Wrf"H"iK-' wvj
MAY E, 1905
The Commoner.
9
lent and pretty table mats for pol
ished tables. To make them, coil the
cord in circle, circle upon circle, or
in ovals, and sew the rounds or ovals,
round by round, on the under side,
firmly together. A pretty design
shows three rounds, each surounded
by- loops of the cording, then two
ovals of the lacing made flat likd
braid, and between them more sewed
disks.
Toilet Soaps
Several of our correspondents ask
how they may know that they are get
ting, pure soaps. For the toilet, pure
castile or olive oil soap is the best.
"How to determine whether a soap is
good for toilet purpose, especially on
the tender skins of women and chil
dren," says an authority on soaps, "is
not a difficult matter. The amount
of suds made by a soap is one of the
methods by which too much alkali is
indicated. The more suds a soap
makes in a comparatively short space
of time, the more alkali it contains.
A cheap soap will creato a large quan
tity of suds without any trouble on
the part of the operator, whereas, an
'over-fat' soap (and f6r toilet soaps
for women and children no other kind
should be used) has to be rubbed f e
peatedly before it manifests a dispo
sition to make even a little suds. The
suds are caused by a chemical action
in the water when the alkali mixes
with it, the 'over-fat' soap, the good
' soap, forms an emulsion, does not un
dergo much chemical change. An
other way to determine the presence
of alkali is to touch the piece of soap
to the tongue; if there is much alkali
in it, the taste will be bitter; if there
is jio alkali there in harmful quanti
ties, no bitterness will be observable.
Another way, the most effective of all,
is to drop a little sublimate of mer
cury on the soap; the mercury will
at once cause the' alkali to assume a
yellowish hue, and the more alkali in
the soap, the deeper this yellow color
will be. The first two. methods will
suffice for the household." There are
several pure white soaps on the market.
A Bland Soap, 'or Soap Cream
A very bland soap, which may be
.used on sensitive skins, may be made
by adding to five parts of honey, four
parts of any pure .white soap and
three parts of white wax; stir togeth
er over a slow fire, and add one dram
of benzoin and one part of storax.
This may be used by mixing with a
little water, and will cleanse the skin
most effectively. A very sensitive skin
should not be washed just before go
ing out into the air, and a little good
powder is a great protection. Contributed.
Timely Recipes - .
"Grandmother's Greens." Take of
wild things, sour dock, dandelion,
lamb's quarter, crowfoot, mustard, and
any greens afforded by the garden;
pick over carefully and wash well;
boil until tender; drain, and pour over
them a pint of dressing made of one
fourth cupful of vinegar, one teaspoon
ful of pepper, tablespoonful of butter,
teaspoonful of flour, salt to taste,
boiled up together. Stir well and serve
hot, Or parboil the greens, drain,
cover with fresh hot water-and add a
generous slice of salt fat pork. Serve
with good vinegar.
Lettuce. Pick over and wash ten
der lettuce leaves, drain carefully and
sprinkle with salt. Heat to a boiling
point one cupful of good vinegar, ta
blespoonful of sugar, tablespoonful of
butter, and pour over the lettuce, stir
ring or tossing with 'a fork all the
time. Or, serve the salted lettuce and
serve the dressing.
Wilted Lettuce. Wash and clean
tender lettuce leaves; wring and
squeeze to pieces to get the water out.
Take for each head of lettuce one cup
ful of vinegar and water equal parts,
and two tablespoonfuls of ham fry
ings, heat together, and when hot
pour over the lettuce and serve at
once.
Lettuco and Bacon. Pick apart as
much lettuce as is wanted, wash well
and lay on a flat dish. Mince flno a
piece of nice bacon as large as an
egg; put into a skillet and fry crisp;
to it add one cupful of vinegar (a lit
tle water, if strong), and salt, pepper
and sugar to taste. When the mix
ture boils up, pour over the lettuco
and mix well together. Let stand
twenty minutes and servo.
Lettuce Salad. Wash and pick over
as much lettuce as is wanted; cut fine,
for four heads of lettuce, four hard
boiled eggs, and rub them Into a
paste; to this add half a teaspoonful
of black pepper, half a teaspoonful of
mustard, a little salt, sugar, if liked.
Heat a cupful of vinegar with a small
lump of butter (nice meat-fryings is
better), and pour over the lettuce.
Mix, garnish with the whites of the
eggs, and serve. Lettuce may be
served with finely sliced green onions,
and are liked so by many.
Housekeeper's Chemicals
Sal-soda is a very cheap chemical,
and forms the basis of most of the
washing powders on the market; It
forms a soap with grease which is
readily dissolved and carried away.
Borax is a compound of sodium with
boric acid, and acts as a mild alkali;
it Is the safest of all alkalies aud af
fects colored fabrics less than does
ammonia. Some of the solvents for
grease are alcohol, chloroform, ether,
benzine, naphtha, gasoline these,
too, are all volatile and should be
tightly corked and distinctly labeled
kerosene,, and turpentine- the latter
two the least volatile benzine, naph
tha or gasoline are sometimes sold
for one another. They will not mix
with water, and-are very inflammable,
and should be used with the greatest
discretion. Kerosene is a valuable
agent in the household. The deod
orized quality can be furnished by
some dealers. These household chem
icals should be kept in their own clos
et, away from all medicine bottles, to
avoid possible accidents, of which we
read so often.
Oxalic acid should always be la
beled poison; the bleaching agent,
chloride of lime, owes its beneficial
effect to a substance of an acid na
ture which is liberated from it, and
the clothes bleached by this agent
should be thoroughly rinsed In diluted
alkali to neutralize this effect. It
should be used in solution only, and
should be kept in bottles with rubber
stoppers. The alkalies which are in
dispensible in the household are am
monia (that sold at the groceries is
often impure), which is very volatile,
potash, jut up in small cans (caustic
lye, from wood ashes), and this is
very corrosive In its action, and
should be used with great care.
Housekeeper.
Cereals
In the Ladies" Home -Journal for
May, Mrs. S. T. Rorer says: "Fruits
and cereals should form the base of
every good breakfast, but cereals are
rarely ever well cooked; and if they
are cooked any length of time, they
are stirred and beaten to a sticky
and pasty mass. All cereal foods re
quire the most careful attention at
the beginning of cooking. Sprinkle
the dry material in rapidly boiling
water; do not stir, and do not add the
cereal sufficiently fast to stop the
boiling. Do this in the upper part of
the boiler; let the cereal boil rapidly
for five or ten minutes and then sink
the boiler down into the under portion
that is partly filled with boiling wa
ter, and boil continuously for one
hour. Starch granules, especially in
the cereal grains, are not readily rup
tured; a twenty minutes cooking is
not long enough to reader them whole
some." ' There are many people (Mrs. Rorer
included) who find that they can not
use cereal foods without hurt to them
selves. This is especially true of thoso
whoso habits arc scdontnry, or whoso
digestive apparatus Is delicate For
the outdoor lnborer, or one taking a
good deal of exorcise of any kind In
the open air, well cooked cereals is
an excellent food; but physicians do
not rdcommend them as much as they
used to do. It is an admitted fact that
"what is ono man's meat is another
man's poison," and no one can say
with authority what another should
eat. In this matter, each ono must bo
a "law unto himself," finding out what
best suits his or her digestive condi
tions and allowing no one to persuade
them to eat of any dish simply -because
it is supposed to bo "good" for
you. Findvout for yourself if it is.
Asparagus
Asparagus is not so generally grown
in the family garden as its merits de
servo. Properly grown and prepared
for the table, there are few people
who do not esteem it a delicacy. The
stalks should be grown in a rich bed,
and when about four or five inches out
of the ground, if their growth is thrif
ty, they should be cut not deep
enough to bring up the white, tough
part, but use only the green, tender
lengths. Grown thus it will not re
quire any trimming, but all parts of
it win uo very tender. Throw into
boiling water and cook until tender;
salt when nearly done, and drain off
tho water. For a dressing, beat one
heaping teaspoonful of flour with two
tablespoonfuls of cream until smooth;
add one cupful of rich milk and a
lump of butter the size of an egg;
pour this over the asparagus and let
boil a minute, but do not let it scorch;
or, the asparagus may be laid In a hot
dish and tho hot sauce poured over
them, if desired. When the season
for the asparagus is nearly over, and
green peas are still scarce, a nice dish
may bo prepared by boiling the two
together. In this case, the asparagus
should be cut up fine and boiled about
fifteen minutes before adding tho peas.
Origin of the "Sunshine Society"
During the holidays, several years
ago, the now president-general of the
society was the recipient of a number
of cards from her co-workers on the
New York "Record," as well as from
outside friends. On Christmas day
she protested, and said that, while
she enjoyed her gifts, she would have
had infinitely moro pleasure in their
receipt If the donors had not written
their names on them. The statement
horrified her audience, who, with one
accord, exclaimed:
"What! You wouldn't give our
presents away, would you?"
"Why not?" was the answer. "What
do you do with yours?" A laughing
investigation soon developed the fact
that the waste basket was the ulti
mate destination of the most of them;
some spent a few months tacked on
the walls until fly-specked and dis
colored; others were used as book
marks until lop-eared; then all were
thrown away without having given an
additional ray of sunshine to any one
beyond their immediate recipient.
"Suppose you take tho history of
ono pretty ten-cent card that came to
me a year ago," said the president
general. "It had an exquisite little
poem on it, and I enjoyed It so much
that I thought at once of an old uncle
who would appreciate It, so forwarded
it to him. He did enjoy it, and so
much that he immediately recalled
another friend to whom it would ap
peal with equal force. So he copied
the poem and sent the card on. The
recipient found the sentiment so
sweet that she, too, felt called upon
to pass it on, and before the holidays
were over the card had 'carried its
Christmas message to six different
persons. Of course, this Is an excep
tion, but still it is an example of the
possibilities of a gift if acpepted in
the true spirit and then passed on, giv
ing to each one the double delight of
Sent Free
f Every woman who 1ms n de
sire to make the beat hrenil Hi
family cvci rftc should send a
posiai cam lor our new lllus-
trnirwl rnr HflnnA T -. ,1. ir... Hi
.......... www... uwuu aji.iiu. JIUff
to Make It."
Tie Secret is in
the Yeast.
It tells just how to use YrasT
Foam, the wonderful com
pressed hop yeast that raised
the First Grand Prize at the
St. Louin Exposition. It make
good bread from any flour.
NORTHWE8TERN YEAST OO.
Chicago, III.
Hnf9zi9HH
both receiving and giving."
Inspired with this Idea of sending
out remembrances that might bo mul
tiplied fourfold, a new set of cardfc
was given tho president-general bv tho
staff, and these were immediately" sent
out again. The thanks received from
these cards were so pretty that an
Item was made of It In the paper. Thia
caused further correspondence, and re
sulted in a club for the exchange of;
friendly greetings. The namo "Chat"
was at first chosen for tho column, but'
in time tho membership grew so largo
that the club badge and a motto "Good
Cheer" were selected, and the name
"Shut-In" was given to the society.
On January 15, 1890, the name of tho'
society was changed to tho Sunshino'
society. The change was made be-1
cause of conflict with a shut-in so
ciety organized In 1884. The club
motto and pin remain the same. Tho
object of the society is to Incite itn
members to a performance of kind and1
helpful deeds, and to thus bring tho
sunshino, of happiness into the great
est possible number of hearts and
homes. Its activo members are peo
ple who are desirous of brightening
life by some thought, word or deed.
It Is not a "charity," but an Inter
change of kindly greetings and the do
ing of little acts of kindness whenever,
it is possible to be done. The mem
bership fees consist merely of some;
suggestion that will bring sunshine to
some one, the exchange of books, pa
pers, pictures, Ideas that may be help
ful in any way to another, and, in fact,
the brushing away of tho clouds in,
any possible manner. If one feels
called upon to donate money which'
is generally necessary for postage on
papers, magazines, and other ex
changes, it will be gladly accepted,
And used for the spread of the sun
shine; but it Is not comniilsorv. Can.
not we all be "Sunshine" workers.
forming little clubs of our own, and
"doing good unto others" In some of
the many ways which are alwavs Grou
ping out under our hands? Let mo
hear from you.
VER.Y IMPORTANT
It Is very Important that women should avoid
constipation. It- predisposes and aggravates
every symptom of female weakness. Dr.
Miles' Nerve and Liver Pills cure Constipation
hy strengthening the nerves and muscles of tho ,
gtomach which digest the food. The result is
a gentle, natural movement of the "bowels !
For children they have no equal. ,At druggists.
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