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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1905)
"vrmY ptrr r u 10 The Commoner. VOLUME 5, NUMBER 33 Learning to Wait 0, sweet baby face at the window, O, dear little girl at the gate You are learning life's hardest-lesson The lesson of "learning to wait." And minutes seem ho'urs In passing, While the hours seem aeons of time; The clock hands stand still while we watch them, The bells have forgotten to chime. Brave youth, at the portal of manhood, Fair maiden, at womanhood's door, You are waiting in breathless impa tience For the gifts that the gods hold in store, While manhood as ardently waiteth The crown of his victories won, Reward for his glorious achievements, And rest after toiling is done. From morning of life until evening, Wo wait with what patience we may, For the blessings of life as we see them, And love that Is long on the way. And when sunset has faded to twilight, We linger awhile at the gate Tired faces turned wistfully upward, Like children, we lingeringly wait. ,' . . Selected. fmands. It is the popular cry that a woman should, first of all, be a moth er (if she have children, which it is claimed she should have, whether able to care for them or not), but in order to be the mother she should be, and give to her children tne incessant carothey really need, she should have rest from other things; all other work should fall away from her hands in order that her "mission" may receive the attention it demands. She should have better food, and more rest, leis ure to recuperate, and exercise of a nature to develope her best powers. Her life should be filled with pleas ant things and thoughts, and she should be free to exercise in the child's behalf that skill, care and in finite patience, coupled with intelli gent forethought and anticipation of its needs that is so necessary in the rearing of the little one, doubtless more or less crippled by a bad he ridity, to a strong, healthy adult age. Only healthy, well-cared-for mothers are fitted to rear the children that make up the race; and there are so very few such mothers. u I Home Chat It is claimed by scientists that crime would be greatly lessened if not entirely eliminated, If we could rear a race of people with sound heads, sound hearts and sound stomachs. The sickly, puling invalid is a disas ter, both in public and in private life, for no one is capable of doing the best that is in him, unless the mentality and mortality be enshrined in a healthy body. It is claimed also, the alarming increase in insan ity and nervous disorders is due in very great measure to the poisoning and starving through improper feed ing and lack of proper care to tho body during the early years of life. These scientists claim that "unless a more normal motherhood can be at tained, a few centuries will see this country a nation of lunatics." There are those, not scientists, who think we already approximate very closely to that condition. But, while preach ing to the mothers, it is the part of wisdom to look at the father's part of the relationship. It is certainly true that we have few normally healthy men and women, and it is as certainly true .that the "stream cannot be purer than the fountain-head." A really healthy child, mentally, morally and physically, cannot be born of tainted parentage, and in this respect, the father is as much to blame as the mother for the degeneracy of the offspring. The heredity goes deeper than mere flesh and blood, and the morally infected will impart his her itage as freely as that of the physically afflicted. It wo would have a race of healthy children, the fathers must leave the "sour grape" alone; the mother's care, after the little being is laid in her arms, cannot do it all. But she can do much. And in or der to do her best, her health must be looked after. A sickly, exhaust ed, nerve-racked mother worn to death in the attempt to be all things to all her family, to say nothing of attend ing to duties of a social character which can not be entirely neglected, who goes to bed "dead tired," and gets up fully as exhausted only to go the rounds of exhaustion again for an other day, can next poaalbly give to her child the careful attention as to dress and diet which its health de- There are houses of refuge, homes, and all kinds of institutions for every kind of criminal, and every unfortu nate class of humanity. Why not, for the welfare of the race, some place where mothers and Infants might rest, and recuperate; exercise in the open air and bask in the sunshine, free from care, and be properly fed and rested at the same time, with or with out cost, as the mothers might be able or not to pay? And where they might be educated at the same time as to how to regulate their home lives so as to keep in good health and be good, intelligent mothers. A rest away from the city or village home, with its work and worry left far behind, a resting, too, for the overworked farm-mother, where neither the sight nor smell of the kitchen or cook stove would is turb her enjoyment and absorption of the sweet air and sunshine of new scenes. Why not? Housekeeper (Minneapolis, Minn.). quently unventillated living or bed room. But if such would only try the out door stretcher, hammock, re clinig chair, or other such convenience on the piazza or under a tree in the yard, or even upon the green sward itself, looking up through the green leaves Into the changing cloudland, or resting the eyes upon the landscape stretched about them, she would find her rest greatly enhanced. I know one good mother who, when her nerves are "worn to tatters," betakes herself to any cool, secluded place and lies down, relaxing every muscle and rests, if only on the hardest, bare floor, which she says she really pre fers to the softest bed. Such a rest, indulged in for half an hour each day, is better than the best "nerve tonic" from the druggist. Carpets Our Health Talks Our most enlightened physicians tell us that the best medicines in the world more efficient than all the po tations of the materia medica are warmth, rest, pure air, pure water and cleanliness. Among these, rest and warmth hold an Important place, and in the animal world we find the beast' crawling away from its kind the moment the effects of wounds or the pains of disease assail the sys tem. With the human animal, it is often considered a virtue to brave or defy diseases so long as a foot can move or a finger wriggle, and in cases of strong vitality, this method of com batting the foe sometimes is success ful; but where one Is deficient in physical strength, the powers of life are thereby so completely exhausted as to render it extremely difficult for the system to readily recunerat nnri it offers a fertile field for many un pleasant ailments, if not absolute dis eases, to make great headway before nature can restore the balance. When ever work or walking requires an ef fort, one should heed the warning, and take a rest, if but for a moment. To tho busy housewife, the idea of lying down in the day time will seem impracticable and in case she does lie down, it is seldom that she seeks the outer air. Her resting place is usually on the sofa, in the sitting room or on tho bed, in the too fre- A reader asks what is the differ ence between a body Brussels carpet and a tapestry Brussels carpet. For ordinary use, and at moderate cost, there is little in the carpet line that is in every way so satisfactory as body Brussels, while, on the other hand, tapestry Brussels, which, bears a decided resemblance to the former, is really the most undesirable and un profitable floor-covering that one can invest in; and yet, it is often im posed upon credulous buyers who are ignorant of the distinguishing charac teristics of body Brussels. Both body and tapestry Brussels carpeting have a looped surface, but aside from this, they are radically different. In body Brussels, every color is dyed in the skein, then woven in and through the fabric upon the surface only when this especial color is required in the de sign. Only a limited number of col ors can be handled independently of each other (seldom more than six), and, as the durability of the carpet Is in some measure dependent upon the number of colors used, the differ ent grades are usuallv dpsiernntpri hv the number of frames, which signify the number of colors used as four frame, six-frame, etc. The regular tapestry Brussels is in reality a one frame body Brussels, for they are woven all in one solid color, and this forms the ground for the design, which is afterwards printed upon the sur face by methods similar to those used in printing calico and other light weight fabrics. Tapestry carpets are easily made very attractive in appear ance, because an unlimited number of tints can be used; but they must of necessity be less durable than, body Brussels, both in weave and in color ing, for the distinct coloring is only surface deep, and the pile, which is composed of but one strand of wool, is held in place by a single binding thread. In body Brussels, the filling shows more or less on the wrong side, and to simulate this effect, unscru pulous manufacturers stain the back of tapestry carpets to follow as close ly as possible the coloring of the de sign upon the right side. Both tapes try and body Brussels are woven twenty-seven inches wide, and body Brus sels has the trade-mark plainly stamp ed on the wrong side, with each re peat of the pattern. An Intoxicated Baby The well-fed infant who- has good air, water, rest and other normal en vironments, sleeps, eats, grows and develops a normal brain, the ener gies of which have not been wasted in combatting poisons. The child of the bloodless, nervous, poorlv-nouri ed mother, or the Dottle-fed Mi ! with a sour stomach full of SA germs, is intoxicated all Z ? suffers for want of sleep and om the pains and discomfort due to 2 spoiled food in the alimentary canal which causes indigestion,' colic o ' tarrh of stomach and bowels, cholera infantum and dysentery. We know what the effects of such poisons as alcohol are on the brain of the adult The man "dead drunk" has his me tal faculties extinguished for a time and only recovers consciousness when the poison has been eliminated from the body, and stunned brain-cells re cover sufficiently to generate nerve energy to set the machinery of the body in motion. The baby with the sour stomach, made wor;e by taking food it can not digest, is just as much intoxicated as the man with his stom ach full of alcohol. The absorbents are continually carrying the toxins in to the circulation; the brain cells aro bathed in the poisons as well as all the other parts of the body. House keeper. Nature's Cosmetics I have' just been reading a warn ing note to women and girls in re gard to the use of cosmetics of tho ingredients of which they know noth ing, as many of them are harmful, while most of them are worthless, to say the least. If we must (and it really seems that we must) "do things" to be pretty, let us try those from Nature's laboratory. I have told you of the possibilities of the cucum ber, and now comes a young friend who tells us that the tomato is a wonder-worker as a complexion beauti fier, not only when used internally as a liver corrective, but externally, as a face bleach. She says, as soon as the morning ablutions are performed, hunt up a fresh ripe tomato, 'cut in halves, and rub the race, neck, arms; and hands vigorously with the cut, side, letting the juice dry on, then wiping with a soft cloth. Tan, freck les,, sunburn and yellow spots go down before this foe. One of our "medicine men" sends me the following: Squeeze the juice from two lemons, add an equal part of rosewater, and twice as much glyc erine; bottle this and keep it on your wash stand, rubbing a few drops of it well into the hands when you wash them( or the face and neck) before drying. He adds that lemon juice should be -used both internally ana externally, and says that in some 01 the finest whitening lotions, cltm acid is always an ingredient, and citric acid is a condensed form of lemon juice. Or, cut a lemon in halves and, with the cut side, rub over the face and hands before drying after wasn ing; this is softening, cleansing ana whitening. In nearly all advertised face bleaches, he tells me. corro sive sublimate is used, and coiru sive sublimate is a' deadly poison, not safe to have about the toile it, un less handled with care. A lettei jnw opened says: "Don't forget to teu the girls that an infusion of two tame spoonfuls of finely grated horse; nd Ibb in one pint of boiling hot m 8"r ring frequently as it cools, and wmb cold, strained through a coarse-meBnea cloth and bottled, is a fine whitenen Dab a little on the skin several time a day, and at night, and let dry the skin." . . volt I am going to ask you jje have tried any of the remedies i w suggested, to let me know the rcsu so I may or may not recommend U to others. We want to bejvepj BETTER THAN SPANKING Spanking doos not euro children of woUiddo If Jt did there would bo oyt children w , jj U There Is a. constitutional cause for l m d er anniMAiw kat iik wnLruiinwtwi"! . rt innunt &m
