i
The Commoner.
Sept. M, 5 J OJ
9
away separately, for that "some day"
when oven the busiest woman hopes
to "have time."
For the children's clothes, liberal
provision must be. made for patches,
and all pieces, new or old, suitable
for such use, should bo put away in
the patch bag, while cuttings too small
for any uso, should find their way into
the rag bag, if you live near a market
for such things; if not, they should go
into the fuel box never swept out in
to the yard. All scraps of embroidery,
lace, silk or velvet should be hoarded,
as many pretty accessories to one's
toilet can be made from these odd
bite.
In looking over the "cast offs," or
"outgrowns" of the family wardrobe,
one often finds two or three gar
ments of harmonious color and ma
terial from which, by combinations,
and at a small outlay for new linings,
etc., one or more serviceable gar
ment may bo constructed. In many
cases, this can be economically done;
but in others, so great an expense for
linings, buttons, trimmings, etc., is en
couraged that an entire new gown
would have cost no more, and been
much more satisfactory.
If one have needy neighbors with
email children, it is often the wisest
plan to bundle the refuse garments
together and send them on their mis
sion of mercy. Otherwise, the good
and little worn parts may bo made
into quilts, cushion covers, fancy
bags, pockets, throws, rugs, and other
various conveniences and "fancy" ar
ticles so dear to the hearts of all
house-wives.
"Pleued or Dlaplcaied."
The old game which some of us
played in our foolish young days goes
on and on through life, little as we
expected it to; but we find the players
are in earnest and care very little if
we are pleased or displeased.
There are letters, there are people,
there is music, there is the much
abused and talked of weather; all these
sometimes please and oftimes dis
please us. Letters you sometimes
read one that receives your hearty in
dorsement, every line, and you know
(you can. tell) it has been written
from the autnor's heartfelt convic
tions; how you wish you could grasp
the hand and speak the word that
would bind you, firm friends, forever.
You wonder why suclfcongenial people
are not within reach, but, ah! friend,
there is where we miss it. Some if
we could remove the mask of care and
worry, of financial greed, the hidden
grief would be such nice companion
able folk; but the objectionable is up
permost; the loveliness of heart is hid
den and we pass them by and never
know. A long time ago, I met a little
woman in her home and at a neigh
bor's often. Her children were her
constant care, her constant subject of
conversation. Your opinion was asked
on their prettiness, their different dis
position, etc., and, in fact, she talked
shop till every one was made weary,
and even I, a baby lover, thought
"there is nothing else of the woman."
"Well, one day I met her in town,
she had actually left those babies at
home, and was such a different woman.
She was nicely interesting; she was
amusing and intelligent, and I was
pleasantly shocked to find that in
leaving the homo, she had shook off
the burden and monopoly of those
children.
I will not go Into details of tho peo
ple that please and displeaao us, for
their name Is legion and perhaps the
one that makes us Unhappy is some
one's best friend. Some such good
people are so disagreeable and make
one's life so miserable that I (but it's
only me, you know,) think I wouldn't
care to go even to heaven with them.
Isn't that shocking?
Music, that is quite another thing
and the mormalds, had I been a sailor,
could have lured mo on to death with
entrancing music. Its power over some
people is overwhelming, and there is
a music madness that creeps through
their veins. Others thore be that,
hearing so acutely, are deaf to tho
difference in musical sounds and music
has no power to please or displease
them; but if there be one little cor
ner of heaven I can occupy, it will
be where the "harps with music ring."
As to the weather, long ago I gave
up trying to have It my way and un
less there is fearful devastation fol
lowing in its wake I have learned not
to grumble, but accept it as it comes,
and never ask the question, "pleased
or displeased?"
To Prevent Odor From Larapi.
To prevent a lamp from smelling
offensively and from leaking over, trim
the wick and clean the burner thor
oughly each day. Do not have the
reservoir quite full. Always turn tho
wick well down into the wick tube
before blowing out. After the lamp Is
trimmed in the morning, turn the
wick well down into the tube. Wash
the burners in soap and water once a
week. The offensive odor comes from
particles of charred wick which re
main in the burners,and the leakage
comes from having the lamp too full
or having the wick come to the top of
the tube. If these directions are fol
lowed with all kinds of lamps there
need be no trouble as to odor or leak
age. In duplex lamps, with extin
guishers, open the extinguishers after
putting out the lamp. Ex.
H. W. McV.
Stork Partial to Berlin.
Berlin is becoming known as the
"city of twins." The number of twins
and triplets born here has steadily
risen since 1825. Out of nearly 2,
000,000 children born within that per
iod, twins were born 22,441 times,
triplets 229 and quadruplets three
times. During the same period in Lon
don twins were born 14,000 times,
triplets seventy-five, quadruplets twice.
The Paris figures: Twins, 7,500; trip
lets, twenty-five; no quadruplets.
New York World.
Refrigerated Microbes.
Many people are under the impres
sion that to place fruit and vegetables
in an ice box is to render them harm
less, whether raw or cooked. Cook
ing fruit or vegetables, if thoroughly
done, does destroy all evil germs.
The "banana is a prolific breeder of
microbes. The fruit Is picked before it
ripens and "in this country Is generally
ripened by subjection to heat, often
of doubtful origin.
In its nativo climate the banana is
not eaten raw. It is baked by tho
cleanly and intelligent and its sheath
Is always carefully removed before it
is put in tho oven. v
Heat alone destroys noxious germs.
Refrigeration prolongs their powor for
evil. Frozen edibles of ovory descrip
tion are now carried all ovor tho
world.. So long as their refrigeration
continues they are deemed marketable.
Those that are pure remain so. Those
that have become noxious before re
frigeration remain noxious. Chicago
Chronicle.
Items of Interest.
Two coal mines are now in success
ful operation in Alaska. They produce
good steam coal.
During the South African war 1,400
Germans are said to have fought
against tho British.
Tho Brazilian coffee crop for tho
year ending Juno 30, 1902, amounted
to about 10,000,000 bags.
Burglars, footpads, light-fingered
gentry and other undesirables are un
pleasantly numerous in Johannesburg.
Tho government of Ireland is one of
the most important, and far and away
the most difficult, of ministerial posts.
Mrs. Bennett, Ilochlands, near Cas
tlebar, Ireland, who was already the
mother of 18 children, has given birth
to triplets.
Experiments are to be made by the
Russian government in the planting of
India rubber trees on the coast of tho
Black sea.
The herring fishing off the coast of
Donegal last autumn was the best on
record, and realized over $200,000 to
the local fishermen.
At Gornergrat, on the Zermatt
mountain railway, stands the highest
postofilce in Europe. It is over 9,000
feet above sea level.
The charge for a dog taken to Eu
rope on the main lines of steamers
varies from $10 for a lap dog to $30
for the largest animal.
The Detroit river Is tho outlet of
the greatest bodies of fresh water in
the world, aggregating 82,000 square
miles of lake surface.
Experts declare hats are, from tho
hygienic point of view, an absolute
absurdity, save where actual protec
tion from the sun is necessary.
Whip-cracking by drivers of ve
hicles has become such a nuisance in
some German towns that special by
laws have had to be passed against it.
Mr. Walton, a British subject, has
presented a marble statue of Joan
of Arc to the French .nation. It is to
be erected in the heroine's house at
Domremy.
Women insure against being old
maids in Denmark. If they marry be
fore they are 40 what they have paid
in goes to the less fortunate, and these
last are pensioned for tho remainder
of their lives on a scale proportionate
on what they paid in.
In 1846 there were 736 vessels carry
ing the American flag (practically all
were from New Bedford) hunting
whales in every corner of the world,
from Ohkotsk to Arabia. That was a
mighty fleet. Of it today are left bul
39 small barks and schooners.
An arm chair has been grown from
the seed of a gingko trco by a Korean.
Ho planted it, pruned, twisted and
guided each tendril of tho growing
plant for 2.0 years. Tho chair wolgha
over 100 pounds, is 40 Inches in height
and 25 inches wide. It has been
bought and carried to California by a
sea captain.
President Morrill of Fisk unlvorslty
points out that tho well educated and
competent negro doctor has an amaz
ing opportunity among tho eight mil
lion of his race. President Morrill
knows of 12 negro doctors in Nash
ville alono, all doing well, and six of
them amassing property.
A Picturesque Figure.
Tho passing of tho old black mam
my, like tho passing of a great many
other things, attracts but little at
tention; nor will her worth bo known
until she is no more.
To the children of tho southern
stutoj tho old black mammy, in many
cases, is nearly as dear to them as
their own mothers, and yet In the
north comparatively little is known of
her. Somo of tho great men of tho
country, a few decades .ago, were
nursed at tho breast of an old black
mammy, and good and bravo men they
were when they reached their matur
ity. In the old days of tho south, when
prosperity perched on every banner,
tho old black mammy was much
sought after. To her lot fell tho im
portant duty of first teaching little
feet to walk. She watched over her '
charges and cared for them as none
but an old black mammy knows how,
unless it bo the mother. If "my liV
chile," as she called the babe, was 111,
the heart of tho old black mammy
was touched, and if death came no one
mourned more sincerely than she.
Tho other day the dispatches told
of tho burial of an old black mammy,
In a southern town one which was,
years ago, tho seat of war between the
country she loved and oiio which
sought to make her free. Thero were
many to mourn this old black mammy,
but none who shed more tears than
two strong men who journeyed from
tho north to see her laid to rest be
neath the magnolias and cypress. Tho
old black mammy had nursed them
both and, although they had not seen
her in years perhaps not since they
were boys at the knee, yet they re
membered her and traveled hundreds
of miles to answer her last call, which
was, "I want to see my 111 boys ag'ln."
Many men and women of north and
south loved the black mammy. She
was their friend when they needed
friends; she stood by them and cared
for them In their infantile days. That,
they should love her in man and
womanhood is but human.
But tho old black mammy is fast
passing away. In a few more years
she will only bo a memory. Omaha
World-Herald.
"AN "EXPANSIVE GIRL"
Wot Kaeitarlly Hti Expensive Om
A little Kansas girl is called an "ex
pansionist" becauso her clothes re
quire "letting out" so often. She lives
mostly on Grape-Nuts since recovering
from a sick spell caused by too much
greasy food.
Almost all ailments of children (and
grown folks as well) are traceable to
the wrong kind of food, and the surest
cure Is to quit the old sort; the greasy,
pasty, undercooked or overdone things,
that ruin the stomach and bowels.
Put the children and adults on the
perfectly cooked food Grape-Nuts.
It Is digested by the weakest, stom
ach. Has tho delicate sweet flavor of
the Grape Sugar and surely and quick
ly rebuilds the body, brain and nerves.
There's a reason.
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