Buckeye cookery

LABOR-SAVING CONTRIVANCES.—Every good housewife has neatly arranged cupboard and dish-closet. Every thing has its appropriate shelf and division. But there are other things for which provision should be made. A pile of books is sometimes seen in one part of the dining-room, a few newspapers in another, and a pair of shoes ina third. The inside of a closet is sometimes a mass of confusion—‘‘a place for every thing,’ and every thing thrown promiscuously into it. Half a dozen garments are hung upon one nail, to crowd each other out of shape; others are thrown upon the floor amid heaps of boots and shoes. And so on to the end of the chapter of careless and slovenly disorder. There is no excuse for such carelessness, and no satisfaction in such housekeeping. Want of time is no excuse, for such want of system and order is the cause of the most prodigal waste of time. It is only necessary to use the brain a little to save the hands. Systematic habits, doing every thing well, and the hundred little contrivances which will suggest themselves to every neat and ingenious housekeeper, will save time, and establish order and cleanliness. Have shelves in the closet, and regular rows of hooks, and plenty of them; let one side be appropriated to one kind of clothing, with a hook for each article. If necessary to preserve the order, make a neat label, and paste over each hook. Make shoe-pockets (these pockets are made of about two and a half yards of calico; one yard of which makes the back, to be tacked to the door ‘when done. Split the remaining yard and a half in two, lengthwise, and, placing the strips about one inch apart, make, across the back, three rows of pockets, by stitching first the ends of the strips to the sides of the back, and then gather the bottom of each strip to fit the back ; then separate each strip into two, three, or four pock- . ets, according to the use for which they are designed, and fasten by stitching a narrow ‘‘piping”’ of calico, from top to bottom of the back, between the pockets. All the work may be done on a machine. A border of leather, stitched on the edges of the back, and a narrow strip used instead of the calico ‘‘ piping,” make the whole much stronger) on the inside of the doors, and never put any thing on the closet floor, where it will be trodden upon in entering for other articles. Never stuff any thing away out of sight-in haste and disorder. Hiding dirtiness does not cure it. Those who write many letters should have a case, with ‘‘pigeon-holes”’ labeled and arranged alpha- _ betically—a box for three or four letters is sufficient—in which to keep them, with one compartment for unanswered letters. When the case becomes crowded, or at the end of the year, wrap in packages, and label with letter and the year. Newspapers and magazines, when preserved, should be neatly filed in order and laid away, or sent away for binding. The work-basket, which is in daily use, is often a spectacle for gods and men—the very picture of confusion and disorder. When it can be afforded, one of the new ladies’ adjustable work-tables, of which several admirable styles are made and widely advertised, will be found a great convenience, especially where there are children—whose little fingers delight in tumbling the contents of the basket. If a basket is used, it should be divided into compartments. A circular basket, with divisions about the edge for smaller articles, and larger spaces in the center, is convenient, and easily kept in order. All these, and hundreds of other devices like them, are labor-savers, which relieve housekeeping of a -large share of its burdéns. And a calculation of the time spent every year