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The Commoner.
VOLUME 5, NUMBER 15
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R
iwi M""W,M"
My Work
Lot mo but do my work from day to
day,
In field or forest, at the desk or
loom,
In roaring market-placo or tranquil
room,
Lot mo but find it in my heart to Bay,
When vagrant wishes beckon mo
astray
This is my work; my blessing, not my
doom,
Of all who live, I am the one by
whom
This work can best bo dono, in the
right way."
Then shall I see it not too great nor
small
To suit my spirit and to prove my
powers;
'Then shall I, cheerful, greet the
laboring hours,
'And cheerfully turn, when the long
shadows fall
At oventido, to play and love and
rest,
Because I laiow for mo my work is
best.
' Selected.
; v
r Home Chats
Nearly all my correspondence this
week deals with matters pertaining
to tho toilet. Some of the writers
say: "Please do not give my name,"
Which is entirely unnecessary, as I
only give initials. Others ask if I
think it is right for women to bo so
anxious to retain and to regain their
-Eoqa looKs. I might answer this ques
tion by asking if it is right for a
woman to try to keep her house clean
or her tablo attractive Women, as
a rule, are far too careless of thoir
personal appearance many of them
from a foolish idea that a systematic
care of the "looks" is a subject for
ridicule. But I must say this: Do
not mind the ridicule. Make yourself
just as attractive and fair to look
upon as you can, not only for your
family's and. friends' sakes, but for
your own. Your husband and chil
dren will bo twice as proud of you if
you are worth looking at, and you
will, yourself, bo very much more com
fortableMf you know you are looking
we'll. You must respect yourself, if
you wish others to respect' you. By all
sensible means, keep your good looks,
if you can.
ailments require attention. Worry,
fretting, ill-temper, scowling, repin
ings, melancholy, all tend to bring sal
low color and wrinkles. You must
purge yourself well with, pleasant
thoughts and cheerfulness. If you can
remedy unpleasant conditions, do so;
if you can not, what good will it do
to fret over it? Just say to those
"blue dovils," "Get thee behind me;"
then mako it your business to lot them
stay there. You see, there is a whole
lot necessary, if you would be lovely
to look upon, besides rubbing into
tho face a h'ttle oils and creams.
And I must tell you again, that I
am not a toilet specialist, or a physi
cian, and can give you only old, tried,
simple formulas that are, so far as
I know, at least harmless, and are as
effective as newer and more expensive
ones. They may be "just the thing"
in your case, and they may not; physi
cal conditions make a difference; and
you must use plenty of common sense
with thorn.
spine thrown a couple of inches back
of the shdulders, bringing them into
a line parallel with the hips, the feet
resting lightly on the ground. In
walking, the ball of the toe should
first touch the ground, the heel com
ing after, if one would have a light,
springy step. Practice this, as you
go about your work. Marguerite
Brooks in Success.
A Cloth-Cleaner
In renovating our garments, a cloth
cleaner is often quite a conveniencp
Roll a straight strip of black (or
white) cloth, about four inches wide
over and over, very tightly, until you
have a roll about as thick as a broom
stick and as long as the strip is Wide
Cut off the extra cloth and sew the
roll firfnly down the side; trim tho
ends, if uneven, with sharp scissors
and you will have a very convenient
and effective "brush" with which to
scrub or rub out stains.
But in order to do this, the care and
treatment given must bo persevering
ana persistent, xou uun not expect
desired results from a haphazard,
spasmodjc, hit-and-miss treatment,
any more than you can expect to. keep
clean without regular bathing and
washings. A perfectly healthy skin
will cleanse itself, but there are few
perfectly healthy skins, especially
after the first flush of youth; hence,
soatfs must be used. All soaps even
the mildest are more or less alkaline,
and the removal of tho natural oil of
the skin leaves it rough and harsh,
and this must bo counteracted by the
use of creams and foods. The aver
age cuticle is absolutely starved for
proper nourishment, and this condi
tion brings wrinkles, flabby muscles,
"ugly coloring, blotchlngs, and a gen
eral appearance or ageing so distaste
ful to a refined woman. Meantime,
your health conditions must be attend
ed to, for no one can get good re
sults from merely local treatments, if
thp body is ailing. Constipation and
a sluggish liver will 'render abortive
any amount of local care, cosmetics,
Uses of Toilet Soap
The" attraction of the alkali in soap
for the oils of the skin as well as for
its unclean accumulation, constitutes
its cleansing' property. Many good
authorities claim that water alone is
a sufficient cleanser, except at rare
intervals. There are oil glands as
well as excretory ducts, and for no
idle purpose has nature produced these
tiny oil wells in the human cuticle.
Inunction, or the external use of oil,
has a recognized, place among the
prescriptions of some famous modern
physicians, who seek in this way to
restore that necessary property of
which the body has been deprived by
the excessive use of soaps or by dis
ease. They claim that it enables the
patient to resist cold, that its nutri
tive qualities convey heat to those
organs which require it; that it gives
a sense of exhilarating freshness, and
that it is not only soothing in. cases
of nervous depression, but it is cap
able of strengthening weak lungs. For
this purpose, almond oil, cocoanut oil,
olive oil, or cold creams are applied
by tho aid of vigorous rubbing. Those
milk baths indulged in by the ancients
owed their emollient properties to the
oil contained in the milk. Every old
nurse, too, knows that weakly chil
dren are often injured by too frequent
ablutions; dry rubbing is recommend-
od as the safest opiate for a nervous
little one, and answers many of the
purposes of soap. Some persons se
crete oil much more plentifully than
others, and to such, soap is not so
injurious as to one lacking in this
puriiuuiur. ooit water ana a pure
soap, if any, should be used. Medical
Journal.
al-be
by
"Mothering"
On a recent' visit to an Orphan's
Asylum, I noticed, sitting quite apart
from the restless groups of playing
children a little boy of about three
years old, whose troubled, pathetic
air and pale little cheeks, streaked
with dirt and stained with tears,
appealed strongly to my sympathies,
for I think there is no sadder sight
than a little, helpless qhild, sorrowing
and alone.
"What is the matter with the baby?"
1 1 asked, as my guide stopped, applying
her handkerchief, not unkindly, to
the little wet face.
"O," she said, wearily, "he is
ways whimpering; he wants to
mothered, and nobody has time."
Just then, attracted, perhaps,
my sympathetic glance, the little fel
low made a motion as if to reach out
his arms to me, the little mouth quiv
ered and the big blue eyes filled with
tears; but he was learning the hard
lessons, and he turned his little face
away. I stooped and lifted him in
my arms, holding the little face close
to my own; the little arms clasped
me tightly, and sob after sob shook
the little form. In my own eyes
were tears, for all the little children
that had once lain upon my bosom
were gone, and my heart was just as
"hungry for the baby's love as his was
for the love of the mother that had
passed out of his little life so soon.
When he had wept his heartache
away, the little form grew limp in
tne sieep or exhaustion, and I laid
him in his cot, asleep, but now and
then a little sob broke his regular
breathing. "He will probably be
placed soon," said the nurse, "for he
is a pretty little fellow when he don't
cry." "But he came of a bad lot,"
she said, sorrowfully. I could not but
feel that love and tenderness, with
wise training, would do wonders for
the baby waif, if only he were rightly
A Graceful Carriage
A well-poised body is no less essen
tial to health than to physical beauty,
ana tno woman who desires to be
physically perfect, even though she
may bo indifferent to her personal ap
pearance, must guard against faulty
positions of the body. In standing
the weight of the body should rest
principally on the nails of the feet
letting the heels lightly touch the
ground. The chest should be elevat
ed and thrown forward, the head held
erect, while the lower part of the
spine should be thrown backward. In
sitting, one is apt to be even more
uureiess uuu sioucny man when stand
placed.
As I passed out into the street, I
thought how many hearts, older and
more inured to griefs, bruised and
buffeted by contact with the world, are,
like the little, lonely boy, crying to
be mothered grieving for the love
that is their right, yet of which they
are deprived. We so long for a touch
of tenderness drawing close to some
warm, sympathetic heart; a clasping
that will for the moment shut us away
from all unfeelinghess, and allow us
10 cry it an out, in a corner by our
selves. All along the roadway of life
in every walk, we meet them; yet, like
theJittle child who "whimpered" in
vuin, we learn tne lesson of repres
sion, and to cover our hurts from other
eyes. In time, our tears are all shed
and wo grow outwardly calm. We
learn to look with level eyes upon
the world and its warfare. It may be
that some day we cease to grieve
and our hearts even grow callous to
f !gr f3 ?f herB- But d0 not
think tho longing for the touch of
T.:Lev?r qmte dies we are
creams or
or local care, cosmetics, ing. The body should take nn imiiTi. ii , quue aies we are
tissue buiuer, Montaf I poliUon ana VSiSI.S T8S SuSeTS. Es Kits!" b3
More, or BetterCared-For Children?
Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, the presi
dent of the National Woman's Suffrage
association, in her address before the
National Council of Women, meeting
in Washington, D. C, spoke her mind
on the question of parenthood, saying
very sensibly: "It is said that women
should rear more children, but I say,
you must first make your country fit to
rear children in. We need to make this
world safe for children. To do this, wo
must give them social heredity, so that
they will be born in safe conditions
and protected until grown This can
not be done until women have rights
in tne state to protect them." If one
stops to consider this question, it has
other sides than the political one, and
these sides should be carefully looked
into. In every large city, you will find
that the orphan asylums are overflow
ing, and the thousands of little chil
dren constantly pouring into them do
not all come from homes of vice or
poverty. Many an overburdened moth
er lays down her life from excessive or
ill-advised maternity, leaving a half
dozen or more helpless little ones, and
the fathers find themselves helpless to
keep and to care for them; so, they are
sent to the asylums and from there,
placed as best they may be, in other
homes, where they do not always re
ceive the best of treatment, or training
to make good citizens of them. If the
wife dies, the husband 'and father
thinks he can not earn a support for
them and keep them together, so if
there are no relatives to whom they
may be sent, or a second wife is not
found available, the father gives them
into stranger hands and forgets them.
If the husband and father dies, very
seldom do we find the mother "count
ing the cost"; she goes on, somehow,
and manages, as by a miracle, to keep
the little brood under her wing, more
often than not rearing her sons and
daughters to a life of honor and use
fulness. That the social conditions of
today are not such as would seem to
be the best in which to rear the future
men and women, no one will deny.
There is, also, another side that
should be considered. Very few par
ents have any idea of the real laws
of hygiene, and little children are
brought into the world with less
thought and care than we give to our
animals. An ignorant girl and boy find
themselves possessed of a frail little
human being, and they accept the trust
With a lightness that is appalling to
one who knows the requirements, phy;
Bi'cally, of the new-being. Physicians
tell us that the wonder is, not how
many, but how few of these children
are taken before they have completed
their fifth year. Thousands who are
permitted to live and grow up are
moral, mental or physical cripples, and
this is especially true of the first-borns
of the family.
For the Young Folks
1 ford-run tucks, fancy stitchery, in
serts and applications of lace and em
broidery all go into the making of the
young girl's dresses. Narrow laces and
frill of the same goods are used as
trimming for thin materials; ribbons
are also much used. Girdles are more
AN OLD A.ND WELL TRIED REMEDY.
Mbb. Winblow's Sootiuno Stbdp for children
toothing should always be used for children whlla
teething. It soltono the cuma, allays all pain, cure
wind chollo and U the best romody for diarrhoea.
Twenty.fivo conla a bottle. I
..i.wfo"..