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VOLUME 6, NUMBER 1'
The Commoner,
curtain, with a ruffling, hem, or edg
ing. The curtain may hatig quito
plain from the small rod at the top
but this plait will give it a very grace
ful fullness at the bottom.
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The Kindly Word
If you Imvo n word of cheer
Tlml. limy Ht;ht tho pathway drear
Of a brother pilgrim hero,
hot him know.
Show him you approclato
What ho doo, and do not wait
Till tho heavy, hand of fate
Lays him low.
your heart contains a thought
That would brighter make his lot.
Then, I beg you, hide it not;
Tell him bo.
Llfo is hard enough at bosl,
But tho lovo that is oxpressod
Makes it seom a pathway blest
To our feet.
And tho troubles that wo share
Sooin tho easier to boar.
Sniilo upon your neighbor's care
Ab you greet.
Rough and stony are the ways,
Bark and dreary aro our days,
But another's love and praise
Makes them sweet.
Wait not I ill your friond is dead
Ere your compliments aro said,
For tho spirit that has fled,
If it knows,
ashes ,is a good fertilizer, and should
bo spread unlcachcd; If kept, the
ashes should bo put. under shelter
from rains.
Does not need to speed It on
Our. poor praiso; whoro it has
Lovo's otornal, golden dawn
Is aglow.
gone
AuTlm'(r-rt).vuJj!rothor hero
That poor praisoSxey dear.
It you've any word ot clregr.
Toll him so.
Selected.
"Damping Off"
One of tho troubles of raising
plants in window boxes is that they
are apt to rot off at tho ground and
fall over. This is called "damping
off," and is caused by a web-like
fungus which grows on the surface
of the soil, envelops tho little stems
and causes them to rot. To avoid this,
sprinkle dust of sulphur or bituminous
coal over the soil after sowing the
seeds; give the little plants plenty
of air and light, but do not set them
in a cold draught. The direct rays of
tho sun, when not too hot, are always
beneficial to seedling plants, as also
frequent stirring of tho soil. Do not
let the plants stand too thick, as this
excludes light and air from tho roots;
do not water too often, but do not
let tho soil dry out. When the fungus
shows itself (in tho rotting of the
plants and otherwise,) it can be ar
rested by running a knife blade be
tween tho rows, thus taking up the
web which adheres to the blade, when
It 'may be destroyed. Park's Floral
Magazine.
For
The Kitchen Garden
It is not the wise householder who
says a kitchen garden does not pay,
or who leaves the work of making
and attending to it to the woman of
tho family, but it unfortunately hap
pens that, in many instances,, if there
is a garden at all, it is through the
efforts of the women. Many women
jtU3lightjndoing the light work in
Biiiuuu, auu uiieiiumes' uie
the Garden ,
Although it is still Mio "dead of
winter," with a prospect of sovoral
iinonUB between us and tho spring
blossoms, it is f.ul time that our seed
and plant orders aro mado out. Tho
catalogues may now bo had for Uio
asking, and should bo asked for.
Many seeds of our most desirable
flowors and vegetables must bo
plantod in tho houso In January and
February, In order to havo .hem
ready to transplant whon tho outloor
soason arrives. These must be or
dered now. To get tho best service
of your seedsmen, order as early as
possible, and send in your lists in
January or February. Their stock is
then full, and tho rush of later month.
is not yet come; then, having a full
supply to choose from, and time to
give tho orders personal, or at least
export attention, tho seedsmen aro
inclined to bo moro liberal, and the
best of everything goes into tho early
orders. Later, the stock becomes re
duced, and often incompetent help
must bo employed, and it stands to
reason that one is not so well served.
If the lists are sout in now, tho
seedsmen will only send such as can
be safely intrusted to tho mails or
express companies, keeping back the
tender plants and tubers or bulbs
until danger of frost is over. It is
best to send your lists now.
(to say nothing of
of the men allows
heavier work as well.
best from the family
learned In the secondary schools, but
they will know how to spend money
to the best advantage, to select only
pure food, to keep the plumbing in
order or know how it ought to be
kept in order, and a thousand and
one things that girls of the last gen
eration did not know. The old jokes
about the heavy biscuits and the "pie
that mother made" will be incompre
hensible in the next generation, for
the housewife of the future will know
more than all her grandmothers put
together, and in her household, scien
tifically maneuvered, there will be
none of the jars of modern life.
But it seems just a little bit odd
that there should bo only one woman's
Institution of high learning that has
taken un the idea of teaching home
economics, which should appeal to
them so directly. The women's clubs
of the country aro making a study
of the subject, and possibly it is
thought that girls in college will be
less able to cope with it before they
have homes of their own. If, how
ever, domestic science has a place in
the lower schools, home economics
just as certainly should follow in the
higher schools. The subject has been
very much discussed and the result
of the experiment at Downer college
will be of much interest. St. Louis
Globe-Democrat.
Experimenting In Cookery
the
thoughtlessness
tho selfishness)
them to do the
But to get the
garden, there must be plowing, heavy
digging, spreading of manure, etc.,
which no woman should attempt
though many of them do. It is sim
ply astonishing how, notwithstanding
thoir numerous household cares, to
say nothing of the thousand and one
things which demand attention out-
sldo of tho housewifely duties, these
usually delicate women find time to
raise abundance of vegetables and
thereby add very materially to the
resources and economies of the home.
If one has plenty of fresh vegetables
always at hand, many of them take
tho place of expensive (and often not-to-be-had)
meats, enables the cook to
use up many scraps and add much to
tho health and happiness of her fam
ily. An hour or two in the morning or
evoning, devoted by the glide mon to
the heavy work of the garden enables
mo women ot the family to go ahead
with tho lighter work, and results in
a supply of eatables such as "money
cannot buy, and the value of which
to the lamlly it is hard to estimate
Do not fail to havo a kitchen garden,
and right now Is the time to plan for
1 vt
To make a success of experiment
ing in the kitchen, the one who cooks
must like to eat; must take an ab
sorbing interest in getting up her new
inventions, and have a "knack'1 of
making suitable combinations. Too
many women who hold the place of
cook care very little-for the pleasures
of tho palate in consequence either
of a lack of the faculty of alimentive
ness, or of a depraved condition of
-the stomach, while others can. iinrlnr
no circumstances, be other than imi
tators. Others still, while deliehtimr
to experiment in cookery, are handi
capped either by other and equally
pressing duties, or by lack of ma
terials, while yet others have a con
stitutional aversion to anything that
belongs to the preparation of foods,
their interests and tastes lying alto
gether outside of housekeeping. Yet,
among these various classes, there are
many very excellent cooks and house
keepers, because of their conscienci
ously trying to do the very best they
can. A woman who must be all
things to all her family, who must, of
necessity, be a "jack of all trades,"
must be a woman of more than ordi
nary ability in order to excel in any
one thing. The proverbial "lick and
a promise" must be given to a great
many things her hands touch, and
nearly everything she lays hands to
must bear the marks of her hurried
life. These classes can hardly be
the experimenters: thev mush h nftn.
tent to follow tested recipes, and con
fine their inventions to tho fw nn.
coveries of suitable combinations their
muntju aumties may allow them
make.
Remedy for Obesity
Mrs. K. R. sends us the following in
answer to a call for something of.
the kind: She had directions from
a physician to eat but one meal a
day dinner. She followed this ad
vice strictly, being careful not to over
eat, and in a year's time was reduced
about forty pounds in weight. She
ate whatever she wished at noon, tak
ing a cup of coffee at breakfast, a
bowl of hot water-tea at suppertime,
if she chose to do so. She used, and
still uses the massage treatment,
which she learned from treatment by
a competent masseuse, taking the
treatment of mornings.
Another friend who says she "puts
on," fat no matter whether she eats
or not, finds her best treatment to
be deep breathing for five or ten
minutes, early in the morning, with
all the out-door walking she has time
to indulge in. Housework is a fine
exercise, but there are as many wo
man Who put on flesh while doing
such work as there are who do not.
Obesity is largely a matter of tem
perament. It is also a symptom of
some diseases. What" will reduce
flesh in one person will be of no ac
count for another. Many very fleshy
persons are very small eaters. One
general complaint is that, while the
body and limbs fill out .unpleasantly,
the face remains thin and the cheeks
and neck become wrinkled and flabby.
In some cases, the warm baths, fol
lowed by scientific massage, with gen
tle exercise, and care to eat only
non-fat-producing foods will work won
ders. As I frequently have queries
on this subject, I will be glad to have
our friends give me any methods
which they know to be effective.
If you use wood for fuel, do not
throw your ashes away, but scatter
them over- the garden grounds. Wood
AN OLD AND WKLT, THIRD UKMKDT
MllR, Winpi.ow'pSoothiko Svmm for children
teething should always he used for ahlldrnn hllo
?' k'othlnjr. ltsoftoriB tho Kums, allays all pain, euros
lvrlml collo and Is tho host remedy for diarrhoea.
"lOreKpnty-flvecentsa bottlo.
to
Training In the Household Arts
"Downer college is the only woman's
institution of high learning in the
country that has a homo economic de
partment," said Miss Mays of Milwau
kee, tho head of the department. In
tho secondary schools they call it
domestic science, and then farther
along, the girl comes into a course
Which is Called home flonnnrnlna 1M,
wives of the future will not only
know how to cook and wash dishes,
Where curtains are to hang straight,
."u , wniuuws are wiue the follow
ing will be found to be a pretty
style to give additional width at the
bottom t without having the top too
ful. If the goods is in alternate
stripes of thick and thin, as in scrim
and lace, insert a box plait about a
foot from the bottom up In each of
the heavier stripes; it must be the in
verted plait, and the bottom is to
be finished just ,as the rest of the
What May We Tell Them?
Mrs. Hensley, secretary of the New
York State Assembly of Mothers,
gives out the following in an inter-"
view for a city daily newspaper: Child
ren have a right to the truth; it is
both dangerous and criminal to refuse
it to them. Neither boys nor girls
can be kept in ignorance of the vital
question of being, although there are
still parents who plead that the' in
nocence of boyhood and girlhood
should not be disturbed by any
knowledge of vital realities of exis
tence; but a mother has no voice in
the matter as to whether or not they
shall be kept in ignorance. If they
are not told in a wise and beneflcient
way, they will be told in an evil way.
If there is any doubt of the duty in
this matter, and if one wishes to know
how prevalent is the knowledge of
some things they would have keot
from their children, one has but to
investigate conditions at any public
school. Our insane asylums and re
formatories are monumental proofs
of this fact. Physicians and sociolog
ists will bear out the statement that
many of the inmates of those institu
tions would not be there had they
been trained in childhood to a right
conception of their own physical func
tions. Are we ashamed of the mar
riage relation? Do we venture to
question the divine, wisdom of the
Creator who ordained our bodily func
tions? If not, let us abandon this at
titude of shame-faced mystery about
a subject which is of the most viini
importance to the welfare of our young
people. Some day i believe civiliza
tion will demand a school of life, or a
BETTER THAN SPANKING
Tf8?'li1i!Itw008,l(?fc,?,r?cl,,1('ri,nof lod wottlnjr.
If It did thpro would bo few chlldron that would da
It. Thoro is a constitutional cunso for this Mr
M. Summers. Hox 118, Notro I)nn,,, jm,. , n JS
her homo treatment to anv t,nt , r "2 Jv. L1,.?0?.?
nTCr lX. chUdron trJiS
inonoy. Wrlto nor todav
yOU In tlllf) WJ1V. Tlnn'fc !....
', chances, nyo It oan'holu It.
tho child. Th
rnyS
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