Various Recipes
Also from Arthur's are these various recipes. Are
you bold enough to give them a try?
Oyster Omelet
Chop very fine eighteen or twenty large
oysters; beat six eggs separately very light; add together
the whites and yelks and beat again; mix in a little
cold milk a teaspoonful of corn-starch and stir it in
the eggs; add the chopped oyster, pepper and salt to
your taste, and butter the size of a large nutmeg melted
and stirred in; melt in a frying-pan a piece of butter
the size of a walnut; when boiling hot, pour in the
omelet, brown slowly, fold over, and serve on a hot
dish.
Baked Eggs
Melt in a small pan or tin pie-dish
a piece of butter the size of a walnut; open six eggs
without breaking them and pour them gently on the butter;
season with pepper and salt and bake in a hot oven until
the whites are firm and set; put a few little pieces
of butter on top of the eggs before putting them in
the oven.
Potato Pie
Peel and slice the potatoes very
thin; butter a deep pie-dish; put a layer of potatoes
in the bottom, scatter over a very little chopped onion
(one onion is enough for a pound of potatoes), season
with pepper and salt and a little chopped parsley and
a few slices of hard-boiled egg; then another layer
of potatoes, onion, parsley, egg, and pepper and salt-until
the dish is full; cut two ounces of resh butter into
little pieces and lay on top, pour over a little water,
cover with a good crust, and bake slowly an hour and
a half.
Cupid Kills!
Here we see the eternal
rascal Cupid, caught in the act of mudering a dove.
This motif was published in the early 1900s, and would
make a wonderful last-minute Victorian Valentine when
stitched on perforated paper. Click
Here for the printable chart.
Free Victorian Parlor Table (cat not
included)
  
Download, print and assemble
this charming Victorian parlor table. Fun for your dolls
house, or makes a splendid cat toy, as Mr. Tips has
discovered. Just cut out and fold on the dashed lines.
Click
to download the Parlor Table [738 k] Requires Adobe
Acrobat Reader
Did you miss the matching
Sofa? Click Here for last
month's issue.
 Snow
Flowers by Minnie Irving
I awoke one winter morning,
And I found my garden white
With a host of shining blossoms
That had not been there at night;
All the barren ground was covered,
And the naked branches, quite.
For the angels, in the night-time,
Flying softly to and fro,
Bearing to the gates of heaven
Spirits from the earth below,
Had let fall upon my garden
Lovely garlands-flowers of snow.
Featured
Art Print: White
Birds in Snow
By Shoson.
Click
for a closer look.
Cora's Valentine
By Edyth Kirkwood, as published in Peterson's Magazine,
February 1884
"Ah! there you are at last, Cora.
I was just going to send your breakfast up to you. Did
you have a pleasant time, at the party, last night?"
Cora drew up her chair, stirred her
coffee sleepily, repressed a yawn, and replied, slowly:
"It was a perfect crush. I got
myself ensconced, and enjoyed myself in a corner: I
had no mind to spoil my dress by trying to dance in
such a crowd."
Mrs. Blondin-for Cora's sister was
married-stared. Cora was usually willing to dance, if
she could get standing-room and no more.
"You must have had a most agreeable
companion," she observed, sagely. "Who was
it?"
"I was talking most of the evening
to a friend of Mr. Melton's," she replied, the
color growing deeper in her cheeks. "He is visiting
here."
"Oh! I wonder if it wasn't Val-"
began Mrs. Blondin. "But here is Kitty with the
letters," she said, stopping short in her sentence.
"No, ma'am," answered the
maid; "the postman hasn't come round yet. It's
only a note from Mrs. Melton, which the messenger said
I wuz to be very particular to give into your own hands;
and he's waiting for an answer."
While Cora finished her coffee, Mrs.
Blondin broke the envelope, read the note, and then,
with an evident effort to repress a smile, put it in
her pocket, and going to a table near by, dashed off
a few lines, and gave it to the maid.
Cora's eyes followed every movement
curiously. "My dear sister," she purred, coaxingly,
"what is it all about? And why this mystery? Let
me see it, too;" and she held out her hand.
"It's only a note from Mrs. Melton,
saying she will call this evening with her husband,
and asking permission to bring their friend-Mr. Hartwell,"
replied Mrs. Blondin.
"Oh! is that all?" pouted
Cora, in a tone of pretended disappointment.
"What did you suppose it was?"
asked her sister, teasingly. "Not a valentine,
eh? Although this is the great day."
Cora made a little face, and ran out
of the room; and then her sister laughed heartily, as
she drew the note out of her pocket, and read it again.
It ran thus:
"Dear Nellie: When we were school-girls
together, you were always begging me not to scheme and
plot; but 'tis my nature to,' and you know I never use
my gifts maliciously. I have composed a little snare
for your sister, whose interest in our friend Mr. Hartwell
only equals to his in her. You remember Valentine, don't
you? You know he is everything that is good and manly;
so you need have no scruples in aiding me. All I want
of you is silence concerning Mr. Hartwell's first name.
Don't breathe it; and leave the rest to me. Shall you
be at home this evening? If so, Mr. Melton and I will
call, about eight; and I suppose I have your permission
to bring our friend."
"Ever yours, Agusta Melton."
The day wore on. Kitty, the maid, got
a lace-paper missive, with two clasped hands, a cupid,
a church-door, a ring, and a rhyme, which made her heart
light for the rest of the day: for who but the milk-man
sent it?
As for Cora, the valentines she received
were almost legion. No one was so popular. And now to-night
she sat at a little round table in the drawing-room,
with her pile of valentines before her. Never had she
looked prettier. She wore a simple black-silk dress,
which brought out in exquisite relief her fair rose-bloom
complexion. Her golden hair, bound by a narrow fillet
of black velvet ribbon across her head, fell in masses
down her back. Her blue eyes looked up with a soft far-away
expression. Her rich red half-pouting lips were as tempting
as ripe pomegranates.
Her sister was standing by her, taking
up one valentine after another, and commenting on them,
wondering from whom each came. "I should have thought
your new acquaintance of last night would have sent
one," she said. "I wonder if this, after all,
is not from him," she added, as she held up an
unusually elegant one.
At this instance the door opened, and
the maid announced "Mr. Hartwell," before
the speaker could put down the valentine.
As the girl spoke, a tall handsome
gentleman entered. He bowed to Mrs. Blondin, and said,
holding out a letter:
"Mrs. Melton was so earnest in
her entreaties that I should bring you this note, that
I hurried off before her, at her own desire; and she
begged me to ask you to open and read it at once."
"Oh," said Mrs. Blondin,
"it is for my sister," glancing at the envelope.
"Mrs. Melton is abounding in mysteries
to-day, laughed Cora, as she rose, and, courtesying
to the new-comer, took the letter. "She sent a
fleet messenger early this morning with some secret
communication for my sister. I wonder what is in it.
But pray sit down."
He complied. She sank again into her
chair, and read the note. But having done so, she looked
perplexed. She turned the papers over, shook them, peeped
into the envelope, saying:
"Why, how strange! Is this all,
Mr. Hartwell? Didn't she give you another letter for
me?"
"That was all, Miss Cora; and
although she did not acquaint me with the contents,
she seemed to attach great importance to my personally
giving it to you."
"Well, I don't suppose there is
any reason why you shouldn't know the contents. Mrs.
Melton only says she sends me a valentine, which she
hopes I will accept," said Cora.
Mr. Hartwell uttered an inarticulate
exclamation: started for the door; came back; and, muttering
a vague apology, stood gazing at the fair speaker. "Has
he lost his senses?" thought Mrs. Blondin. As for
Cora, she looked at him in undisguised wonder.
"I believe in my heart you have
lost it, Mr. Hartwell," she said at last, with
a gay laugh. "You have lost my valentine, and you
are afraid to confess. Isn't it so? Really, you act
like one with something on his conscience. Well, I'm
sorry to lose it; but never mind."
"One moment, I beg!" he cried.
"Let me explain; for Mrs. Melton will tell you
if I do not. My Christian name is Valentine, and she-you
know she is full of fun-she must have meant that when
she sent the note by me. She sent you a Valentine."
"Oh!" said Cora, stiffly;
"was that it? Yes, she certainly is full of fun;
but I must say I think her joke has been carried a little
too far this time." Her voice was quite indignant.
"Miss Grayson, I beg you to believe
me. I did not know any more about it than you. I am
truly distressed," said the visitor.
"Pray don't apologize. I believe
you. Let us drop it." Softening a little in her
tone.
But Mr. Hartwell did not wish to drop
it.
"Miss Cora, there is something
else, Mrs. Melton send you a valentine which she hoped
you would accept. We have met but twice, it is true;
and I should never have presumed, on my own part, to
offer myself on such a short acquaintance. But is has
been done fore me; and-pardon me-I do not regret it.
there is such a thing as love at first sight; and I
love you devotedly."
He tried to take her hand, forgetful
of her sister's presence-who, however, had retired discreetly
into the background. But Cora drew back shyly. Neither
of them heard the door-bell ring, nor saw a laughing
group gathered at the door of the room. Both stared
violently when Mrs. Melton's merry voice rang out:
"Upon my word, things seem to
be progressing nicely. The good fates always preside
over my little plots. So my Valentine pleases you?"
As she spoke, she came in effusively,
and patted the young girl's flushed cheek.
"Not at all!" began Cora,
indignantly. Then she stammered: "At least-I mean-"
and suddenly stopped.
"It was really very amusing of
you, Mrs. Melton," said Mr. Hartwell, lightly,
coming to the rescue. "Not at all a bad joke."
"Then she accepted you, Valentine?"
queried the saucy little lady.
"She did not refuse me flatly,"
he replied. "As to accepting, in time I hope she
may."
And in time she did. Yes! she
married her VALENTINE.
I hope that you have enjoyed
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