Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 1906)
HW w "V r r- Vnrrw..i f' " fi" "" ya'Tnp'twr-rir' " ". TB" Mjgi","r ifrw 'WTOpJr . ;J; r - wwpsmjs1 '' i it'irt K .. fc. fcr MS- 1 rlSH 10 Commoner. a . - VOLUME G, NUMBER 47 Old Stories 4No beautiful Btar will twinkle ' " : Tonight through my window pane, As I list to the mournful falling '"-"Of the leaves and the autumn rain. High np in his leafy covert - The squirrel a shelter hath; And the tall grass hides the rabbit, Asleep in the churchyard' path. On the hills is a voice of wailing For the pale dead flowers again, That sounds like the heavy trailing Of robes in a funeral' train. Oh, if there were one who loved me ' A kindly and gray-haired sire, To sit and Tehearse old stories -Tonight by my cabin fire! The winds as they would might rattle The boughs of the ancient trees In the tale of a stirring battle My heart would forget all these; Or if by the embers dying , " "We talked of the past, the while, J; I should see bright spirits flying From the pyramids and the Nile. Echoes from harps long silent y, . ."Would troop through the aisles' til flu 'VAlUVt i Jf .'iAnd;irest on the soul likeSsuniiine, ' If' we talked of the barSs sublime.' : "But "hark! did a phantom, call me, Or was it the- wind went by? - tWild are my thoughts and resttess, But they have no power to fly. Oh, for a friend "who loved me i Oh, for a gray-haired sire. To sit with a quaint old story, w?-r -" ' " . Alice" Cary. Our Social Chat ; I have 'many pleasant; letters td thankXyou- for and i .hope soon to '' -i ci?vAit;si wj' wa.ua. oi uiose who haverwrittenv My ''unanswered" let terbox iff somewhat crowded, owing to obstacles which I am rapidly over coming: , - Sdme ' Qf our "bachelor s'girls" and business women have remembered me, as well as our farm and village read ers, and they have all .given me glimpse3 of their home life.' It -is' not all funtrying to combine business with libme-maklng; but every woman has a- longing for a home and she will convert her trunk into the. "sacred - domain,"-if nothing better offers or can be reached. There are bits of pathos in those letters, and one can see the glint of tears behind the laughter; but thev are hrnvo hriP women who are bent on making the best of it. "It's just either laugh or cry," writes one of them; "and at times one is just as easy as the other, according to the view-point taken." , To the manyj .many wpmen who would be glad to be "just daughters, sisters, -wives, mothers,"- but who are .yet forced to work in order to liye and support dependents, there is lit tle attraction in a business life. They would gladly turn away from the shops, factories, offices or other like by far the minority who go into gain- J -w AN OLD AND WLL TRITO HVMKDT ii.h?;wLN8I;?wB8oOTHINo Brnxrvtor ohn. ful occupations simply as a means whereby .they may "wear finery and run about to social gatherings," as some objectors say they do. The home woman works hard, and has many troubles and .anxieties; but her sister in business stands shoulder to shoulder.- with her in the matter of burdens. Into every life compensa tions will, come if we only seek to find them. The blackest cloud, you know, has always the sun behind it. In cheering others we find cheer for our selves, and while we recognize the dis advantages, disabilities and discom forts, and shrink from them, we must try to walk always on the sunny side. If there are only clouds with out, let us try to make the sunshine within. Our feet may walk -in the valley-dews, but our eyes may over look the mountain tops. Some Suggestions Among our many letters are a few offering very sensible suggestions in regard to recipes and formulas, which I hope our friends will remember when they send in such things. One -suggests that, when one has a particularly good -recipe, it be sent to the Home "Contribution" box. -Thai: wlien. a recipe is tried and found suc cessful or otherwise, the ono nsinc 4t should report her experience as to its reliability. Another reader asks that we give weights and measures instead of local price of. an understood quantity of ingredients to be used, as -nrices varv in different localities, and five, cents worth,, in one place may cost twenty five cents in another. Another recommends that only test ed,, reliable recipes he given. This we try to do, but a recipe tested by1 ,one .may fail with another from va rious causes. ,. One reader asks , that when one Nsenus -a. .Tecipe or formula, -It .should be" Written Out. in rlfifnil fH-iHno-' ov. act amounts by - inea&ure or weight (or both! ' order of mi-jrmrr nnrl ' in ibe'casa of breads -or-cakes, whether lu qp siirrea, icneaaea,. beat, cut-and-folded,.or "roughly thrown together" To one experienced in cookery this may seem unnecessary' but to., the beginneror one riot"narticuIarlv nninir to, catch ideas, it matters materially. t uu,iuw u,t;puuii,- wnica appeals to all, of you, -is that our readers, vhen interested In any matter relat ing to" tfie home and. family, should write to 'the editor, pointing out the good and suggesting applications, showing up the baxf and cautioning against its continuance. As she very sensibly says, "One woman can not see every side of a question, and in suggesting subjects of 'interest and asiang for tneir presentation, we shall be 'holding up the editor's, hand' and helping her to help our vast army of readers, very materially broadening the influence -of the Home pages, as 'well as .vastly benefiting ourselves and widening, our own .'.out-look." r- Vlslt the Schools Every mother has the strongest reason to take an Interest In the schools to which she senda-hor iif-tiA children. There are many things Which will appeal to the mother that the fattier will overlook to the great hurt of the child in many ways. For a large part of each day, the little child; for whose nioral and physical health the mother is "held responsible, must be sent to the schoolhouse and turned over- to the care and influence of the teacher, of whose fitness and responsibility for the trust the par ents are entirely ignorant. Much of the child's well being depends on the character of the school and teacher,, not only in a mental but in a moral and physical sense, as well. If the teacher is chosen merely through favoritism, or because of erudition, with no question as to other as nennR. sary qualifications, much harm may oe uone to the little, timorous child, which should be carefully guarded against. Country school teachers are, many of them, young men, whose only interest in teaching is that it gives them a fairly satisfactory means of livelihood, or a salary that helps pay expenses in. getting their own edu cation. These young men are often very unsuitable care-takers for even the larger scholars, but are especially unprepared to look after .the comforts and health of the tiny tots who go to the country school. When the teach er is a young girl, it is hardly better; but even elderly men and women are not always proper persons to whose care to trust the three-fold liealth of the young, impressionable child. Mothers will jnotice, quicker than the fathers, if the schoolhouse Is un sanitary, or the drainage of the grounds, the ventilation, the atmos phere, the provisions for lighting and heating, are not such as they should be. The habits, manners and", lan guage of the teacher should be in vestigated use of profane .language, slang, indulgence in intoxicants, to bacco or cigarette smoking, none of these should be tolerated in a teacher. A child is -very iinitative, and ' such usages have a "bad effect onthe man ners and morals of the little ones. ' .. Necessity of Water prinking Because you do .not feel vthirsty, as you do in the hot m'onths, you should not give up the water-drmklng habit. At least two quarts of water is de manded by the normal action of the organs of the body, and the demand should not 'be neglected.' Learn not to drink at meal-time, " or while eating. The first thing in the morning should be a drink of water of the tempera ture which best suits your stomach, aiid of this you must be the judge. Some people can not, at any time, drink very cold' water without a dis agreeable sensation, while to another, the coldest water is the most satis factory. If you like hot water, drink it, but if you do not, and feel that you can not, then try the temperature which suits best for your own com fort. But drink the water, of some temperature. The "gnawing" sensa tion so frequently troublesome, and the constant craving for food can both be remedied by drinking copious ly of water hot or cold, as suits your stomach. This constant "hungry feeling" is not a healthy one, -but at such times, the stomach is like a fretful child which does not know its own. needs. Try the water-cure for this. Many times, if you will abstain entirely from food for a day, subsist ing on the copious draughts of water, you will find yourself much, improved, mentally and physically. For many ailments, water-drinking is much pre scribed instead of drug-taking. If you have never tried it, began now to de velop the water-drinking habit, punct ually and persistently keeping it up for weeks and months. It is a great fteauty. maker, and nothing will clear the complexion breath ternally :inn n...... like plenty of wafe Irtl and armllo,i v ' Kcn i x "" v-v mauy, Few things will softon, whitr , , heal the hands equal to a pJS "use of old-fashioned muiton Get from your butcher a nice & mutton tallow and "render" it as yo, J0 ShSJ Hei?g careful not toS it. . Strain it into a cup and add a few drops of carbolic acid, or stoat camphor, and beat it well together Left it harden, and, after washing tho hands nicely at night, rub it well into the skin, and your red, chapnea cracked hands will become smooth and comfortable. Do not reject a rem edy simply because it is simple and inexpensive. For the Toilet As tho year wanes, the winds grow rough and cold, and are apt to causo Toughness of the skin, together with chapping and cracking of the hands which is often so severe as to be very painful. There is usually a lack ot moisture in the air, and the perspira tion is not so free, and thus a dry, drawn condition of the skin obtains. If you Btay closely in the house, a little outing in the cold will cause tho cheehs and chin to roughen and chap, and in order to prevent this, it is necessary to always wear a veil. For the 'hands, some kind of glove or mit should always be put on, and when one is at work, it is of little conse quence whether. the handcovering ho expensive or not, so it protects the cuticle from the weather. Bo not wet the hands or face just before going out, if it can be avoided. If they must be washed, be sure to dry them thoroughly and rub over them a very little of some healing cream.' Nightly washings, with a rubbing in of a god cold cream, tho use of a very little water during tho day, will do 'much to keep the skin smooth, but for the one who must ho "in the water" at all hours, about her work, only pure vegetable soaps should be used. Do not use, or allow your NEW YEAR'S CALLS A.Ne,w Drink to Replace .the Old Time '.'. "Applejack" Twenty-five years ago the custom of .making New Year's calls was a delightful one for all concerned, until some of the boys got more "egg-nog" or "apple-jack" than they could suc cessfully carry. Then the ladies trfed to be charit able and the gentlemen tried to ho as chivalrous as ever and stand up at the same time. If anyone thinks there has not been considerable improvement made in tho last quarter of a century in the use of alcoholic beverages, let him stop to consider, among other things, tho fact that the old custom of New Year's calls and the genteel tippling is near ly obsolete. The custom of calling on one's friends, however, at the beginning of the new year, is a good habit, and another good habit to start at that time is the use of well-made Postura instead of coffee or spirits. "A Staten Island doctor has a sen sible .daughter who has set Postum be fore her guests as a good thing to drink at Yule Tide, and -a good way to begin the New Year. Her father writes: "My daughter and I have used. Pos tum for soma time past and we feel sure it contains wholesome food ma terial. "I shall not only recommend it to my patients, hut my daughter will be most pleased to give a demonstration of Postum to our Christmas and New Year's icallers," Read "The Road to WellviUo" in pkgs, "There's a rea son. i I