Thursday, July 18, 1907.
THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER.
In Praise of Homespun.
Dear Aunt Mary: Although I am
very busy, I cannot refrain any
longer from writing to you. I've
been very much interested in the
sensible health talks in The Progres
sive Farmer, also the clippings con
cerning Mrs. George Vanderbilt's
wearing homespun dresses. I have
spun many an ounce of cotton and
woven many a yard of cloth. I have
a homespun dress now that was
woven over thirty years ago, and I
prize it very highly because my
mother dyed the blue that went into
it with real indigo that she raised at
home. I sometimes think that if
people had kept up making their own
clothes at home there would have
been less pride and haughtiness than
there is, and that the whole country
would have been better off, for then
our girls would have known how to
make . their own clothes at home.
. June and July are the months when
we are most annoyed with flies. I
get rid of them by getting large
bunches of pusley and hanging them
around the room. I change them
every week or two, and am not both
ered much with flies.
Many good wishes to you, Aunt
TVfnrv tn vmir rienart.mfint.. and tn
The Progressive Farmer.
A READER.
Wayne Co., N. C.
Words.
Dear Aunt Mary: I find the study
of words a very great pleasure; and
I never feel like the time so spent
is wasted. Whether we realize it or
not, this life is a course of prepara
tion for the next. Here we are
schooled for the great hereafter, and
our joy or misery depends on how
we learn our lessons. Many of these
lessons depend on the import of
single . words, such as hope, love.
faith, holiness, temperance, and so
on. With the Bible in my hand and
plenty of good scientific books near
by I spend many pleasurable days.
A word is the sign of an idea, and
may be spoken or written: an idea
is the mental image of anything, and
an image is a copy, a likeness, a pic
ture. It is said that we who hear
think in words, because words repre
sent ideas or mental images, while
the uneducated deaf mutes think in
pictures.
The imagination re-combines the
material furnished by experience or
memory for; the accomplishment of
an elevated purpose, conceives and
expresses the ideal. Shakespeare
says: "
"The lunatic, the lover, andrthe poet
Are of imagination all compact .
The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy roll
ing!
Doth glance from heaven to earth,
from earth to heaven;
And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown.
The poet's pen
Turns them to shapes, and gives to
airy nothing
A local habitation and a name."
I wish you a very pleasant sum
mer. , MINNIE.
Cumberland Co., N. C.
Every One Should Have Work.
Dear Aunt Mary: We find so many
people who are sitting around doing
nothing, waiting for success to come
to. them, but if we ever, wish to be
successful we must have a work to
do, must live for something, be some
thing, and do something.. First, we
should . prepare for our future ? life
by securing a good education that
will qualify us for our work. We
must be polite to everybody, must
have gentle manners.
- Th great Chesterfield -said true
politeness is perfect ease and free
dom. It simply consists in treating
others just as you wish to be treated
yourself, and we cannot be true gen
tlemen unless we are polite, face the
difficulties and shake hands 'with
them. '
If we wish to make life a success
we must be true to our fellowmen,
true to our country, and greatest" of
all, true to our God. ,
. JOHN S. DlXON.
Pitt Co., N. C.
Rest-Rooms in Town for Women
Shoppers.
Dear Aunt Mary: This warm
weather brings to my mind a para
graph in The Progressive Farmer of
some months ago relative to a rest-
room for farmers' wives and daughters.
A lady had recommended rest-
rooms in our city for farmers' wives
and daughters, suggesting that a
room be set apart in our court houses
for that purpose, and supplied with
hot and cold water etc..
I think it is a glorious idea and
hope that it soon will be realized in
our Southern cities. Farmers' wives
and daughters could then accom-
pany-their men-folks to town and en
joy every moment of the time, where
as, they now have to wait in stores,
on some corner of the street, in a va
cant lot, at the postoffice or some
other public and uncomfortable place.
If they had the rest-room it should
arranged for cooking and serving
refreshments or light luncheon.
like the idea of couches, with lots
of cushions and fans, magazines and
papers. There should be a lady
care-taker for the room, whose
duty it would be to see that all
those who frequented it were made
to feel at home, and to keep every
thing in order. " SINCERE.
Clarke Co., Ga.
The Hay Box or Fireless Cooker.
During these warm summer days
the housekeeper is casting about in
her mind for every contrivance that
will shorten her stay in the kitchen
A very interesting cooker called the
hay box or fireless cooker, is attract
ing considerable attention just now.
To quote, in part from the Farmers'
Bulletin, 296, of the United States
Department of Agriculture:
Considerable interest has been
manifested . recently in a system of
cookery in practice in Norway and
other parts of Europe, in which boil
ing hot food in tightly covered recep:
tacles is packed in some non-conducting
material in such a way that
it keeps hot for . a - long time and
slowly cooks. As hay is commonly
used in Europe as a packing, the
cooker is v frequently called a "hay
box cooker." Sometimes it is spoken
of as a Norwegian nest," and the
name "fireless cooker" is also used.
The principle involved is a simple
one, -namely, the retention of heat
and hence the continuation of cook
ing by surrounding hot food with
some non-conducting material.
Such cookers may be readily made
at home and even when they are of
very simple construction, they gjve
good results provided they are well
packed with insulating material. A
tightly-covered tin or enameled can
or bucket or a. kettle preferably with
out a handle, but having a tight cov
er, and a wooden box and packnig
material are the essential features.
The packing box or other receptacle
should be considerably larger, say
three or four inches in every direc
tion, than the vessel used for cook
ing. Line the box with several thick
nesses of paper or with asbestos.
Over the bottom of the box should
be spread a thick layer of hay,
crumpled "newspaper, or similar ma
terial -tightly packed. The cooking
vessel is placed on the center of this
and the spaces between it and the
sides of the box packed full of hay
or whatever is used, ; A thick cush
ion or pad of suitable size should
be made for covering the top of the
can and a wooden cover for the. top
of the box is also desirable. In some
of the coolers which have been de
scribed in magazines, etc., thick" felt,
asbestos, cork, and other non-con
ducting materials have been used for
packing, but good results have been
reported with the simpler materials.
These cookers may be made to hold
one or more cooking vessels, and in
case space is desired for two or more
i is convenient to divide the box into
compartments.
The food which is to be cooked is
brought to the boiling point in the
can or bucket and cooked for a short
time, two or three to twenty minutes
usually, -or perhaps ten minutes on
an average (though the time depends
upon the material and should be
learned by experience, and is tightly
covered and placed in the nest and
covered on top with the cushion and
the lid of the box closed. The cool
air of the room cannot pass through
the packing to the can, nor can the
heat inside it pass through the non
conducting material except $ very
slowly, and so the food remains hot
for several hours and cooks thor
oughly and evenly without further
attention. According to the Cornell
report, "about twice as much time
is required as in cooking oyer the
flame. There is' little evaporation,
consequently care must be. taken not
to use too much water in prepara
tion; Many articles of food are bet
ter for long, slow cooking, land as
neither fire nor attention is needed
(after the initial heating) it proves
an economical means of preparing
food for the table." An advantage
claimed for the hay box cooker is
that -there are no noticeable odors
from the cooking food.
The cooker , must not be; opened
from the time the food is placed in
it until it is needed for serving, as
the removal of the covering, etc.,
would mean an escape of heat.
Cookers constructed on the princi
ple outlined have been tested for
several years by the Commissary De
partment of the United States Army
and have always given good satisfac
tion, particularly for the preparation
of rations for soldiers on the march.
In this system of cookery the food
is kept on the stove for only a short
time, and hence only a small amount
of fuel is required, and it has a fur
ther advantage in that it does not
heat the rooms in which cooking is
done.
; By means of this cooker a break
fast cereal may be prepared by boil
ing -it a few minutes in the evening,
then packing it away in the cooker,
and in the morning it will be ready
for use. Soup can be prepared early
in the day and will be ready for
luncheon without any further atten
tion. In the descriptions of the hay
box cited above and other similar
publications the writers, on the basis
of personal experience, give direc
tions for, the preparation, of vege
tables, meats, soups, desserts, and
other dishes, and the consensus of
opinion seems to be that the hay box
cooker is a convenient, economical,
and labor-saving device.
The Chain Iietter Cranks.
The postal authorities are seeking
a way to stop the idiotic people who
are sending the fake Bishop Law
rence prayer chain letters through
the mails. It is a puzzling job to
head off such imbeciles. Better let
them spend their postage stamps and
wipe out the - postal deficit. Uncle
Sam needs the money and the cranks
do not. Watson's Jeffersonian.
We publish elsewhere an adver
tisement of Littleton Female College,
to - which we call attention. This in
stitution has had a remarkable his
tory and is one of the most success
ful schools in the South.
3C
ill'1 iflMHb
Decorations for the Interior
of Your Home.
Write to us for Samples of anything you wish in the way of
Denims, Cretonnes, Roumanian Cloths', Colonial Repps, Art Tickings,
Burlaps, etc. - . " ; 7 .
We have a very full and complete stock and can quote you the
lowest of prices. We make a specialty of this work.
Figured Denims, for dra- 1 Cr VJ
prles,36 inches wide, - - Ju
Roumanian Cloths, S6 inches wide, .
for conch coverings, furnl- OCr VJ
ture covering and draperies J
Plain Bublaps, 38 inches wide for
floor coverings, draperies 1Cr VJ .
and couch covers, - - - -
Cretonnes. Colonial Repps, Art
Tickings and Drapeby Taffetas,
full range of colors, 25C. & 30c. yd.
Gordon Repps, 50 inches cn vA
wide, - - - - - - - - OWC. JU.
8eif Color Aemtjbis, J
50 Inches wide, - - - - - ''V ytl.
CREX GRASS CARPETS AND RUGS.
It's prairie grass scientifically treated and woven into the most dur-
able floor covering- ever made. Perfectly sanitary, as the more you
wash it the better it wears. Especially suitable for rooms that; are
much used. r r ; , '
$2.50
. $6.00
. $8.00
crex carpets, 35c, and 45c. yd.
Cbex Rugs, 18x38 inches, - 50c.
" 36 x 72 inches, ;- $1.25
Cbex Rugs, 4 x 7 feet,
" " 6x9 feet, -"
9x12 feet,
With a number of intermediate sizes and prices.
Miller & Rhoads, Richmond, Ya. Miller & Rhoads, Richmond, Va.