Various

“ Cut some stale bread into fingers, dip into melted butter, and arrange them round a well-buttered pudding mould, lapping one edge over the other and pressing firmly down, cover the bottom with rounds of bread in the same way, shake in some bread-crumbs, fill up with the apples, place more rounds of bread on the top, put into the oven and bake for an hour. Turn on to a dish, let it stand a few minutes, then draw off the mould and dust sugar over. By allowing the mould to remain a little, there is less danger of it sticking. ”

“ Bray, whose searching observation, despite her professed ignorance, had probably taught her all that Lucy could tell her and a good deal more too. “So that’s the present-day way of it, is it? Well, my way would be that every girl should have her own father to give her a dowry suitable to her position, and her own husband who would do all the rest. I suppose that’s Utopia. We all have Utopias, and that’s mine. What does a woman want with a career, except for a living? Her grandmother and her great-grandmother (if she had any, poor dear!) ”

“ The disease is not hereditary, but the tendency to it is. Consumption is a chronic infectious disease caused by the presence of the tubercle organism in the body. It may and does strike down anybody; but those who are sprung from a family with a tubercular history are more liable to be attacked than others. We have a great deal of evidence to show that nearly one-tenth of the human race becomes infected with tuberculosis, but only a very small proportion of those infected succumb, or indeed ever show symptoms of the disease. ”

“ Lucy mildly suggested. “It seems cruel to deny work to any human being.”
“Perhaps so, my love, but it’s very mean of them to want to be provided for as women and working women at one and the same time. Let them be one or the other, whichever they choose; they’ve a right to freedom of choice, but they ought not to be both. Why, to be so is to be the very worst form of—what is it Mr. Bray calls the men whom labourers don’t like?—black caps? ”

“ Marion said that it was only two streets away.
“We must have tennis,” said Mrs. Holden; “so, if the houses are nice, one of those might do, as I understand the gardens at the back have several courts. I am thankful Tom is an engineer: so if there is anything radically wrong with the house he will detect it, so I have not that responsibility! Now, Tom, do start off; and, if you are good, Marion will give you some tea when you get back! Be quick!”
So off he went, and for the next half-hour Mrs. Holden poured her domestic experiences into the ear of the sympathetic Marion. ”

“ Apple Batter Pudding.—One pint of rich milk, two cups of flour, four eggs, a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter of a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in hot water.
Peel and core eight apples, and arrange them closely together in a pie-dish. Beat the above batter till light and pour it over the apples and bake for one hour in a good oven. Unless the apples are very sweet, the cores should be filled up with sugar. ”

“ Apple Mould.—One and a half pounds of apples, pare, core, and cut in quarters, put in a pan with half a pound of sugar and four ounces of butter. Stew till soft, but keep the pieces whole, lift them on to a sieve and let the syrup run into a dish. Butter a pudding-dish, line it with thin fingers of bread, lay in the pieces of apple, cover with slices of bread, brush over with egg, pour over some syrup, and bake in a moderate oven for three-quarters of an hour. ”

“ Apple Pudding.—Six apples peeled and cut up in pieces, one quince, half a teacupful of water, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, the rind of half a lemon, one teaspoonful of lemon juice and a piece of butter the size of an egg. Put all into an enamelled pan and stew to a soft pulp and rub through a sieve. If the apples have been cooked very soft and are free from lumps, then it is not necessary to put them through a sieve. ”

“ A Girton Girl.—Should persons with organic disease of the heart marry? is a question which is very much easier to ask than it is to answer. In this case we have not to consider the dangers of heredity, for though heart-disease, and still more so, the commonest cause of heart-disease, rheumatism, is undoubtedly sometimes hereditary, it is not sufficiently so to forbid marriage on this score. Our personal experience is that heart-disease is not hereditary. Nor is heart-disease an infectious disease like consumption, which you could communicate to your children or husband. ”

“ Gooseberry Fool.—Take a quart of green gooseberries, put them, after topping and tailing them, into a pan with four ounces of loaf sugar and stew them as directed for the apples—without water. When soft, rub them through a sieve, and then stir into the purée half a pint of thick cream, stir all together, add more sugar if required, then when cold pour into a crystal dish. Garnish with whipped cream on the top.
Gooseberry Pudding.—One pint of nearly ripe gooseberries, six slices of stale bread toasted, one cupful of milk, half a cupful of sugar, and one tablespoonful of melted butter. ”

“ Most of the other theories of cramp refer the condition to temporary derangements of the nervous system, but Broadbent, the greatest authority on the heart, is much in favour of the theory we have just enunciated.
Terror.—A bunion is an inflammation of the joint of the great toe. It is almost always due to the pressure of an ill-fitting boot. In the normal foot the great toe stands away from the other toes, and so, if boots were made to resemble the foot, the inner border would be either perfectly straight or slightly curved towards the middle line of the body. ”

“ You had better give up bicycling for a time till you feel stronger again. Drinking large quantities of water does dilute the blood, but only for a second or two, for if more water than is necessary is drunk, though it is absorbed into the blood it is thrown out again immediately by the skin, the kidneys and the lungs. ”

“ Effie made her little defiant gesture with head and shoulders.
“I don’t think grand people who are thought so much of are very polite. I suppose they think themselves too grand. Besides, they know I don’t like the horses here. But don’t you trouble about me, mother. I am all right. I don’t want a lot of strangers to run after. I don’t care to make myself cheap, like Sheila. ”

“ Unfortunately this germ is almost ubiquitous. It swarms in every city and town, and lurks by rivers and in sandy wastes. It does not inhabit the ocean or the high latitudes or the tops of mountains. The sea-coast is much less impregnated with this germ than are the inland parts. The germ apparently dislikes the north wind, and is therefore comparatively uncommon on our East coasts. Therefore, if you have a special dread of consumption, live in a land where the tubercle bacillus does not thrive. ”

“ The oleander is not mentioned in the Bible, but it grows so abundantly on the shores of the Lake of Galilee that it has some claim to be admitted into our collection.
We may grow our own date plants if we will; the seeds germinate very freely at any season if kept warm and in moist soil. The leaf does not divide into leaflets and become a true palm leaf until the plant is five or six years old. If we desire a small palm leaf that will at once fit into our book, any florist will be able to supply a spray of Cocos veitchii, a small and delicate species just fitted for the purpose. ”

“ Pare the apples, quarter them, take out the cores, and cut the quarters into thin slices, then put them into a pan, put sugar over them to taste, shake it down through the fruit, then put a piece of white paper over, tucking it well round the edges to keep in the steam, then put on the lid, and set the pan at the side of the fire and shake occasionally till it heats.
The steam generated by the moisture of the apples is quite enough to prevent burning, and if care is taken in shaking the pan well there is no fear of burning. Stew slowly till soft. ”

“ But suppose you have an abscess on your hand; that abscess is swarming with germs, and the lymph in its passage will carry away a vast number of these injurious microbes, and will take them to the glands of the armpit. The germs remain in the glands and give the glands extra work to do. The glands will enlarge and become inflamed. If the infection of the glands is very virulent, the glands may, as it were, die at their post and become abscesses. Now we can proceed. The commonest cause of inflamed glands in the axilla is inflammation and suppuration about the hand or arm. ”

“ This is Nature’s method of preserving the human foot from the ignorance and stupidity of its owner. But although Nature is very cute in her way, she is unable to cope with the owner of the foot, whose stupidity gets the better of the struggle, though her foot comes off very badly indeed. ”

“ Put flour, powder, and salt in a basin, rub in the dripping lightly, then make into a stiff paste with water. Divide into six pieces, roll out and place an apple on each, fill up cores with sugar and work paste round each apple till covered, brush over with milk, place on a greased tin and bake from half an hour to three-quarters. ”

“ The design consists of this wreath and two groups of flowers interspersed with green leaves and coloured buds. A pleasing variety may be produced by using green chenille instead of ribbon for some of the leaves. If any reader should find difficulty in copying this particular design, she may substitute any small spray and work it in any kind of embroidery which she finds easier and thinks suitable. The effect of the whole chiefly depends upon delicacy of colour, design and workmanship of whatever kind introduced, and the idea affords scope for endless individual taste and variety. ”

“ Now it is presumable that those who do show symptoms have some extra factor which prevents their throwing off the disease. For instance, persons who suffer from chronic bronchitis, or who are barrel-chested, or who are run down in health, etc., are less likely to successfully combat the disease than are others. ”

“ Nobody is born with the tubercle germ inside her. So if every relative of yours died of consumption, you can prevent yourself from contracting the disease by running away from the tubercle germ and living in a spot where this worst of all human pests does not exist. ”

“ According to this hypothesis, the contact of the skin with the cold water causes all the blood-vessels of the skin to contract and so force the blood which was contained in them into the internal vessels. As more blood than usual will be thus thrown into those vessels which are deeply situated, the blood pressure will rise greatly. ”

“ Are we not sensible women?” Miss Latimer came and talked it over, and decided to accept the plan; then she and Lucy agreed that, as in this instance there was a breathing spell before they were deprived of household help, they would try what “advertisement” would do.
So Lucy put a very explicit advertisement into three daily papers, which had columns both of “Situations Wanted,” and “Vacant.” Applicants were to call “on Saturday afternoons only.” When the first Saturday came, she gave Hugh his painting book with which to amuse himself, took her needlework and sat expectant. ”

“ Persons who are suffering from many forms of illness perspire profusely. One of the commonest causes is indigestion, which acts in this way. The stomach lies just below the heart, and when the stomach is in difficulty it worries the heart, and so interferes with the circulation. This is the cause of the flutterings, palpitations, flushes and excessive perspirations, so common in indigestion. ”

“ There is a possibility that it may be a purely natural condition, for the palms of the hands perspire more freely than any other part of the body, and persons vary extremely in the quantity of fluid which exudes through their skin. ”

“ To work star, flowers and leaves but few directions are required. Work with large-eyed needle and a short length of ribbon. Draw ribbon through to right side of satin, leaving a short end at wrong side. Lay a bodkin or other flat instrument in front of ribbon; work one stitch over the bodkin and draw it away. Work three more stitches in the same way and finish centre with a large French knot worked with silk or filoselle. The foliage leaves are formed like the star flower petals. The bodkin is used to keep the ribbon flat and untwisted and from being drawn too tightly. ”

“ Where there is great lateral deformity, the question of correcting the displacement is well worth considering. In the minor grades of distortion of the nose, due to old injuries, it is scarcely worth while to have an operation done. ”

“ For the road was a public highway, and bullocks dragging up loads on sledges, or men, women, and children with their market produce or purchases on their heads, would be constantly met or passed coming up or going down. ”

“ It is imperative when glands have broken down, and are discharging, that they should be kept extremely clean and free from external infections by the use of local antiseptic washes and applications. The arm must also be kept at rest. ”

“ In the last stages, nothing but a surgical operation—no less than cutting away the joint—will give relief. We cannot too strongly impress upon you the necessity of wearing rightly-shaped boots which do not distort the great toe. ”