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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 1902)
Kk.ailKJB.HdM .JP S..V w " -.. -' . ' 8 The Commoner. Tol. a, No. 40. . I- It I 'I ' i iM6 f...Xbe Bome Department... fraftittte3 To My Only Son. Do you know that your soul Is of my soul such part That you soom to bo Abro and Strength Of my heart? Nono other can praise mo, As you, dear, can do; Nono other can pleaso, mo, Or pain roe, as you. Remember, tho world will bo Quick with its blame, If shadow, or stain over . Darken your namo. "Llko mother, like son," Is a saying so true, Tho world will judge largely Of mothor, through you. Bo yours, then, tho task .If a task it shall bo To forco this proud world To do homage to mo; Be sure it will say, When its vordict you've won "She reaps as sho sowed For this man is her son." or, or mako them felt in so great a measure upon tho moral a!hd social questions of tho day, as by carefully and wisely roaring honorable, close thinking, broad-minded sons and daughters. This is the highest duty tho greatest distinction conferred upon any one in this world, and woman alone was doomed worthy of tho work, when God sot her in tho homo as its queen. For this work, then, sho must pre pare herself by enlarging overy vir tue, eliminating overy vice. Sho can not hope to wear the vestments of high priestess over a vicious heart of a besotted mind. Sho must learn to rise above tho "taking of endless thought for tho ignoble tomorrow;" to hold herself above vulgar interests and mean details. Sho must rise abovo neighborhood gossip and petty mean nesses, and by holding up to her own oyos grander and purer ideals, sho will come to see that "tho life is more than meat, and the body greater than raiment" riothcr'B Influence. A gentleman, visiting at a homo where tho "house is divided against itself" politically tho host being strongly republican, while tho hostess is stronclv democratic seeing a hand-i eomo lad of ton years playing upon the lawn, called to him: "Hey, Johnnie, what ticket aro you going to vote when you are a man?" Tho boy, cap in hand, casting a glanco of affectionate pride at his mother, answered, 'smiling: "Mamma says I am a man now; but when I got old enough, I shall voto tho democratic ticket" "The d dickens you will!" ex claimed his father. "That's his mother, now, My dear," turning to his wife, "since when have you constituted your self political tutor to my son?" Tho mother answered sweetly: "I have been attending to the education 'of my son a little over ten years." ' "Well ' said tho father. "I'll take a hand in his education myself in a few years, and thon she'll sing another tune." "You forget the old adaga about 'training up a child in the way he should go,' etc," replied tho mother. And that sets one to thinking. It is said that the men of tho nation are What their mothers make them, as a rule. Tho homo takes its cuo and hue from hor. tmi if n wnmnn 1 ir its best sense, womanly if sho is true loving .courageous, patient, wise and tender sho, consciously and un consciously, organizes and nuts in operation a set of influences that do more to mould the destiny of nations than any man, uncrowned with excep tional powers as a leader and worker, can possibly hope to effect She it is to whom is given the unwritten tablets tho impressionable minds of little confiding children. To her it is given to write tho first lessons, to. awaken tho first ideas. She colors them in delibly with her own. If she keeps herself always an ideal to her chil dren, as a wiso and loving mother may, her influences follow thom, even when thoy aro merged into manhood and. womanhood; even when they are swallowed up in tho whirlpool of ac tive life, and her teachings are never forgotten; tho ideals she has held up before their childish eyes are vested with a sacredness of which nothing can despoil them. Tho voice with which men speak, In the expression of power is the voice of the mothor who bore them. x?horl iB notllinS mojo potent than this. There is no possible way in Which WOmon Clin. Rn anrW 'avtn,i and intonsify their Influences and pow- Game ef "Forced Laugh." This is a game the little folks will onjoy; it has been known to amuse the grown-up children, too. Have your players seated about a table. One be gins by exclaiming- "Ha!" Tho next repeats It, followed, by the others, "ha! ha! ha," one after another, in quick succession till it becomes so comical that tho game winds up in everybody being convulsed with laughter in good earnest Green Tomato Cateup. One peek of nice green tomatoes,, six red peppers X teaspoonful of cayenne may be used instead four tablespoon fula each of salt and ground black popper, one tablespoonful each of ground cloves, ground mustard, and ground alsplce, two quarts of sharp vinegar. Run the tomatoes and pep pers through a chopper or sausage mill, if you have ono: If not. chon finelv with chopping knife; cook in vinegar until soft, strain, add Bpices and cook slowly five hours, or until the re quired thickness. When cool, put into bottles or cans, and seal. Little Helps. Try coating fresh eggs with a solu tion of liquid class, or immersine: them I in limo water, or coating them with winter. w s Warts may be treated with a mix ture of equal parts of tincture of iodine and acetic acid. One drop night and morning will gradually effect a cure, but it must be applied to the hard skin only, and not allowed to spread to th6 surrounding flesh. o Tho habit of biting tho nails should bo checked by dipping the fingers into some harmless, bitter stuff. Besides I'isn&uring the finger ends, these sharp fragments of the nail lodging in the mucus membranes create gastralgia and chronic tonsilitis. It is a habit due to nervousness. Peelings from lemons and oranges should bo thrown into cold water, placed on tho stove and When they come to a boll, strain the water off and cover again with cold water, and let boil for fifteen minutes, Mako a syrup of sugar and water, put the peal ings in this, and boir until transpar ent Roll in sugar, place on a plate and dry In gentle heat This is fine for fruit cake. o coffee. 'In using metal, there is an inky substance present, due to the chemical action of tho coffee upon tho metal, which is injurious to tho stomach. It Is said that only earthen ware or porcelain should be used in making ' , Caring for Baby When tho first baby makes its ap pearance in the homo, the young hus band steps about with an air of added importance, and the palO little mother smiles through her pain, declaring that "Baby looks just like its papa," while "papa" is very sure its eyes and hair must bo inherited from its mamma. It is a critical time, however, for baby, unless there is some dear, experienced, tender-handed grandma on hand to see that it-gets its deserts.- Too often it gets anything but its rights, and much suffering is caused thereby. An ignorant nurse will first wash it; then some spirits is rubbed upon its little bald head, a cap, and some flannels, TVith two or three very tight ly drawn bands, aro put on it Now, it must take something a little di luted whisky, or salts, or molasses mixed with water, is poured down its delicate throat; then it must have some physic a little castor oil; then a little "baby soup" is mixed up, and follows the oil, and then it is put to bed to sleep. But it does not sleep; it frets and cries; then, something else must be done, so a doso of paregoric or sooth ing syrup is given, and, like as not, it swoons away under the influence of tho narcotic, and away they go for tho doctor, and when he arrives, it re quires great skill to undo the harm their reckless interference with nature has done. It don'thelp tho baby to say it was done in ndness. But grandma will tell you that baby needs no oil or salts or whisky or molasses or soup. With, her tender hands she will wash tho little body in a iit'tlo soft, luko warm water,v,-and the finest of soap, using a little glycerine, rubbing it over the body to dissolyo the oil particles, wash it off quickly and dry the skin with a very soft cloth; fasten on its clothing loosely, use no cap, but wrap it in the softest of flannels, and, if mamma can bear it, lay it on her breast for its first nour ishment If nature has not yet furn ished a supply, it will not starve do not feed it Tho first supply of milk from her is better than any medicine. It will not matter if the child does not get" anything for the first thirty six hours. Providence intended that the supply should be scant for the first twovor three days. No babe ever died for want of food the first two days of its life; but hundreds have been killed by dosing and drugging. If tho mother doeB not furnish the natural supply within three or four days, sup ply the nourishment with food pre pared according to your physician's di rections. In some cases, the mother's milk Is impoverished, and the child is always hungry and fretful. Take a little good bread, sago or arrow-root and simmer 'in water until quite smooth, then add pure milk to tho proper thickness, sweeten very little, and feed the child. Babies are not always hungry when they fret or cry; the cause may be a pin, a tightness of the clothes, or pain; or it may be that they have taken too much nourishment Exercise common sense in caring for It Baby and the Doctor. When a child is teething, ihere is, at times, irritation and fever. If the bow els aro relaxed, or tho child fretful, or vomits, do not fly to the soothing syrup, paregoric, or laudanum; one drop of laudanum, five drops of pare goric, or half a teaspoonful of sooth ing syrup havo each been known to kill an infant. Use little, simple rem edies, the ingredients of which you know, and which aro knpwn to be harmless. If those fail, call in your physician, in case of need. When the teeth aro coining through do not give it hard substances to bite upon, as this breaks tho enamel of the teeth and causes them to decay. Tho best thing is an India rubber ring; one can bo gotten for a few cents at the 'drug store. Wash it clean, rub it with molasses, and tho little one will work upon it with pleasure and safety. Do not stand it upon its feet too early. If you forco it to walk, you run tho risk of making its legs crooked. Because one child walks at a certain age is no reason another must. Do not scare your child about the doctor. To hold up tho physician as a great bug-a-boo, or monster of cruelty, who only wants a chance to -torture the little one, Is not only very unwise, but is very cruel, and worse than foolish. How can the physician, under such cir cumstances, get at tho correct condi tion of the child, or tho nature of its ailment, when tho little, frightened thing is trembling, and its pulse flying overy way, in an agony of apprehen sion? Rather than thus terrify the child with threats of what "the doctor" will do, strive to impress upon Its mind that ho comes upon a visit of mercy that vho knows Jiow to ease its pain, and will be good to them and make them well again. Then they will trust him, and his examination into their sickness will be much more success ful, and their restoration to health more speedy and certain. The Good Old Days. In ,the early days of tho Woman Movement, a woman who had a little smattering of Latin was called a "blue stocking" a term so unpopular that women in general were afraid to ac knowledge a taste for learning. They were assured that it would "spoil their market," if they were suspected of knowing much of books. Men were ex ceedingly shy of a- "blue-stocking." , and women were continually on tho watch- to report whether there was any neglect of her household, or ap parel, he child-like and book-loving Han nalhAdaras was the wonder of her day, and ati object of general curiosity. When some one asked whether any, ono had proposed to marry her when she was youttgj, a gentleman replied, in tones of astonishment: "Marry Han nah Adams? Wh$ I would as soon think of marrying aipreelc grammar!" With the increased facilities for edu cation, thousands ofNgirls now havo more learning than Hannah Adams possessed; young men Unci them much more interesting than Grfifik gram mars. The term "blue-stockfrrs" has become obsolete, and it is no lont singular for women to attain to high eaucauon degrees, to write books, and to write them well. It was thought in olden times that' public speaking would be fatal to tho usefulness and mgdesty of women. This, too, has been settled satisfac torily, and many of our most notable women have proven themselves no less at home In the domestic circle than upon the platform In public. When the matrons of Rome were op pressively taxed, they remonstrated against the injustice, but, finding pe titions of no avail, they selected tho giftedOortonsia to plead their auso In person hefore the triumviri, accom panying her in procession to tho Forum. Her speech was declared by, Apptan to have been worthy of Cicero. Owing to the effect her eloquence had upon the assembled populace, tho vexed magistrates deemed It prudent to modify their system of taxation. Tho conservatives of Rome cried shame upon the women who thus o'erstepped the boundaries of their sex, and ridiculed them, using opprobiouS' nicknames "after tho manner of men" in the early days of our wom an's awakening. Women of the" "clinging vine" type abound, and will continue to abound & r' -. u f J5 i'' fi