WOMAN'S WORLD.

Evening Star, Issue 11700, 4 October 1902, Page 7

WOMAN'S WORLD.

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"Viva" will tn this column answer all reasonable, question* relating, to the home, cooktry, domestic economy, and any topic of in-tt-rert to her fees. But each letter must bear (ho writer*6 bona fide name and address. No Jittfcs whatever trill be taken of anonymous correspondents. Questions should be conuwly put, and the writer's nom de plume be •clearly written. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. " Sybil.'"—■ Half an ounce of camphor, with one ounce of borax, dissolved in a quart of water (preferably rain water). Heat the water before adding the camphor and borax, as this will'facilitate the dissolving of the ingredients. Bottle, and keep closely corked tor use. Apply freely to the scalp two or three times a week. It makes a very efficaeious wash for falling hair. . ,- " Moura."—Touch the mud stains on black cloth with a little ammonia before washing. Putting them into soapy water first would only set the stains, and make theni extremely difficult to remove. . "Rita."—lf new tinware ie rubbed over with fresh lard and thoroughly boated in the oven before it is used it will never rust afterwards, no matter how much it is put in water.

" Unfortunate."—To prevent a bruise from becoming discolored, apply water as hot as can be borne comfortably, changing the cloth as soon as it loses its 'heat. If hot water is not to be had at once, moisten some dry starch with cold water, arid cover the bruised part with it. " Honsewife."—-Try soft soap and water. or ammoniT. and Water. That is an easy and effective way of cleaning carpets;'but to remove stains you should use separately a mixture of ox gall and water. Let the carpet to be treated be beaten thoroughly'; then sweep it, and apply the mixture with a soft brush; wash off with clean, cold water the lather that will be produced, changing the water often; finally rub the carpet all over with ammonia and hot water. " Freda."—-This is an excellent recipe for making cocoamit ice: One cup add a-half of sugar, balf a cup of milk, small piece of butter; boil three minutes, then add one cup of. cocoanut. Boil the whole ten minutes; beat until nearly cold. To color, divide, add a fGw drops of cochineal. Your other queries will be answered next week. HOUSEHOLD RECIPES. Broiled Fish.—Split the fish open, remove the backbone, brush it over with melted butter, lay it between the wires of a hot broiler, and cook over a moderate clear fire; put the flesh side first towardr the fire* and cook about ten minutes. Care fully transfer the fiah to a hot dish, the meat side up. Mix one tablespoonful of butter with on? teaspoonful of salt and onequarter tablespoonful of pepper till creamy; spread this over the fish, and serve with baked or French fried potatoes. Fricasseed Mutton Cutlets.—Cut somf nice mutton cutlets, chop the bonea off Miort,' and dredge them lightly with flour. Set. a little; dripping in a fryingpan, slice into it a Spanish onion, add a few tomatoes, season with black pepper and salt, then fry. Add the cutlets and fry to a good brown, then set in a stewp'an with thr tonmtoes. Strain the gravy from the onions, thicken it with browned flow, boi" up. and pour over the stew. Simmei gently for an hour. Serve with a rice border.

A Simple. Breakfast Dish.—When one he comes weary of the bacon or the ham and eggs, which ?o frequently form the average breakfast, this will prove' a pleasant Variety. It also has this advantage: it can be entirely prepared, except the actual cooking, the day before. Mince ono pound of steak, or, if more convenient, the same weight oJ cold meat, although the former is better. Add :\, tablespoonful of finely-choppec parsley and a small onion finely minced also. Stir in a little rice flour" pepper, salt, and cinnamon to taste, and mix together, sbape into balls, and fry a delicate brown.

Savory Macaroni.—Take a quarter of a pound of macaroni, one tomato, one breakfast cup of stock, pepper and salt. Boil the macaroni for a few minutes in boilin-j water, drain, and pub on again in the stock Peel the tomato, cut it up small, and add to the macaroni with pepper' and salt to taste. Lot all stew gently for about half an hour, when it will be tender and will have absorbed all .thfr stock. .Serve with stoak. Dutch Ribe.—Boiled rice, mixed with apple sauce and sprinkled with brown sugar, ir a well-known Holland dish. Place "the mixture in a disb, cover with brown sugar, and sear with a red-hot poker. Beefsteak and Oniona.—Broil the steak over the fire, being careful to turn it often; ufter it is cooked place on a hot platter and put in the oven with little dabs of butter on it. 'Put two ounces of very finelychopped suet in a fryingpan, and fry a light brown; into that put three onion's sliced very fine. Cover the pan and cook until tender, then remove tho cover; and continue until the onions are a light brown. In serving pour the onions and gtaw over the steak.

/ Celery Patties.—Take the hearts of two heads of celery, boil until quite tender, x iet the celery drain, and then pound it in a mortar with one tablespoonful of grated ham, two tablespoonfuls of cream, one of fine bread-crumbs, a little butter, popper, :md salt. Let it steam until it thickens, fiil some pastry patty cases with the mixture. Serve verv hot. -

Economical and Strengthening Jelly for Invalids.—Boil a cow's heel in a quart of water down to a stiff jelly. Carefully take off the fat -when cold. Warm the jelly, add wine and brandy to flavor, the juice of half a lemon, a ftt of peel, and sugar to taste. Just bring to the boil, then strain and pour into moulds. Crumbed Potatoes.—Scrape and boil -some new potatoes in the ordinary way. When soft, lift them out and dry lightly, then cut each in half lengthways, sprinkle some- salt and pepper over them, lay them on a hob dish, pour over them a little warmed butter. Lift them out with a skewer, and cover with browned crumbs. Lay on a hot buttered tin, and bake about ttm minutes in a hot oven.

Plain Snaps.—Take a quarter of a pound of butter, one- pound of Hour, three-quarters of a cup of sugar, three-quarters of a cup of treacle, a quarter of a cup of boiling water, one tcaspoonful of soda, one dessertspoonful eaeh of ginger and spice. Mejt the butter and treacle with the water, add the., dry •ingredients. Mix well, roll out, and cut into little rounds. Bake.ten minutes.

Baked Batter Pudding with Fruit.—Make a batter of a quarter of a pound of flour, put this in a basin with a level saltspoon of salt, stir in gradually half a pint of milk, and beat -well with a spoon to make it light; add two beaten eggs to this, and pour, it into a greased pie-dish. Put in any fruit well wiped and dry; put some pieces of butter on the top, and kkc half an hour or more. Serve sugar sprinkled over the top and with it, . Dates or dried fruits soaked and boiled can be used in winter. The liquor makes sauce for steamed puddings. Gingerbread Pudding.—Take a quarter of a pound of butter, two tables'pobnfuls of sugar, one egg, one teacup of milk, three-quarters of a teacup of treacle, one teaspoon of ginger, one teaspoon of spice, one teaspoon of carbonate of soda, one heaped breakfast cup or more of flour. Cream the butter and sugar; add the egg, treacle, milk, and soda, the flour and spices; any fruit, such as two ounces of sweet ginger, chopped raisins, candied peel, almonds can be added. Grease a basin, and decorate the bottom with strips of sweet ginger or peel 5 place the pudding carefully In, cover with buttered paper, »nd steam for two hours. Turn out, and serve with sauce.

Cornflour Cake.—Take , four . eggs, a quarter of a pound of butter, half a pound cf cornflour, two ounces of flour, sixounees of sugar, one teaspoon of baking powder, flavoring of almond or vanilla essence. Ground rice may be substituted for cornflour, but less sugar may then be used. Cream Cake.—Take one egg. three ounces of butter, ono teaeupful of whipped cream, half a pound of flour, three tablespoonfujs of sugar, one teaspoon of baking powder, the grated rind of lemon or orange, one tablespoon of fruit juice. Bake in a shallow tin.

. A New Salad.—Cut the stems off several totnatocs, and scoop out*the pulp, which may be reserved for another dish. Chop m> i two cold, boiled potatoes, and as much celery. Cover with a dressing made from

a half-teaspodnful of salt, a pinch of cayenne, four tablespoonfuls. 'of oil, one of vinegar, aud a large tablespoonful of finely« chopped parsley. Stand in a cool place until required, and before sendihg to the table add ft teaspoonful of mayonnaise sauco 'to each tomato.'

A'Nev,- Recipe for Hate Sandwiches.— Take finely-chopped c6ld ' l»iled haw, butter, and dry mustard, and put together in the proportion of a heaped tablespoonful of butter and a quarter of a teaspoonful 6f mustard to a, ctipful of ham. Warm the mixture, and )pack in a clean deep tin pan, and set it aside to get cold. When wanted, turn out, bike very thin, and place .between slices of ; thinly-cut bread. Roll sandwiches can be made with this mixture. _ An advantage; in making the sandwiches in this way is that the bread does not have to-be bettered, and for picnic, use. a much neater and - more convenient sandwich is evolved;

Celery a l'ltalienne.—Two heads of white celery, half-pint of milk, 20/. of butter, one breakfast cupful of freshlyinade bread crumbs, a few browned breadcrumbs, one egg, seasoning. Wash and prepare the celery thoroughly, and cut it into one-inch lengths. Boil 'in salted water until quite tender. Then strain off and simmer gently in a white saucepan with the milk and loz of the butter for eight minutes. Take off the fire, let it cool for a few minutes, then stir in the egg well beaten, and season well. Lightly butter a small pie dish, and put a layer of bread-erurabs at the bottom. On these lay some scraps of butter. . Then pour in the celery mixture, cover *with the rest of the bread-crumbs, and pieces of butter on top. Over all strew some lightly-browned bread-crumbs.- Bake in the oven for ten to fifteen minutes until the top looks slightly crisp, and serve. To make a compote of peaches, cut them in half, stone them, dip them into boiling water, peel them, and cook them. in hot syrup. When they have boiled over twice take them off the'fire and place them in a glass dish, passing the syrup through a sieve and pouring it over the peaches. The fruit should then be left to get quite cold before it is served.

Pickled raisins are regarded as a "nice hors d'eouvre, and may be made at any time. To do so take two pounds of brown sugar and one pint of vinegar, and add to them a teaspoonful each of cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and roacc in a bag. ' Heat this mixture, skim if. and pour it over two pounds of large raisins on their stems. In two days put all over the fire and let it simmer very slowly for a quarter of an hour.

Savory rissoles may be made by mincing a pound of mutton and mixing it with an ounce of bread-crumbs which hare been soaked in a little milk. Add to this nutmeg, salt, and a tiny piece of onion, which has been finely chopped. The mixture should now be formed. into croquettes, which must be. egged and breadcrumbed and fried in deep, hot fat, or, if preferred, they may be stewed in rich gravy with a few mushrooms or tomatoes. Here is a recipe for making banana fritters. Take six good-sized bananas, peel them, and cut them into lengthwise slices about half an inch in thickness, and sprinkle them very islightly with powdered sugar and lemon juice. • . Then make a batter of one cup of flour, one teaspoonfut of baking powder, half a cup of milk, and one egg. Into this batter dip the bananas, and fry them in hot lard. Lastly drain them", sprinkle powdered sugar over them, and serve them.

Apricot souffle is made with three ounces of castor sugar, one ounce of butter, one gill of milk, three eggs, one and a-half ounces of Hour, and five apricots. The apricots and sugar cook to a marmalade, then melt the butter in a stewpan, mixing in the flour and milk, and cook it thoroughly for ten or fifteen minutes. Nest add the apricots, take the mixture off the fire, and add the yolks of the eggs, stirring in the whites which have been beaten to a stiff froth. Pour all this into a buttered souffle tin or a cake tin with buttered paper fastened outside round the top of the tin, and, lastly, bake it in a quick oven, ■ . HINTS. . In.Case of -Fire.—A- fire extinguisher, which may easily, be made at home and kept •in-:-bottles-ready-i for-use,- consists'-of thret pcunds of salt and one and a-half pounds o r sal ammoniac disrolved in a. gallon of water. Boiling Old Potatoes.-—When boiling ol<i potatoes, which are apt to go a very dark color, put a tablespoonful of milk into th.3 water in which they are boiled, and vou will find that they will be beautifully white wL en cooked. *

Arranging Flowers.—ln arranging flower? never mix large, heavy blossoms with frail, fine foliage, nor, vice versa, small blossom? with large foliage. Tho best results are ob tained by trying to follow Nature as.'far as possible. To Clean aw Invalid's Room.—The best way to clean an invalid's room is to iub the carpet all over with a cloth wrung oui ox ammonia, rinsing and turning the cloth as the dust and dirt collect upon it. Change the water frequently. This is far bettli than, sweeping and raising an unpleasant dust.

To Clean Mirrors.—Try rubbing with a ball of soft tissue or other paper, with a little methylated spirit poured on it, and afterwards polish with a duster on which a little whiting has been sprinkled,' and tinally rub with tissue* or newspaper. Tliis will prevent it from looking smearv. Stains for Floors.—Oak stain is made by mixing a pint of boiled linseed oil, a gill an.i a-half of turpentine, three tablespoonfuls oi raw umber,'three tablespoonfuls of-whiting. Mahogany stain is made with one pint of boiled oil, a gill and a-half of turpentine, three tablespoonfuls of burnt sienna, three tablespoonfuls' of whiting, half a tablespoonful of yellow ochre, half a tablespoonful of Bismarck brown, and half a tablespoonful or aniline black. A little of the stain should be tried on a piece of board bafore trying it on any articles of furniture or a floor. The shade of color may be deepened or lightened by increasing or diminishing the coloring matter. The stain should be rubbed into the wood, and after a day or two tho floor rubbed hard with a soft woollen cloth. To Preserve Brass Ornaments.—Brass ornaments, when not gilt or lacquered, may be cleaned and a fine color given to them by two simple processes. The first is to beat sal ammoniac into fine powder, then to moisten it with soft water, rubbing it on the ornaments, which must l* heated, and rubbed dry with bran and whiting. The second is to wash the brasswdrk with rock alum boiled in a strong lye, in the projxrtion of one ounce to a pint; when dry it must be rubbed with Tripoli. Either of these processes will give brass the brilliancy of gold.

Salt, is a iiseful dentriftce, It preserves the teeth, keeping thein. white, the gums healthy, and tie breath sweet. Put some salt in an iron shovel, place ,i.t over the fire, and when quite hot pour into a thin bag. Apply to any part affected with neuralgia or intense pain. In greasing tins, lard is much better to use than butter, except in cases where the dough is very delicately flavored and might,taste of the former. The mixture is much more likely to stick to the pan with butter than lard.

Carpets may bq greatly brightened by first sweeping thoroughly and then going civer them with a clean cloth and clear salt and water—one cupful to a largo basin of water.

For Burns or Scalds.—Cover the parts with carbonate of soda half in inch thick, put a bandage over it, and then moisten with cold water; will heal, without blistering. A new, soft paint brush is a good thing with which to dust carved furniture. The bristles trill penetrate the deepest crevices without in any way injuring the polish. How to Keep Brass Articles Clean.—Cat a tomato in two, rub the articles with it, and polish. '

When, cooking with a gas stove always place a tin of water in the oven to keep the contents from burning.

Steamed steak puddings are far lighter and more digest.ble than Dotted ones. WOMEN AND THE SECRET SERVICE

Few people realise what an important part Women r p!ay fo the Secret Service de partments. In every city-' in the world the heads of the. Secret, Service' have their agents, aid many of them are of the feminine sex. Russia, France, Austria, and

Spain are perhaps the countries that employ the most women "agents" (as they are called), but England owes some of the most important information that sho possesses to Women. .These: Secret Service spies teko all guises. Soma live among the lower class, and gain from the soldiers and workmen information about fortifications, etc. Others gain admittance as mures or governesses into the host families - and otlers are armed vith indisputable credentials,, and move in the best societv.—'Household Words.' PERSONAL AND GENERAL. A writer in 'To-day' says that broken baud-glasses, such as' ladies use to view their pack hair, make excellent ping-pong racquets..' "The. slightly flexible Uature of the thin, polished wood, and the peculiarly curved shape of the flat handles, enable the users to get in sonic vory brilliant work." Croquet is again coming to. the front in England, where at many . residences the lines of lawu-tennia courts have been removed from private lawns and croquet hoops fixed instead. Germany is not without her women doctors. During, the years 1901 and 1902 only one lady took her degree aa a doctor at the Berlin University, but altogether during last year no fewer than fourteen ladies have taken their degrees at Gorman universities as doctors. Of these lady students only six were Germans. Five passed at the Halle University, three at Heidelberg, two at Gottingen, one in Berlin, one in Breslau, one at Freiburg, sad one at Munich.

Mr Frederick Sixt, a resident of New Jersey, lately advertised for a pretty and well-brought-up wife. Among the numerous replies was one in a very familiar hand. It came (he had, of course, not advertifed under his own name) from his former wife. During the period that they had been separated Mr Sixt had married a rich woman, who had left him a fortune, and timo had perhaps «ided prosperity in softening his disposition—lenit albescens animus eapillus. At any rate, he found himself yearning for number one, and she is now Mm Sixt number three.. An English baronet adopted precisely the same course a few years aao.

Mr Alfred-De Rothschild sent to Madame Melba on the day she left England a beautiful diamond and turquoise necklet and a remarkable collection of fruit and flowers. Sir Thomas Lipton sent a ease of the finest fruit, Lady Hartopp's parting gift was a diamond riug, andthe Countess of Warwick sent a tall picture of herself framed in solid •ilver. No less than eleven gold pencils, set with jewels, were handed 'in by different, friends. Of gold purses there were several, and many diamond trinkets. Miss Ada Crossley sent to the- saloon carriage an armful of long-stemmed pink rose*. They ray that the latest "catch" riddk is: " Which would you sooner be, the loveliest woman in England or a Queen?" The answer is: '' Queen Alexandra, because she is both!" , An English contemporary relates a story of a servant who gave her mistress notice because she wished to marry John, the •sweep. A few days later sue announced that she had changed her mind. "This is very sudden, Jane/' said her mistress. " Yes'm," the servant replied, '"I saw John last night for the first time with his face washed." And there and then she made a clean sweep of him. '