BY FREDERI<2KK<De.L.BOOTH—TUCKER
COMMANDER ofAfi& VOL UMTEERC°f AMERICA.
Vbootn-tucker/
h,k work )f t he array of which mine
is the honor to be commander lies
w Iarseiy with the poor. We are better
v' acquainted with every item of their
real life, their surroundings, their vi
cissitudes. than anyone could possibly
be who did not go into their homes and live with
then: their daily life
Marriage conditions among the poor have
formed the theme of much of my personal re
search and of many of the reports made to me.
It is one of the great—one of the very great and
very grave—questions of the day.
Marriage among the rich may mean any one
of many things. It may mean social or finan
cial advancement: it may be a mere matter of
convenience: it may bo the outcome of idleness
and propinquity.
Bur. marriage among the poor is the most
cogent means of reform. By making marriage
universally possible among those who are not
blessed with an abundance of this world's goods
the most deadly blow imaginable would be dealt
to vice. The greatest step would by such means
he taken toward vice's utter elimination.
“Marriage is an honorable estate" and “not to
he entered into lightly. But, too often, under
present conditions, the poor man cannot afford
to enter into it at all Vet he, perhaps far oftener
than his wealthier brother, recognizes the "hon
orable" condition of that “estate."
1 say this advisedly. Among the poor infidelity
Is far less frequent than among the rich. The
poor man and his wife hold the marriage relation
more sacred than do tiiose of greater worldly
wealth.
It is therefore doubly unfortunate that a class
so worthy of the blessings of matrimony should
he so frequently debarred from those blessings;
that the people who maintain the sanctity of the
marriage tie and who. moreover, bring up larger
families as a rule than do persons netter aide to 1
afford to do so. should be forced to remain single i
while men and women whose marriages are of !
no advantage to the community nor to posterity I
may wed at will.
Conditions among the poor are in many eases
such that the rearing and the keeping together
of a famih are rendered impossible. On every
had the poor man's efforts to establish and
maintain the sacred relations of matrimony are
discouraged.
How, for instance, can a poor man take to him
self a wife when the cost of living is so high that
he can barely support life in himself? How can
he ask a woman to share his lot when he knows
he may at any time be thrown out of work and
perhaps be obliged to watch her starve? How
cau a man rear a family when the chances may
be all against his being able to maintain it? For
a mai. cannot maintain a family when he has no
work. The sight of u starving wife and children
lias driven many a man to desperation—even to
crime.
Yet it is the right of the poor to have a home.
With them that right is as inalienable and per
haps more precious than with the rich. And so
cial conditions should be so arranged as to allow
the pool to escape from the burden of vice
through the blessed bonds of matrimony. These
conditions, whicli are rendering marriage among
the poor more and more impossible, are every
day bringing more and more sin into the world.
I maintain most strongly that there is a remedj
for vice. And that remedy, consists tn making
marriage possible among the poor and in provid
ing for such people a home.
In this country, it is true, there is a brighter
side to the question than in Europe, as may be
proved from statistics.
In London out of every 1,000 marriageable per
sons 729 are unmarried. More generally speaking,
less than one-third of the marriageable population
of London (the largest city of the world) enter
the state of matrimony. More lhan two-thirds are
single. The conditions for marriage there are all
against the poor man and woman. They may fall
in love as utterly as could any millionaire, but
the gates of the Eden of matrimony are closed
against them and guarded by the flaming sword
of poverty. They may sigh for marriage, but
they realize that such a luxury is far and away
above their means.
in this country the marriage statistics are al
most exactly tbo opposite of London’s. Here about
two-thirds of the marriageable population are
married, leaving barely a third unwed.
The explanation of this difference between the
two countries is. of course, easy to find. It con
sists in the better wages, the increased chances
for work, the genera! conditions which prevail
fn America. It is easier for the poor to live her#
than in London, but every year It is growing less
easy. In proportion with the poor man’s growing
inability to support a wife, vice proves itself to
be on the increase. This advance in vice is found
even in the west, and there, as well as in the
east, it is due to the growing financial disability
to marry.
During my recent visit to Kansas City several
married women applied to me for positions on
■ he Salvation Army farms. On investigation I
learned that they had not heard from their hus
bands for years.
1 made inquiries, and in each case found that
the wage-earner of the family, unable to get
work, had gone away, penniless, to seek a liveli
hood elsewhere, and had been forced to leave his
wife and little ones to shift for themselves. The
stories were profoundly pathetic. For they told
of men and women whose right to wed and rear
families was inalienable and yet who had been
forced to part from all that each held dear.
Poverty, not more merciful death, them did part.
Can any situation be imagined that would he
more crushing to a man of heart and of pride
than to he forced thus to condemn to poverty
and loneliness the woman he loved? Could wit
nesses to such a tragedy require a stronger deter
rent to matrimony?
There is far more suffering of this kind among
the poor than the world at large ever hears of.
Poor people are proud, and most of them have
a passionate love of home. 1 have seen whole
families resign themselves to probable death
sooner than to allow their homes to be broken up.
The great dread of the unfortunate poor is lest
their children he taken away from them and
committed to an institution. "Homicide,” or the
breaking up of the home, is to the poor man what
regicide is to loyal subjects of any king.
From a sociological standpoint there are many
arguments lor allowing the poor man to have a
home and family. It is his right. He is fonder
of his children, as a rule, than is his rich neigh
bor. His home is dearer to him. Home ties are
his only joys, his only recreation.
When I find a man starving and unable to sup
port his family I do not believe in tearing out
his heart by proposing the breaking up of his
home and the commitment of his children to an
institution. I suggest to him rather, that he go
into the country, where work is more plentiful
and iiving cheaper, and 1 try to find the means
for him to do so.
Perhaps the best maxim to solve the marriage
problem among the poor is:
"Place waste labor on waste land hv means of
waste capital, and thereby convert the trinity
of waste into a unity of production."
(Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
BYffoN.CffaUtfCE YjMDEPEVlUNITED STB TES m
,,<eenbtoez fj^om new york
ECEXTLY ;i young lady who had just
tome back from a month's honey
moon railed on me.
"How do you like matrimony?” I
asked.
"1 am utterly wretched,” she replied.
I asked her why.
“Because I did not try it sooner."
And that speech of hers, frivolous as it may
appear, sounded the keynote of the marrying
question fat more truly and resonantly than could
the sneering epigrams of a world full of cynics.
1 bear unqualified testimony to the fact that
the man who passes his life in what is miscalled
“single blessedness” has missed most of life's
pleasures.
Life at 20—even at .10—may seem pleasant
enough to a man without a wife to share its
triumphs and failures The world is young. There
Is much to distract and amuse. Home perhaps
seems "a place to go when ail the other places
are closed.” Friends are plentiful; relatives and
immediate family are about him.
But when a mat; reaches middle or old age?
Friends are not so many nor perhaps so disin
terested as at 20. Old time pleasures lack their
zest.
Blessed, thrice blessed, then, is the man who
has home, wife and children to ease that last
stage of life's long climb. Most miserable of mor
tals is lie who must look forward to a loveless
and lonely old age.
Annexing a wife and family in youth is merely
a higher and wiser form of .putting money in
bank. No other investment yields such interest
in later years.
Let a man marry just as soon as he can sup
port a wife. The youth who puts off this great
st.ep in order that he may search through the
world for an "affinity" is foolish. Tn the search
he is more than liable to pass by his true "affinity”
and to choose at last a wife whom no stretch of
Imagination could twist into an affinity for any
one. The traditional man who wandered for days
through a forest looking for material for a cane,
and who at last picked tip a crooked stick, was
fortunate if that crooked stick did not. turn out
to be a snake.
A man is just as likely to hit upon his ideal
early in life as later on. My advice, then, as
the supposititious man's lawyer, is: "Don't wait.”
"Marriage halves one's privileges and doubles
one's troubles” is an idiotic saw probably invented
by a bachelor. There is too much talk of this
sort.. Men speak of matrimony as a millstone
tied about the neck of youth. The lives of the
world's most successful men give the lie to this
fallacy.
Search the lives of the men who have made !
history, of the men who have achieved true great
ness, who hu^e won fame, who have acquired
wealth.
The vast majority of them were married. Of
these the greater part . married young. Their
wives, instead of transforming themselves into
shapely hut heavy millstones and dangling about
the galled necks of their liege lords, have, in
nine cases out of ten, done more than all other
influences combined to crown their husbands'
lives with success. Nearly all great men who
have been married would confess they owed much
of their fame or wealth to their wives.
There are, of course, obstacles to happiness in
married life. So also are there reels and shoals
in the Atlantic. But the sailor does not for that
reason become a landsman. He studies the shoals |
and learns to avoid them. The pitfalls in matri- I
mony can far more easily be studied and avoided
by any couple possessed of a moderate degree
of sense.
My bilicf. from observation, is that 75 out of
100 marriages are happy, and that not more than
five out of that number are unhappy.
Apart from love itself there is a companionship
in married life that draws closer and more heau
tiful as the years go bv.
During niv last visit to Europe I met a distin- '
guished man who expressed the deepest interest
in out country.
“Why do you not visit us. then?" 1 asked him,
“if yen have so kindly a feeling for America and
Americans?"
“Because," he replied, simply, “my wife could
not stand the voyage, arid I would not, for any i
personal or selfish reason, be responsible for one
day's separation front her.”
• The couple had been married 40 years.
Again, many a man or maid postpones marriage
because in neither's heart has dawned that won
derful creation of the novelist known as "love
at first sight."
This is a mistake. Propinquity is (he most
powerful factor in making two hearts heat as
one.
Many women form their ideals of a husband
on novels and plays. Disillusionment is hound to
follow. They find that the once idealized husband
is only a common mortal without even a pin
feather on his shoulder blade. Then the wife feels
she has been deceived. So she has. But by her
self: not by her husband.
Another grievous blow to many a- wife is that
her husband does not always remain her lover.
She forgets that he is toiling every day for her
welfare, as no lover would toil. She forgets also
the v. ide difference between masculine and femi
nine nature. Man loves, but not quite as woman
loves.
While a man may become so wildly infatuated
as to spend hi; business hours in drawing Cu
pids ail over his letterheads, yet love ean never
permanently occupy so large a place iu bis life
as it does in woman's. His life is too full, !oo
active, too varied in its interests.
Concession on both sides is the sovereign reme
dy for domestic differences.
If you were to drop two strange cats imj a
barrel and then clap on the lid you would not
marvel at the ensuing sounds of wrath nor at the
floating upward of errant scraps of fur.
Yet when a man and a woman, reared along
different lines and in separate environments, do
not agree in every particular the world stands
aghast at the tale of marital infelicity. Whereas
a little forbearance, a careful study of each oth
er’s moods and failings will soon reduce this
strife to a minimum.
I believe that no couple who began by loving
each other and had the right consideration for
eacli other ever came to serious trouble. The
effort of each to please the other leads in a little
while to not having to try, because of the sym
pathy between them.
"Kiss and make up” is a good rule. If the
couple do not properly consider their relations
there will be a good many kisses, hut far more
necessity of making up.
(Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
A Handicap Now.
“What sort of telescope do you use for seeing
things on Mars?" The eminent astronomer, habitu
ated to scanning the heavens at. magazine space
rates, stayed his pen hut an instant. "I have
learned," he replied, “not to rely on any telescope.
The best of them badly hampers the play of the
imagination.”
OF INTEREST TO THE JUDGES.
They Were Concerned in Authorship
of Shakespeare's Work.
The question for discussion before
the debating society that had met in
tho little schoolhouse belonging to Dis
trict No. 13 was this: Resolved,
That the works published under the
name of William Shakespeare were
really written by Lord ' eon."
The debate was fierce and prolonged,
but, as frequently happens In such
cases, the disputants on one side had
informed themselves thoroughly, while
the others, relying upon their having
the popular side oi the controversy,
depended soielv on their oratory.
Hence the "Baconians," having learned
all that could be said in favor of their
contention, made really a very plaus
ible case and had decidedly much the
better of the argument. At the close
of the discussion the three judges
who had been selected h*dd a brief
consultation, and decided in favor of
the negative.
“Why did you decide against us?"
subsequently asked one of the dis
putants. “You know we presented
good arguments, while the other fel
lows didn't show any."
“That's all right,” answered the
judge to whom this question was ad
dressed, "but two of us had just
bought expensive copies of 'The
Works of William Shakespeare,’ that
cost us $15. Do you suppose we were
going to acknowledge that Shake
speare didn't write ' ent?”—Youth’s
Companion.
Church to Be Built of Paper.
Paris is to have a new church
made entirely of paper, rendered im
permeable by means of a coating of
quicklime mixed with curdled milk
and white of egg. It will accommo
date 1,000 people.
A RUSTIC GATE AND
BEAUTIFIED GROUNDS
Suggestions for Improving the Farmer’s Dooryard.
H I G H V* s/» V
A Well-Planted Farmer’s Dooryard.
This rustic gateway, which was
built at a small cost, may be worth
imitating, modi
lied, or course, to
fit the surround
ings. This one is
between two ce
dar trees, and
from it a winding
path leads to a
pretty rustic cot
tage. Such a gate
would be entirely
out of place at
the entrance of a stately or formal
building. The cuts give an idea as to
how the gate is made. The two up
rights and the cross-piece on the top
are of locust. All the rest is of cedar.
Parts of the smaller branches have
been left on the pieces that go to till
CRAB GRASS
By Prof. Beal.
During the sunny days of May, al
most every person living in the coun
try has an annual attack of the fever
. \
✓
I
Portion of a Plant Reduced, a. b. Op
posite Sides of a Spikelet; c, Floret.
to plant a garden. The seeds once i
covered in the mellow soil are left,
possibly almost forgotten, from two
to four weeks, while the young onions,
beets, lettuce, radishes, parsnips, salsi
fy, make feeble headway and are al
most smothered by weeds, chief
among which is most likely the grass
here illustrated. Not satisfied to have
one set of fibrous roots for a single
plant, the branches lop over onto the
ground and other sets of roots grow i
from the joints. Everyone who has
up the gate. A gateway like this
would not prove effective against pigs
or chickens, but would turn larger
animals It is not only cheap and
Two Stately Cedars Stand Guard.
durable, declares Farm and Home,
but decidedly attractive, because so
perfectly in harmony with its sur
roundings.
ever made a garden Knows that these
roots are the toughest found any
where.
During August and September it is
usually uppermost in thin, old pas
tures, meadows and lawns, but stops
suddenly with the first hard frost of
autumn, leaving vacancies to be filled
the next spring by another crop of
crab grass, or some other kinds of
weeds.
This plant resembles Bermuda grass
in some respects, but crab grass is an
annual, and Bermuda perennial with
very stout, creeping and underground
sterns.
There is another grass becoming j
very common in thin lawns and mead 1
ows, known as small crab grass. Pan
icum linearie, having much the habit
of the weed above mentioned. Note
now two differences: The first takes
root at several joints and has very
tough roots; the sec. ad has no roots
from the joints. Stems of the first
are more or less erect; stems of the
second are prostrate, spreading about
equally m all points of the' compass.
In other respects they are much alike.
The constant use of the hoe is about
the only practical remedy. Being an
annual, it can be destroyed by pre
venting it from going to seed for a
few years.
Feed the Calf Well.—So much has
been said about skim milk for calves
that some people have a notion that
it is even better than whole milk
Remember the cow in the days of the
calf's youth.
Keep Climbing.—it is easier to go
down hill than up; but consider the
bump at the bottom, and go the other
way.
Clean Feed Box.—It's both slouchv
and wasteful to feed grain in a feed
box that is not clean.
Begin Gradually.—To get the best
teturns from a team begin gradually
with i to hard work.
Cow Stalls and Stanchions
Our illustration shows a half stall which has been indorsed by many
ending dairymen. With this stall, ho wever. cows will occasionally step
I jack into the gutter, especially when tied in front with chain or rope.
There is also a possibility of the cows treading on each other and do
j ing injury in these stalls, as well as when the stanchions alone are used
without the presence of any partition.
MOCK ORANGE BUSH
The ' mock orange" of Philadelphia J
! is popularly known as “syringa,” and
I the latter is the botanical name for
| lilac. The mock orange family com
I prises about 2o species of hardy, orna
! mental slim! varying in height from
! 5 to 20 feet, many of them admirably
i adapted for the decoration of home
j grounds.
Perhaps the ui * >v ’v-grown va
riety of those knew ' a old-time
gardener as "syring: - Philadelphia
grandiflorus whi- grows about six
feet high and lias large white sweet
| seemed dowers which appear in June.
| Common mock orange (P. Coronariust,
I reaches about ten feet in height and
blooms in Slay or June and is very
flagrant T' e low< j are mire white
and are l>orne in dense clusters, offer
numerous as to bend the branches
down to the ground.
Gordon's mock orange (P. Gor
tlonianus), is a native of the United
States and in good ground often
reaches 10 or 12 feet in height. It has
pleasing green foliage with grayish
brown branches. The flowers are
white and produced in great abun
dance. They bloom in June or July in
central latitudes.
This plant thrives in almost any
well-drained soil and often does well
in the shade of trees and buildings
Pruning should be done after the
dturbs have flowered, as the blossoms
appear on the wood of the previous
rear's growth. By pruning the shrubs
ran all be kept within fixed limits of
growth.
90 BUSHELS OF OATS
TO THE ACRE.
WHAT MR. KALTENBRUNNER HAS
TO SAY ABOUT HIS GRAIN
CROPS IN CENTRAL
CANADA.
Writing from Regina, Saskatche
wan. Central Canada, Mr. A. Kalten
brunner writes: —
"Some years ago I took up a home
stead for myself, and also one for mv
son. The half section which we own
adjoins the Moose Jaw Creek; is a
low, level and heavy land. We put
in TO acres of wheat In stubble which
went 20 bushels to the acre, and •'!"
acres of summer fallow, which went
25 bushels to the acre. All the wheal
we harvested this year is No 1 Hard.
That means the best wheat that can
be raised on the earth. We did not
sell any wheat yet, as we intend t >
keep one part for our own seed, anil
sell the other part to people who want
first class seed, for there is no doubt
if you sow good wheat you will har
vest good wheat. We also threshed
9,000 bushels of first class oats out of
160 acres. 80 acres has been fall
plowing, which yielded 90 bushels
per acre, and 80 acres stubble, which
went 30 bushels to the acre. These
cats are the best kind that can be
raised. We have shipped three cai
loads of them, and got 53 cents per
bushel clear. All our grain was cut
in the last week of the month of
August before any frost could touch it.
“Notwithstanding the fact that we
have had a late spring, and that the
weather conditions this year were
very adverse and unfavorable, we will
make more money out of our crop
this year than last.
"For myself I feel compelled to say
that Western Canada crops cannot li»
checked, even by unusual conditions
Information regarding free home
stead lands in Manitoba. Saskatch
wan and Alberta may be had on appli
cation to any Canadian Government
Agent, whose advertisement appears
elsewhere. He will give you informa
tion as to best route and what it will
cost you to reach these lands for pur
poses of inspection.
He Didn’t Care.
“I like simplicity.” said Senator
Beveridge to a Washington reporter
‘Simplicity saves us a lot of trouble,
too. Two men met in front of a hotel
one day and fell into a political argu
ment. They were ordinary, every da •'
sort of men. but one of them had an
extraordinary flow of polysyllabic lan
guage. He talked half an hour, and
his companion listened in a doze
“ 'An' now,’ the speaker pompously
concluded, 'perhaps you will coincide
with me?'
“The other's face brightened up
‘Why. yes, thanks, old man.’ he de
clared heartily, moving toward the
barroom door. ‘I don't care if I do.”’
—Home Magazine.
NO MARRIAGE BELLS FOR HIM.
“Wliat's the matter, boy?"
“Gee! Mamie says it's leap year
an' she's goin- ter propose to me!”
The Details.
“The particulars—?"
“Well. Capt. Feebles was shot in the
back, originally, and went around with
his back bent a good deal like an ir
terrogation mark, until he got a por
ly slab of back pension. Then he
straightened up his back until it was
decidedly concave instead of conside,
ably convex, dyed his whiskers a
fighting black and set out in pursuit
of a buxom widow, who, being a
widow, knew' exactly how to be caught
while maintaining all the symptoms of
eluding capture to the very best of her
ability.”—Smart Set.
Good Work Has Slow Growth.
Ilancroft spent 26 years on his his
tory and Webster 36 on his dictionary.
'Tis the same with the great inven
tions. It took years of study and ex
periment to perfect them. Everything
must have a foundation, otherwise it
cannot stand, and the more solid the
foundation the safer is the structure.
FRIENDS HELP.
St. Paul Park Incident.
"After drinking coffee for breakfast
I always felt languid and dull, having
no ambition to get to my morning
duties. Then in about an hour or so
a weak, nervous derangement of the
heart and stomach would come over
me with such force I would frequently
have to lie down.
"At other times I had severe head
aches; stomach finally became af
fected and digestion so impaired that
I had serious chronic dyspepsia and
constipation. A lady, for many years
State President of the W. C. T. TV
told me she had been greatly benefited
by quitting coffee and using Postum
Food Coffee; she was troubled for
years with asthma. She said it w.i~
no cross to quit coffee when she
found she could have as delicious an
article as Postum.
"Another lady who had been trou
bled with chronic dyspepsia for years
found immediate relief on ceasing cof
fee and beginning Postum twice a
day. She was wholly cured. Still
another friend told me that Postum
Food Coffee was a Godsend to her. her
heart trouble having been relieved
after leaving off coffee and taking on
Postum.
"So many such cases came to my
notice that l concluded coffee was
the cause of my trouble and I quit and
took up Postum. I am more than
pleased to say that my days of trouble
have disappeared. I am well and
happy." “There’s a Reason.” Read
"The Road to Wellville,”,in pkgs.
Ever read the above letter? A new
one appears from time to time. They
are genuine, true, and full of human
interest.
