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The Commoner.
VOLUME 3, NUMBER 7,
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8
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Conducted by
'tWelen Watts Mcty
Robin Redbreast.
My old Welsh neighbor over the way
Crept softly out in the sun In spring,
Puishod from her cars the locks of gray
And listened to hear the robin sing.
Her grandson, playing at marbles,
stopped,
And, cruel in sport, as boys will bo,
Tossed a stone at the bird who, sing
ing, hopped,
From bough to bough on the apple
tree.
"Nay," said the grandam, "have you
not heard,
My poor, bad boy, of the fiery pit?
How, drop by drop, this merciful bird
Carries tho water which quenches it?
He brings cool dew in his little bill
And lets it fall on the souls of sin;
You can see tho mark on his red
breast still,
Of fires that scorch as he drops it in.
"My poor Bron rhuddyn! My breast
burned bird!
Singing so sweetly from limb to
limb;
O, very dear to tho heart of God
Is he who pities tho lost, like him."
"Amen!" I said, to tho beautiful myth,
Sing, bird of God, in my heart as
well;
Each tender thought is a drop where
with To cool and lessen the fires of hell.
Prayers of love like rain-drops fall,
Tears of pity, of falling dow,
O, dear to the heart of tho Lord are
all
Who suffer llko him for the good
'-'thoy do. Whittior.
March.
The reign of tho midnight is onded,
Thoro's a flush of tho dawn on tho
hill,
Thoro's a carol of birds in tho valley,
And paled is tho ovonihg chill.
Thoro's a stir of leaves in tho forest,
A tinting of gold in tho morn,
Tho robin is piping tho spring-time
Anew in its freshness is born.
sonic; expensive baking powders that
contain alum or something worse;
dangerous ointments, quack medi
cines, poisonous washes, etc. This
writer strongly urges that girls should
study chemistry in the school, not only
for mental discipline and culture, but
for its practical and economic value.
Tho day when It was deemed a mark
of refinement to profess ignorance of
culinary matters is, happily, passed.
Let us encourage tho cooking
schools.
Chemistry In Cooking;.
A popular writer for a grange paper
thinks that a knowlcdgo of'tho chemi
cal composition of flour, moat and po
tatoes', and tho effect of various meth
ods of preparation will enable a
housewife to put her learning to eco
nomical uses, and to do her cooking on
such a basis as to produco palatable
dishes with no loss of nutriment, and
at minimum expense. As a mattor of
fact, this lady says, an uneducated
cook, oven though sho enjoys tho re
putation of "always making things
taste good," is soldom a saving cook;
not becauso Bho intends to bo waste
ful, but becauso sho has not tho scien
tific knowledge regarding food ma
terials and their management which
would onablo her to be saving. On
tho other hand, an intelligent cook
has a scientific reason for every di
rection and ovory process. Sho not
only is able to produco tho most ap
posing results, but to do so with
tho greatest economy of time, labor
and motley.
Tho same is true in other depart
ments which come under tho care of
tho housewife. A knowledge of chem
istry and the ability to make a few
simple tests would onablo her to avoid
the uso of a groat many fraudsfor
oxample, washing compounds that are
utterly worthless, or Injurious; toilet
powdors containing bismuth and ar-
The Getter Way.
Dear, discouraged sisters, I wish I
could sit down with you, in your
homes, and talk with you real heart-to-heart
talks, such as only thorough
ly in earnest women may have. It is
because I know, from years of ex
perience, just how disheartening much
of your trials are that I can enter so
fully into your longings and aspira
tions after tho "something bettor"
which each of you so intensely craves.
It is because, too, that I feel that
there is but one known road by which
you may reach the haven towards
which your wistful eyes are turning,
that I so earnestly wish to set your
feet in the right path.
There are many things which you
must learn for yourself. Page after
page of the book of life must not only
bo read, but diligently studied, and
tho mistakes which you are sure to
make must be used as stepping-stones
to carry you over the riotous waters of
discontent. One of tho hardest les
sons, perhaps, will be tho one that
teaches you that absolutely nothing is
drudgery, in the senso in which tired,
discouraged housekeepers uso the
words; thero must be preparatory
work in all things, and much of this
work seems so useless, so burdon
somo; yot thero is a sameness, so far
as routine is concerned, in all things
under tho sun in the highest, as in
tho lowest walks of life. Tho "blu
devils" are all of one kin, whether
they work in palace or hovel; tho
''mentally mighty," as well as tho
fool with the slanting forehead" must
all fight tho battles of life, and not
every one mav wear, Tip tvo -.mm.',.
laurels. But who shall dare say we
have failed, oven though wo fall? Wo
are all soldiers; wo must each face the
foe some time, somewhere, somehow.
It may cost us something to be always
f
a3a3asee666aa
Question Box.
TV
The conductor of the Home Do
partment will bo glnd to nnswor $
questions concerning matters of U
yj .vw.o uuBUKuopors. matte w
a your questions as briof n c0;m U
(5 ?ndlT7ad(lrcss nil communications
JK to "Homo Department, Tho Com
v monor, Lincoln. Nobr."
on guard to always present a bold
front to every foe, and oftentimes
tho foe will seoni hardly worth tho ef
fort it costs us; but does not the Good
Book say something about 'the little
foxes that spoil tho vines?"
9
One of my letters says: "You talk
of a person lifting herself out of
the ruts of life by willing; yet, under
your words I can hear tho sigh: Dear
heart, you do not always feel, any
more than I do, that, out of the ruts
into which your life has fallen, you
can lift yourself by willing and do
ing." Then we must try to feel that our
lives havo fallen into such grooves for
some wise purpose. Was it not the
Man of Galilee who, as tho burdens of
the world pressed heavily upon him,
fell upon his face and prayed, "If it
bo possible, let thus cup pass from
me?" There spoke the human side;
but tho Divine knew that this was a
work which he alone might do, and
he rested in the wisdom of the Father.
Is it not, then, "the better part" to
do faithfully, hopefully, these tasks
that havo, somehow, fallen to our
hands? Is there not a certain uplift
ing, a sense of honor, in thus doing
in a manner worthy of our own self
respect? Have we not a pride in hav
ing brought comeliness out of confu
sion? Try to invent now ways of doing
the old tasks; look always for the
bright places they are always near
you; resolve that you will not let your
work drag you down. Do not allow
yourself to think always of your
work; your hands can be taught to
perform your coarser duties the while
your mind soars into higher altitudes,
just as in your music, while your soul
delights in the sentiments and sweet
sounds, your trained fingers fly over
the ivory keys, with no conscious
guidance from your mind. When you
had to crono over the old "one, two,
three, one, two, three," counting,
watching lest you should "finger"
wrong that was (or, was it?) tho
drudgery, the drudgery of preparation,
without which you never could have
gained this entrancing mastery over
the keys. Many a tear you have shed
over the despised "Instruction Book,"
but do you regret it now, as you bring
from the glistening keys such soul-
satlsrying strains?
It is true, we may not always con-
QUGr Sfilf. nr rVintlfrn ntir anvtrnnmnnfai
tho tasks imposed may be too great
for our frail strength, our cares too
multifold, and often there will seem
no song to be sung, no seeming ap
preciation of all our conscientious
duty-doing, and, like my correspon
dent, we say "wish we could throw
the whole push into the fire and give
up." Well, then I do not know but it
might be the best thing to do just
to thrust everything out of our lives
except the one thought of resting, go
away by ourselves and just rest And
bye-and-byo, when we felt strong
enough to face things again, go back
with the determination to simplify
matters, reduco the demands of duty
sot a stern limit to our doing, fitting
our burdens to our back, and makin
Tu ,of our botter ordering that
the life is more than meat, and the
body is more than the raiment" It
has been said that it Is often better to
buy a new stocking than to patch tho
old one, and if you can do neither
without wearing holes in the family
temper, it is no sin to go bare-footed
narch Wlnda.
JELUei Ur 8l8.tors of the northern
states havo not yet finished their
" f: ' """"t "" ul me extreme
south are already starching their
dainty muslins and shaking out their
filmy lawns. Over the inland states
from tho south to north, tho spring
fever is steadily advancing, and tho
house-cleaning contagion is also
working its way up from the southern
borders. The house-wives along tho
line of march are beginning to in
dulge in fits of abstraction, calcula
ing the cost of fresh wall-paper, com
paring tints on the color cards, inter
esting themselves in - the prices of
paints, new carpets, fresh draperies,
etc., in a way that is, to say tho least,
perfectly alarming to the experienced
husband.
Whilo our sisters further to tho
southward are already in the throes of
the disease, we, who are yet exempt,
may just as well make the most of
our brief respite, our time will soon
come.
We have among us a great many
farm sisters, and I want to talk with
them about the flowers we are going
to have. I know their lives are busy
ones, especially in the spring days,
but that must not hinder us having
some beauty mixed with the business.
First, then, let us think about tho
desirable plants we are to have close
to the house, where we can enjoy
them while we work. Of course tho
chickens will put in their protest; but
we must outwit them. Wo must not
try to raise a numberless variety of
mixed plants in little beds dotted all
over the yard; if we do, we must
guard them with little, crooked, un
even sticks, covered with brush, or
some other ugly rubbish calculated to
save them from the scratching biddies,
and the yard will look like a brush
heap, itself. It will be better to raise
our seedling flowering plants as we do
our garden things out of their range,
in the vegetable garden.
We shall be safe comparatively
in planting a few well started clumps
of hardy perennials, or biennials, close
up along the porch, or the sides of
the house; in a border along the yard
fences, too, and if we do have to
fence them in with sticks and brush,
these will soon grow above them, and
can take care of themselves.
It would have served the purpose
better, could we have set them last
fall, but if we do not delay the work
too long this spring, many of them
will do as well. We should have
plenty of roses mixed in with the
other plants, and along a sunny bor
der there should be a sprinkle of ever
blooming teas; there should be
clumps of fall bloomers, and plenty of
hardy garden pinks and petunias. If
you get them started this spring
(some of the finest will not bloom
the year they are set out), you will
have them well established for the
years to come; they will require little
care, will grow better all the time,
and you can thus defy the worst
scratcher in your flock.
Cover every ugly post and fence with
hardy vines the blooming kinds. If
you are one of the "no time" women,
do not plant annuals; do not plant
tender kinds that you must "fuss
over, or that the roots of which must
be put in the cellar for fear of frost
Leave such to the woman who has
w?Jo; d,ou stick"to the hardy
kinds and there are plenty of them
-beautiful things, too, in both flower
and foliage, it is possible that the
S?LS,on ma7 Bugge3t a &rape-vlne,
?o Sm reasons; but don't yoii
hivinVT n U y0U lnsIst 0n
lea 111 Troses- honeysuck-
tSLS tIs' hardy solanums, aris-
Sov arao X?Tl?e lvys- wisterias-
alieycheaep. hardy; aU
, , Query Box.
Snow is Li6, poem' "Beautiful
S1.,3 m"ch disputed. I do not
think it is certainly known who wro?e
airL'sLMiSnb0n'1I?-"PlGnty of fresH
air, sunshine and hot water, together
tf mrTiia-im ityrr i
