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The Commoner.
VOLUME 13, NUMBER 9
7 Plrll i aSX
JHPNflTOaUBfe 7 1 ) P D 8 FT m m r
Solitudo
Laugh, and tho world laughs with
you;
Woop, and you woop alone;
For tho Bad old earth must horrow
Its mirth,
But has troublo enough of Its own.
Sing, and tho hills will answer;
Sigh, it Is lost on tho air;
Tho echoes hound to a joyous sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
Itojolco, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
Thoy want full measure for all your
pleasure,
But thoy do not want your woo.
Bo glad, and your friends aro many;
Bo sad, and you lose them all;
Thoro aro none to decline your ncc
tarod wine,
But alono you must drink lifo's
gall.
Foast, and your halls aro crowded;
I'asc, anu tuo world goes by;
Succoed and give, and it helps you
livo,
But no man can help you die.
Thoro is room In tho halls of pleasuro
For a largo and lordly train;
But ono by ono, wo must all Olo on,
Through tho narrow aisles of pain.
Ella Wheolor-Wilcox.
sour or rot because they aro for
gotten until tho dish Is wanted again.
Then, too, many women (and men
who help about tho kitchen) will set
foods on tho stove or in tho oven
in china or porcelain dishes, and let
the dishes burn along with the food,
or become so full of a network of
tiny cracks that they aro anything
but pleasant to look at or sanitary
to use. Still another way Is tho
cooking of too many kinds of food
at one time, and allowing tho family
to got an overdose and a' consequent
distaste, and tho "loft-over" (often
of oxponsivo foods) must be thrown
out, because they do not try to make
a dish of tho surplus disguised with
something else. Cooking too much,
and having too much loft-over is an
extravagance. No foods aro cheap
these days, and one must use up
every scrap and fragment; but it is
better to havo a small lack than an
overdose. Try not to havo scraps.
Words of tho above poem sent in
by Mrs. T. G. Redfleld, North
Yakima, Wash.; Mrs. M. A. Brown;
B. F. Nowkirk, Newell, S. D.; who
will ploaso accept thanks for same.
Tho samo poem is sent In by an
other reader and credited to Colonel
Joyco.
Poems Wanted
Mrs. B. A. Young, Mllner, Idaho,
would liko words of poem, "Ken
tucky Belle," tho story of an old
horse saving tho soldier frqm the
enemy. Pleaso send direct to her.
Mrs. M. Robinson would like
words of tho poems, "The Ride of
Jennie McNoal," "College Oil Cans,"
and words of a poem, "The lark is
up to meet tho sun." As tho first
two poems aro quite long, they might
bo sent .direct to her address.
And pleaso acpept thanks for all.
'Saving at tho Spigot"
It is a singular thing that, if you
begin to tell tho averago woman
where she might be a little more sav
ing by taking caro of what she has,
she will meet you at once with tho
assurance that she does tho very
thing recommonded, and a great
many other things, and is just as
careful as she can bo that nothing Is
wasted. Maybe It is the matter of
wasting table scraps; and she will
tell you that she never lets a scran
of food or bread get out of the
Kitchen; that she uses up every
crumb. Yet If you happen Into her
back-yard, or look into her garbare
can, you will find enough scraps
thrown out to have made several
meals. Another way she wastes is
In the matter of clothes. Often you
will find the children's clothes either
lying for days at a time in a tub of
suds, or left handing out In the
weather, on the line or on shrubbery
or on the fence. Still another ts In fall
ing to take the stitch in time, and thus
allowing the clothes to go to pieces
from their own weight. Another way
la to put away foods In the dishes In
which they were served at table
with no covering, and allow them to
"Bakers Bread"
A writer in To-Day's Magazine
tolls us that in an inspection of 600
bakeries in New York, 431 of them
wore found to bo located in cellars
whore the dust blew In from tho
street above; 171 had no windows at
all, and 122 but ono small window
each. Of eight hundred men em
ploved in tho bakeries, 200 were
suffering from respiratory diseases,
such as bronchitis and tuberculosis;
one out of every two tenement
bakers was found to be afflicted with
an Infectious or loathsome disease.
Since this Inspection, the members of
the Housewives league hive pledged
themselves each to, inspect personally
the bakery from which her own
household is supplied. Some of the
states have secured a law to enforce
sanitary bakeshops and forbid the
employment of men afflicted with
disease.
In delivering, from the oven to the
consumer, the bread comes in con
tact with six pairs of hands, and
most of them, like the hands of the.
driver of the wagon that delivers It
are not clean hands. It is in some
cities demanded that the bread be
wrapped in paper; but there are still
hands that come in contact with the
naked loaf. Do you ever watch the
oaf of bread In its journey to your
homo? '
Domestic Economy
It is said there are over 1,200 In
stitutions in the United States today
tnat are offering courses In home
economics; some hundreds are col
leges, and 650 are high schools. In
the University of California the new
learning is written inits catalogue
along with Latin and Greek and the
higher mathematics. ' Instead of da
in the past, being a subject of're-
?M5?..rof wolan t0 "do ner own
things it is now an honor, and
household economics la now a bieh
branch of learning aa a science. In
tho new order of things, there are
necessarily many mistakes, but little
l "Uie the Wy te r1earln. "d I the
ES.!d?.a f homo wlsher in
health, happiness and higher living.
Health Notes
Lack, of sufficient sleep soon shows
In oneg appearance. Bight hours'
sleep out of twenty-four la required
for the best resulta.
Clipping the ends of the hair about
once a month will stimulate the roots
and cause new growth. Dandruff
should bo cured at once as it ruins
the. hair. It is easy cured.
The woman who has blonde hair,
or tho one with gray hair, must keep
it perfectly clean, as dust shows up
quickly on light hair in a most ugly
fashion. Washing with alcohol will
cause tho hair to turn gray. Borax
and ammonia are both injurious.
The persistent use of peroxide of
hydrogen on cold sores will soon cure
them. Dab it on thoroughly every
few minutes, and it will draw the pus
and any poison out, when of course
the place will heal. Use it freely on
any sore that shows any indication
of festering.
Nicotine, the active principle of
tobacco is claimed by chemists to
be, next to prusslc acid, the most
rapidly fatal poison known. What
ever differences of opinion there may
be upon tho adisabillty of smoking
for men, there is none whatever as
to Us pernicious effect on boys. The
tender tissues of a growing boy can
not absorb even a small quantity of
It without most serious results.
Cigarettes are particularly injurious.
Celluloid contains in its composi
tion gun cotton and camphor, both
highly inflammable. No one iweaT
Ing collar, comb or other ornaments,
should -place her head close to a
gas jet or other unprotected light, as
celluloid catches fire so quickly and
burns so rapidly that it would hard-,
ly be possible to avoid being seri
ously burned.
A cough may be caused by many'
tningsoesmes lung troubles.' The,re.
Is tho sympathetic cough that goeff
with the stomach, and the ,"nervoud"
cough that is caused by some nerve
derangement,, besides many other
causes.. The cure is to remove the
cause.
"Quilting Bees"
In the long ago, there was no
gatherings more full' of pleasure
than the quilting bees, where the
housewives gathered to help out a
neighbor at her quilt or comfort
making, and the men usually made
a bee" at the same time, cutting,
splitting and storing wood for the
winter's use. There, was always a
good dinner, at which there was un
qualified good cheer and fun; and as
the day ended, the young folks came
and the elders who did. not care to
stay went home, feeling that the day
was well spent, while the everting
was spent as only healthy, happy
young people can spend it. In those
days, neighbors would gather to help
one another, and there was always
engagements ahead, as long as the
winter lasted. Every housewife prided
herself on her bed furnishing, and
there were always stacks and stacks
of good, warm quilts, home-made
blankets, clean "goose-feather" pil
lows, and If the mattress was filled
with clean corn husks or swe t, fresh
oaten straw it was of untold comfort
to the healthy, tired body, even if
the great soft feather bed was lack-
- u aMea -d
washed and dved and mZT ."?'
"comforts" wlu, i ffllfng Sf cll?
Att wool. There w l nX "
filled" bed-covering f , W00N
on day by tfio dMfrflnfcepBflEX.
um. and good w0Ta6srddne,to
Cotton-filled quilts and comforts get
hard and heavy, and after washing
are not as warm as one would like-'
but tho wool-filled are light and
warm, soft and "live." as lrm
there' is a piece of one left. The
greatest difficulty now is to get tho
wool cleaned and carded into bats
but at some mills this Is done, either
In bats of various sizes, or in one or
two large sheets. Of the cleaned
batted wool two to three pounds
makes a warm quilt, while for a com
fort as much as four pounds may be
used and the work done by "tack
ing." These weights will make a
full-sized, double-bed quilt. If a
good grade of calico, or cretonne is
used, fifteen yards will cover both
sides. Wool-filled auilts jiva iw
Water Bugs and Cockroaches
The first thing necessary to their
extermination is to clean out every
corner and crevice with a strong
solution of boiling water and soap
powder, or carbolic acid, though the
soap powder is cheap and effective.
Get Into every hiding place with the
liquid, and especially into the dark
corners. Take out all the dust, and
dirt, if you have to use an old knife
blade to reach it. Use only the
strongest soap powder on the mar
ket; one of the very best liquids is
a caustic soda solution made Qf
lime and sal soda. This is too strong
for tho hands, but-just right for the
bugs. Kemember that boiling water
is the only absolutely Certain destruc
tive, and it will kill anything it
touches. When you have flooded
every hiding place, get the strongest
Persian insect .powder you -can find.
Scatter it freely, everywhere' in their
runs, and while Itt.may not kill in
stantly, it' will shorten their life In
a very little while. Do not forget
to scatter the powder around the
steam pipes, the sink' pipes, or any
large cracks in tho floor, or openings
about the, -pipes ,th rough ,wbich the
bugs can coinie...,ryJs essentially
necessary to, dp this in the kitchen,
so tiebugs carf.get thqir dbse'before
reaching the .pantry.' Meantime,
every particle of food must be closely
covered, as in' spite of cleanliness,
uncovered food attracts the bugs.
Not even the crumbs 'must be Wft
about.. Your, neighbor nfay not be
as careful as, yourself; so yo,u must
keep everything eatable out o'f their
reach, even If yqu cook less, and live
closely until ydu are" rid of them. It
Is claimed that water bugs and cock
roaches carry disease germs about
with them; but whether they do or
not, they are first coiiBln to the bed
bug, and no one wants to eat food
that has first been sampled by them,
or covered with their filthy tracks.
Several "house cleanings" niust he
made, as the unreached eggs will
hatch, and a new army must be
fought; but if killed before the
breeding time, successively, tho sup
ply will give out In time, and you
have only to keep up a vigilant out
look, in order to be free of them.
i
t
Starting Lavender
Lavender seeds should be sown
about the time jf the bloqtning of
the trees In April: the bed" should be
,? tired and tYt0 8tt 8h prepared,
sifted and made firm and level,
smoothing with a smooth board.
After sowing the seeds in, rows,
cover lightly by siflfffg soij qver
tnem tfeaf mold ami sand well
mixefd being good; then press the
S0A.5aIn w,tIr . and spray
with water until mdlsf? cover tHe
row with bits of wdss in order to
keep the grqund radial until tBe
seeds germinate. The sol! shduld
still be kept moist after the Rlarita
appear, out care must be taken not
to make it wet: the bed must bd pro
tected frdra rata an frdm sun until
the plains arB atrdng enough to gto
unsheltered, -the- plant will tfot
bloom until the gfecdiid Reason. U
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