- iw--"nr r-mf
The Commoner;
&
S il M ' W P
VOLUME 9, NUMBER 31'
Tho Afterglow
When tho carnival la over,
Naturo's carnival of bloom,
Fields of fruitage, corn and clover,
Spill and spend their rich perfirmo
And the forest trees have sprinkled
Their confetti far and wide,
Till a shower of rainbow colors
Floods tho vale and mountain side;
And tho merry winds run riot
Over hills and meadows sere,
Then wo know the reign of quiet
Comes apace to crown tho year.
When youth's carnival of pleasures,
Hopes, ambitions, loves and shows,
"Ends, and spring's poetic cadenco
Lapses into solemn prose.
When tho rosy skies of summer
Lose their glow in autumn haze,
And our life-blood pulses slower
With the shortening of tho days,
We await while winds of winter
Chill the world with icy breath
Till our eyes behold tho morning
Break beyond tho vale of death.
J. V. H. Koons in Muncie (Iud.)
Star.
Neglected Education
The summer season is a perilous
time for the baby in arms, oven
where the mother 1b experienced and
observant; but when tho mother is
olden days who had to depend upon J
"spoon victuals" for sustenance,
and hero is one of the foods that
wero in great favor with the careful
mothers: Take a cupful of flour,
tio it up tightly In a muslin bag and
boil steadily for four hours, or even,
longer, as the flour can not bo boiled
too long, but must be kept boiling
steadily, or it will soak up the water
and become unfit for use. When
done, peel off tho thick soft skin that
forms, and you will have a hard,
grainy ball. Grate on a grater one
teaspoonful of this ball and thicken
each feeding of properly diluted milk.
If the boiled milk tends to consti
nate. thicken with water and add to
the undiluted milk. We are told that
the baby under one year old can not
digest starch, and this boiled flour
acts "in a purely mechanical way, as
do tho barley preparations. When
mixed with milk, it breaks up the
large curds that would form, and,
leaves it in a form which tho baby's
stomach can manage. Lime water is
also good for this, and some nurses
prefer it.
Requests
Mrs. II. L., of Sayville, L. I., wishes
us to correct the mistake made in
giving the black chocolate cake, in
a recent issue, as a layer cake. It
keep the feet warm, and will also
save them from the fatigue of rest
ing on hard floors, as well as supply
ing warmth where the carpet hap
pens to be thin under the feet.
For re-silvering mirrors, pour up
on a sheet of tinfoil three drams of
quicksilver, allowing this quantity to
a square foot of the foil. Rub with
a piece of buckskin (or chamois
skin) until the foil becomes brilliant.
Place the glass to be renovated upon
a table face downward, lay the foil
on the damaged part of the glass,
place a sheet of paper over the foil,
put on it a block of wood having a
flat surface, and lay a weight on it
to press it down tightly. Let it re
main in "this position a few hours,
and the foil will adhere to the glass.
"hut. n crlrl. hfirKelf. with no adecmate i i -,.,1 . v.nin4- nnt-
ideas of the needs for the handling is mtended to g0 int0 the other part
' f 4-l rt 4-lvir Tnnvanl rf hnmnnv art :
of tho tiny morsel of humanity en
trusted to her solo care, tho death
rate climbs alarmingly. It is a
recognized fact that no girl should
marry without some preparation for
housewifery, but it is a rare thing
that oven tho most rudimentary
knowledge of the responsibility of
motherhood is required to be among
her possessions. Many girls marry
and become mothers, their own baby
being tho first new-born babe they
have ever touched, and thousands of
these Ignorant young mothers must
assume the sole care of the baby
from the first days of its existence.
"Mother instinct" is supposed to sun
ply any deficiency of education and
experience, and the result of this re
liance upon instinct is apparent in
the death rate, or diseasod, maimed,
or delicate children. A girl should
be taught to care for a baby's bot
tle, how to sterilize milk and pre
pare the baby's food; how to bathe
and dress tho baby; how to recognize
simple ailments and to administer
simple remedies for these slight dis
turbances, as well as to note symp
toms of tho graver diseases. Physi
cians toll us that a great majority
of the diseases and ailments, as well
as most of the deaths of young
children are the result of ignorance
on tho part of those having charge
of them as to feeding, care in hand
ling, and lack of intelligent observa
tion of tho needs of the tinv babv.
Many a baby is killed by kindness
and too much handling, as well as
tho failure to interpret the only lan
guage whereby it can try to make
its wants known. It would bo a bles
sing if every girl might take a course
of instruction in a nurse's training
scho"ol, even if she has to let some
of tho usual "schooling" bo "wiped
off of the slate."
that is mixed up. The amount of
soda is correct.
Will some one kindly send us the
poem containing the following lines,
one of our readers wishing it very
much:
"Over its sides they clambered in
Ben, with his Wangle of nut-brown
hair,
Bess, with her sweet face, flushed and
fair.
Rolling in from the briny deep,
Nearer, nearer, the great waves
creep ;
Higher, higher upon the sands,
' Reaching out with their giant hands,
urasping ine Doat wiui ooisrrous
glee,
Tossing it up and out to sea."
The words of the poem, "Of what
is the old man thinking, As he leans
on his old oaken staff," is still calle.d
for. Can any one supply them?
A Nervous Baby
Many children cry and fret from
pure nervousness induced by too.
much handling by the grown people.
It is very hard not to toss and play
with the playful baby, but many
nurses and physicians rule strongly
against it. The child needs rest,
warmth, food and quiet, and the
"cross" baby will more often than
not become one of the dearest little
A Good Washing Fluid
Ingredients: Two and a half
pounds of sal sodat (called washing
soda), two pounds' of borax, one
pound of powdered resin; two ounces
of concentrated ammonia, two ounces
of salts of tartar..' Put one gallon
of cold soft water in a kettle (pre
ferably brass) ; add soda, borax, and
resin; set over .a, slow fire, stirring
until all are dissolved, then take
from the fire and add the ammonia
and salts of tartar, mix thoroughly,
bottle and set away for use, labeling
It Washing Fluid.
When ready to use, cut up a bar
of any good laundry, soap, ' for one
boilerful of white clothes, and dis
solve in one gallon of water, and to
this suds add half a pint (one tea
cupful) of the fluid. Wet the clothes
in cold water, soap the worst soiled
places, put them into the boiler
which has, been filled two-thirds full
of cold water; set over the fire and
bring to a boil, boiling fifteen min
utes from the time the water begins
to boil. Then take out the clothes
with a stick and lay in a tub of clean
cold water, wring through two wa
ters, then rinse well in a third wa
ter containing the bluing. Wash the
colored cottons in the same water in
which the white clothes were boiled,
but make clean suds with fresh fluid
for the flannels; let the flannels soak
for half an hour in this, and squeeze
and shake about in the water, but
do not rub. No more soap must be
used except that which is dissolved
before adding the fluid. The cost
of five gallons of this fluid should
not exceed eighty cents. Blankets
and comforts are easily and satisfac
torily cleaned with this method.
ing, dissolve three cupfuls of gran
ulated sugar in one cupful of boil
ing water; cook until it threads, then
pour it over the stiffly-beaten whites
of three eggs, stirring constantly. To
this icing add one cupful of chopped
raisins, one cupful of chapped nut
meats, pecans preferred, and five figs
ciit into very thin strips. With this
ice both the tops and sides. Good
Housekeeping.
Requested Recipes
Chopped Pickles Chop twenty
five medium sized cucumbers without
paring them; add two large white
onions chopped very fine and one
third of a cupful of salt. Mix these
thoroughly and let stand over night,
after which drain thoroughly. Re
move the seeds from two large green
and two large red bell peppers, chop
finely and add to the first mixture;
add also a level tablespoonful of
white pepper and a rounding table
spoonful each of white mustard seeds,
celery seeds and juniper berries.
Heat three cupfuls of good cider vin
egar to boiling, sweeten to taste,
strain and cool, then pour over the
other ingredients. If it is not enough
to moisten the mixture thoroughly,
add more; put into small jars, cover
with a layer of cotton batting, adjust
the corks or lids and seal. This
should make four pint jars full.
Mrs. L. Z. wishes "the cold water
process of canning tomatoes." A
reader has just sent in a recipe which
may be what she wants. "Keep the
tomatoes in a very cold place (on ice
if possible) for twenty-four hours,
filling the jars with cold water, or
chilling thoroughly for the same
length of time. Pour the water out
of the jars, pack in the fruit, cover
at once with the very coldest water
obtainable, filling with running wa-
"Lady Baltimore Cake"
The history of-this cake is said to
be as follows: The colored cook of
a prominent lady of South Carolina
invented the recipe, and for a loner
things, if it is allowed to rest and time, nobody was able to secure it,
Boiled Flour for Baby
In our mothers' time, home rem
edies were used for all simple, and
many of tho gravo, ailments of the
family. For the bottle-fed baby of
today, it is a hard matter to get the
v - iwauulisht fopdvHv There were babies in the
entertain itself. A sick baby should
not be carried about, or jolted, or
"joggled," but should be encouraged
to take all tho rest possible, at the
same time being very careful as to
Its food and cleanliness. Study the
baby, and do not kill it with kind
ness. A baby should never hear a
cross word spoken.
Helpful Items
Floor cushions and porch pillows
are a great comfort to the invalid
or one who has to rest the feet on
the floor a great deal. Make the bag
of any coarse, washable material that
will stand hard usage, in any shape
iiKeu rouna, square, oblong,
except the few to whom the lady im
parted the secret. This is claimed to
be the original recipe:
Lady Baltimore Cake One cupful
of butter, two cupfuls of sugar, three
and one-half cupfuls of flour, one
cupful of sweet milk, the whites of
six eggs, two level teaspoonfuls of
baking powder, and one teaspoonful
of rosewater. Cream the butter, add
the sugar gradually, beating contin
uously; then the milk and the flavor
ing; next the flour into which the
baking powder has been thoroughly
sifted, and lastly, the stiffly beaten
whites of the eggs, which should be
folded lightly into the douch. BakG
in three layer-cake pans, in an oven
ter, if possible,, for three minutes,
to fill' all air-spaces, tnen'pour on me
top of the water sufficient melted
paraffine to make . one-fourth inch
thickness, and screw on the lids, hav
ing adjusted the rubbers from ice
cold water. Slip each jar into a
paper bag when putting away." E.
S. M. : :
French Pickles Wash thoroughly
half a neck of green tomatoes, re
moving all specks and chop without
peeling. Chop also two large white
onions; mix. these, add half a cupful
of salt and let Uand over night. In
the morning drain thoroughly, cover
with one pint of vinegar and two
pints of water and boil fifteen min
utes, then drain again. Return to
the preserving kettle, add three pints
of vinegar and half a pound of light
brown sugar, two ounces of white
mustard seed, one level tablespoon
ful of ground cinnamon, one level
teaspoonful each of ground cloves
and allspice with a ninch of cayenne.
Boil fifteen minutes, then bottle and
seal. More spices and sugar may
be added if liked.
For extracting juice from fruits,
there is a galvanized iron frame with
nickel bars to hold the jelly bag,
and an automatic weight squeezer
that gets the juice out by gentle
pressure, without bringing away the
pulp. When the juice is extracted
from the fruit by pressure it should
stand to settle, a few minutes, then
drain from the sediments and strain
through several thicknesses of flan
nel, which will leave it beautifully
clear.
dia
mond and fill with finely shredded that is hotter than it would .haVe ,to
uowapupyr. ine use oj uiese wmiae. lor loai caue.T .To make the' filh-
Using Quinces
To bake the quince, peel and halve
the fruit and place the pieces in a
shallow earthen dish with water to
the depth of about a quarter of an
inch. Bake until tender in a mod
erately hot oven, basting frequently
and when done, season with butter
and sugar. Serve either hot from
the oven or after they are cold.
Quince compote1 is made by peel
ing coring and-Huartjstfing .the- -
t 'JLTXX3SmVi?.i-i.itM','t,
-. iiui-jrsi
