WOMAN’S WORLD.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2482, 24 May 1909, Page 8

WOMAN’S WORLD.

SEND CHILDREN TO BED HAPPY

Do not reprimand or punish the children ! late in the day; never just before bedtime Send them off to their beds happy. 1 Commend them for the good they have done, forgetting, for the time at least, anything that has been remiss in their conduct. Tell them a story when there is time—there should always be time and let it be a bright and cheerful one. Kiss and tuck them in, leaving them happy to the sweet repose that is'the inalienable right of childhood. If you ever heard a child sighing and sobbing in its sleep, you would never, never chide or punish one again just before bedtime. Take any other time than that. Seal their closing eyelids with a kiss and a blessing. The time will come all too soon when they will lay their heads upon their pillows lacking both. Let them, then, at least have the memory of a happy childhood, oi which no future sorrow or trouble can rob them. •aXOTY DKIAIT There are hundreds of women, says a lady writer, who,’from choice or necessity, live entirely alone; some in apartments, others renting a small house or cottage. Many are working for their living, going out every day to office, warehouse, ox factory. There are others who, possessing a settled income, have no occupation, and it is to the latter class I_ would like to offer a few suggestions. There is, I regret to say, a great tendency to drift into slovenliness when living by one’s self. I mean as regards the smaller details of everyday life. Meals are not studied with that carefulness which is always observed where there are others to cater for. ' often hear it said —“Oh, being only myself I do not care to take the trouble to prepare dinner”—or words to the same effect. Now this is wrong. Regularity of meals is necessary to keep one in health, and ’t is no wonder that so many women break down, suffer from nervous depression, and the hundred and one little miseries which are so common under the circumstance*. I ouite understand that it is more agreeable to take one’s meals in company—l mean with a congenial companion—but as this cannot always be done it is the height of folly to go ■without a good dinner. Prepare each meal with care; let your table be as nicely arranged as if you were doing it for others. A woman slowly, but surely, loses her self-respect if she allows herself to become careless or slovenly in this matter. The tablecloth, if coarse and small, should be always clean and smooth. Knife, fork, spoon, glass, etc., need not be dull or smeary-looking, because no eyes but your own will see them. Bread, if in slices, will look much nicer when arranged on a doyley-covered plate, and a simple vase of flowers or graceful foliage will afford a pleasing resting-place for the eye to fall upon while the meal is taken. The household duties will be very few, and of a simple nature, but perform them conscientiously, although vou need not make a s.ave of yourself. All can, or should be, completed before noon, and I advise every woman living by herself, to get out, fit least once each day. If there are friends within easy distance call on them occasionally ; read the daily paper, and do all to keep in touen with the outside world. It is always good to have some pet—cat, dog, or bird. Otherwise a lone woman acquires the “uncanny” habit of talkig to herself. The care of such a pet will broaden the mind, and keep one from becoming too self-centred. A small garden offers a wide field for healthy occupation, and a few simple vegetables, and some gay. homely flowers require little care, and even less 'skill in their cultivation. Be on friendly terms with your neighbors, but avoid being too intimate at first, and above all, shut your cars, to any idle tale or gossip, and never reneat any report concerning the ill-doings of others. RECIPES AND HINTS. Brown Vegetable Soup. —-This is a good vegetarian soup, but may, if liked, be made with stock. Take a piece of carrot, a piece of turnip, an onion, two sticks of celery, a bunch of herljs, one dessertspoonful of blitter, one tablespoonful of flour, five breakfastcupfuls of water, some finelychopped parsley, one teacupful of tinned tomatoes, one dessertspoonful of ketchup, salt and pepper to taste. Prepare the vegetables and cut them in rough pieces. Put the butter in a pan, and when smoking hot add the onion, and fry till it is brown, then add the carrot, turnip, and celery, and fry them very well, then the flour and all the other ingredients except the parsley and ketchup. Let the soup boil about an hour and a half, then strain through a sieve. Rub the vegetables through, return to the pan, season to taste, add the parsley, chopped finely, the ketchup, and serve. Boiled rice or boiled peas may be served with the soup; the latter would, of course, be served in the SOU)). Carrots with French Beans. —Scrape the carrots and boil them with salt until tender, let them stand till cold, and cut in dice. Put a tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan, add a seasoning of salt and pepper and a teaspoonfui of sugar; when the butter boils put in the carrots, and stir till heated through. Pile the carrots in the centre of a dish, have ready some French beans cooked,with one tablespoonful of water, one teaspoonful of sugar, one tablesponful of butter, salt and pepper, place neatly round the carrots, and serve. Stuffed Vegetable Marrow.—Choose a large marrow, and wash it in warm water. Cut it from end to end in two pieces so that one piece is much larger than the other. Scoop out all the pulp containing the seeds, and, if soup is being made, add it to the stock-pot' instead of throwing it away. Make a forcemeat by scaldinn half a pound of bread' with half a pint of milk or stock. Set the soaked bread aside to cool, and when it is almost cold beat it with a fork, and add four ounces of cold meat and two ounces of cocked ham, both finely minced. Add also a dessertspoonful of chopped parsley, a quarter of a teaspoonful of sweet herbs, a finely chopped onion, a pinch x of powdered mace, a seasoning of pepper and salt, and a beaten egg. Fill the large piece of marrow with the forcemeat, and cover it with the smaller piece. Bind the two pieces of marrow together with white tape, or wrap it in a piece of muslin, tie it at both ends. Bake the marrow for an hour, untie the tape or muslin, and serve the marrow hot with a little gravy thickened with flour poured round it in the dish. A few chopped mushrooms added to the forcemeat greatly improve. AGood Steak Pudding.—Line a greased basin with thin suet crust, cut two pounds of shin of beef or beef steak into thick, square pieces; remove the white part of a quarter of a pound of beef kidney. Mix a small teaspoonful of pepper, a teaspoonful of salt, and a tablespoonful of flour, with some chopped parsley and chopped raw onion. Dip each piece of meat into this, put as lightly as possible into the basin, fill up wth water. Cover with suet crust, tie over with a cloth, and steam for four hours. Either turn the pudding out whole on a dish, or send to table with a serviette folded round the basin. Many people add a few oysters to the above proportions. Welsh Rarebit.—Put into a small saucepan a quarter of a pound of rich, mild cheese, sliced, two ounces of butter, three tablespoonfuls of cream, half a teaspoonful of made mustard and a little salt. Stir till melted and smooth, beat in a whisked egg, and pour over hot buttered s toast. Serve at once on a hot dish. Japanese Tart.—Line a shallow tin with good short crust and bake it for twenty minutes. When cool turn out and put a layer of jam-or preserved apricots in the bottom. Fill up with a nice custard made with the yolks of two eggs and threequarters of a cup of milk, and return to

the oven to set. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, mix in two ounces of castor sugar, and beat again, for a few minutes. Spread in an even layer over the custard. Place the remainder in an icing bag with a- tube and ornament with scrolls. Put back in the oven to brown a little.

Quince Jelly.—Wipe the fruit carefully and remove all the stems and blemished parts. Use the upper parts for marmalade. and the skins, cores, and hard parts for jelly. The seeds contain a large proportion of gelatinous substance. Boil all together in enough water to cover, till the pulp is soft. Mash and strain. Use the juice only, and when boiling add an equal weight of sugar; boil till it jellies, and then set in pots for use. Coffee Milk. —Boil a heaped dessertspoonful of coffee in three-quarters of a pint of milk for a few minutes. Then add a lew shavings of isinglass to clear it let it just boil up and then stand on one side of the lire to grow fine. Pour into a cup carefully so as to, avoid the sediment. To brighten stained knife blades rub them with a cut raw potato dipped in bathbvick, and finish off with a rub on the knife board.

To clean brass trays rub thoroughly with a slice of lemon (or the remains of a lemon used for cookery), wash in clean hot water, dry, and polish with a chamois leather.

On cold washing days heat the clothes pegs in a pan in the oven. Then put them in the peg bag, so that they will keep warm. Also have the rinsing and blue water warm.

Economy in Coal.—Place a quantity of chalk at the back of the grate. Once heated, this will be a glowing mass, and it will last, a long time if care be taken not to stir the fire too energetically with the poker. Ironing Embroidery.—When ironing any embroidered article see how much better it will look in the end if you lay it on a folded Turkish towel. Place the right side of the article on the towel, which should be folded to form several thicknesses ; then iron on the wrong side. The embroidery will stand out remarkably well if -treated in this way. The back of a waist which has many small buttons will look better if ironed in the same manner.