LADIES' COLUMN.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 333, 27 August 1898, Page 6 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

Blankets and furs sprinkled with borax and put iu airtight chests will keep free from moths.

Orange peal dried and grate will make a fine yellow powder, delicious for flavouring cukes and puddings. Often very rich cream will not whip up readily. It should have a little milk added to it. Cream should be very cold to whip easily and quickly. If it U well chilled, theie is not the danger of the cream whipping to butter as housekeepers frequently comp'.ain it does.

Metal teapots o'ten acquire a musty swell which is very disagreeable, To remove it fill the tcopot with boiiiug water, and drop into it a ic.Miot cinder. Close the lid and let the teapot stand tor a short time. Rinse with clean water.

To beat the whites of quickly add a pinch of salt. Salt cools and cold eggs froth qujckly. Iron rust and mildew may be bleached by rubbing in the spot lemon juice and salt, and exposiug to a hot sun. The large holes in stockings that if darned consume so much time that one invariably wonders if it pays, can be more quickly and smoo:hly darned if a piece of black or white net is pasted over the hole and the darning thread carried back and forth through it. Clean copper pans with salt and vinegar. Moisten the s-ilt with vinegar rub the pan with it, and then remove it with a damp rag. Cabbage leaves arc splendid for poultry especially if they ate cut up. HINTS FOR THE EYES. Shade the eyes from tho full glare of sunlight. When the eyes are weak, sleep all that is possible. Keep soap and dust out of the eyes. As you value your sight, avoid all quack doctors. - " Never read or use tho eyes for fine work during twilight. Whenever an eye is injured, call in an experienced oculist at once. Never expose the eyes needlessly to dust or flying particles of any kind. Have an abundance of good, steady light for any work you may have on h?nd. Let the light come to your eyes from one side or from above, not from the front. Do not work in a poor light, and avoid a glaring light, as it may be as bad as too little light. Do not use a flickering light for reading or sewing. Use a lamp with a large burner, and use good oil. When the eyes are hot and heavy, bathe them in cold and tepid water, and do not confine them too closely to any sort of work. Whenever tho eyes ache or are easily fatigued use them as little as possible, and look up frequently from tho work to rest them. When reading, hold the head erect and at a distance from the light, and do nit bend the head over the neddlework any more than is possible. Avoid poorly printed books with poor paper and poor type, and do not read •when riding in cars or carriages* nor ■when convalescent from a protracted illness, Dor when the body is in a weakened state. TALK AT THE DINNER-TABLE. Why is it that in most households the dinner-table becomes a dumping-ground for the wholesale plaints of its members? Probably because this is the only meal of the day when the entire family meet together, each one feels it is a duty to air a few personal grievances in order to seek consolation from the others. Out of deference to digestion, if for no other reason, dinner-table conversation Bhould be of the spiciest; but this fact is lest sight of in tho general de<dro of everybody, from papa down to the youngsters, to serve only those topics which hare marred, rather than made, the day's happiness. Hardly has the man of the house fiuished his carving duties before he falls into an animated financial discussion with his wife. Household expanses are rehashed, bills grumbled over, and the cost of living recalculated. Mother, in her turn, eagerly pours into any listening ear her domestic woes. The day's errors below (■fairs are minutely record. She sighs at Bridget's butter waste, declares that the butcher's indifference to her order is becoming intolerable, and so on. Then the small boy (poor little target for family flaw-picking) comes in for his share of criticism. His failures at school are relentlessly raked up, and all sorts of punishments threatened unless there is speedy reform. If there are guests presant, this talk of the inner circle is, for courtesy's sake given'a less personal flavour, but only then. " Good cheer and plenty of it "is not the motto of the average family dinner. RECIPES. White Celery Soup. Cut into pieces two heads of celery and an onion, and boil them in salted water with twelve pepper corns and a blade of mace ; when tender, drain % and press them through a sieve ; add a pint and a half of white stock, draw aside from the fire and stir in a teaenpful of cream or milk beaten up with an egg and half a teaspoonful of sugar; serve with fried bread. Fish and Macaroni Pie —Bone and skin one pound of any cold fish ; boil two ounces of macaroni until it is quite soft, then cut into small pieces aud mix with the fish. Grease a flat pie dish; melt two ounces of butter, and stir into the fish and macaroni, together with two ounces of grated cheese, and salt and cayenne pepper. Turn all into the dish, aud sprinkle over about half an ounce of grated cheese. Bake for about ten to fifteen minutes until nicely browned, and serve as hot as possible.

Bkaised Ox-Tail.—Thoroughly wash the tail and divide it into four-inch lenths, melt a piece of butter in a stewpan and fry the tail in it till browned nicely, peel and cut in slices two carrots, a turnip, and in onion, and set in the bottpm of the stewpan ; in this put thin slices of streak bacon, and lastly the meat. Pour over all half a pint of good stock and braise as slowly as possible till the meat is cooked thoroughly which will take over two hours, arrange thejoin'i of ox-tails on a hot dish ; strain, thicken the gravy, and pour over. Garnish the whole with a little chipped walnut and serve, if liked.

Cheese and Egg Sandwich.-Slice a dozen hard boiled eggs. Put a layer of egas in a salad dish, and grate on a thick covering of cheese ; then another layer of eggs, alternating with cheese, until, the eggs are used. Sprinkle over the top finely chopped pickle, and pour over ail mayoniaiso sauce aud again cover with giated cheese.

Lilue Puddini;.—One pint of milk, two eggs, four oz of bread crumbs, a grate of nutmeg, the same of lemon rind, and some jam. Scald the milk, pour it on the bread, and beat them well together, with the eggs, flavouring, aud sugar to taste. Pour it all on the jam and bake a light brown. Nice Patty Cakes.—One cup of flour, one teaspoonful and a half of baking powder, half a cup of sugar, nearly a quarter of a lb of butter and two egsrs. Mix the dry ingredients first then add the eggs and a little milk if necessary, bake in a quick oven. GINGKK .Sl-oNOE.—Six ounces of sugar, a quarter lb of butter, half a lb of treacle, teasDOon of.soda dissolved in half pint of warm milk, one lb of flour, a tablespoon ground ginger, dessertspoon pimento^one ci;g. Bake in a rather quick oven in a flat dish.

Wheaten Meal Pudding. Two iablespoonfuls wheaten meal, onu ditto of

flour, one ditto of sugar, ono ditto of raisins, salt nutmi g, finger, and baking powder, mix with miik and steam throe hours. Very good.