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The Commoner,
Tol. a, No. 39.
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The Two Armies.
(This poom was written soma years
boforo tho civil war.)
As life's unonding column pours,
Two marshaled hosts are seen,
Two armies on tho trampled shores
That death flows black between.
Ono marches to tho drum-beat's roll,
Tho wldo-mouthed clarion's bray,
And bears upon a crimson scroll,
"Our glory is to slay."
Ono movesln siltfnco by tho stream,
With sad, yet watchful eyes,
Calm as tho patient planet's gleam '
That walks tho clouded skies.
i
Along its front no sabres shino,
'No blood-red pennons wave; .
Its banner bears tho single lino,
"Our duty is to save."
For those no death-bed's lingering
shade;
At honor's trumpet-call,
With knitted brow and lifted blade
In glory's arm's they fall.
For those no clashing falchions bright,
No stirring battle-cry;
Tho bloodless stabber calls by night
Each answers, "Hero am I!"
For those tho sculptor's laureled bust,
Tho builder's marble piles,
Tho anthems pealing o'er their dust
Through Iqng cathedral aisles.
For these the blossom-sprinkled turf
That floods tho lonely graves
WIienTsl5riririIfn"lleTa-girn-si:rf
In flowery-foaming waves.
Two paths lead upward from below,
And angels wait above,
Who count each burning life-drop flow,
Bach falling tear of love.
Though from the hero's blee'cling
breast
Her pulses freedom drew,
Though the white lilies in her crest
Sprang from that scarlet dew,
While valor's haughty champions wait
Till all their scars are. shown,
Love walks unchallenged through tho
gate,
To sit beside tho throne!
Oliver Wendell Holmes.
such a person is a "successful man;"
and, down in our hearts wo And our
selves envying tho supposed-to-be for
tunate individual. Wo do not ask
what his iifo "promises," or how ho
has attained success, or by what
means; wo have grown to measure
aftor tho manner of mon, and wo
sot them up before our children as
models to bo copied. But "in tho full
ness of time" tho searchlight of God's
truth is turned upon thorn, and we are
startled and amazed to seo by what
foul methods their heights have been
attainod. Our children laugh at our
consternation, and say, "These are the
modols you taught us to pattern after;
you knew how rotten was the ladder
by which they climbed; are not you
responsible for us, if we, too, walk in
ways of wickedness?"
' For the sake, then, of tho coming
men and women, should we not teach
our children, by example and precept,
to avoid tho appearance of evil to de
mand of our representatives in high
places a standard of morals not to be
assailed, and an excellence of spiritual
character of which wo, ourselves,
would not be ashamed when their pri
vate life is laid bare to tho eyes of
tho world?
. A constant reaching upward after
a high aim, a striving for a purer
atmosphere, will clear tho moral vi
sion, exnand the view, and give to our
evory-day actions a better moral tone,
a broader charity, and a helpful in
fluence such as nothing else can do.
Wo have a model a light shining
down through centuries of tlme-1-which
daj" or distance haverot
dimmed. Far away, upon tho shores
of tho Galilean sea, this model stood
and taught the people, "As man never
taught before." He was poor, and
lowly born, and "his own received him
not" His was not. speaking after
tho manner of men, a "promising char
acter," and, measured by the human
standard, his life was not a "success;"
but two thousand years of searching
have not discovered ono vice, or even
a touch of evil neither spot nor
blemish! in this wonderful model, sent
to us from the throne of "Him who so
loved "tho world."
Tolerance of Evil.
Wo read in tho Good Book, that
"there aro none good, no, not one,"
and we are apt, at times, to find com
fort In the assurance, as though it
were an excuse for tho shortcomings,
either of others or ourselves. Wo
grow so accustomed to the presence
of wrong-doing that wo lose our con
sciousness of its dreadful nature, and
our moral faculties become blunted,
until wo passively accept low, and
oftentimes vile standards as being
normal.
One is apt to lose belief in a higher,
or spiritual life, because, in following
these low standards, the power to
discriminate is lost A. degraded
moral sense degrades every other fac
ulty and a corrupted nature cannot see
with clear eyes. By a continuous tol
erance of sin, we become indifferent
to its grossness. If, for instance, our
conscience arouses and points out its
enormities, wo are too prone to lull
it to rest by the assurance that "ev
erybody tolorates it, and why should
we be more virtuous than our neigh
bor?" Until, at length, conscience
sleeps, and evil triumphs, trampling
down our moral natures, making us
willing tools for the furtherance of
wrong-doing.
Wo frequently read of some ono
whoso life is "full of promise," or that
of, and it is gelled to tho "c," some
ono calls out "foot," and tho speller
of franc must go. "Q" is a difficult,
lotter with which to start a word; "U"
of course must follow; then it is given
for Quaker; tho next one may say "C"
for quack, and there is no getting out
of it for tho next one, as nothing but
"K" can be added. Supposing, though,
that tho fourth, too, thinks of Quaker,
and says "K," the next ono says "B,"
and is at once sent to the foot, as ho
has completed tho word, quake. Ex.
Wintering Canna Roots.
Leavo the canna roots out doors as
long as possible, taking them up only
when there is danger of hard freezing.
Tho few first frosts will not hurt
them. Dig them just after a rain, and
leavo tho mud on the roots. Be care
ful not to injure the tubers, or "eyesv,"
and cut the foliago off one or two
Inches from the root. Pack closely to
gether on a moist bottom, and cover
with coarse sand, where frost cannot
reach them a frost proof cellar is just
the place.
The canna, like many other tender
plants, makes its most valuable growth
during the cool, moist weather of the
late fall.
In spring, do not set the roots imme
diately in tho bed, or border, but
plant each separate eye in a pot about
the first of March, and keep in a warm,
sunny position with moisture as soon
as growth begins. Plant outside about
the last week in May, in a well-manured
bed.
Canna seed germinate readily, and
when planted indoors in February or
March, and kept growing, will make
blooming plants by late June or July.
Cannas do not "come true" from seed.
If you have any plants that are now
full of buds, you can keep them until
quite late, by taking them up with
plenty of earth on the roots, putting
them in boxes and give them a warm,
sunny corner, with plenty of moisture,
until done blooming, then setting them
away out of the frost
Pleasing dames.
To entertain a few guests whose
tastes aro literary, prepare as many
quotations from popular authors as
thoro may be guests; select whole
verses, if you prefer; and upon as
many slips of paper write the names
of the authors of the quotations, one
upon each slip. Pass tho slips, face
downward, and then proceed to read
the quotations aloud. If the pne you
read is from Dickens, the holder of
tho Dickens slip claims the quotation
by calling out "Dickens." If, however,
the player fails to recognize the quo
tation, or claims it wrongly, all tho
others at the table score a point A
correct claim gives the claimant a
point A "time limit" preferably a
short one -ls given for each claim.
A game which may be termed educa
tional, is called "A spelling match."
Lino up tho players in a semi-circle,
and let the person at the head give the
first letter of a word, say "D," think
ing of "dance," and the next one,
probably thinking of "dunce," says
"U." The third, with dull, or dulce
in mind, says "L," and the fourth, not
being so very quick, finishes tho com
plete word with another "L." He is
then sent down to tho foot to stay
until tho next one, finishing a word,
comes below him.
Tho object is to keep from adding
the lettor which finishes the word. It
really takes some ingenuity to do this.
vSuppose the word France is thought
Hand Sowing.
Since the advent of the sewing ma
chine, and its introduction into so
many homes, hand sewing may almost
be accounted oie of the lost arts, so
little do the women of today know
of the uses of the needle and thimble.
Not only among the wealthy,- but
among those who advertise themselves
as competent seamstresses, do we find
tiS accomplishment neglected, and,
repeated efforts to find one who does
her work satisfactorily oftener than
not, ends in failure.
One Who iS at all liarHniiln.r nhnnt
her sewing and the fit of her gar
ments finds that it takes longer to
teach her seamstress how the work
should be done than to do it herself.
So, the burdened mother is often com
pelled to rely upon ready-made gar
ments, with all their unsatisfactori
ness, for the clothing of herself and
luiniiy.
We all know that "store" garments
are simply made to sell, and from the
hour of purchase until at last discard
ed, one must be continually sewing up
rips, stitching on fastenings and over
hauling buttonholes and seams, to
say nothing of the "unfitness of the
fit," which makes more or less alter
ation at home a necessity. Among
girls who enter dressmaking estab
lishments, one rarely finds one who
has not to be taught tho very rudi
ments of the trade, and, in the hurry
or me nour, sno learns- little more
than how to baste respectably, to put
together tho parts with the least work
and in the quickest time. They thus
learn to slight the stitching, and, so
the garment looks well, and will
"sell," the work goes "on, and the ma
jority of these girls become simply
proficient basters.
Mending by Machine.
To mend a ragged button hole in
tho back of a starched and freshly
ironed shirt, moisten the buttonhole
with two or three drops of water; as
soon as it is damp and soft, put tho
torn place under tho machine needle
sow back and forth, without turning!
until tho end of tho band is whole'
again. Lot dry, and it is ready for
indefinite use.
For mending a small boy's trousers'
seat, baste a good, thick patch on tho
wrong side. Place under machine
needle, with ragged side up, then
stitch up and down until all the thin
part is well covered.
To learn to stitch without turning
the worK, one must place the article
under the presser foot and sewing for
ward across the tear or thin place;
when at the place where the work
would ordinarily be turned, lift the
presser foot ever so little with tho
right hand, and with the lofthand pull
the work gently and steadily toward
you, without stopping the machine.
Sew backward to the point from which
you started, then release the presser
foot with the right hand and sew to
ward you again until you reach the
point again where you reverse. By
this means you move over a long tear
with the right side of tho article rest
ing on the table of the machine and
on your lap. Ladies' Home Journal.
Selected Paragraphs.
It is one of the saddest commentaries
on our national ethics that those who
have tried with all their might to live
up to the best they know, aro looked
upon as failures if they have not ac
cumulated money, written a notable
book, achieved distinction in science,
art, music, or some other field; or done
some high, heroic deed that attracted
the world's attention.
If we could take stock of our civiliza
tion today, wo should find that the
mon and women who have done most
to sweeten and refine our national life,
have not been, as a rule, the million
aires, or those who have attained no
toriety, but the plain, every-day peo
ple tho burden-bearers, the sacrifice
makers. We should find that those
who are doing the most to advance
civilization in the aggregate, and to
preserve the greatest of all our insti
tutions the home are the unknown
toilers.
It is among the so-called failures,
struggling farmers, poor mechanics,
clerks, day laborers, half-paid teachers,
clergymen, unselfish mothers, wives,
sisters those who are doing the work
of the world without hope of recogni
tion or reward that we must look for
our grandest heroes. Success. -
Not until we are ready to throw our
very life's love into the troublesome
little things can we be really faithful
in that which is least, and faithful also
in much. Every day that dawns brings
something to do which can never bo
done so well again. James Held.
Home Helps.
For modest homes, the various kinds
of white muslin are most satisfactory,
for window curtains.
The material Is made up with ruffles
down one side and across the bottom.
A hem is made acrdsa tle top three
or four inches wide, and sewed
through the middle; a small brass, or
hard wood rod is run through the bot
tom half of the hem, leaving the upper
part for a heading. These curtains
should come a little below the bottom
of the window. Ladies' Home Journal.
!S
For wool filling for quilts, if one
does not have home grown wool, the
wool wadding can be had at tho
stores in sheets two yards wide and
two and one-fourth yards long, and
will cost something over two dollars
per sneet
y
"V"
A rack for kitchen utensils is can-
ishei, with screw-eyes at the top to
?