THE FRIENDLY EXCHANGE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 907, 19 July 1889, Page 4

THE FRIENDLY EXCHANGE.

In this column we propose to have pleasant chats and interchange of ideas with our readers upon passing matters of domestic and social interest; and that it may be made an instructive and profitable feature we invite correspondence of inquiry and information on all subjects that can possibly be of service to the home and our common humanity, and the Editress hopes that her appeal vyill meet with a hearty and generous responseLetters must be written on one side of the paper only, and addressed to “Elise,” New Zealand Mail. Correspondents will please give real name and address in addition to their nom-de-plume, not for publication but editorial introduction.

Djear Madame Elise,—‘The ypung men talked to the young women, and what they said amounted to pothing or worse, and the young women answered in like kind.’ I hope * ’ while so truthfully writing these things will bear in mind that just what men admire vrometi vyill aspire to be, ana if they pdmire silly ill-informed women their pastes y»ill be fully satisfied, so if there is to be reformation it will have to begin with the men.- Do not fathers fail a little in their duties when they let their daughters read nothing but novels, without even noticing the class' of novels they do read ? Can they no,t make a protest against the unwomanly attendance at football and cricket matches, £ha B.lagg, the a.voiflanqe of every actual duty.? perhaps these things juyye something to do with the silly cry about marriage being a failure, but if’ girls are to be brought up unfit to be wives or mothers how can marriage be anything but a failure. * They have no philosophy or science, are ill iff 9$ fegt tpasbjp Bjjfc t^e qpiqk-wit’tefl giflg say Jsg ‘ajfe al| tpf lPaen ihpt talk to gs ? &pd jftey like k** * 4 tfee reform . snat way. - ‘Oust begin with the men, both young and old, the sooner the better, and the girls might as well notice that marriages are not so common as they were ; old maids are really on the increase (not that old maids matter at all if they are healthy and self, reliant, but we don’t like old maids that are loadstones around the necks of their fathers or brothers), and that silly young men, even if they marry, are not qmph apequnt as husJp,anda apd fathers. Yours truly. A Woman.

Dear Elise, I am so much obliged to all the kind friends who came to my assistance re butter-making, and I mean to avail myself of the different directions I received as soon as possible. I am sending you

another recipe for a pudding which is cheap and easy to make, and very nice. Six Cup Pudding. — d cup each of jam. sugar, flour, breadcrumbs, suet, and raisius, 1 tesspoouful soda dissolved in hot water; Mix with sufficient milk to wet it - add soda last aud boil for four hour. Yours very truly, M. Dear Elise, —1 send you the following recipe : Treacle Sponge.-— lib of flour, fib of suet, two large teaspoonfuls of carbonate of soda, a breakfast cup of treacle, and a little milk to mix it nicely, tie very loosely, and boil for three hours. Serve with sauce. Agnes D., Christchurch. Dear Elise, — In reply to ‘M.’s’rrquest for information on butter making I send the following : —ln cold weather let the milk stand three milkings (36 hours) before skimming. Stir the cream every day. Churn once a week. Warm the churn before putting the cream in. Butter generally takes longer to come in winter, hut mine is never more than an hour aud is always good. Yours truly, B. Dear Elise, I have a very easy way of makiug bread that may be useful to some of your country readers. To make the yeast 1 boil for dinner three or four more potatoes than will be needed and put them aside. When I turn out the potatoes I put in the same saucepan a large handful of hops, and about a quart of water. This boils while I am at dinner, about twenty rniuutes, and I then mash with the potatoes half a sauoerfull of flour, a toacuprfull of sugar and a little salt, and strain thereon the liquid in which the hops have just been boiled. Leave it to cool tiU lukewarm, and then add a cupful of the yeast from last making, or, to start with, a little brewers’ yeast. The yeast need not be bottled but miy be kept in a stone jar ; it must be made about once a week in summer, and once a fortnight in winter, and kept in a cool or warm place respectively. To make two 41b. loaves will require about a pint of this yeast, and the dqugh must be mixed with warm water and kept moderately warm while rising. This is the chief difficulty, and very important to the success of the operation. I put a billy full of boiling water into a box and stand the bread above it, putting layers of paper between to moderate the heat, then cover the pan carefully with something woollen aLd dose the lid of the box. I make the bread in the evening, and it is ready to cook as soon as the stove is hot enough in the morning. Hoping these directions may be usefnl, I remain, dear Madame, Yourß truly. G.M.E.