluids during,
immediately preceding, nor after a meal.
3861. When the stomach is very weak, very little fluid should be
taken during or after eating. Dry solid food requires more dilution
than that which is juicy or fluid.
3862. Exercise should be used in the intervals between meals, but not
immediately before or after them.
HINTS TO MECHANICS AND WORKMEN.
3863. If you would avoid the diseases which your particular trades
and work are liable to produce, attend to the following hints:
3864. Keep, if possible, regular hours. Never suppose that you have
done extra work, when you sit up till midnight, and do not rise till
eight or nine in the morning.
3865. Abstain from ardent spirits, cordials, and malt liquors. Let
your drink be, like that of Franklin, when he was a printer--pure
water.
3866. Never use tobacco in any form. By chewing, smoking, or
snuffing, you spend money which would help to clothe you, or would
enable you, if single, to make a useful present to an aged mother or
dependent sister; or, if married, to buy your wife a frock, or get
books for your children. You also, by any of these filthy practices,
injure your health--bringing on headache, gnawing at the stomach, low
spirits, trembling of the limbs, and, at times, sleeplessness.
3867. Be particular in preserving your skin clean, by regular washing
of your hands, and face, and mouth, before each meal, and of your
whole body at least once a week, and by combing and brushing the hair
daily.
3868. Always have fresh air in the room in which you work, but so
that you shall not be in a draft.
3869. Take a short time in the morning, if possible, and always in
the evening, or toward sundown, for placing your body in a natural
posture, by standing erect, and exercising your chest and limbs by a
walk where the air is the purest.
3870. _The Fireside._--Admit no rival here. Let your chief joys be
shared by her who has forsaken all other hearts and hopes for you; by
those who must inherit honor or disgrace from your course of life.
Shun the bar-room and the purlieus of intoxication. They are, to
thousands, the avenues to infamy.
3871. _The rivals_ of our Home are many and fearful. Among the direst
is the drinking-place, whether known as porter-house, grog-shop, or
tavern. The man who spends his evenings in these Stygian fumes, soon
grovels and wallows away half his civilization.
3872. _The tavern-haunter_ drinks till he feels himself half-ruined;
he is wretched; he drinks to drown his wretchedness; he does drown
it, and his soul along with it!
3873. _Home!_--It marks the sacred spot to which the cares and tumult
of the world do not reach; and where, except in cases of extreme
depravity, its vices do not intrude.
MAXIMS AND MORALS FOR ALL MEN.
3874. The world estimates men by their success in life; and, by
general consent, success is evidence of superiority.
3875. Never, under any circumstances, assume a responsibility you can
avoid consistently with your duty to yourselves and others.
3876. Base all your actions upon a principle of right; preserve your
integrity of character in doing this; never reckon the cost.
3877. Remember that self-interest is more likely to warp your
judgment than all other circumstances combined; therefore look well
to your duty when your duty is concerned.
3878. Never make money at the expense of your reputation.
3879. Be neither lavish nor niggardly; of the two avoid the
latter. A mean man is universally despised; but public favor is a
stepping-stone to preferment--therefore generous feelings should be
cultivated.
3880. Let your expenses be such as to leave a balance in your pocket.
Ready money is a friend in need.
3881. Keep clear of the law; for when you gain your case, you are
generally a loser of money.
3882. Never relate your misfortunes, and never grieve over what you
cannot prevent.
3883. No man who owes as much as he can pay, has any moral right to
endorse for another.
3884. No moneyed man has the moral right to enter on engagements or
speculations, hazarding his estate, without the consent of his wife.
3885. Knowing that the end of life is death, every right-minded man
ought to pursue that which is connected with happiness and ultimate
bliss.
3886. _Family Tool Chests, Papers, etc._--Much inconvenience and
considerable expense might be saved, if it was the general custom to
keep in every house certain tools for the purpose of performing at
home what are called small jobs, instead of being always obliged to
send for a mechanic, and pay him for executing little things that, in
most cases, could be sufficiently well done by a man or boy belonging
to the family, provided that the proper instruments were at hand.
3887. The cost of these articles is very trifling, and the advantages
of having them always in the house are far beyond the expense.
3888. For instance there should be an axe, a hatchet, a saw (a
large wood saw, also, with a buck or stand, if wood is burned),
a claw-hammer, a mallet, two gimlets of different sizes, two
screw-drivers, a chisel, a small plane, one or two jack-knives, a
pair of large scissors or shears, and a carpet-fork or stretcher.
3389. Also an assortment of nails of various sizes from large spikes
down to small tacks, not forgetting brass-headed nails, some larger
and some smaller.
3890. Screws and likewise, will be found to be very convenient, and
hooks on which to hang things.
3891. The nails and screws should be kept in a wooden box, made with
division to separate the various sorts, for it is very troublesome to
have them mixed.
3892. And let care be taken to keep up the supply, lest it should ran
out unexpectedly, and the deficiency cause delay and inconvenience at
a time when their use is wanted.
3893. It is well to have somewhere, in the lower part of the house,
a deep, light closet, appropriated entirely to tools and things
of equal utility, for executing promptly such little repairs as
convenience may require, without the delay or expense of procuring an
artisan. This closet should have at least one large shelf, and that
about three feet from the floor.
3894. Beneath this shelf may be a deep drawer, divided into two
compartments. This drawer may contain cakes of glue, pieces of chalk,
and balls of twine of different size and quality.
3895. There may be shelves at the sides of the closet for glue-pots,
paste-pots, and brushes, pots for black, white, green, and red
paints, cans of painting oil, paint-brushes, &c.
3896. Against the wall, above the large shelf, let the tools be
suspended, or laid across nails or hooks of proper size to support
them.
3897. This is much better than keeping them in a box, where they may
be injured by rubbing against each other, and the hand may be hurt in
feeling among them to find the thing that is wanted.
3898. But when hung up against the back wall of the closet, of course
each tool can be seen at a glance.
3899. Wrapping paper may be piled on the floor under the large shelf.
It can be bought very low by the ream, at the large paper warehouses;
and every house should keep a supply of it in several varieties.
3900. For instance, coarse brown paper for common purposes, that
denominated ironmonger's paper, which is strong, thick, and in large
sheets, is useful for packing heavy articles; and equally so for
keeping silks, ribbons, blondes, &c., as it preserves their colors.
3901. Printed papers are unfit for wrapping any thing, as the
printing ink rubs off on the articles enclosed in them and also soils
the gloves of the person who carries the parcel.
3902. When shopping, if the person at the counter proceeds to wrap up
your purchase in a newspaper (a thing rarely attempted in a genteel
shop), refuse to take it in such a cover.
3903. It is the business of every respectable shopkeeper to provide
proper paper for this purpose; and printed paper is not proper.
3904. Waste newspapers had best be used for lighting fires and
singing poultry.
3905. Waste paper that has been written on, cut into slips, and
creased and folded, makes very good alumettes or lamp-lighters. These
matters may appear of trifling importance, but order and regularity
are necessary to happiness.
3906. _A Miniature Tool Box_ for little boys is one of the best
playthings which can be given them. These can be found at the
toy-shops.
HOME INDUSTRY FOR YOUNG LADIES.
3907. _Dress-making._--When you are about to commence a dress, have
the following things in a basket or box at your hand, viz: sewing
silk the color of the dress, one or two reels of cotton, fine and
coarse, a pair of scissors, not small, a penny inch measure--you can
procure one at a trimming shop.
3908. Do not cut without a measure, and always measure all that you
have bought or have given you for a dress, before you begin to cut.
3909. The number of yards required depend on the width of the
material. Ten yards of any material, eighteen inches wide, will make
a dress for a moderate-sized person, with full body, but no trimming
on the skirt.
3910. Cut your plain skirt off the piece first, body and sleeves
after; leave your trimmings to the last; large turnings are bad and
waste the stuff; measure carefully and cut exact.
3911. Six yards of French merino, or any other material of that
width, will be found sufficient.
3912. In cutting off the skirt, if the length, we will suppose,
should be forty-two or forty-six inches long, leave four inches more
for the hem and turnings at the top.
3913. Cut the lining for the skirt exact to the material, and mind it
fits when finished.
3914. Supposing you to have run the seams of the skirt and the seams
of your lining, lay the lining on the table, placing the skirt on
top, and then tack the seams of your skirt to the lining.
3915. Begin at the first seam, and gradually go on to the last seam;
stitch up three pieces together, and fell over the fourth; having
done this, hem the bottom. Unless your hem is tacked or pinned, it
will be sure to be on the twist and set badly.
3916. Having done this, run on your braid, which must be put on easy
or rather full. Attend to this, or you will spoil the set of the
skirt. If the skirt is to have flounces, they must be put on before
you gauge the top; and while the skirt is on the table, put a white
tacking thread round the skirt where each flounce is to be fixed.
3917. _Waist or Body._--All thin figures ought to wear full bodies;
with stout persons it is a matter of taste. Plain bodies require more
care in making than full ones. Every small imperfection is seen in
plain bodies.
3918. Care and judgment are necessary in fitting the back of the
dress over the shoulders; or you will look round-shouldered.
3919. The fault is, usually, in cutting the back of the dress too
long; in fitting, pull the fore-body over the shoulder, and shorten
the back at the top, till it fits neatly.
3920. If you have no paper pattern that fits, unpick half an old body
that suits you; lay your new lining on your cutting board (the top of
a candle-box, or any smooth board of sufficient width, will answer
to hold in your lap, and is more convenient than standing over a bed
or table), put the old body on top of it, and, with the sharp point
of a pair of scissors, prick through both, in the old seams of the
pattern.
3921. Prick them _well_, as the marks are apt to rub out. Tack all
the body well in the holes round it, before you begin, and be very
careful to stitch your body to the tacking thread.
3922. Plain bodies require more care in making than full ones; any
small imperfection is seen in plain bodies.
3923. Five out of six persons have their dresses made too tight
across the chest; it is a sad fault. Any lady once wearing an easy
dress, would never go back to a tight one; to say nothing of its
being healthy and beautiful.
3924. Do not select a very stout body lining; it is a common mistake.
A stout lining prevents the dress giving or setting to the figure,
and is no stronger than one of moderate quality. French dressmakers
exclaim at the bad shapes so commonly seen in this country, and
charge them to this cause in a great measure. For a white dress,
lawn, cambric, chintz, or silk--bleached muslin, at twelve and a half
cents a yard, is good enough. For dark merinos, or cashmeres, some
prefer dark twilled stuffs.
3925. A yard of lining is the proper quantity for a close dress, a
yard and a half for a basque or jacket. Sleeve linings should always
be of a thin material.
3926. Great care must be taken with the armholes; do not make them
too large or too small; thirteen inches is a nice size for a person
not more than twenty-four inches in the waist; fourteen inches is a
large size, only required for stout persons.
3927. If you have to alter the armhole, never do it under the arm; in
nine cases out of ten it will spoil the dress, and it takes away the
free use of the arm; a very small piece cut off round the armhole,
excepting underneath, will be all that is necessary.
3928. Do not forget your sleeves must be larger than the armhole an
inch and a half; when put in, it never looks the least full, and sets
better. The seam of your sleeve must not be even with the seam of
your body, but half an inch in front of it.
3929. In cording the neck, do not stretch it; hold the cord tight.
The waist must, on the contrary, be pulled well when the cord is put
on, or it will never fit; it requires much stretching. The fit of the
body often depends on the finishing.
3930. All full bodies are made with quite a straight piece of
material, twenty inches long, and eighteen wide; this is half the
front; gather it straight at the bottom, and then place it on your
tight lining; fix it firmly, and then gather it at the shoulder; but
mind and do the bottom gauging first.
3931. To make a body with folds, still have your material twenty
inches long, and nineteen wide; the selvage must reach from waist to
shoulder.
3932. In putting folds on a body, let it be on the straight, or a
good cross; don't let it be neither one nor the other, which is
too frequently the case, and always will, as a matter of course,
set badly. It makes the folds set better to cover over half the
body lining with a plain piece of the dress, as you would wear a
stomacher, and then place your folds to meet it, so that a folded
body will be in two pieces, the plain part put on first, and the
folds after.
3933. A French dressmaker uses _little or no bone_--that is, the
splints are so thin as to bend and give to the outline, and to every
motion of the figure. The fit should not be made to depend on a stiff
fencing of whalebone, the thickness of an old-fashioned busk. If it
does not fit nicely without any bone, it never will fit with. This is
true of low-bodied evening dresses in particular, the only dresses
which at present have long points to the bodice.
3934. The _basque_, properly speaking, is the short skirt or flap, of
the body. They require a paper pattern, which can be furnished to
any distance by those establishments who make patterns a business.
There are several such in New York and Philadelphia.
3935. It is a good plan to fit the jacket lining to the figure first,
before you cut into the material. They should always be left loose to
the figure; the whole effect being destroyed if any seams are drawn
tight.
3936. _Flounces._--It will take the same quantity of material if cut
either on the straight or the cross. It is a common error to suppose
they take more on the cross.
3937. For the fullness of a flounce allow one width on the cross to
one width on the straight of your skirt; so that if you have six
widths in your skirts, you will have six widths in your flounces on
the cross.
3938. If there are three flounces of different widths, let the bottom
and widest one have the most fullness; three inches more fullness
will be sufficient. If the flounces are on the straight, allow eight
widths in the flounce to six widths in the skirt.
3939. A small cord run in at the top of the flounce makes it look
neat. Before running the cord in your flounce, join it round the
exact size of the skirt; join round likewise your flounces, and full
them on the cord as you go on.
3940. Halve and quarter your flounces and also the skirt, and you
will find them no trouble to put on.
3941. _Sleeves._--In making sleeves, with one good pattern, strange
as it may seem, you can very easily make six different fashions by
cutting your sleeve a little longer or a little shorter, and putting
on different trimmings, by making some in a band at the wrist, or
leaving them loose, by trimming the loose sleeves on the back or fore
part of the arm.
3942. The same shape is, by a dressmaker, altered in the manner I
describe, and with a little observation, I think, can be done.
3943. Try and procure a good pattern at first. With taste, one
pattern can be made to look like six.
3944. A trimming on the top of the sleeve is a great improvement
to thin persons. It should match the bottom part of the sleeve and
body-trimming.
3945. Two out of every three American women have one shoulder larger
than the other, from stooping in the school-room, or the early care
of children.
3946. A light layer of cotton on the lining of the opposite shoulder,
and covered with the same material, will often conceal, or at least
soften this unpleasant defect.
3947. Trimmings down the front of a dress when on the cross, should
be cut the same as flounces. In trimming the front of a skirt, it is
a good plan to cut a paper the length of the skirt, and pin it on the
way you intend to trim, and then tack a tacking thread by it.
3948. Put tackings wherever you mean to trim, before you begin
trimming, and lay your skirt on a table to do it; put on all
trimmings with a light hand; do not sew them as you would a shirt, it
gives them a puckered look. Now mind, a good cross; no attempts at
making pieces do, unless they are good corner pieces, that will join
well; _you are more sure of making a trimming well if cut all from
one piece_.
3949. Before cutting a skirt off that you wish to put tucks in, have
a piece of lining or calico at hand, pin the tucks in it as you wish
to put them in your skirt.
As a general rule, a tucked skirt takes more than a flounced one, and
makes less show for the quantity of material used.
PETS.
_Canaries_, (see p. 175) _and other Birds_.
3950. _Canaries_ become delicate and feeble from improper treatment.
Their docility, beautiful plumage, and sweetness of notes render
them general favorites. When young, feed on a paste made by bruising
rape-seed, blowing the chaff away, mixed with pieces of bread
powdered. Give a teaspoonful with a little hard egg and a few drops
of water, when turning sour, mix fresh. Add, as they grow older,
scalded rape-seed without bruising, chopped almond and chickweed, in
hot weather, twice a day.
3951. If sick, give milk of hemp-seed, made by bruising clean seed
and straining it through linen into water, taking the water-glass
away from the sick. As they advance in age, give rape and canary, and
occasionally bruised hemp-seed, taking the soft food away by degrees.
Cuttle-fish bone is preferable to loaf-sugar. Cakes, apples, berries,
bread soaked, the water squeezed out and milk added, are good, and
cabbage occasionally, when in season, is excellent.
3952. _Perches_ should be round and strong without crevices or
shoulders for insects to breed or harbor, and every corner of the
cage should be brushed out and kept thoroughly clean.
3953. _The claws_ are sometimes so long as to occasion accidents by
catching in the wires; in which case trim them.
_Mortar_ placed in the cage facilitates the production of eggs.
3954. _Teach_ singing by separating the bird from the others, so that
he may hear no singing, cover his cage for a few days with a thin
cloth, then play your flageolet or bird organ several times each day,
without harshness. At the end of fifteen days, change the thin cloth
for a thick green or red serge, and keep covered till perfect in the
air you wish to teach. Feed once a day and night. It is better to
teach one good tune well than several imperfectly. The bird will copy
all imperfections. _Bad_ or dull singers are improved by hearing the
more spirited and perfect.
3955. _Surfeit_ indicated by swelling of lower part of body, and
occasioned by too much chickweed, salad, or soft food. Put alum in
the water for three or four days, or put a rusty nail in the water,
or common salt. Put the bird, if bad, in lukewarm milk a few minutes,
then wash with water, wipe and dry gently.
3956. _Sick birds_ may have boiled bread and milk with canary seed
boiled in it; lettuce seed; and when moulting, or renewing its
feathers, indicated by drooping, putting its head under its wing,
dropping small feathers, give nourishing food, as hemp-seed, sponge,
biscuit, &c., keep warm and quiet, and keep much in the sun. A
cold air or draft is injurious. Put in the water a little refined
liquorice.
3957. _American Yellow Bird._--Beautiful plumage and fine song. They
are hardy, and the cage should be often hung out. Give plenty of
water, gravel, rich oily seeds, with occasional sunflower and lettuce
seeds; leaves of beet, salad, apples, and other fruits.
_Gold Finch._--Treat similar to American yellow bird.
3958. _Bullfinches._--Old birds should be fed with German Paste, No.
2, and occasionally rape-seed. The Germans occasionally give them
a little poppy-seed, and a grain or two of rice, steeped in canary
wine, when teaching them to pipe, as a reward for the progress they
make. Bird organs or flageolets, are used to teach them.
3959. _Cardinal Grosbeak._--Of splendid plumage and exquisite song.
They are hardy and may be kept without fire in a room most of the
winter, except in the northern States. Allow frequent air and sun.
Feed on rough unhulled rice and hemp, wheat, brown gravel, cracked
corn, and millet occasionally, with plenty of water for bathing.
These birds are long lived; the Philadelphia Museum having one which
died when twenty-one years old.
3960. _Java Sparrow._--Very delicate, with pretty plumage, but little
music. Feed on unhulled rice and canary seed, with plenty of brown
gravel.
3961. _Purple Finch or Linnet._--A delightful songster. Give canary,
hemp, millet, and sunflower seeds, with juniper and cedar-berries
through the winter, salad and beet-tops in summer. Any other of the
Finch tribe may be fed on seeds generally, as the preceding. Perfect
cleanliness of the cage, and a constant supply of fresh water and
gravel are essential.
3962. _Baltimore Oriole._--A bird of delightful plumage, and rich
brilliant music, well repaying the utmost care. They eat fruit of all
kinds, seeds, insects, &c. Give them a large cage, protection from
frost, and an abundance of insects. Rear same as mocking bird.
_East India Oriole._--Possesses greater musical powers, and is to be
treated same as the Baltimore.
3963. _American Mocking Bird._--The sweet "bird of many voices,"
imitating almost every variety of notes and sounds imaginable. Feed
regularly every morning with Indian meal mixed with milk, not very
stiff. Give wild cherries, cedar, elder, poke, and whortleberries.
An occasional egg, boiled hard and grated; a little raw minced
beef; water for washing as well as drink, with plenty of insects,
grasshoppers, spiders, particularly during moulting, when they should
be kept quiet and away from cold drafts of air.
3964. _Regular feeding_ is important. Adopt a regular hour, say eight
o'clock in the morning for feeding and watering, and strictly adhere
to it.
_If sickly_, treat kindly, give spiders daily, and meal-worms; gravel
the bottom of the cage and keep very quiet.
_The male_ has a regular line of white feathers in the wing, forming
almost a regular curve from tip to shoulder.
3965. _American Robin._--Sprightly, beautiful, and musical. Treat
similar to mocking bird.
3966. _Reed Bird or Bob-o-link._--Is apt to die in November, if too
well fed. Give oats, buckwheat, and canary seed, and abundant water
for bathing. At other seasons feed same indiscriminately, as the
Finch tribe.
3967. _Chickweed_ or salad, which in proper season is excellent, are
absolutely poison if given too early, before the bitterness is off,
and the cold acrid juices are dissipated by the sun.
_Insects from Bird-cages, Drawers, &c._--To keep away insects from
birds' eyes, suspend a little bag of sulphur in the cage. This is
said to be healthful for birds generally, as well as serving to keep
away insects by which they become infested.
3968. _Aviaries._--The aviary must face the south or west; the ground
within may be covered with fine turf, and divided by gravel walks.
The evergreens planted inside are, phyllerca, holly, laurel, Portugal
laurel, lauristinus, yew, box, and furze. The building should be
principally wire, and open to the air, but there should be wings
on either side, protected by a roof of wood or glass. In putting
goldfinches, linnets, and canaries in an aviary for the purpose of
breeding, the males of the two former should be put in with hen
canaries as the male birds of the wild species will mate only with
canaries. Two or three male canaries may be put amongst them, as the
young male birds will learn some of the canaries' notes.
3969. _Gold-fish._--Great care must be taken of gold-fish, as they
are very susceptible; and hence a loud noise, strong smell, violent
or even slight shaking of the vessel, will ofttimes destroy them.
3970. _Food for Gold-fish._--Foreign vermicelli, in minute portions,
given at intervals of two or three days, is the very best aliment
for gold-fish. A frequent cause of their death is injudicious food,
and too much of it; bread kills them, and biscuit is scarcely to be
trusted, because the materials of which it is composed are not always
pure. Water contains so much nourishment, that if it be changed every
day, little food need be given in addition. The most proper situation
for a globe of fish is near a window, but not in the direct rays of
the sun.
3971. _Squirrels._--In a domestic state these little animals are fed
with hazel nuts, or indeed any kind of nuts; and occasionally bread
and milk. They should be kept very clean.
3972. _Birdlime._--Take any quantity of linseed oil, say half a
pint; put it into an old pot, or any vessel that will stand the fire
without breaking; the vessel must not be more than one-third full,
put it on a slow fire, stir it occasionally until it thickens as much
as required; this will be known by cooling the stick in water, and
trying it with the fingers. It is best to make it rather harder than
for use. Then pour it into cold water. It can be brought back to the
consistency required with a little Archangel tar.
3973. _Pet Dogs_ should never be washed with soap. They should be
washed with beaten eggs, and afterward washed with warm water. The
best way to keep a dog healthy is to let him have plenty of exercise,
and not to over-feed him.
3974. _Drink._--Let them at all times have a plentiful supply of
clean water, and encourage them to take to swimming, as it assists
their cleanliness.
_Washing._--When you wash them do not use a particle of soap, or you
will prevent their licking themselves, and they may become habitually
dirty.
3975. _Feeding._--Properly-treated dogs, should be fed only once
a day. Meat boiled for dogs and the liquor in which it is boiled,
thickened with barley-meal, or oatmeal, forms capital food.
3976. _Sickness._--The distemper is liable to attack dogs from four
months to four years old. It prevails most in spring and autumn. The
disease is known by dulness of the eye, husky cough, shivering, loss
of appetite and spirits, and fits. When fits occur, the dog will most
likely die, unless a veterinary surgeon is called in.
3977. _Remedies._--During the distemper, dogs should be allowed to
run on the grass; their diet should be spare; and a little sulphur
be placed in their water. Chemists who dispense cattle medicines can
generally advise with sufficient safety upon the diseases of dogs,
and it is best for unskillful persons to abstain from physicking them.
3978. _Hydrophobia._--Hydrophobia is the most dreadful of all
diseases. The first symptoms are attended by thirst, fever, and
languor. The dog starts convulsively in his sleep, and when awake,
though restless, is languid.
3979. _Treatment._--When a dog is suspected, he should be firmly
chained in a place where neither children nor dogs nor cats can get
near him. Any one going to attend him should wear thick leather
gloves, and proceed with great caution. When a dog snaps savagely at
an imaginary object, it is almost a certain indication of madness;
and when it exhibits a terror of fluids, it is confirmed hydrophobia.
3980. _Music._--Some dogs exhibit a great dislike of musical sounds,
and when this is the case they are too frequently made sport of. But
it is dangerous sport, as dogs have sometimes been driven mad by it.
In many diseases dogs will be benefitted by warm baths.
3981. _Mange._--The mange is a contagious disease, which is difficult
to get rid of when once contracted. The best way is to apply to a
veterinary chemist for an ointment, and to keep applying it for some
time after the disease has disappeared, or it will break out again.
3982. _Cats._--It is generally supposed that cats are more attached
to places than to individuals, but this is an error. They obstinately
cling to certain places, because it is there they expect to see the
persons to whom they are attached. A cat will return to an empty
house, and remain in it many weeks. But, when at last she finds that
the family does not return, she strays away, and if she chances then
to find the family, she will abide with them.
3983. _Rules, &c._--The same rules of feeding which apply to dogs
apply also to cats. They should not be over-fed, nor too frequently.
Cats are liable to the same diseases as dogs; though they do
not become ill so frequently. A little brimstone in their milk
occasionally, is a good preventive. The veterinary chemist will also
prescribe for the serious diseases of cats.
SWIMMING.
3984. The art of swimming is, in fact, very easy, and those persons
who take the few brief hints we are about to offer, will soon find
themselves rewarded by complete success.
3985. The first consideration is not to attempt to learn to swim too
soon. That is, you must not expect to succeed in your efforts to swim
until you have become accustomed to the water, and have overcome your
repugnance to the coldness and novelty of bathing. Every attempt will
fail until you have acquired a certain confidence in the water, and
then the difficulty will soon vanish.
3986. _Dr. Franklin's Advice to Swimmers._--"The only obstacle to
improvement in this necessary and life-preserving art, is fear; and
it is only by overcoming this timidity that you can expect to become
a master of the following acquirements."
3987. It is very common for novices in the art of swimming to make
use of corks or bladders to assist in keeping the body above water;
some have utterly condemned the use of them; however, they may be of
service for supporting the body, while one is learning what is called
the stroke, or that manner of drawing in and striking out the hands
and feet, that is necessary to produce progressive motion.
3988. The practice I mean is this: choosing a place where the water
deepens gradually, walk coolly into it till it is up to your breast;
then turn round your face to the shore, and throw an egg into the
water between you and the shore; it will sink to the bottom, and be
easily seen there if the water is clean.
3989. It must lie in the water so deep that you cannot reach to take
it up but by diving for it.
3990. To encourage yourself, in order to do this, reflect that your
progress will be from deep to shallow water, and that at any time
you may, by bringing your legs under you, and standing on the bottom,
raise your head far above the water; then, plunge under with your
eyes open, which must be kept open before going under, as you cannot
open the eyelids for the weight of water above you; throwing yourself
toward the egg, and endeavoring, by the action of your hands and
feet against the water, to get forward till within reach of it. In
this attempt you will find that the water buoys you up against your
inclination; that it is not so easy to sink as you imagine; and that
you cannot, but by active force get down to the egg.
3991. Thus you feel the power of water to support you, and learn to
confide in that power while your endeavors to overcome it and reach
the egg, teach you the manner of acting on the water with your feet
and hands, which action is afterward used in swimming to support your
head higher above the water, or to go forward through it.
3992. The exercise of swimming is one of the most healthy and
agreeable in the world.
3993. Let every boy and girl, if possible, be taught this healthful
and life-preserving art.
3994. _Life-Belts._--An excellent and cheap life-belt, for persons
proceeding to sea, bathing in dangerous places, or learning to swim,
may be thus made:--
3995. Take a yard and three-quarters of strong jean, double and
divide it into nine compartments. Let there be a space of two inches
after each third compartment.
3996. Fill the compartments with very fine cuttings of cork, which
may be made by cutting up old corks, or (still better) purchased at
the cork-cutters.
3997. Work eyelet-holes at the bottom of each compartment to let the
water drain out.
3998. Attach a neck-band and waist strings of stout boot-web, and sew
them on strongly.
3999. _Another._--Cut open an old boa, or victorine, and line it with
fine cork-cuttings instead of wool.
4000. For ladies going to sea these are excellent, as they may be
worn in stormy weather, without giving appearance of alarm in danger.
They may be fastened to the body by ribands or tapes, of the color of
the fur. Gentlemen's waistcoats may be lined the same way.
4001. _Rules to Govern Persons who have Fallen into Deep Water._--1.
As soon as you find yourself at the surface, whither you are raised
by your buoyancy, let your body quickly take its level, when the
water will reach a little above your chin.
4002. 2. Place one leg a little forward, the other a little backward,
and stretch out your arms on either side under the water. By a slight
paddling motion you may regulate the position of your head, and keep
the mouth and nose above the surface of the surrounding fluid. Make
no efforts, but wait tranquilly until succor arrives. You cannot sink.
4003. 3. Do not lay hold of your companion or assistant, or you will
infallibly sink him without benefiting yourself. The best swimmer has
no more natural buoyancy than you, and would be sunk by the exertion
of very little force.
4004. 4. Remain perfectly passive till your helper seizes you by
the hair. Upon this endeavor to second his efforts by throwing
yourself on your back. Hold your neck stiff, and let the back of your
head sink into the water. Try to propel yourself at this stage by
regularly and slowly kicking against the water.
4005. 5. Be careful to keep every part of your body except your face
under the water. 6. If two or more persons are immersed together, let
them keep near to each other. By this means one boat may save the
whole party at once; but if they are dispersed, one at a time only
can be picked up.
4006. _Rules to Govern Persons who Attempt to Rescue the
Drowning._--1. In removing a body from the water, whether into a
boat or drawing it along by your own efforts, always keep the face
upward.
4007. 2. Recollect that you have no more buoyancy than the person you
are attempting to rescue. Therefore do not attempt to raise him out
of the water, or you will sink. By a gentle traction, you may draw
him toward the boat or landing-place without fatigue or danger.
4008. 3. Always aim at seizing the hind hair of the head, and keep
the nape of the neck and your own arm under the water. Thus you will
insure his face and your own being above the surface.
4009. 4. Keep your most powerful arm disengaged for swimming, and
maintain the other projected forward, having hold, as directed, by
the hind hair of the head. In this way you may advance side by side,
he floating on his back, and you on your breast.
4010. 5. As you approach the person distressed, let him know by your
voice; the prospect of his speedy succor will add to his confidence
and strength.
4011. 6. Let all your movements be deliberate, firm, and gentle.
4012. 7. Hold the hat reversed in both hands, the arms and hands of
course under water. If a person has presence of mind to accomplish
this, the hat will by its buoyancy afford him great assistance, until
it becomes saturated and admits the water.
4013. _Riding._--To ride well on horseback is a healthful and very
graceful accomplishment for a lady or gentleman.
4014. _Dress._--The lady's riding dress should be of a material that
rain will not spoil, made to fit easily, and by no means tight.
4015. _The length_ should not exceed an ordinary dress more than from
_fourteen_ to _eighteen inches_.
4016. _To keep the front_ of the dress down, sew small quantities of
shot in bits of muslin, tack these around the inside of the front
breadth of the skirt, at equal distances.
4017. _The Hat_ or cap should be as light as possible. Tie on
securely.
4018. Have no loose ribbons or strings flying about your cap or dress
to frighten the horses.
4019. Fasten your hair up securely, and do not blind your eyes with
curls.
4020. _Gloves_ should be of a kind that will permit you to handle the
reins easily.
4021. _Ride slowly._--The true secret of learning to ride well is to
ride slowly.
4022. _Always ride slowly_ when you start, and when returning, you
are near home.
4023. _Ride slowly_ up hill and down hill. Let the reins be slack
when ascending; tighten them as you descend.
4024. _Speak gently_ to your horse; pat his neck, and show kindness
to him; it is the surest and safest mode of management.
4025. _In crossing_ a river, if the horse should have to swim, be
sure to let the rains fall loose. Do not attempt to hold up his head,
he cannot swim if you do.
4026. _On which side_ of a lady should a gentleman ride?--is often
asked.
4027. _On the left._--He can then protect and assist the lady much
more advantageously than he would if riding on the right side of her
horse.
4028. _A lady's horse_ should be fifteen or fifteen and a half hands
high. _A hand is four inches._
4029. _How to judge a Horse._--If the color be light sorrel, or
chestnut, his feet, legs, and face white, these are marks of kindness.
4030. If he is broad and full between the eyes, he may be depended on
as a horse of good sense, and capable of being trained to any thing.
4031. As respects such horses, the more kindly you treat them the
better you will be treated in return. Nor will a horse of this
description stand a whip, if well fed.
4032. If you want a safe horse, avoid one that is dish-faced. He may
be so far gentle as not to scare; but he will have too much go-ahead
in him to be safe with everybody.
4033. If you want one that will never give out, never buy a large,
overgrown one.--(See pages 198, 199.)
HOME COUNSELS.
4034. _Prudence._--The great end of prudence is to give cheerfulness
to those hours which splendor cannot gild, and acclamation cannot
exhilarate.
4035. _To be happy at home_ is the ultimate result of all ambition;
the end to which every enterprise and labor tends, and of which every
desire prompts the prosecution.
4036. It is indeed, at home that every man and woman must be
known, by those who would make a just estimate of his virtue or
felicity; for smiles and embroidery are alike, occasional, and the
mind is often dressed for show in painted honor and fictitious
benevolence.--_Dr. Johnson._
4037. _Reading_ aloud, speaking, and particularly singing, affords a
healthful exercise; while wind-instruments are injurious.
4038. To young ladies the habit of reading aloud has much to
recommend it.
4039. _As mere exercise_, it is highly beneficial on account of the
strength and vigor which it confers on the chest and lungs; while the
mental pleasure derived therefrom is one of the most delightful that
can adorn the family circle.
4040. Gathered around the winter's fire, or evening lamp, what could
be more cheerful for the aged and infirm, what more instructive to
the younger branches, or more exemplary to the careless, than the
reading aloud of some entertaining author.
4041. Were females of all ranks to adopt the practice more than they
do at present, they would bind to their homes many who are disposed
to go in search of unworthy enjoyments, and would add another chain
of delightful associations, wherewith to attach the young to the
family hearth.
4042. Fatuity from old age cannot be cured; but may be prevented by
employing the mind constantly in reading and in conversation in the
evening of life.
4043. _A Word to the Young._---Never be cast down by trifles. If a
spider breaks his thread twenty times, twenty times will he mend it
again.
4044. Make up your minds to do a thing and you will do it. Fear not
if a trouble comes upon you; keep up your spirits, though the day be
a dark one.
4045. If the sun is going down, look up to the stars. If the earth is
dark, keep your eye on Heaven! With God's promises, a man or child
may be cheerful.
4046. Mind what you run after! Never be content with a bubble that
will burst, firewood that will end in smoke and darkness.
4047. Get that which you can keep, and which is worth keeping.
Fight hard against a hasty temper. Anger will come, but resist it
strongly. A fit of passion may give you cause to mourn all the days
of your life.
4048. Never revenge an injury. If you have an enemy, act kindly to
him and make him your friend. You may not win him over at once, but
try again. Let one kindness be followed by another, till you have
compassed your end. By little and little, great things are completed;
and repeated kindness will soften a heart of stone.
4049. Whatever you do, do it willingly. A boy that is whipped to
school never learns his lessons well. A man who is compelled to work
cares not how badly it is performed.
4050. He that pulls off his coat cheerfully, strips up his sleeves in
earnest, and sings while he works, is the man of action.
4051. _The Voice._--In ordinary conversation, the modulation and
proper management of the voice is a point worthy of the attention of
young ladies; for a fine and melodious voice, "sweet as music on the
waters," makes the heart-strings vibrate to the very core.
4052. The thin, small voice is the most difficult to manage, as
it is liable to degenerate into shrillness; and ladies who have
this kind of voice must keep strict guard over their temper, when
within hearing of any one on whom they may wish to make a favorable
impression; for the very idea of a shrill-voiced scold makes us place
our hands to our ears.
4053. But with a sweet temper, a pretty little harmonious voice
is pleasing enough. Always recollect, however, that affectation,
constraint, or striving for effect, is the certain ruin of the
prettiest voice in the world.
4054. _Utility of Singing._--It is asserted, and we believe with some
truth, that singing is a corrective of the too common tendency to
pulmonic complaints.
4055. Dr. Rush, an eminent physician, observes on this subject:--The
Germans are seldom afflicted with consumption; and this, I believe,
is in part occasioned by the strength which their lungs acquire by
exercising them in vocal music, for this constitutes an essential
branch of their education.
4056. The music master of an academy has furnished a remark still
more in favor of this opinion. He had known several instances of
persons who were strongly disposed to consumption, who were restored
to health by the exercise of their lungs in singing.
4057. _Music._--Had I children, my utmost endeavor should be to teach
them music. Considering I have no ear, nor ever thought of music, the
preference seems odd, and yet it is embraced on frequent reflection.
In short, my aim would be to make them happy. I think it the most
probable method.
4058. _Music_ is a resource which will last them their lives
unless they grow deaf; it depends upon themselves, not on others;
always amuses and soothes, if not consoles; and of all fashionable
pleasures, it is the cheapest. It is capable of fame, without the
danger of criticism; is susceptible of enthusiasm, and is sure of
being gratified in Heaven.--_Horace Walpole._
4059. _Spectacles--Use of._--The following rules will enable any one
to judge whether his eye-sight may be assisted or preserved by the
use of glasses.
4060. When we are obliged to remove small objects to a distance from
the eye to see them distinctly.
4061. If we need more light than formerly, as, for instance, if we
place the candle between the eye and the object.
4062. If, on attentively considering a neat object, it fatigues the
eye, and becomes confused, or has a kind of mist before it.
4063. When small printed letters seem to run into each other, and, by
looking steadfastly on them, appear double or treble.
4064. If the eyes are so fatigued by a little exercise, that we are
obliged to shut them from time to time.
4065. When these circumstances occur, either separately or together,
glasses should be immediately resorted to; otherwise the sight will
be liable to be injured by the constant effort required.
PARLOR AMUSEMENTS.
4066. _Riddles._--It may be asked, What is a riddle? Ah! what is it?
That's just the rub! Well, then, it is a queer affair, without shape,
size, humanity, compassion, breath, or sex. It is caressed, abused,
courted, slighted, jostled, hustled, and, notwithstanding all that is
said against it, universally looked upon as a welcome guest when it
is not in a dull mood.
4067. The oldest riddle on record is that put forth by Samson (Judges
xiv.)--"Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came
forth sweetness." His solution is well known, as it is explained in
the same chapter.
4068. _M. Voltaire's Riddle._--What is the longest, and yet the
shortest thing in the world; the swiftest and the most slow; the
most divisible and the most extended; the least valued, and the most
regretted; without which nothing can be done; which devours every
thing, however small, and yet gives life and spirit to all things
however great? Answer--Time.
4069. Enigmas may be founded upon simple catches, like conundrums, in
which form they are usually called Riddles, such as--
"Though you set me on foot,
I shall be on my head."
4070. The answer is, _A nail in a shoe_.
4071. _Ancient Enigma._--The ancients fabled a monster whom they
named the SPHINX, and whom they described as having the head and
breasts of a woman, the body of a dog, the tail of a serpent, the
wings of a bird, the paws of a lion, and a human voice.
4072. This monster, it was said, was sent into the neighborhood of
Thebes by Juno, who wished to punish the family of Cadmus. It was
further stated, that he laid this part of Bœotia under continual
alarms, _by proposing enigmas_, and devouring the inhabitants if
unable to explain them.
4073. Also, that as the calamity of this monster was become an object
of public concern, and as the successful explanation of an enigma
would end in the death of the Sphinx, Creon promised his crown and
Jocasta to him who succeeded in the attempt.
4074. The enigma proposed was this:--
"What animal in the morning walks on four feet, at noon on two, and
in the evening on three?"
4075. Œdipus solved the enigma--on which the monster dashed his head
against a rock, and perished.
4076. Answer--MAN; in the _morning_, or days of infancy, he crawls,
or walks on all-_fours_; at _noon_, or in the days of youth and
middle age, he uses _two_ feet only; in the _evening_, or in his old
age, he requires the support of a staff, so that he may be said to
walk upon _three_ feet.
4077. _Puzzles_ vary very much. One of the simplest that we know is
this:--Take away half of _thirteen_, and let _eight_ remain.
4078. Write XIII on a slate, or on a piece of paper--rub out the
lower half of the figures, and VIII will remain.
4079. What are termed "practical puzzles" are cut out of wood,
cardboard, ivory, &c., and may be purchased at the toyshops.
4080. _The three Jealous Husbands._--This is a very ingenious puzzle,
and should be performed with small counters of two different colors.
4081. Three jealous husbands, with their wives, having to cross
a small stream, find a boat without an owner, which is only
sufficiently large to carry two persons at a time.
4082. Wanted to know,--how the six persons can transport themselves
over the river in pairs, so that no woman shall be left in company
with any of the men unless her husband is present.
4083. _Answer._--At first two wives cross the river, then one returns
and takes over the remaining wife; after which she recrosses, and
stays with her husband, and the two husbands cross over. Then a
husband and wife come back, and the two husbands cross. Then the wife
returns and takes over one of the others, and lastly the husband of
the remaining one comes back for his wife.
4084. _Arithmetical Puzzle._--Arrange the figures 1 to 9 in such
order that, by adding them together, they amount to 100.
15
36
47
It is done thus:-- --
98
2
---
100
4085. _The Charade_ is a poetical or other composition founded upon a
word, each syllable of which constitutes a _noun_, and the whole of
which word constitutes another noun, of somewhat a different meaning
from those supplied, by its separate syllables.
4086. Words which fully answer these conditions are the best for the
purposes of charades; though many other words are employed.
4087. In writing, the first syllable is termed "_My first_," the
second syllable, "_My second_," and the complete word, "_My whole_."
4088. _Charade._--
My first a mineral, England can produce,
Much prized for ornament as well as use;
It adds new beauty to our "cottage homes,"
And to the fireside of the wealthy comes.
My second is a rough and boisterous thing,
And much calamity and woe may bring;
My whole is but a little fluttering bird,
Which near to men's abode is often heard.
4089. _Answer._--Sparrow.
4090. _Ventriloquism._--The main secret of ventriloquism simply
consists in first making a strong and deep inspiration, by which a
considerable quantity of air is introduced into the lungs, to be
afterward acted upon by the flexible powers of the larynx, or cavity
situated behind the tongue and the windpipe; thus prepared, the
expiration should be slow and gradual. Any person, by practice can,
therefore, obtain more or less expertness in this exercise, in which,
though not apparently, the voice is still modified by the mouth and
tongue; and it is in the concealment of this aid that much of the
perfection of ventriloquism lies.
4091. _Curious Facts._--If a tallow candle be placed in a gun and be
shot at a door, it will go through without sustaining any injury;
and if a musket-ball be fired into water, it will rebound and be
flattened as if fired against any hard substance.
4092. A musket-ball may be fired through a pane of glass, and if the
glass be suspended by a thread it will make no difference, and the
thread not even vibrate.
4093. _The Author._--If you would write to any purpose, you must be
perfectly free from without, in the first place, and yet more free
from within.
4094. Give yourself the natural rein; think on no pattern, no patron,
no paper, no press, no public; think on nothing, but follow your own
impulses.
4095. Give yourself as you are, what you are, and how you see it.
Every man sees with his own eyes, or does not see at all. This is
incontrovertibly true.
4096. Bring out what you have. If you have nothing, be an honest
beggar rather than a respectable thief.
4097. _Letter-writing._--Great care and attention should be devoted
to epistolary correspondence, as nothing exhibits want of taste and
judgment so much as a slovenly letter.
4098. _Postage._--Since the establishment of the cheap postage it is
recognized as a rule that all letters should be prepaid; indeed, many
persons make it a point of never taking in an unpaid letter.
4099. Always put a stamp on your envelope at the top of the
right-hand corner.
4100. Let the direction be written very plain; this will save the
postman trouble, and facilitate business by preventing mistakes.
4101. At the head of your letter, in the right-hand corner, put your
address in full, with the day of the month underneath; do not omit
this, though you may be writing to your most intimate friend three or
four times a day.
4102. What you have to say in your letter, say as plainly as
possible, as if you were speaking; this is the best rule; do not
revert three or four times to one circumstance, but finish up as you
go on.
4103. Let your signature be written as plainly as possible (many
mistakes will be avoided, especially in writing to strangers) and
without any flourishes, as they tend not to add in any way to the
harmony of your letter.
4104. A letter of introduction is to be enclosed in an _unsealed_
envelope.
4105. In writing notes of invitation, adhere to the old forms, never
use any unusual phrase or flourish about it.
4106. In letters of ceremony employ the third person, thus, "Mr. B.
requests the honor of Mr. A.," &c.
4107. Romantic ladies are sentimental in their letters; the
warm-toned are passionate: both styles are bad; avoid them.
4108. Never be guilty of falsehood by the pen; it is premeditated
sin, and seems worse than falsehood of speech.
4109. Use no preamble in your letters, come at once to the point,
state what you have to state, and conclude.
4110. Neither sex should enter into long details, or give vent to
their feelings in letters. They are always a standing memorial for,
or against--we must say generally against, for it requires a peculiar
talent to write a good letter.
4111. If you write to a stranger for information, or on your own
business, fail not to send a stamped envelope with your address,
plainly written; this will not fail to procure you an answer.
4112. If you are not a good writer, it is advisable to use the best
ink, the best paper, and the best pens, as, though they may not alter
the character of your handwriting, yet they will assist to make your
writing look better.
4113. The paper on which you write should be clean, and neatly folded.
4114. There should not be stains on the envelope; if otherwise, it is
only an indication of your own slovenliness.
4115. Care should be taken in giving titled persons to whom you
write, their proper directions.
4116. For a love letter, good paper is indispensable. When it can
be procured, that of a costly quality, gold-edged, perfumed, or
ornamented in the French style, may be properly used.
4117. The letter should be carefully enveloped, and nicely sealed
with a fancy wafer--not a common one, of course, where any other
can be had; or, what is better, plain or fancy sealing-wax. As
all persons are more or less governed by first impressions and
externals, the whole affair should be as neat and elegant as possible.
4118. _Young ladies_ should never engage in correspondence with young
gentlemen who are not near relations, unless with the knowledge and
consent of parents and guardians.
4119. _A young lady_ should on no account correspond with a _married
man_.
4120. _Letters of business_ or inquiry may be sometimes properly
addressed by a young lady to a _married man_--but when a
correspondence becomes necessary, then write to the _wife_, not the
husband.
4121. _Dress of Children, etc._--At home nothing can be more foolish
or more hurtful than to load a child with finery which confines it,
and which its every movement may destroy and spoil. When at home or
in the play-ground, the simplest covering only is necessary, so that
it be strong and warm.
4122. It is a vulgar error to suppose that children should be left
bare as to their legs, their chest, and arms, and that men and women,
who are so much stronger, should be covered.
4123. The truth is, that more children die through the stupidity of
their parents in this respect, than from any single disease which can
be mentioned.
4124. "I am certain," says a great medical authority, "that half the
deaths of children in the middle and upper classes of society is to
be attributed to the vanity and ignorance of their parents.
4125. "I never see a poor child dressed as a young Highlander, or in
any fancy dress, with its uncomfortable look and naked appearance,
its poor bare knees and open neck, but I prophecy for that child,
whilst I pity, a future of colds, coughs, and throat disease, and a
probable death of consumption."
4126. Another important thing in the dress of children, besides
keeping them warmly clad, is to keep them well, though loosely shod.
The evils of a tight shoe or boot in a grown-up person is ten times
multiplied in a child.
4127. Splay-feet, knock-knees, or bandy-legs, are the consequence,
all of which the ignorant would certainly lay to nature, though they
are nothing but the production of an art as cruel as it is ignorant,
and which is entirely contrary to beauty of Form, or to GOOD TASTE.
4128. _High Shoulders._--A medical correspondent of an English paper
attributes the high shoulder and the lateral curvature of the spine,
which so frequently disfigures young girls, to the shoulder straps of
their dresses resting below the shoulder and on the muscles of the
arm, instead of being on the shoulder, which compels the wearer to
be constantly hitching her shoulders to keep up her dress, an action
that results in forcing up the shoulder, a distortion of the chest,
and a lateral curvature of the spine.
4129. He also states that from the dangerous practice, and the
consequent exposure of the chest to the cold, that inward tubercles
are formed, and not unfrequently consumption is engendered.
4130. Sudden alterations of heat and cold are dangerous especially to
the young and the aged.
4131. _Therefore_, clothing, in quantity and quality, should be
adapted to the alternations of night and day, and of the seasons.
4132. _And therefore_, _also_, drinking cold water when the body is
hot, and hot tea and soups when cold, are productive of many evils.
4133. A bed-room, or nursery, ought to be spacious and lofty, dry,
airy, and not inhabited during the day.
4134. No servants, if possible, should be suffered to sleep in the
same room; and no linen or washed clothes should ever be hung there
to dry, as they contaminate the air in which so considerable a
portion of infantine life must be spent.
4135. The consequences attending a vitiated atmosphere in such rooms
are various, and often fatal.
4136. Change of apparel greatly promotes the secretion from the skin,
so necessary to health.
4137. But no damp clothing should be worn, nor damp linen put on the
beds. Every thing should be well aired.
4138. Feather-beds should be banished from nurseries, as they are an
unnatural and debilitating contrivance.
4139. The windows should seldom be opened at night, but left open the
whole day, in fine, clear weather. A door into the sleeping room may
be left open.
4140. Lastly, the bedstead must not be placed too low on the floor;
nor is it proper to let children sleep on a couch which is made
without any elevation from the ground; because the most mephitic and
pernicious stratum of air in an apartment, is that within one or two
feet from the floor, while the most wholesome, or atmospheric air, is
in the middle of the room, and the inflammable gas ascends to the top.
4141. _The power of Kindness._--Soft words soften the soul.--Angry
words are fuel to the flame of wrath, and make it blaze more freely.
4142. Kind words make other people good-natured--cold words freeze
people, and hot words scorch them, and bitter words make them bitter,
and wrathful words make them wrathful.
4143. There is such a rush of all other kinds of words in our days,
that it seems desirable to give kind words a chance among them.
4144. There are vain words, and idle words, and hasty words, and
spiteful words, and silly words, and empty words, and profane words,
and boisterous words, and warlike words.
4145. Kind words also produce their own image on men's souls, and a
beautiful image it is. They sooth, and quiet, and comfort the hearer.
They shame him out of his sour, and morose, and unkind feelings. We
have not yet begun to use kind words in such abundance as they ought
to be used.
4146. _Gossiping._--If you wish to cultivate a gossiping, meddling,
censorious spirit in your children, be sure when they come home
from church, a visit, or any other place where you do not accompany
them, to ply them with questions concerning what everybody wore, how
everybody looked, and what everybody said and did; and if you find
any thing in this to censure, always do it in their hearing.
4147. _Amusements for Children._--These should be provided. Children
must play; a large portion of their waking hours must be passed in
action if we would make them healthy and happy.
4148. _School_ and study should not occupy more than three hours of
the day, till the child is over ten years of age.
4149. _Out door_ play is best for children when the season and
weather will permit.
4150. _In door_, one of the best exercises for children and youth is
_dancing_.
4151. _Let your children learn to dance._
4152. _The abuse of the art_ can be avoided, and its benefits are
great.
4153. _Terms used to describe the movements of dances_--
4154. _Balancez_--Set to partners.
4155. _Chaine Anglaise_--The top and bottom couples right and left.
4156. _Chaine Anglaise double_--The right and left double.
4157. _Chaine des dames_--The ladies' chain.
4158. _Chaine des dames double_--The ladies' chain double, which is
performed by all the ladies commencing at the same time.
4159. _Chassez_--Move to the right and left.
4160. _Chassez croisez_--Gentlemen change places with partners, and
back again.
4161. _Demie Chaine Anglaise_--The four opposite persons half right
and left.
4162. _Demie Promenade_--All eight half promenade.
4163. _Dos-à-dos_--The two opposite persons pass round each other.
4164. _Demie Moulinet_--The ladies all advance to the centre, giving
hands and return to places.
4165. _La grand chaine_--All eight chassez quite round, giving
alternately right and left hands to partners, beginning with the
right.
4166. _Le grand rond_--All join hands and advance and retire twice.
4167. _Pas d'Allemande_--The gentlemen turn the partners under their
arms.
4168. _Traversez_--The two opposite persons change places.
4169. _Vis-à-vis_--The opposite partner.
4170. _La Galopade_--Is an extremely graceful and spirited dance in
a continual chassez. An unlimited number may join; it is danced in
couples as waltzing. This is a pretty dance for children.
THE TRAINING OF DAUGHTERS, ETC.