The Topeka state journal. [volume], February 01, 1913, LAST EDITION, Image 12

About The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980

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THE TOPEKA DAILY STATE JOURNAL SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 1, 1913.
"WBBT Common csense iliafi:- - jaSKJ '
Slfep Edited w m AP.mretAND
MAKE YOUR ORDERS PLAIN TO MAID OR CHILD.
THE discussions we hive had recently
on this page concerning family gov
ernment have called forth the fol
lowing letter:
" Mrs. L. V. speaks from the law
and the gospel. We ought not only to
think Itover, but to use thechild's think'
ta doing so. The little brain ia a thing
part. Make note of Its individuality, its
peculiar translations and understanding of
your words and you may find the lie an up
side down truth, the disobedience an effort
to work out conflicting orders. Pity the
sorrows of the first born! Baby talk has
gone out of fashion, but the 'baby's brcn.
la still with us. Here is an Illustration
f the sort of orders sometimes given: 'Wil
liam Ebeneier Jones, I insist updo Implicit
obedience. Com here immediately ! ' Which
word does) the sinner comprehend?
- - - JlELNAB."
And the writer gives other instances to
prove bar point that often a child's appar
ent naughtiness Is duo to a failure to grasp
what the command means.
If we think tt over, I Imagine w win agree
wlfb the baby's champion. Probably It is
Impossible for any grown person to under
stand Just the confusion that fills a child's
mmd at the orders he receives, To say Be
leelai aa we would If we were amongst for
eigners, not a word of whose language was
knows to us, does not put the situation
strongly enough. Suoh a position la baffling
to- the verge) of distress, and yet w usually
bring to H an amount of mental training
aad experience which tn a measure fits us
to meet tne omergenoy. The child has no
such baokgroond. Ho is tn a now country
' with no remembrance of Btmnar exigencies
to res me bbn as to the possibility of
surmounting the Immediate difficulty. The
foimnviT person to whom bo baa always
tanked In trouble Is the ons who now
plunges bbn fnto perplexity by using un
known words) and giving htm directions he
utterly falls to comprehend) and be has no
poeob tot wMcb to tell her bt dilemma.
Child Often in Dreamland.
More than this, the child Is sometimes
iislsiiliij in dreamland, Immersed in the
new and strange sights and sounds he Is
constantly encountering. . Be is too far
away to grasp a brisk order, especially when
couched la a phrase wbtcb Is new to him.
He looks dazed and his hesitation is taken
for sullenness or unwffltagness to obey.
Be sore that he is not uncertain instead of
disobedient when be la slow to do as ho Is
told.
" One spanking I had tn my childhood
which I have never understood," a grand
mother told me the other day. " I was
about 4 years old and my elder stater and
I were out In, the yard contemplating the
chsrmsof a nestfu) of kittens. I was bend
ing over them, lost in admiration, when my
father grasped me by the arm, shook me
end gave me three or four quick eparnks.
" 'When I tell you to come, you are to
come, understand1?" be said. Prom my
IMPORTANT NOTICE
nECAVSE of the enormous rtumher of
letters senile the department I mast j
contrtiutors la limit their communications la
100 aords, except in cases of formulas or
recipes mhtck require greater spate. I want
att my correspondents to hats a shotting in
ike Comer, and if mg request in this respect
Is eompliei with it will be possihle to print
raeng more letters. '
Attention is called to tit fact that Marion
Borland cannot receteo money for patterns,
am she has no connection with any department
Hot sells them. Marion Harland.
"I
HAVE been thinking a great deal
lately of the position held by the
grandmother In many homes. In
some of them she Is loved and hon
ored andi seems happy; In others
there is apparently no place where she Is
needed and she feels that there Is no place
for bar In the world nobody really wants
ierl
" After a good deal of thought I am forced
to believe that ths main cause of the dis
satisfied state of such a number of the
grandmothers of this age Is simply and
entirely the way they were taught In their
earnest youth.
"Had they learned In the most impres
sionable age the great advantage of read
ing good books beginning with the Book
of books, the Bible their minds would
have become so centered on higher
thoughts, higher ideals, that the petty an
noyances of life would make no Impression
on them.
" May I give you an object lesson in
deed, a little ego? I am now 76 years old
and life Is as sweet and enjoyable as when
I was IS. At T years of age I began to read
good books and aa I grew older my great
love of reading Increased until at 12 I had
read Plutarch's " Lives," Prime's " Travels
in the Holy Land," and other kindred works.
In the evenings my sainted father always
read some uplifting book to ua, thus more
and more filling my mind with Inspiring
thoughts and giving me an optimistic view
ot life. An ardent love of nature was
early instilled in my mind by dally walks
in the lovely woods and fields.
" Now I am not only a grandmother, but
a great-grandmother and life is Just as
pleasant and satisfactory as it was when
I was young In years. I do not feel a
particle older than I did in youth and enjoy
life with the same zest. - C. II. K."
A letter such as this Comes peculiarly
. close to me. I am not a great-grandmother,
but I have grown grandsons and I iave
the advantage of you in years, since I have
passed my eightieth birthday.- But increase
of years has not lessened my Interest in life,
or my enjoyment of the many dear and
keautiful things our heavenly father baa
recollection of his remark I infer that he
had called us, that my sister had heard and
obeyed, and that I had been too much ab
sorbed in the kittens even to hear him. I
didn't deserve that spanking but in those
days parents seldom stopped to inquire
closely into the Justice of their corrections. -I
had appeared disobedient, therefore I
must be punished."
Not only In the nursery and with small
children, is It well to cultivate clearness
In giving orders and to make sure you are
comprehended before you condemn for fail
ure to obey. The same rule applies with the
maidservant within our gates.
' A good many years have passed since I
told a newly landed Irish maid to throw
out of a pot the water in which cabio&ge
had been boiled. She stood uncertain for a
moment and looked at me with uncompre
hending eyes.
"Throw the water away!" I repeated.
" Pour It off the cabbage."
And as she stHI did not move I lifted the
pot myself and turned the water off the
vegetable. A great light of comprehension
broke over her face. '
" o. it's waste It you mean," she ex
claimed. We had each of us added a word to our
vocabularies.
Maids Often Like Children,
" When I first came over," my waitress
once told me, " I had a great deal of
trouble knowing what the lady of the
house meant' when she talked about a
platter. Sure at home it's always a dish,
and what you call a pitcher we call a Jug
pronouncing It Joog '. I was a terrible
greenhorn. . .
, Was she more of one than the average
American girl would have been If trans
ported to Ireland and obliged to accus
tom herself to the nomenclature taken for
granted there?
With all the desire In the world to make
matters easy for my employes, and with
the practice long years of housekeeping
have given me in simplifying my directions
for their benefit, I still find myself brought
up now and then with a sharp turn be
cause I have not sufficiently considered the
slow workings of the brains with which I
have to deal. It Is not a week since I was
hurrying through my directions for dinner
In order to get to another duty when T
was checked In the midst of my instruc
tions by the look of noncomprehension on
my cook's face. I had told her to add to
mato to the bean soup of the night before,
to serve French fried potatoes and spinach
with the steak, putting enough cream in
the spinach to soften It, and to make a
cottage pudding and at this point I saw
the dazed expression which meant that
communication was stopped.
I checked myself. " You understand
about the pudding, Bridget T' I asked.
" No, ma'am. It's the soup I'm thlnkin'
about. Is the tomatoes to be put into it
sthralned or onsthralned?"
MARION
ssnt to me. The love of nature grows
rather than diminishes, my happiness with
my family and friends is even stronger
than in my youth, I enjoy keenly meeting
new people and I never find any one In
whom there Is not something which inter
tits me.
"S our experience with reading is like my .
own and I feel as does Ruskin that we
should all build ourselves nests of beauti
ful thoughts to be a refuge for us as the
years go on. I am fond of saying that the
sugar of life is In the bottom of the cup.
Love of God and nature and humanity,
faith In them all and an Interest which takes
us outside of ourselves and helps us to live
in the lives of others Is the prescription to
cure morbidness and dissatisfaction and
keep us full of life and courage and joy
to the very end.
Are there not numerous other grand
mothers who feel as we do and would like
to tell us what means they practice to pre
serve their zest In life?
Grapefruit Marmalade.
"Will you kindly give me a recipe for
orange marmalade, using oranges, lemons,
and grapefruit? Mrs. J. R. B."
By a happy coincidence another corre
spondent sends by the same mail which
brought me your request a recipe for the
conserve you wish. She calls it " grape
fruit marmalade," but it contains all three
of the fruits you mention, and whatever
name you call it by I don't doubt it will
taste as good.
" GRAPEFRUIT MARMALAUE One
grapefruit, one large orange, one large
lemon. Scrub fruit, cut in half, seed, and
take out cores. Chop or shave the fruit
very fine, saving every bit and every drop
of juice. Measure these, and to every cup
ful add two cupfuls of cold watery put in
agate or china vessel and let stand for
twenty-four hours -longer will do no harm
in cold weather. Put on the stove and let
It come slowly to a boil, cook for twenty
minutes after this and set it away for
twenty-four hours more. Then measure
again, and for every cupful allow a cupful
of sugar; place this in a shallow pan in
open oven; put fruit on the stove and bring
again to the boil, and boll hard ten minutes.
Put In the sugar, boll moderately until the
fruit jellies on a spoon dipped into It. Fill
your glasses with the hot mixture, and
when the marmalade is cold pour over the
top of each glass a thin film of melted
paraffin. The amount I have given will
fill ten ordinary jelly glasses and will keep
for years.
" Sometimes I make the marmalade with
out the grapefruit. Occasionally I use the
oranges and lemons, and Just before put
ting in the sugar I stir in a quart of rhubarb
stewed without sugar but I allow sugar
for it.- Often I use other fruits than the
, rhubarb pears, peaches, etc., but I always
stew it until soft. Be sure that the skin of
the fruit is very tender before putting on
the sugar.
; A better drilled mind would have set
aside the query concerning the soup until
the other orders had been received and
understood. Bridget's brain ceased work
ing at the first obstacle in the way of
smooth comprehension. She had heard
nothing beyond the initial order, and while
' Often
I had gone glibly on to pudding she was
still struggling with the " sthralned " or
onsthrained " state in which the to
matoes were to go into the soup.
; ' " . '
Patience Should Be Exercised.
Often our maids are like children in that
HARLAND'S HELPING HAND.
" Let me give another recipe I have tried
and found good.
" LEMON PIE. Grate rind of one lemon,
pull off the white skin, and after rolling
out your crust and putting it on the
plate, slice the peel lemon very thin and
lay on the crust. Crumble one large
slice of bread, strew the crumbs over
the lemon. Beat the yolks of two egs in a
bowl with a cup of sugar and one of water
and the grated rind of the lemon. Pour this
slowly over the crumbs In the pie plate and
bake. When cold, make a meringue of the
whites of the eggs and' four tablespoons of
powdered sugar, spread on the pie, brown
lightly, and eat very cold. Friend."
Recipes for Cake and Bread.
" I am a girl of 18 and have to bake for a
family of five. Please tell me bow to bake
FAMILY
si; Ml AY.
BREAKFAST.
Grape fruit.
Boiled rice and milk. '
Fried scallops.
Popovers.
Toast.
Tea. Coffee.
LUNCHEON'.
Veal loar.
Baked sweet potatoes.
Egg salad with lettuce and mayonnaise.
Sliced oranges and sugar.
Home made jumbles. . -Tea.
. DINNER. - -Cream
of onion coup. - -Roast
pork with apple sauce and browned
potatoes.
Ladies' cabbage.
Tapioca custard and nut cakes. . .
Coffee. (
Sj: 8k
HOND'AT.
BREAKFAST.
Sliced pineapple. ' -
Oatmeal jelly and crtam.
Bacon. Poached eggs.
Whole wheat biscuit.
Tea. Coffee. . .
LUNCHEON.
Cold el lord pork (a leftover).
Potatoes hashed and browned (a leftover)
Apple sauce.
Toasted biscuit left over from breakfast.
Jam.
Tea. .
DINNER, v .
Biowti potato soup.
Beefsteak.
Scalloped cabbage (a leftover). .
Soiled sweet potatoes. ' V
Steamed suet pudding. , -
Black co free.
-TUESDAY.
BREAKFAST. -Oranges.
Hominy and cream
Bacon. Scrambled eggs
llnfflH. Toast.
Code.
they feel a childish unwillingness to own
their inability to understand the directions
they receive. Do" you not recollect how
as small girls when we started off hot-foot
to carry out an order or to deliver a mes
sage we used to be caught back by our
parents with the warning: " Say over to
our maids are like children in
me just what you are going to do wher. you
get there or just what you are going to
say!" If you have such experiences as
were mine you can recall even yet the con
fusion which encompassed you when you
had to put into words the orders you had
accepted mechanically and which were
a three layer cak one that is easy to
make. ' Also chocolate frosting and 'tilling
and how to make good white bread.
"F. M."
LATER CAKE Rub one cup of butter
to a cream with two cups of sugar, add the
beaten yolks of four egigs, one cup of milk,
the -whipped whites of the eggs, three cups
flour, three teaspoons baking powder, one
cup of milk. Bake In three layers. For
chocolate frosting or filling boil one oup
sugar and e thirdlof a cup of water without
stirring until it threads, pour on. the beaten
white of an egg, beat steadily, adding1 two
heaping tablespoons of grated chocolate,
two tablespoons cream, a half teaspoon
butter, and a teaspoon vanilla. When the
mixture is lukewarm use as filling or icing
for cake.
MEALS FOR A
LUNCHEON.
Hash from steak of last night.
Fried hominy (left over from the morning
before).
Sweet potatoes fried in slices (a leftover).
Cheese. Crackers.
Tea
DINNER. .
Mutton broth with barley.
Roast chicken.
Creamed turnips.
Boiled rice with cheese sauce.
Prune and nut Jelly.
Coffee.
WEDNESDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Grape fruit.
Cracked wheat and cream.
Bacon and fried applca.
Griddle oakea.
Toast.
Tea. Coffee.
LUNCHEON.
Glblet omelet (gibleto from last night's
chicken).
Scalloped rice with cheese (a leftover).
Corn muffins.
Lettuce.
Crackers and cheese. t
Cookies. Cocoa.
DINNER.
Cream of turnip soup . leftover).
- v Chicken pie (a leftover).
Maahed potatoes.
Brussels sprouts.
" Cottage pudding.
Black coffee.
. " ife
THURSDAY.
BREAKFAST.
.. - - Oranges.
Oatmeal and cream. '
Sausages. , Waffles.
Toast. -j
Tea. Coffee. -
LUNCHEON;
Chun fritters.
. . Potato puff (a leftover).
Quick Sally Lunn,
v Preserves. , Wafers. . .V
. , , . Tea.
quite as likely to have been misconstrued
as understood. That way of teaching a
child what an order really meant may not
prevail with this generation, but like some
other old fashioned methods it possesses
many advantages and it might make for
good If applied to our employes as well as
their inability to understand
to our children. I fancy we would some
times find amusement in discovering how
our instructions had been translated.
A young college graduate was in charge
of negro- workmen who were carrying some
beams from the place where tbey were
stacked to the positions awaiting them in 3
A correspondent answers your third que s
tion. She wirftes:
" I have a recipe for bread which I have
used successfully for twenty-seven years
and have been told many times that it is
very good bread.
" One cent cut yeast, one end one-half
quarts lukewarm water, two tablespoon! uls
lard or butter, one tablespoon salt, two
tablespoonfuls sugar, one large freshly
cooked potato. Dissolve the yeast and
sugar in one quart lukewarm water, add to
it enough flour to make a soft sponge, beat
well, cover and set aside for one and one
half hours in a warm- place to rise. When
well risen add lard or butter (melted), salt,
potato, and about a pint of the water the
potato was boiled in (strain potato and
water through a fine sieve). Add remain
der of flour slowly while kneading, make a
WEEK.
DINNER.
Chicken rack soup.
Lamb's liver en casserole.
Fried bananas.
Corn puddtcg.
Irish potato pis and cheese.
Black coffee.
' FRIDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Baked apples) and cream.
Cracked wheat.
;Fishballa.
" Graham rmiffirw. Toast.
Tea. Coffee.
, ' LUNCHEON.
Minced liver (a leftover).
Toasted Sally Lunn (left over from the day
before).
Saratoga chips.
Hot gingerbread.
Cheese.
Chocolate.
DINNER.
Tomato bisque. .
Broiled blue-fish.
... potatoes boiled with parsley sauce.
Green peas.
Brown Betty.
. Black coffee.
SATURDAY.
' BRBAFA8T.
Oranges.
ICush and milk.
Baked eggs. . Bacon.
Toast.
Tea. Coffee.
' LUNCHEON.
: Bluefleh scalloped with solid part of tomato
from can used for yesterday's bisque.
Minced white potatoes, creamed (a leftover).
English muffins, toasted.
- Crackers. -Marmalade.
Tea. . -.
, - - DINNER,
i Split pea soup.
Boiled leg of mutton with caper sauce.
String beans, whipped potatoes.
Charlotte ruase.
Black coffee.
building. One of the heavy pieces of tim
ber was lifted with the wrong end fore
most. " Reverse that beam! " shouted the direc
tor. The men went on unheeding.
" Reverse that beam, I say! " he called
again, with no more effect. Another over-
Orders."
seer, possessed of less book learning and
more experience, elucidated the order.
" What you talkin' about " varsin ' ?" he
growled soornf ully. Then to the men :
" Bend for eend. you fools!" And the beam
was swung at once into its proper position.
I do not mean to imply that we should use
moderately firm dough, knead until hands
become dry, place in greased bowl, cover,
and let rise about two hours. When light
mold into loavts and place in well greased
baking pans, cover, and let rise again for
about one hour; when light bake in a quick
oven, where it should orown In from fifteen
to twenty minutes, then reduce heat until
baked.. An ordinary loaf requires about
fifty minutes.
" The beating of batter and kneading of
the dough is of as much importance as the
ingredients you put in to make good' bread.
Beating, and kneading add the air which
is necessary for the development of yeast.
Greasing the bowl and keeping bread well
covered while rising prevents a crust from
forming on the top. which if allowed to form
and kneaded into the dough causes streaks
through thci bread. Potatoes keep the bread
moist and give it a nice flavor. Use no
flour when molding into loaves and handle
s little as poesible. To be sure bread is
ready for oven, put flour on the finger and
make an impression in one of the loaves. If
the Impression remains the bread will rise
no more. Iff It disappears give it a little more
time. vVhen baked remove from pans and
do not cover with cloth until cold.
" I trust this recipe is not too long, but
I could not condense it, as this is just the
way I have always made it. I am also In
closing a good cookie, recipe, which con
tains no shortening or milk. They are ex
cellent for children.
" CHILDREN'S COOKIES Two pounds
brown sugar, one cup warm water, tea
spoonful of soda dissolved in the water, one
teaspoonful cinnamon, one teaspoonful all
spice, one teaspoonful anise seed, yolks of
three eggs, pinch of salt. Use enough flour
to makes, soft dougti. Out with cookie cut
ter, place in well greased! pans, and, bake in
hot oven. If a cup of nuts of any kind-is
added it Improves the cookies very nvucJh.
" I hope these recipes may in some way
help others. Mrs. W. 8."
Thank you very much! I think good
recipes which have been tested and proved
always help others. I have yet to meet a
housekeeper who was not on the lookout
for hints to vary her table, for directions
to help in the preparation of attractive and
inexpensive delicacies. All thanks to those
oflour constituency who endeavor to supply
this want!
Olive Preserving Recipe Sought.
"Will you kindly print a recipe for pre
serving oil ves ? M. 8. 8."
I wish I could help you, but I do not think
I have ever heard of preserved oaves. You
cone from a region where olives grow, and
should be in a better position than I to se
cure recipes for them. Cannot some of our
California contingent help us out? I will
he glad to get and print the recipe you wish.
Commeal Stuffing.
" Some years ago I partook of a Christmas
dinner, cookedt I believe, by a southern
incorrect language or tafce unfair liberties
with English grammar In order to make
ourselves understood by those who work
for us and wbose vocabulary differs from
ours. On the contrary, we should enlarge
their range and teach them new words and
phrases. But let us understand the dis
advantages under which tbey labor and
exercise for their sakes a HWie of the pa
tience w would like to have displayed for
ua If we were placed in similar clrcum-
'
Let Maid Try Her Ovn Way.
Consider for a moment bow you would
feel if you were transported into ths homo
of an employer wbose works and ways were
all unknown to you. Tou have no Idea of
where anything Is and although your new
mistress may show you, you cannot take
tt all in at once. Tou are unable to recol
leot If she likes the spoons put on tha right
side of the plate or the left when the table
Is set. If she keeps the plates on the first
or the second shelf of the china closet, and
If she told you to brush down the stairs
before you swept the bedrooms or after
wards. Tet you may be familiar with the
sort of language she uses and may be
accustomed to the kind of bouse in which
she lives. How would tt be if you were put
down In a French, or German, or Italian
kitchen, with a different fuel from any
you had ever used, utenaila whose very
names you did not know, articles of food
that were new to you? Don't you think
you would be grateful to the employer wh.
would be patient with your slowness of
comprehension and willing to repeat her
orders deliberately enough for you to stow
them away In some sort of sequence In your
puzzled brain?
Even if a maid is not actually "green"
she Is. as she would herself put It, "a little
strange" for the first few days. Tou can
make life easier for her and Incidentally
for yourself If you -will let her try her own
way of work Instead of Insisting upon her
following your methods exactly.
'To my mind, there Is only one right way
of doing a thing," a housekeeper said to
me a few days since. ' "I make my servants
follow my rule about everything and do
their work in my way!"
I feel sorry for the maids wno live with
that housekeeper. I don't wonder there are
so many changes la her kitchen. To my
mind results and not processes are to be
studied. If my laundress brings In my
clothes snowy clean and well Ironed, end
if I know that she has used no Injurious
detersives in bringing them to that state, I
' do not ask her in how many waters she has
rinsed the garments, how long they have
been soaked, or boiled, or scrubbed. The
clothes are clean, uninjured by chemicals
and ironed to suit my rather fastidious
taste. Try this plan as ell as that of mak
ing your orders lucid and see if it -does not
contribute to peace and contentment for
you and your household alike.
cook. The turkey was stuffed with some
kind of a cornbread or corn meal stuffing
and I have never found anyone who could
give me the recipe. I consider it the most
delicious turkey dressing I have ever eaten
and If possible would like much to obtain
the recipe. Can you help me?
" M. A. V. V."
Again I must ask the help of my con
stituency. I am neb familiar with such a
stuffing as you mention. I have eaitenattif
fing for poultry of oysters, of chestnuts, of
bread, of sausage, of potato, and divers
other compounds, but the cornmeal or corn
bread stuffing lea novelty tome, and I would
like much to know how to prepare it.
S ajt
Fruit Cake That Will Keep.
In order that those who have any doubt
as to the last statement may have the
chance to prove it I give with this s. recipe
for fruit cake.
" I inclose you directions for a fruit cake
which will keep for one year or twenty
five with the right care, and is better after
one month than when first made. The
recipe has been in our family for five gen
erations at least, and was used by my
mother at her wedding and again at ber
golden wedding two years ago.
" FRUIT CAKE Two and a half pounds
white sugar, ons pound butter, one pound
flour, dozen eggs. Beat eggs, add sugar
and butter creamed together, and flour.
Add two pounds currants, one and one-balf
pounds raisins, and one pound shredded
citron, dredged) In flour, and two ounces
each of allspice and cinnamon, and one
ounce grated nutmeg. Bake In a very alow
oven about five hours and watch constantly,
as It will burn easily. M. C. C."
A cake with such a pedigree as this should
be worth having and I follow it with in
structions for another which is almost as
well recommended.
.
Another Fruit Cake Recipe.
" I send a fruit cake recipe which has been
used for years without failure, and will, I
hope, be of Interest to some of your readers.
" FRUIT CAKE Ona and a half cups
butter, half cup each of butter and of lard,
three eggs, a grated nutmeg, a teaspoon
ground cloves, three teaspoons ground cin
namon, a teaspoon and a half baking soda,
a cup each of currants and of raisins, the
latter cooked In a Httle water until tender
and all the water cooked away, a cup sour
milk, a cup nut meats, walnut or any kind
you choose, three cups flour. Mas. o. B."
All these cakes have their place In the
commissariat and are perhaps of most use
to offer on state occasions. For this reason
their '"keeping qualities are valuable,
since If wrapped tn cloths and shut away in
a tightly closed tin box they are good for a
much longer time than a simpler cake would
be. Although expensive in material, they
should only be eaten In small quantities
because of their richness and so are not
so costly in the long run as a plainer cake
that would bs served la large porUeas.