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The Commoner.
VOLUME 11, NUMBER 'fl!
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tfeen Watts Mp
At tho Gates of Night
There aro two gates that guard tho
Night;
Tho ono whore shadows creep.
And lullabies como crooning low,
Full-throatod, soft, and deop;
Whero twilight reaches forth her
arms
To all by Day oppressed,
And lulls them into happiness,
Sorono upon her breast.
And from that 'gate, all dark and
cool,
Tho night road stretches far,
By palaces of sweet content,
Whero many dreamings are;
Whore blind may boo, and dumb
may speak,
And sad ones laugh and sing,
Whero hungered ones may drink
and eat,
Tho pauper be a king.
All through tho Night tho good road
goes,
0er valley, plain, and steep;
Along-its Bides, in grandeur, rise
Tho citadels of sleep.
And many things there be that
soothe
And comfort us, and bless
But best of all the blossom fair
Of rich forgetfulness.
Tho other gate that guards the
Night
The ono that ends tho way
fias trumpeters that loudly call
Us forth Into the day.
And though we fear tho foes of Day
With bitterness and dread,
Wo know that through tho weary
hours
Tho first gate is ahead.
W. D. Nesbit, in Baltimore American.
a glance just whero tho money came
or went. Tho various items can be
separated when the balancing of the
accounts takes place. It may be
that, through inexperience, the
young wife makes mistakes, but if
she is given tho responsibility of
spending the money, getting tho best
she can for it, she will soon learn
its value. One thing you must not
do buy things on tho "installment
plan," for it is better to deposit the
amount each week or month, until
you have the sum, and then do the
buying.
On tho Small Income
Living well on a small income is
more a' question of wise planning
than close spending, and no woman
can plan wisely when she has to
depend upon the grudging dole of
a few nickels or dimes at a time.
just as tho absolute need may arise
for their spending. Little or large,
she should know approximately
what she is to get, and then she can
have some idea as to what she can
do. Whero tho man does tho mar
keting, it is either a feast or a
famine, and many things aro wasted
because they can not bo utilized
alone, and there is no money to buy
anything else at the moment. Tho
family expense account can not be
judged by any ono current month,
for there are some months in which
the call will be for a largo amount,
while in others, there will be a much
less expenditure. Whether she pays
cash or not, the wife should keep an
expenso book, and every penny spent
should be noted down in it, while on
a separate pago tho income from all
sources should be written. Not only
should the housewife keep her own
accounts, but the husband should
have his expense book, as well, and
care should be taken to put down
overy sum, largo or small, that goes
out or that comes in. In this way
only can one be euro what they are
doing, and locate the leaks or decide
whero retrenchment or expansions
may be made. It is not necessary,
in order to keep the accounts that
one should have a business educa
tion; but it is necessary to have some
system about it, and to bo strictly
honest with yourself. Even a simple
memorandum account will show at
The Book Borrowor
Every book lover who cares for
the books because of the value of
their contents rather than merely to
have full shelves, has at some time
had the trying experience with bor
rowers who do not return the
volume. It Is bad enough to lose a
novel or story book in this way, and
if it is worth a second reading, it is
extremely annoying to find it gone
when wanted. But when a volume
is loaned where it Is supposed that
the borrowed has honor enough to
return it, and then finds that no
attention is paid to even repeated
requests that it be returned, what
is one to do? There are always
people who want to borrow, and at
first thought, it looks selfish to re
fuse to loan;, but a volume is not
always easily replaced when, thus
lost, and the act not infrequently
breaks up an acquaintance between
two persons that can never be re
newed. Many times, ono depends so
Implicitly on the honor of the bor
rower, that the loan is forgotten
when the book is wanted, and for
this reason one should always keep
a note book in the bookcase in which
to mark down the name of the book,
who borrowed, and the date of the
loan. Do not wait too long tcr ask
for its return, and if the borrower
Is worthy of tho name of friend, It
will in all probability be at once
forthcoming. But what is to be
done when the borrower simply
ignores the request, and you find it
impossible to regain the volume? If
you borrow a book, remember it is
the property of the loaner, and you
can not honorably keep it in your
possession.
will tako up all dust and lint and
give tho carpet a nice, clean ap
pearance. After the carpet has been
well scrubbed with the broom, run
tho carpet sweeper over It. Grease
spots can readily be removed with
any of the cleaning preparations to
be had at the furniture dealer's at
small cost.
If your floors have not been oiled
or painted, try to have it done be
fore the rough weather begins.
Scrub the boards as clean as pos
sible and let get perfectly dry; then
have tho oil (linseed) heated quite
warm (if you are careful it can be
made quite hot), and paint the floor
with this hot oil, using any old paint
brush. Put on one coat just what
you find tho boards will absorb; then
let this dry well, and give it a second
coat. There should bo a "dryer" in
tho oil to prevent it becoming sticky
and gathering lint. There are a
number of good floor oils now on the
market, ready for use, and these will
be best for the beginner. A well
oiled floor does not tako grease
spots, or mud stains, and one has but
to wipe up tho dust with a wet cloth
no scrubbing. It Is better than a
painted floor, as the paint will wear
off where there is much travel, while
the oil will not. Do the kitchen floor
and tho dining room floor, anyway,
and see what a saving it is for the
the housewife. When fresh oiled do
not use any more than you can avoid,
out you can go over It by laying bits
of board where you must step.
outsido. Try to Bend your gifts a
week or two before Christmas, that,
if ghe so desires, she will havo timo
to pass them on, thus giving two-fold
pleasure.
Odds and Ends
Got the habit of dropping into tho
school room, beginning now, and see
what kind of yerson has charge of
the young folks. See that the house
is in good repair, clean, and com
fortable, with heating apparatus of
the right sort, as well as proper
ventilation.
Make arrangements for the social
gatherings for yourselves and the
young people during the winter
months. Just now there is much
being said about the abandoned
country churches and school houses.
Find out "where they are at," and
get them in shape for gathering
points. See that they may be
properly heated and lighted, and
make use of them.
If you can not have what you
want, try to want what you can have
so thoroughly that you will set about
making it as valuable as possible.
Don't neglect getting a good supply
of reading matter, and after you have
read it, pass it along to others, dis
cussing the questions raised by the
editors and writers. There is no
excuse for ignorance except your own
carelessness.
Watch tho Children
Watch the children these nights.
If a child has the habit of kicking
the bedclothes off at night, it is a
good plan to sew a large button to
each corner of tho cover and attach
a long tape loop to the corner bed
posts; when fastened, this will keep
the bed clothes in place, no matter
how tho child may toss in its sleep.
These, cool nights aro "good for
colds," unless you exercise care to
prevent.
For tho Fall Honsocleaning
Before the heating stoves are put
up, everything should be as clean as
possible, the carpets dusted, cleaned,
and all rips sewed up, and thin places
darned, while holes should bo care
fully patched. To be sure, if you
can get tho new carpet, tho old one
may bo made Into very acceptable
small rugs. To clean tho carpet,
nothing is better than a mixture of
coarse sale and sawdust; unsieved
corn meal is good, also; the salt
and sawdust mixture should be of
equal parts of each, well mixed.
Cover tho carpet with tho mixture
and scrub it with a broom. This
"Pastry Flour"
It hi not generally understood
what Is the difference between pas
try flour and bread flour, the dis
tinction between which Is so often
made in giving recipes. The pastry
flour itself is a sort of nale. vel-
lowish white, fine and starchy, re
taining the impress of the fingers
when a handful is squeezed. The
process of making it is grinding the
wheat between stones, whereas the
flour for breadmaking Is cut by a
system of knives, which gives it
a hard, flinty gluten, with granular
consistency. The real pastry flour
usually comes in small cartons, as
it is often placed on the market with
out being properly cooled or dried,
and hence spoils quickly; the bread
flour can be had in 'sacks of various
weights, or by barrel, and keeps
well. Most of the large erocerv
stores keep the pastry flour.
For. tho Convent Sisters
Many of our readers have friends
who are members of a religious
order, and would liko to send them
presents for Christmas. One of our
readers suggests that in giving to
tnese sisters, it would be well to
give them something that might be
passed on from the Sisters to others;
cards, calenders, Christmas pictures,
gift books, or little trifles of neck
wear, handkerchiefs, pieces of lace,
etc. The Sisters can buy nothing for
themselves, and it would doubtless
afford them pleasure to have some
thing to give or send to their friends.
It is not necessary to confine your
gift to articles of devotion, for Rh
is doubtless well supplied with these.
An acceptable gift would be a good
book, or a subscription to a good
paper or magazine, as these Sisters
are usually allowed to accept such
things. Do not forget or neglect tho
friend or relative behind the convent
baTs, for they have warm, womanly
hearts, just as do tho loved ones
Fitting tho Stent Figure
In fitting the skirt pattern to tho
figure of the stout, short-waisted
woman, the skirt should be pinned
around the hips after first allowing
it to drop down at tho front until
tho front gore hangs absolutely
straight. In order to retain this
position, the back and sides of the
skirt are raised and tho inverted
plaits or placket edges are made to
come closely together at the exact
center of the back. CaTefully secure
these positions with pins; the darts
and seams from the hip line to tho
waist are then fitted to the figure;
tho belt should be passed around the
waist and pinned in place before cut
ting off the surplus or uneven goods
at top of tho skirt. The skirt must
not be finished at tho bottom until
the hips are perfectly fitted and the
belt put on, or irregularly hanging
gores and sagging takes place.
For tho Thin Woman
The fleshy woman is no more to bo
pitied for her surplus flesh than aro
the thin women for their lack of it;
and each aro clamoring for relief.
While every ono likes to bo "just
plump," no ono likes to be "skinny"
or scraggy, but that's what a great
many of us are, or will become, if
we do not tako better care of our
diet and habits. Some bony women
aro simply angular in make, and
nothing will make 'them over into
plumpness. It is a matter of tem
perament. Such women are not al
ways bony because of indigestion or
insufficient .nourishment. But there
Is another class whose thinness is
caused by lack of assimilation of
food, wherein tho little mouths of
the stomach fail to take up the
nourishment a favorable digestion
offers usually from a disordered
condition of the nerves; the starving
nerves act on tho discouraged stom
ach, which in turn re-acts on the
nerves, and so tho round continues.
Too much excitement, too much
worry, too much work, consequent
insomnia, poor food, not enough fooa
or too much of a wrong kind, aro all
causes of thinness, and this very lacK
worries the thin woman a regular
"endless chain" of destruction ol
flesh. It is lamentable that no per
son,, doctor or layman, can prescribo
a perfect diet for another. Eacn
must bo a law unto herself. Drugs
do no good, and doctors disagree; so
the thin woman must cosset her oi-
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