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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
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