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The Commoner.
Tol. a, No. 46,
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Ce ? Department.
Conducted by Bekn Watts WlcUey.
Tlic Conductor of this De
partment will undcrtalte
tot answer questions that
interest Housekeepers.
Address care Commoner.
iLwWWWMJY
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Her Choice.
She writes: " 'Tls a weary head that
wears
This wreath from the hand of fame;
I bartered the peace of a yearning
heart
For this, and an emnty name,
i. weary head and a famished heart,
A hand that has nerveless grown!
I walk with tho restless, surging
throng
, And feel that I walk alone.
I look on a picture of sweet homo love,
. And envy its simply fare;
For I bartered all when I chose the
crown
, Ambition bade mo wear.
7 Love came to me; but his shining eyes
Were eclipsed by this costly thing;
I would not fetter my spirit proud
In the space of a wedding ring.
So I chose to walk as I walk today;
0, desolate, hungry heart!
Aud the path for me has ever led,
From my sweet, lost love apart.
Yet I hear the cooing of baby lipa
In my dreamings, day and nignt;
Glad eyes flash up from their sinless
depth,
And I cannot bear the sight
For they waken a dream of the olden
time
Of days I would fain forget;
' 0, foolish heart! can your' costly crown
.But yield you this vain regret!
J A:, weary life. Yet, a brief, sweet while
i rThis glittering toy was fair;
t) Now, under Its glitter, my starving
heart
Faints sadly, with none to care.
And I sigh for a day in the far, far
.- - past
Ablaze with its matchless glow;
In the beautiful aisles of the future
life,
I shall find it again, I know.
Dear eyes, with your soft love-light
ashine,
We shall never meet again;
The passion dreams of the olden time
Lie dead in a sea of pain.
We shall walk no more in the twi
light gray,
TCTno'Mi 4-Vin atlonf TtmfnVilrio' efnra
'& YjNor hand touch hand, 'till the warden
Undoeth the golden bars.
And then, in the light of the clearer
day,
When each shall have found our
part, i,
I shall, may be, wear in its golden
eheen,
A crown worth a woman's heart-.
,"
Aimless, Reading.
know; who was the author? they don't
remember; what lesson was it intend
ed to convey? they haven't the least
idea! And even if they do make an
attempt to tell you anything about it,
thoy are oftener wrong than right!
Their morbid, craving for 'something
to read,' is insatiable.
"These women are mental dyspep
tics; they suffer from a chronic indi
gestion of tho mind, just as the glutton
suffers with his stomach. They are
sadly lacking on the useful side of life;
are restless, discontontedj filled wth
morbid longings and distorted Ideas;
they cannot converse intelligently up
on any subject, and their time is spent
principally in retailing the latest scan
dal, neighborhood gossip, or ' com
plaining about the unsatisfactory state
of their home affairs, and their only
Interest in their husbands' business af
fairs Is in getting what money they
can out of him, and spending it upon
tho most injudicious purchases their
morbid fancies might suggest."
Unhappily this is too true, and we
find this morbid taste not only among
women, but there are men, also, who
care for no other reading than that
c orded by the trashy, sensational
stories published in cheap weekly or
monthly papers and flung broadcast
about the land. These people are gen
erally considered by their own class
as "great readers." One lady whom I
know, was often referred to as a
"great reader;" hecause of her ac
knowledged intelligences', excellent con
versational powers, and.the possession
of a large fund of general and special
information upon many subjects. But
this misnomer she resented bitterly.
"I ar- not a 'great reader'," she
would say, pointing to her small and
select stock of books, and limited sup
ply of first class periodicals; "I am a
student, and I read only the best I
can get. I am careful to read only
what will strengthen and develop my
thinking powers often but a sentence
or a paragraph in a day,, earring this
about me with my work,, analyzing, di
gesting and assimilating. . I have no
time for trashy, useless stories, and
only touch such things when troubled
with insomnia and wishing for sleep.
To me, they are simply narcotics, dead
ening the mental faculties, and to bo
used with the same care and caution
witn waich I snould handle other
poisons." .
How long will our sisters be in
learning that such "reading habits"
are highly pernicious, and, instead of
being a mark of large intellectual cul
ture, are a sure sign of the deteriora
tion of the mind.
ly, than was her sister of the "good old
days." Conjugally, there does not seem
to be any discredit attached to her.
Science, art and literaturo are alive
with interests of vital importance to
r l women, of whatever station or oc
cupation, and It is all nonsense to try
to restrict tho idea of tho "woman's
sphere" to the confines of the dish
pan or the kitchen range. It is allowed,
now-a-days, that a woman may even
write books good ones", too, or talk,
intelligently of the affairs of the na
tion, without its seriously detracting
from her efficiency in any department
of domestic economy. The "woman
movement" is no longer an experiment,
and the history of those who have de
voted themselves to the uplifting of
their sex is full of most notable ex
amples of true, helpful wives, wise,
loving mothers, excellent housekeepers,
and charming companions, and whose
home life has been as beautiful as their
public work was broad and sym
pathetic. True, a few have failed; have gained
notoriety rather than public approval,
and have gone through the divorce
court because of domestic Infelicity
not always solely their fault; but
there are thousands upon thousands
of the noblest of women working, not
only before the world, but silently,
within well-kept homes, beside well
cared for, cradles, and the carefulness
with which they have kept the royal
robes of pure womanhood unspotted,
attest the single-mlndedriess with
which they devote themselves to the
betterment of the world.
I quote from a friend who is very
observant, in regard to how some wo
men abuse the privilege of reading,
"and pity 'tis, 'tis true."
"I notice this peculiarity among a
certain class of city women the more
they read, the less they know. Reau
' ing does them more harm than good
not because what they .read is not
good; it is the best of its kind, gen
erally, as they have the choice in tho
public libraries; but, because they read
for entertainment only, their minds
are like a colander; nearly everything
passes through it; but little Is retained
and that little not of the best They
make ho effort to grasp an idea and re
tain it, ora fact, to quote It
, "Ask them, half an hour after tho
. book or paper is laid aside, what was
. the contral idea? They cannot tell
you; what was tho thread upon which
tho events were strung? they do not
Past th Experimental."
Let us not be afraid of the current
raillery concerning the "new woman."
She has been found not to bo such a
terrible creature after all. Many of
us, whether conscious of it or not, be
long to her class. About the only
difference between the old woman and
the new is, that the new woman knows
more, is more alert, has better com
mand of her mental faculties, has
stronger, nerves, and Is younger at
sixty than the old woman was at thir
ty. She keeps in touch with the
world about her, and seems to possess
within herself the fountain of peren
nial youth.
Even the man is losing his terror
of tho creature, and has been known
to have married her- when he could
get heP consent to it and it has tran
spired that she is no more if as much
a failure, domestically, or maternal-
Pop-Corn.
The little folks have just brought
in a pan full of buttered pop corn',,
and I am sure the little boys and girls
who read The Commoner would like to
know how they make it. Have you a
corn popper? One will cost you Ave
or ten cents, and, with careful handl
ing, will last you several seasons. It
is no trouble at all to pop corn in a
popper, and it pops so much better,
too.
After you have popped a panful,
warm a tablespoonful of butter to
every gallon of the popped corn; pour
tho butter over the corn and stir all
together; sprinkle a little salt over
it, and stir again. After a- few trials
you will know just how to do it Meat
fryings, from nice fresh pork, is pre
ferred by some, but either is nice.
Pop-corn balls are easily made,, too,
and everybody likes fresh pop-corn
balls.
Boil your syrup until it will harden
in cold water, then pour It over the
popped corn. Butter your hands and
work the corn into balls; you will
soon learn how.
When Dinner la Late.
In the best regulated households,
there are, at times, a few minutes' de
lay about meals, and at such times, in
stead of a man pacing up and down the
room, glaring at the clock, scowling
into the kitchen, or demanding with
an air of outraged dignity, "how long
he is to be lcept waiting for his break
fast," "how soon Is he to have his
dinner," or "why, fn hallfax, supper
is not ready," he might, with a great
deal more credit to himself, take up the
paper and read until the meal is an
nounced. Or, if he is a particularly
nice ma and loves his wife, he might
catch up the baby, out of her arms, or
from under her feet, and leave-her free
to get things in shape a littlfr faster;
or, if thero is no babyJt should not
bo at all beneath his dignity to flnisK
setting the table, help dish up the
victuals, see that tho water pail is
freshly filled, or add a stick of wood
to the famishing fire.
When the viands are placed on tho
table, and the family seated about it,
don't take the trouble to tell the cook
that the bread is burned, or tho meat
scorched, or the potatoes underdone.
She knew it before you did, and tho
knowledge did not add to the tran
quility of her overstrained nerves. She
just had to "hurry things, out of fear
of your temper, and you are far more
to blame than she is In the matter.
If the coffee is lacking in strength
because tho water was not boiling hot
when used don't startle her by shout
ing, in a voice of indignant inquiry,
"Are you out of coffee?" No, sir; that
is not the way to make her believe in
your masculine superiority. Why,
even a foolish little woman could get,
out of temper and make the air bluo
with scolding. It don't take brains to
do that! Just make her believe that
she married an angel by saying not a
word, and if "ho tearfully offers an
excuse for th. shortcoming, just tell
her you don't mind that it don't oc-
For Singers and Speakers
The Now Remedy For Catarrh is Very
Valuable
A Grand Rapids gontlomnn who ropresonts a
prominont manufacturing: concern nnd travola
through contral and southern Michigan, rolates
the following regarding tho now catarrh cure,
he says:
"After Bufforing from catarrh of tho head,
throat and stomach for sevoral years, I heard
of Stuart's Catarrh Tablets quite accidentally
and llko ovorj thing olso I immediately bought
a package 'and was t decidedly surprised at the
immediato rolief it'affordod me and still mora
to find a coonplpto euro after several weeks' uso. -
fltt yvbiLBBl HHilHRtfk. hMBRi L)
"I hare a little son who sings in a boy's choir
in one of our prominent churchos, and he is
greatly troubled with hoarseness and throat
weakness, ond on my return homo from a trip I
gavo him a few of tho tablets one Sunday morn
ing when ho had complained of hoarsness. He
was delighted with their effect, remoring all
huskinoss in a few minutes and making ths
Toico clear and strong.
"Aa tho tablets aro very pleasant to the taste,
I had no difficulty in persuading him to us
them regularly.
"Our family physician told us they wore an
aatisoptic preparation of undoubtod merit and
that he himself had no hesitation in using and
recommending 8 tuart's Catarrh Tablets for any
form of catarrh,
"I havo since met many public speakers and
professional Binders who used them constantly.
A. prominont Detroit lawyer told mo that
Stuart's uatarrn xaoiots Kopt ms tnroat in nno
shape during tho most trying woathor, and that
ho had long since discaraod the uso of cheap
lozongoa and troches on tho advice of his physi
cian that they contained so much tolu, potash
and opium as to render their uso a danger to
health."
Stuart's Catarrh Tablots are large ploasant
tasting lozopges' composed of catarrhal anti
septics; liko Hod Gum, Blood Boot, etc,, and
sold by druggists ovory where at 50 cents for full ,
treatment.
Thoy act upon the blood and mucous mem
brane and their composition- and remarkable
success has Won tho approval of physioians, as
well as thousands of sufferers from nasal ca
tarrh, throat-troubles and catarrh of stomach.
A'Httla book oh treatment of catarrh- mailad
I free by addressing F. A. Stuart Co., Marshall,
Mich,
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