Volume 23 (1871) (426 pages)

7 138 SCIENTIFIC PRESS. [September 2, 1871. Bomestic ‘Boonomy. Vey , Pastry. In makiug pastry, tbe cook should be particularly clean and neat. Her utensils sbould he kept in order, and when they are done with, sbould be carefully cleaned and putin their places. Her pasteboard aud rolling-pin, let it be remembered, should after using be well scoured with hot water alone. A marble slab is preferable to a board for rolling paste. Both are generally made too small to be convenient. Three feet long by two feet wide isa good size. In making a paste, a good cook will bave no waste of any kind, and particularly, she will not make more at one time than sbe wants, under the idea that she can keep it in flour till the next time of making, for it is ten to one but thatthe old paste will spoil the new. No flour except the very best can be used for fine descriptions of pastry, and in damp weather it should be dried before the fire, but not scorched. Clarified dripping, good lard, marrow, salt or butter well washed, may be used . for ordinary pastry; indeed, if they are pure and sweet, they will form good pastry, with good flour and good managemeut. In families, however, where economy is not an object, and everything for the tablo is required to be of the first quality, the safest plan isto use the best fresh butter. The fat that settles on stews, and on the broth in which meat has been boiled, may be used for pastry, that is, provided it is tasteless. Suet is sometimes used for meat pies, hut though it makes a light erust when hot, it does not eat well when cold, A great deal more hutter, or fat of some. kind or other, was formerly directed to be used in making pastry than at present. For ordinary purposes, half the weight of lard, or butter is sufficient, but in the richest crusts the quantity should never exceed the weight of flour. Eggs may be added to enrich the crust. Use no more water or other liquid in making paste than is absolutely necessary; or,in other words, take care not to ‘‘put out the miller’s eye,” that is, to make the paste too moist. The great thing is to incorporate the flour well with the fat, which you cannot do if you allow too much water or milk in the first iustance. The under or side crust, which should be thin, should not be made so rich as the top crust, as otherwise it will make the gravy or syrup greasy. All dishes in which pieces are to be baked should be buttered or greased round the edges, to prevent the crust from sticking, and if there be an under crust, all over the inside; the same must be done with tins or saucers, Our Kirconens.—You are fortunate if your kitchens have asunny outlook, A south window catches all the precious winter sunshine, and is not as uncomfortable on account of heat in the summer as an east or west window. Suushine goes a great way towards furnisbing a room, as well as driving care, fatigue and disease away from those who live and workinit. Of course, you may not all have model kitchens, though you may somuch desire them; and just here comes to mind this quaint old rhyme, which applies to housekeepers, as much as to any other class: «Por every evil under the sun There is a remedy, or there is none. If there beone, try and findit; ~ If there be none, never mind it.” CurRRANT WinE.—Gather full ripe currants on adry day, pick them from the stalks and weigh them; then crush them with your hands, leaving none whole. For every two pounds of currants put one quart of water; stir all well together and . let it stand three hours, and strain the! liquor through a sieve; then for every three pounds of currants put one pound of powdered loaf sugar; stir it till thosugar is dissolved, boil it and keep skimming it as long us any scum will rise. Let it stand sixteen hours to cool before you put it in the cask, stop that very close. If the quantity be twenty gallous, let it stand three weeks before you botilo it;ifitbe thirty gallons, it must remain a month; it should be perfectly clear when drawn off. Puta lump of sugar in each bottle, cork it well and keep it ina cool place or it will turn sour. This isa pleasant and cheap wine, and if properly made will keep good for many years; it makes an agreeable bevyerage for the sick, when mixed with water. . To Stew Tomarors.—Pour hoiling water over fair and fully ripe tomatoes, that you may peel them quickly; let the water remain ouly long cnough to start the skin, When peeled, cut into a porcelain-lined kettle, as tin oriron turns them dark, and gives themabad taste. If onions are agreeable, cut one small one in with the tomatoes. Cover closely, and set where they will gently simmer, but not boil hard. Stir them occasionally to prevent burning, and when they have cooked two hours, add pepper and salt to suit your taste, and to a quart of tomatoes add a teaspoouful and a balf of sugar, and 234 even spoonsful of bread or cracker crumbs. After the crumbs are added stir often or they will stick to the bottom of the dish and soon burn. Twenty minutes before dinner beat two! eggs, or if you bave more than a quart of tomatoes, increase the number in proportion of two eggs to a quart; stir briskly. and often after the eggs are added, and serve hot. If possible, the tomatoes should be skinned and set on the back part of the stove before breakfast, as the longer they simmer, the better they will be. Three hours’ slow cooking at least—five is better. if prepared according to rule, they are thought very nice by tomato lovers, and are better warmed over the second day than the first. 7 Cucusrper Sanap.—Take a dozen ripe “White Spine” cucumbers and pick, wash, pare, and cut into strips, taking out the seeds; then to each dozen cucumbers—which we cut up into pieces like small dice— pui twelve large white onions, chopped, six large greeu peppers, also chopped, one quarter pound each black and white mustard seed, and a gill of celery seed. Mix together, add a tea-cup of coarse salt, and hang upin a cotton bag to drain, for twenty-four hours. Then the salad, with enough cold cider vinegar added to cover it, is put into stone jars and fastened nearly air-tight. In six weeks it will be fit for use.—Afrs. S. J. H., in Hearth and Home. RasPneRRY VINEGAR.—Put a pound of very fine ripe raspberries in a bowl, bruise them well, and pour upon them a quart of the best white wine vinegar; next day strain the liquor on a pound of fresh ripe raspherries, bruise ‘em also, and the following day do the same, but do not squeeze the fruit or you will make it ferment, only drain the liquor as dry as you can from it. The last time pass it through a canvas bag previously wet with the vinegar, to proyent waste. Put the juice into a stone jar, with a pound of sugar to every pint of juice; the sugar must be broken into lumps; stir it, and when melted, put the jar into a pan of water; let it simmer, and tben skim it; when cold, bottleit. It will be fine and thick when cold, and a most excellent syrup for making a wholesome drink.—Germaniown Telegraph. Laying Down Cucunzers.— The hest way to lay down cucumbers is to sprinkle salt over them, and let them form theirown brine. A board and stone should be laid over them, in orderto keep them tnder the brine. Ifiu three days there is not enough brine formed to cover the cueumbers, there is not salt enough on them and more should he added. They should never be allowed to protrude above the brine, as a white mold will form and they will soon soften. In cutting the cucumbers from the vine, leave astem on tbe pickles. They keep better and appear better on the table. To po up Saint Bosoms.—Take two ounces of fine white gum arabic powder, put it into a pitcher and pour on a pint of water and then having covered it, let it stand all night. Inthe morning pour it carefully from the dregsinto a clean bottle, cork it and kecp it for use. <A tablespoonful of gum water poured in a pint of starcb madein the usual manner, will give to lawn, either white or printed, a look of newness, when nothing else can restore them after they have been washed. How ro Mare Semuitz Powpens.— Seidlitz powders are an excellent corrective for acidity of the stomach; and every farmer can make them for himself. Mix twelve dvaims of powdered Epsom salts with twelve scruples of powder carbonate of soda, and divido into six parts in blue papers. Divide also into six parts, in white papers, four drams of Tartaric acid in six powders. Tivery timo you take the powders, mix one of each paper in two glasses. To Dry Citron on Watrrmecon Rinp.— After preserving, place in the sun, and dry, They auswer well in puddings and cakes as a substitute for the imported citron, Domestic Receipts. Appre Snow.—Stew fine-flavored, sonr apples; sweeten and flavor to suit your taste; strain, and to one quart of sifted apples allow the whites of four eggs. Whisk them to a stiff froth; then put the apples and whites together, and continue to whip until so stiff you can turn the dish upside down without the mass falling off. Eat with cream or with bread and milk. ScannopreD Tomatrors.—Peel and cut in slices a quarter of an iuch thick. Pack in a pudding dish in alternate layers, witb a force-meat made of bread crumbs, butter, salt, pepper, and a little white sugar. Spread thickly upon each stratum of tomatoes, and the dish is nearly full, put tomatoes uppermost, and a good bit of butter upon each slice. Dust with pepper and a little sugar. Strew with dry bread crumhs and bake covered, half an hour; remove . the lid and bake brown. Tomato Soup.—2¥% ths. of vealorlamb, 1 gallon of water, 2 quarts of fresh tomatoes peeled and cut up fine. Boil the meat to shveds, and the water downto two quarts. Strain the liquor, put in the tomatoes, stirring them very hard, that they may dissolve thoroughly; boil half an hour. Season with parsley, or any herh you may prefer, add pepperand salt. Strain againand stir ina tahlespoonful of butter, with a teaspoonful of white sugar, before putting into the tureen. Breagrast Biscurr.—Take a piece of risen bread dough, aud work into it one beaten egg and a tablespoonful of butter or lard; when it is thoroughly amalgamated, flour your hands and make it into balls the sizeof an egg; rnb a tin over with milk, and set them ina quick oven for twenty minutes, andserve them hot for breakfast. ‘When eaten, hreak them open; to cut would make them heavy. BREAD-AND-Burrer Puppine. — When dry bread is left, spread it with butter, and pile up the slices in a pudding-dish. Fill in with custard, add afew raisins. Bake long enough to cook the custard. Preach Learger.—Peel very ripe, soft peaches; mash them fine, and strain through a colander. If the peaches are not very sweet, add a little sugar. Butter well panes of glass, and spread the paste smoothly upon them. Putin the sun to dry; when dry on one side, turn it, and when perfectly dry, roll and keep in boxes. When not convenient to use the glass, butter strips of cloth, and spread upon wellseasoned boards. Mechanical Hints, To Licur Sxapep Rooms.—The London Builder recommeuds a plan for lighting a room in which the darkness is caused by its being situated on a narrow street or lane. Ifthe glass of a window in such a room is placed several inches witbin the outer face of the wall, as isthe general eustom iu building houses, it will admit very little light, that which it gets being only the reflection from the walls of the opposite houses. If, however, for the window be substituted another in which all tbe panes of glass are roughly ground on the outside, and flush with the outer wall, the light from the whole of the visible sky and the remotest parts of the opposite wall will be introduced into the apartment, reflected from the innumerable faces or facets whichthe rough grinding of glass has produced. The whole window will appear as if the sky were beyond it, and from every point of this luminous surface light will radiate into all parts of tbe room. i To Draw Posrs From rae Grounp.—. Procure a long chain, attach it to the yoke, pass it around the base of the post, or the part where'the earth has been thrown away, place a stout prop under the chain, inclining towards the post, then let the oxen) draw. There are very few post so tight in. the ground that tbey cannot be easily re. moved by the strength of two stout oxen. In this way a long line of fence may be removed in a single day. To Removes Sorew Frou Woop.— Heat a piece of irou red hot and put it on the top of the screw for a minute or two, then take the serew-driver and you will easily get it out,if you do it while itis warm. Strains may be removed from silver spoons that bave heen used in administering medicine by rubbing them with a rag dipped in sulphuric acid and afterward washing thoronghly in soap-suds. Tue Fastest Locomotive True.—Locomotive No. 8, of the New Jersey railroad company, is said to be the fastest locomotivein the Tnited States, baving made eighty-ninc miles in one bour, Lipe Thodqlts. Nuvrr part for a day without loying words to think of during absence. To address man wisely you must not forget that bis life is partly animal, subject to the same laws with nature. THERE are a thousaud pretty, engaging little ways which every. person may put on without being affected or foppish. Tum wortbiest people are mostinjured by slanderers; as we usually find that to bethe best fruit, which the birds have heen picking at. . Lirsis like atheatre. During the play we take higher and lower seats, but when it is over we mingle in the common stroam and go home, THERE are no pockets in shrouds, nor money drawers in coffins. But weaccumulate good or had capital for the other world for all that. Iv is easy enough to make sacrifices for those we love, but for our enemy we have o struggle and overcome self. Such a vietory is noble. A RARE audacity astonishes society — a remarkable instance disarms it. Society does not grant its admiration to those who creep in secret paths. Opinions in ourday must be coerced, not led. SHAKSPEARE says, ‘‘It is a good divine that follows his owu instructions. I can easier teach twenty men what were to be done,than to be one of twenty to followmy own teachings. Aut earth shows forth too nice and delicate an adaptation, too beautiful a continuation of cause and effect, to admit even a thought that the Creator has failed in His highest creation. Little Things of Life. The little things of life are not to be despised. They are the threads that make its woof and warp, and tho life is dark or bright accordingly as these little threads are black or golden. Itis graius of sand that make the ocean heach, and globules of water that make up the ocean itself, and, singularly enough, these grains of sand, and these globules of water are, each, separate, detached and distinct. Each forms part of the mass, but each is by itself. Ever y life is a mass of a'myriadof atoms; each day of the four score years that make itupisateeming bistory of acts, words, adventures, incidents, relations, thoughts, hopes, grtiefs, fears and emotions, each standing by itself but all connected together. We may not neglect these individual trifles, and expect tbe mass they compose to be satisfactory. IEven a word ora tone of voice, may make a day bright or dark; the shadow on tho face of a friend casnally met, will reflect a shadow on our own heart, and give us a feeling of depression that we can not comprehend, and which can not be thrown off. A letter containing a few brief lines, from an absent relative, will somotimes drive all the clouds from owr sky and make the dreariest winter day as sweet as summer. We read the letter in an instant, cast it aside, and imagine itis forgotten—so trifling and foolish it is; but itis not forgotten; it floats like a radiance around us wherever we go; it makes us strong, buoyant, and hopeful. Our moods have much to do with our happiness; they come over us like a bath of sunlight, or creep upon us like a dismal shadow—we can not tell how; but there is always a specific cause for them. It may be so minute as to escape attention in the mass of events and incidents that make up the day’s history ; but if we search patiently, we will generally discover that the joy that has attended us all day long had its source in some look of love, word of sympathy, or some gratifying success in the execution of a trifling task; and that the ‘‘blues” that haunt us, are the reflection from a cold face, or the result of some pctty annoyance. a Happiness does not come tous in heaps, and it is foolish to imagine that we can by a great, heroic effort of perseverance and care, bring down anavalanche of it enough, to last a lifetime. Nor is it dependent on times and seasons; we can not be very happy at some distant day, by being very miserable, uow. Joy comesin batcbes—sometimes, iu specks, which we should make the most of while they last. It is like a scant shower of gold dust, scattered through our lives—not to make them all happy, butto relievethem of their beaviness and sorrow.

7 138 SCIENTIFIC PRESS. [September 2, 1871. Bomestic ‘Boonomy. Vey , Pastry. In makiug pastry, tbe cook should be particularly clean and neat. Her utensils sbould he kept in order, and when they are done with, sbould be carefully cleaned and putin their places. Her pasteboard aud rolling-pin, let it be remembered, should after using be well scoured with hot water alone. A marble slab is preferable to a board for rolling paste. Both are generally made too small to be convenient. Three feet long by two feet wide isa good size. In making a paste, a good cook will bave no waste of any kind, and particularly, she will not make more at one time than sbe wants, under the idea that she can keep it in flour till the next time of making, for it is ten to one but thatthe old paste will spoil the new. No flour except the very best can be used for fine descriptions of pastry, and in damp weather it should be dried before the fire, but not scorched. Clarified dripping, good lard, marrow, salt or butter well washed, may be used . for ordinary pastry; indeed, if they are pure and sweet, they will form good pastry, with good flour and good managemeut. In families, however, where economy is not an object, and everything for the tablo is required to be of the first quality, the safest plan isto use the best fresh butter. The fat that settles on stews, and on the broth in which meat has been boiled, may be used for pastry, that is, provided it is tasteless. Suet is sometimes used for meat pies, hut though it makes a light erust when hot, it does not eat well when cold, A great deal more hutter, or fat of some. kind or other, was formerly directed to be used in making pastry than at present. For ordinary purposes, half the weight of lard, or butter is sufficient, but in the richest crusts the quantity should never exceed the weight of flour. Eggs may be added to enrich the crust. Use no more water or other liquid in making paste than is absolutely necessary; or,in other words, take care not to ‘‘put out the miller’s eye,” that is, to make the paste too moist. The great thing is to incorporate the flour well with the fat, which you cannot do if you allow too much water or milk in the first iustance. The under or side crust, which should be thin, should not be made so rich as the top crust, as otherwise it will make the gravy or syrup greasy. All dishes in which pieces are to be baked should be buttered or greased round the edges, to prevent the crust from sticking, and if there be an under crust, all over the inside; the same must be done with tins or saucers, Our Kirconens.—You are fortunate if your kitchens have asunny outlook, A south window catches all the precious winter sunshine, and is not as uncomfortable on account of heat in the summer as an east or west window. Suushine goes a great way towards furnisbing a room, as well as driving care, fatigue and disease away from those who live and workinit. Of course, you may not all have model kitchens, though you may somuch desire them; and just here comes to mind this quaint old rhyme, which applies to housekeepers, as much as to any other class: «Por every evil under the sun There is a remedy, or there is none. If there beone, try and findit; ~ If there be none, never mind it.” CurRRANT WinE.—Gather full ripe currants on adry day, pick them from the stalks and weigh them; then crush them with your hands, leaving none whole. For every two pounds of currants put one quart of water; stir all well together and . let it stand three hours, and strain the! liquor through a sieve; then for every three pounds of currants put one pound of powdered loaf sugar; stir it till thosugar is dissolved, boil it and keep skimming it as long us any scum will rise. Let it stand sixteen hours to cool before you put it in the cask, stop that very close. If the quantity be twenty gallous, let it stand three weeks before you botilo it;ifitbe thirty gallons, it must remain a month; it should be perfectly clear when drawn off. Puta lump of sugar in each bottle, cork it well and keep it ina cool place or it will turn sour. This isa pleasant and cheap wine, and if properly made will keep good for many years; it makes an agreeable bevyerage for the sick, when mixed with water. . To Stew Tomarors.—Pour hoiling water over fair and fully ripe tomatoes, that you may peel them quickly; let the water remain ouly long cnough to start the skin, When peeled, cut into a porcelain-lined kettle, as tin oriron turns them dark, and gives themabad taste. If onions are agreeable, cut one small one in with the tomatoes. Cover closely, and set where they will gently simmer, but not boil hard. Stir them occasionally to prevent burning, and when they have cooked two hours, add pepper and salt to suit your taste, and to a quart of tomatoes add a teaspoouful and a balf of sugar, and 234 even spoonsful of bread or cracker crumbs. After the crumbs are added stir often or they will stick to the bottom of the dish and soon burn. Twenty minutes before dinner beat two! eggs, or if you bave more than a quart of tomatoes, increase the number in proportion of two eggs to a quart; stir briskly. and often after the eggs are added, and serve hot. If possible, the tomatoes should be skinned and set on the back part of the stove before breakfast, as the longer they simmer, the better they will be. Three hours’ slow cooking at least—five is better. if prepared according to rule, they are thought very nice by tomato lovers, and are better warmed over the second day than the first. 7 Cucusrper Sanap.—Take a dozen ripe “White Spine” cucumbers and pick, wash, pare, and cut into strips, taking out the seeds; then to each dozen cucumbers—which we cut up into pieces like small dice— pui twelve large white onions, chopped, six large greeu peppers, also chopped, one quarter pound each black and white mustard seed, and a gill of celery seed. Mix together, add a tea-cup of coarse salt, and hang upin a cotton bag to drain, for twenty-four hours. Then the salad, with enough cold cider vinegar added to cover it, is put into stone jars and fastened nearly air-tight. In six weeks it will be fit for use.—Afrs. S. J. H., in Hearth and Home. RasPneRRY VINEGAR.—Put a pound of very fine ripe raspberries in a bowl, bruise them well, and pour upon them a quart of the best white wine vinegar; next day strain the liquor on a pound of fresh ripe raspherries, bruise ‘em also, and the following day do the same, but do not squeeze the fruit or you will make it ferment, only drain the liquor as dry as you can from it. The last time pass it through a canvas bag previously wet with the vinegar, to proyent waste. Put the juice into a stone jar, with a pound of sugar to every pint of juice; the sugar must be broken into lumps; stir it, and when melted, put the jar into a pan of water; let it simmer, and tben skim it; when cold, bottleit. It will be fine and thick when cold, and a most excellent syrup for making a wholesome drink.—Germaniown Telegraph. Laying Down Cucunzers.— The hest way to lay down cucumbers is to sprinkle salt over them, and let them form theirown brine. A board and stone should be laid over them, in orderto keep them tnder the brine. Ifiu three days there is not enough brine formed to cover the cueumbers, there is not salt enough on them and more should he added. They should never be allowed to protrude above the brine, as a white mold will form and they will soon soften. In cutting the cucumbers from the vine, leave astem on tbe pickles. They keep better and appear better on the table. To po up Saint Bosoms.—Take two ounces of fine white gum arabic powder, put it into a pitcher and pour on a pint of water and then having covered it, let it stand all night. Inthe morning pour it carefully from the dregsinto a clean bottle, cork it and kecp it for use. <A tablespoonful of gum water poured in a pint of starcb madein the usual manner, will give to lawn, either white or printed, a look of newness, when nothing else can restore them after they have been washed. How ro Mare Semuitz Powpens.— Seidlitz powders are an excellent corrective for acidity of the stomach; and every farmer can make them for himself. Mix

twelve dvaims of powdered Epsom salts with twelve scruples of powder carbonate of soda, and divido into six parts in blue papers. Divide also into six parts, in white papers, four drams of Tartaric acid in six powders. Tivery timo you take the powders, mix one of each paper in two glasses. To Dry Citron on Watrrmecon Rinp.— After preserving, place in the sun, and dry, They auswer well in puddings and cakes as a substitute for the imported citron, Domestic Receipts. Appre Snow.—Stew fine-flavored, sonr apples; sweeten and flavor to suit your taste; strain, and to one quart of sifted apples allow the whites of four eggs. Whisk them to a stiff froth; then put the apples and whites together, and continue to whip until so stiff you can turn the dish upside down without the mass falling off. Eat with cream or with bread and milk. ScannopreD Tomatrors.—Peel and cut in slices a quarter of an iuch thick. Pack in a pudding dish in alternate layers, witb a force-meat made of bread crumbs, butter, salt, pepper, and a little white sugar. Spread thickly upon each stratum of tomatoes, and the dish is nearly full, put tomatoes uppermost, and a good bit of butter upon each slice. Dust with pepper and a little sugar. Strew with dry bread crumhs and bake covered, half an hour; remove . the lid and bake brown. Tomato Soup.—2¥% ths. of vealorlamb, 1 gallon of water, 2 quarts of fresh tomatoes peeled and cut up fine. Boil the meat to shveds, and the water downto two quarts. Strain the liquor, put in the tomatoes, stirring them very hard, that they may dissolve thoroughly; boil half an hour. Season with parsley, or any herh you may prefer, add pepperand salt. Strain againand stir ina tahlespoonful of butter, with a teaspoonful of white sugar, before putting into the tureen. Breagrast Biscurr.—Take a piece of risen bread dough, aud work into it one beaten egg and a tablespoonful of butter or lard; when it is thoroughly amalgamated, flour your hands and make it into balls the sizeof an egg; rnb a tin over with milk, and set them ina quick oven for twenty minutes, andserve them hot for breakfast. ‘When eaten, hreak them open; to cut would make them heavy. BREAD-AND-Burrer Puppine. — When dry bread is left, spread it with butter, and pile up the slices in a pudding-dish. Fill in with custard, add afew raisins. Bake long enough to cook the custard. Preach Learger.—Peel very ripe, soft peaches; mash them fine, and strain through a colander. If the peaches are not very sweet, add a little sugar. Butter well panes of glass, and spread the paste smoothly upon them. Putin the sun to dry; when dry on one side, turn it, and when perfectly dry, roll and keep in boxes. When not convenient to use the glass, butter strips of cloth, and spread upon wellseasoned boards. Mechanical Hints, To Licur Sxapep Rooms.—The London Builder recommeuds a plan for lighting a room in which the darkness is caused by its being situated on a narrow street or lane. Ifthe glass of a window in such a room is placed several inches witbin the outer face of the wall, as isthe general eustom iu building houses, it will admit very little light, that which it gets being only the reflection from the walls of the opposite houses. If, however, for the window be substituted another in which all tbe panes of glass are roughly ground on the outside, and flush with the outer wall, the light from the whole of the visible sky and the remotest parts of the opposite wall will be introduced into the apartment, reflected from the innumerable faces or facets whichthe rough grinding of glass has produced. The whole window will appear as if the sky were beyond it, and from every point of this luminous surface light will radiate into all parts of tbe room. i To Draw Posrs From rae Grounp.—. Procure a long chain, attach it to the yoke, pass it around the base of the post, or the part where'the earth has been thrown away, place a stout prop under the chain, inclining towards the post, then let the oxen) draw. There are very few post so tight in. the ground that tbey cannot be easily re. moved by the strength of two stout oxen. In this way a long line of fence may be removed in a single day. To Removes Sorew Frou Woop.— Heat a piece of irou red hot and put it on the top of the screw for a minute or two, then take the serew-driver and you will easily get it out,if you do it while itis warm. Strains may be removed from silver spoons that bave heen used in administering medicine by rubbing them with a rag dipped in sulphuric acid and afterward washing thoronghly in soap-suds. Tue Fastest Locomotive True.—Locomotive No. 8, of the New Jersey railroad company, is said to be the fastest locomotivein the Tnited States, baving made eighty-ninc miles in one bour, Lipe Thodqlts. Nuvrr part for a day without loying words to think of during absence. To address man wisely you must not forget that bis life is partly animal, subject to the same laws with nature. THERE are a thousaud pretty, engaging little ways which every. person may put on without being affected or foppish. Tum wortbiest people are mostinjured by slanderers; as we usually find that to bethe best fruit, which the birds have heen picking at. . Lirsis like atheatre. During the play we take higher and lower seats, but when it is over we mingle in the common stroam and go home, THERE are no pockets in shrouds, nor money drawers in coffins. But weaccumulate good or had capital for the other world for all that. Iv is easy enough to make sacrifices for those we love, but for our enemy we have o struggle and overcome self. Such a vietory is noble. A RARE audacity astonishes society — a remarkable instance disarms it. Society does not grant its admiration to those who creep in secret paths. Opinions in ourday must be coerced, not led. SHAKSPEARE says, ‘‘It is a good divine that follows his owu instructions. I can easier teach twenty men what were to be done,than to be one of twenty to followmy own teachings. Aut earth shows forth too nice and delicate an adaptation, too beautiful a continuation of cause and effect, to admit even a thought that the Creator has failed in His highest creation. Little Things of Life. The little things of life are not to be despised. They are the threads that make its woof and warp, and tho life is dark or bright accordingly as these little threads are black or golden. Itis graius of sand that make the ocean heach, and globules of water that make up the ocean itself, and, singularly enough, these grains of sand, and these globules of water are, each, separate, detached and distinct. Each forms part of the mass, but each is by itself. Ever y life is a mass of a'myriadof atoms; each day of the four score years that make itupisateeming bistory of acts, words, adventures, incidents, relations, thoughts, hopes, grtiefs, fears and emotions, each standing by itself but all connected together. We may not neglect these individual trifles, and expect tbe mass they compose to be satisfactory. IEven a word ora tone of voice, may make a day bright or dark; the shadow on tho face of a friend casnally met, will reflect a shadow on our own heart, and give us a feeling of depression that we can not comprehend, and which can not be thrown off. A letter containing a few brief lines, from an absent relative, will somotimes drive all the clouds from owr sky and make the dreariest winter day as sweet as summer. We read the letter in an instant, cast it aside, and imagine itis forgotten—so trifling and foolish it is; but itis not forgotten; it floats like a radiance around us wherever we go; it makes us strong, buoyant, and hopeful. Our moods have much to do with our happiness; they come over us like a bath of sunlight, or creep upon us like a dismal shadow—we can not tell how; but there is always a specific cause for them. It may be so minute as to escape attention in the mass of events and incidents that make up the day’s history ; but if we search patiently, we will generally discover that the joy that has attended us all day long had its source in some look of love, word of sympathy, or some gratifying success in the execution of a trifling task; and that the ‘‘blues” that haunt us, are the reflection from a cold face, or the result of some pctty annoyance. a Happiness does not come tous in heaps, and it is foolish to imagine that we can by a great, heroic effort of perseverance and care, bring down anavalanche of it enough, to last a lifetime. Nor is it dependent on times and seasons; we can not be very happy at some distant day, by being very miserable, uow. Joy comesin batcbes—sometimes, iu specks, which we should make the most of while they last. It is like a scant shower of gold dust, scattered through our lives—not to make them all happy, butto relievethem of their beaviness and sorrow.