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The Commoner,
VOLUME 11, NUMBER 31
7 Wz-jSRi
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Vfz0tS
Conducted by
IWefen Watts Mcty l
epanmen
1. -;.ms 7
I v
Disenchanted
In a scono of festal beauty,
Whero tho crystal globes of light,
Wreathed with tropic buds and blos
soms, Mado a noonday of tho night,
Whore tho tinkling, perfumed foun
tains Woke tho puzzled birds to song
There I mot her fairest, brightest,
Loveliest of a lovely throng.
Round her, llko a veil of glory,
Swept a wealth of golden hair;
On her brow, so broad and sunny,
Burned a star of jewels rare;
Like a vision all ethereal,
Robed in clouds of misty lace,
Through the mazy danco she floated,
Airy, fairy, full of grace.
When sho spoke, her tones of sweet
ness Trembled through tho perfumed
air;
Twas as if some lingering seraph
Faintly touched his harp-string
there.
Marie was her name, she told mo,
With a soft, enchanting sigh,
And my heart in raptured echoed
"Mario, I will win, or die."
Only once again I met her
In a parlor dark and cold,
Where the musty, shrouded splen
dors Seemed to gather graveyard
mould. . '
Where the prosy light of morning
Showed the clothes line in the
rear,
And the air suggested "laundry,"
Boiling briskly very near. .
Through the doprway glanced a
vision
Was it mocking? Was it true?
Faded, slipshod, draggled, dirty!
Temper, dress and hair askew.
With one startled glance it vanished,
With hysteric shriek, below,
And I hoard "Good Lud, Mariar,
How was I to tell your beau!"
Anonymous.
l vucuuun uiiya
Do not rob yourself of a little rec
reation. No matter what excuse ono
offers, a day, or a few days of relaxa
tion and rest from the continued
grind of whatever occupation one fol
lows, Is Imperative. No one needs
the rest more than the house-mother
whose little .brood of babies has
kept her keyed up to the highest ten
sion of care during tho hot, dreaded
months of midsummer. One of the
most delightful ways to Bpond a few
vacation days is with a tent, and
clothes that will stand tho rough and
tumble of camping out. As to tho
food weil, there is an appetito lurk
ing In the folds of. the tent that only
tho "out-doors" can give, and the
one thing to allow for Is a good
supply of "eats," and tho easiest to
And is a good, clear stream where
tho water habit may supplement the
appetite for eats. Do try tho vaca
tion, If only a short distance away
from tho daily grind.
know whether it is worth while try
ing to eat anything. Wo are but
just getting accustomed to the use
of whole wheat breads, and have de
cided to believe the great good wo
are told is to follow Its use, when
some recent investigations betray tho
fact that whole-wheat-meal contains,
along with the highly nutritious
matter, a large quantity of earthly
stuffs which act unfavorably upon
persons of advanced years. They
toll us that tho constant use of such
bread induces rheumatism, paraly
sis, asthma, locomotar ataxia, di
seases of the brain, and hardening
of tho arteries. So, wo are placed
between two evils, and our only
escape from either of them Is to
choose the other. The very best
thing to do, In any case, is to find
out what food serves us best, and
eat it eat all we want of it; but
avoid extremesi We are told to sub
mit our diet to the views of a physi
cian before adopting it; but the phy
sician, in most cases, knows less
about it than we, ourselves, do. The
most sensible thing to do, it seems
to me, Is to make a little study of
our own needs and notions, and If,
after trying a food, it disagrees with
us, try something else; but as the
food that disagrees at one time
seems to be just what we want and
need, the' next time, wo should try
to use a little intelligent judgment
about things.
draft, shaking and tossing the bag
about while it is drying. A way of
"dry-cleaning" is to put the article
in a bag with quite hot flour or corn
meal, and knead or rub as you would
a dough keeping the bag closed and
working the' flour. When clean, re
peat, using clean, warm flour for
"rinsing." There is a naptha soap
on the market that many house
wives use for such things, and the
work is easily done. Gasoline may
bo used in careful hands, but it is
dangerous. No crocheted article
should be hung up wet, as its weight
draws it into stringiness.
tho stack or filled trays was set in
position, we threw under It a small
pinch of sulphur, and this kept tho
fruit from turning brown. As fast
as the trays showed that the fruit
was drying, we changed their place,
putting the lower tray on top, and
continuing until all tho trays were
dried alike. With an ordinary fire
not hot enough to scorch the fruit, a
dryer-full of fruit could be thorough
ly dried in ten to twelve hours, mak
ing two dryerfuls a day. If the fruit
is sliced thinly instead of being
halved or quartered only, it will dry
much faster. Fruit for the family
should not be dried in the sun, open
to the dust or dirty insects; such
fruit may possibly be washed clean;
but I dunno! It don't look as good
as that dried over the range, and is
apt to have a touch of sourness
about it.
Egg-Plant
Wo call these vegetables "egg
plants," but I do not know why, as
it is the fruit, and not the plant, that
is used. The fruit is not so well
known as it should be, and many
people do not know what to do with
It. Those on the market are six or
seven inches long, with a diameter of
five or less inches, and are of a rich
purple color. They may be cooked
in various ways, and And favor after
one gets used to their flavor; if well
cooked, they are excellent. We have
given many recipes for cooking them,
from time to time. Try them.
Something Abont Breads
If one were to believe everything
to be read on the printed page, we
would be tempted to do without eat
ing at all, for wo no sooner get ac
customed to eating some recom
mended dish than some ono supposed
to know rushes in with objections so
serious that wo drop not only the
dish, but tho food, and wo don't
Crocheted and Knitted Articles
There is nothing prettier or more
convenient than tho soft, fluffy
articles that can bo made with the
knitting needles or crochet hook,
and among the most useful are the
shoulder capes, BcaTfs and head
wraps. White articles are most in
favor, but for the fact that the usual
manner of washing them Is ruination.
Here is a method of washing them
that will leave them "like new," if
properly done: Make a suds of
warm, soft water and a good soap
(white) ; put in the article to bo
washed and squeeze (don't rub) with
both hands, Bousing it up and down"
in tho water, until it looks perfectly
clean; rinse it through clean, warm
water until all the soapy water and
discoloration is out of it,, and. to do
this may require two or three rinse
waters. While transferring from
ono water to tho next squeeze, but
do not wring, pressing all the water
possible out of it with the hands;
then shako well, but gently, and
have a clean white cloth pinned on
a board or table; lay the article on
this, not stretching, and by no means
let it pull into strings with Its own
weight, but fluff It up In piles, or
loosely on t the cloth and leave to
dry, tossing about occasionally as it
dries. Another way that is recom
mended Is to put tho article in a
cheese cloth bag and hang it in a
Drying Fruit and Vegetables
The prices of canned and dried
fruits and vegetables have begun to
climb, and one should take advantage
of any rains that are to como or
havo come, and plant vegetables for
late gathering. Many things may be
planted for a late crop of green
things, and everything that can be
grown will "come in handy." Late
peas, beans, corn, and other vege
tables can be dried and are quite as
good as the canned things, if care is
taken of them during the process.
Not only the housewife who finds
herself short of jars and cans, but
also tho woman who likes variety
should have a supply. No matter
what you think of the "store" things
which are sold in bulk, if you dry
good fruit or vegetables, taking care
of them, you will find them fully
equal to the canned goods rsome say
better. To havo good dried apples
or peaches, one must see that the
fruit is at least "good," if not choice,
and ripe enough to can. Free-stone
peaches and the early ripening mel
low apples are best for drying. Sweet
apples will not cook up smooth,
whether fresh, canned or dried. Tart
apples should bo used. To peel
peaches which aTe to be dried, scald
for a minute in boiling water, as
you do tomatoes, then drop imme
diately in very cold water. The skin
will slip off without trouble. To
keep the halves without discoloring
while preparing the desired quantity,
drop tho peach in cold water enough
to cover until you are ready to use,
then drain. Apples are kept from
discoloring in the same way. One
should have a little family dryer, to
set over the kitchen range, and dry
tho fruits as they are on hand, if in
tended only for a family supply. If
for marketing, a larger dryer will
be more profitable. But often one
has a few pecks or bushels of choice
apples or peaches, and the small
dryer will bo just the thing. If you
have never tried one, it is time you
did. Tho order of the day is to
make the most of what one has, and
this work can bo done, rain or shine,
and so much gained.
Little Helps
To patch umbrella covers, get a
supply of black court plaster from
the druggist (which is silk covered
with an adherent), moisten the ad
hesive with a little water and place
over the hole on the outside of the
umbrella cover, pressing it firmly
down; this makes a very neat patch.
Fancy Japan tea trays, and also
lacquered wooden ones, may be
cleaned by this method: Rub the
surface with a flannel dipped in milk
until all marks are removed; dry
with a clean cloth, sprinkle a little
flour over, and polish with a soft
piece of old silk.
For bottling catsups, pickles, and
sauces, have the corks full large,
soak them in boiling water for a few
minutes, then force them into the
neck of the bottle. They should be
put far enough into the neck of the
bottle so a little sunken space is
left to be filled with a sealing wax.
For removing stoppers from glass
bottles, such as decanters, vinai
grettes, etc., run' a little sweet oil
round the crevice, warm at the fire,
then wrap a rag round the stopper,
grip the stopper in a ja'mb of a door,
grasp the body of the article and
twist gently round to right and left,
being careful not to spill any con
tents, while doing so. The most
obstinate and tightly fixed stoppers
yield to this method.
The easiest way to clean and
sweeten tho old glass jars is to wash
them carefully, then put them in the
wash boiler with enough cold water
to cover them, and add enough good
soap powder to make a strong suds.
Allow them to come "to a boil and
keep covered; take from the stove
and leave to steam until cold, keep
ing covered. If the jars are to be
used at once, rinse them with hot
water, and fill rapidly. When buy
ing new jars, see that there aTe no
flaws and blisters in the glass, and
test thoroughly for leaks.
Tho Family Fruit Dryer
Ono of our readers asks what a
"family fruit dryer" is like. In
yeaTS agono, when I was a hard
working farm wife, I had ono of
these handy little affairs, and it cost
mo something llko four dollars, but
they may not cost so much now. The
dryer was about two foot high, tho
sides mado of sheet iron, with slides
on tho inner side, into which wire
bottomod trays were slipped a few
inches apart. There were seven of
these trays an inch and a half deep;
tho proparod fruit was arranged over
tho bottom of tho tray and tho dryer
was set over tho cook stove-top,
which should not bo too hot. When
For tho Cook
This season, when all vegetables
and fruits are at a premium, and
most of either offered of an Inferior
quality, it Is well to Btudy the bean,
rice, macaroni, and kindred foods.
The bean is especially worth looking
after, being very nutritious and
furnishing much muscle-making ma
terial, taking tho place of lean meat,
and can be cooked in various appe
tizing ways. Another recommenda
tion for it is that It is usually ono
of the cheapest foods, always on tha
market, will keep indefinitely and
can be bought in quantities
and stored, if desired. There are
many ways in which dried beans
may bo prepared for the table, and
nearly everybody likes it In soma
form.
Hero is another version of an old
story. If any ono tries it, please re
port, as the turpentine string has so
often failed. Soak a piece of string
in turpentine and tio' it around th
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