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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 1912)
TPW lWVrT,'",T I-' IS s The Commoner. VOLUME 12, NUMBER 4 .-7N ' " ' r.rfthxSSv - r yj(ij '-H fDeparimervi: u Tho Forest in Autumn All ghostly in tlio twilight dim they stand, Tall sycamores in shame of naked ness, While scarlet-leaved ahout them creepers cling, As though to comfort them in last caress. A.nd just heyond, long lines of leaf stripped oaks, And dark in this, the twilight hour, are the pines, While redly gleams the sadsafraS that still To don the mourning of the year" declines. Beneath the white-railed bridge all sullenly The sluggish river takes its fetid way; And last faint gleams from out the golden west To silver turn its waters dull and gray. And as the purple veil hides all the gold, The silver sickle of the new-born moon, With one lone star, hangs in the brooding sky, And o'er the scene night settles all too soon. Frank Fair, in St. Louis Globe-Democrat. For tlio Toilet We are assured that, in these strenuous times, women get gray hair very early In life, and for some reason, women (no more than men) do not wolcomo the frosting of time. Grayness early in life is hereditary in some families, while others go down even to old age with very little loss of coloring. Many would-be wise ones contend that the woman who early acquires a grayness is usually the nervous woman; but this is not the rule. About" as many slug gish, ease-loving women as their active, restless, nervous sisters, are found with whitened hair. It is also claimed that the general health has much to do with the color of the hair. Perhaps. We know that the state of health affects the condition of the hair, but many a well, strong woman past middle-age, has whit ened hair, while a confirmed invalid, though she may have faded, dry hair, is not getting gray. Bodily infirmi ties affect the health of the hair, be cause the hair is part of the body. A "weakened physical condition, and a state of extreme mental unrest alike tend to age one; but the cause of graying of hair is not known. Noth ing seems to stop the whitening, once it is begun, or restore the color, once it is lost. It is claimed that tonics containing sulphur or iron, or both, have a tendency to restore life to the hair, but these should be given by a physician, and, unfortunately, physician's prescriptions are not al ways infallible. Even the best-informed dermatologists acknowledge their inability to do more than dye the hair, and they do not recommend this. Massage of the scalp will often give tone and life to the hair, dark ening it slightly; but just moving tho fingers over the hair Is not scalp massage. The finger-tips must be held so firmly aginst the scalp that one can feel it move over the skull underneath. The very best advice that can bo givon is to keep the hair clean, well combed, well brushed, and make it as soft and glossy as one can by taking the best of care of it and the general health of the body. Gray hair is lovely, if kept nice; white hair is beautiful, and gives to the fading features a softened expression which nothing else can do. Nothing is more unlovely than poorly dyed hair, and the hair-dresser's skill costs too much for the ordinary pocket-book to consider. Even the young face is more lovely under, soft gray hair, if well kept. Wastefulness in Dress In the days of long ago, a garment, once made, was a useful thing as long as it hung together, being passed down the line as a made-over, after it became unsuitable for the original owner. In trying to settle the blame of "the cost of living" bestowed on the women-folks, Good Housekeeping says: Not only has the price of wearing apparel increased, but the number of hats and garments a woman thinks she must have has also in creased almost incredibly, the limit being fixed only by her ability to pur chase. Then, too, the style changes much oftener, which necessitates more frequent purchases, and the discarding of garments, even when they are almost new. In the large cities, women of the wealthy class are spending exorbitant sums for a blouse, a pair of shoes, a parasol or pair of slippers; the amounts spent for jewelry and articles of personal adornment are astounding. Today, $400 dresses are not unusual, or con sidered so very costly by the well-to-do class. Then, too, a dress or "gown," must not be worn more than one time, or at most a few times, and the extreme woman insists on having a different dress for each event the tea, the country club, the automobile, the seashore, the horse show, and for each evening enter tainment. Each occasion of the social whirl has its demands, and money is spent recklessly simply to "do as other people do," regardless of how the money comes. This is one of the serious problems. The woman wlio has the temerity to dress according to her means, or to wear a garment that is out-of-style, no matter of how good material, must be possessed of a quite sublime courage. The plainly dressed woman or girl is invariably the neglected, if not cruelly snubbed woman, no mat ter how brainy, or how cultured she may be. Every society woman recognizes "style," but very few of them know the less apparent evi dence of mental or spiritual merit. until it is comfortable. The arms eye should not bind. It is always easier to make the opening larger than it is to decrease the size. The arm-seam underneath should make a straight line from under the arm to the hip; it should pull neither back nor front. No pattern will fit two figures alike, but there are a few directions that will apply to all. A very trying process is the putting in of the sleeves correctly, and much of the comfort as well as the good appearance .of the garment depends on the fit of the sleeve. When ready to put in the sleeve, the waist should be tried on, and the very top of the shoulder should be marked with a pin, or a notch, or thread. The sleeve should be put on, and also marked on the center of the top, and as the pattern directs, have two rows of shirring run be tween the notches on the top of the sleeve; the under seam of the sleeve should be about two, or two and a half inches forward of the under arm seam of the waist, and the shoulder-marks on the top of shoulder and sleeve top should be placed together; gathers should cover the space in front five to seven inches, being a little the thickest together at the top, and spreading two and a half inches back and front of the top. With tho Sewing Machine When basting, be sure to baste straight and close enough so that the seam will not gap and pull apart; make the notches meet, and it is a good idea to pin the seams at the notches and at intervals along before basting, as tho side next the sewer inclines to full a little, making it shorter than the under seam. If tlj shoulder seam is nut ton far forward, it gives a round-shnulrU ered look to the garment. The head should be hold perfectly straight, and the shoulder seam should then be in a direct line with the back of the ear. The arm-hole should bo cut as light as it can be worn with comfort and ease by making short slits under the arm in front of the bust, a little at a tinio with he point of the shears, An Old-Time Toilet Recipe Baked buttermilk is said to have been responsible, to a large degree, for the beautiful complexions among our forbears. It is claimed that its use, even for a few days, brought great improvement, but continued for five or six months daily, its effects were wonderful. Here is the recipe, copied from an old "beauty" book: The proportions were one gill of real buttermilk to a pint of fresh milk. Pour this into a jar with a close fitting lid, and place where it will keep hot all day, but it must not be set on the range. In old times it was set before the fire-place. By night the milk should have turned to the consistency of clotted cream, and must then be poured from a height from one vessel to another until it has returned to the smoothness of fresh milk. It was then sweetened with cane sugar and corked down tightly in a stone bottle and placed before the fire, but not too near, and left for five or six hours. At first baked buttermilk Is not very much liked, and the fancy for it is an ac quired taste. If it were not acid, it was not considered to be perfectly made, and It should effervesce when the bottle was opened, which assured one a refreshing drink If well iced, and was considered a remarkably efficacious means of improving the complexion. Every night, on retir ing, the would-be beauty of a hun dred years ago bathed her face in fresh buttermilk, or wanting this, in the baked beverage. It was claimed to remove all tan, freckles, and to prevent wrinkles. Any one wishing to test its efficacy will find it not ex pensive or harmful, even if it does not "work the charm." Renovating Black Silk To a sufficient quantity of ox-gall add boiling water sufficient to make it warm, and with a clean sponge rub the silk well on both sides squeeze it out well, and with a fresh dipping of the sponge, go over it again in like manner, until niQ dn. looks clean and brighter; rinse tho silk then in fresh cold water, chanc ing the water several times, until th last water is quite clean, then hang in the open air to dry; before it is quite dry, bring it in and pin in shape on a board or table. If it needs stiffening, dip the sponge in a thin glue water and rub on the wrong side before hanging to dry. Silk may be pressed with a hot iron, but caro must be taken to have the iron not too hot, as silk scorches very easily. Culinary Mattcra It is claimed that under-cooking is the cause of much of the trouble where chocolate is found indiges tible; it should be boiled in water from half to an hour, and scalding milk added just before serving, it is claimed that it should be cooked until it will "coat the spoon." When using oyster stuffing for the turkey, it is better to partly roast the fowl, then withdraw from tho oven and stuff. If stuffed before cooking, the oysters are apt to be cooked too much. Add the oysters to the crumbled bread that had been rubbed with butter and moistened with the oyster juice. The raw liver of the turkey may be used in the dressing, if liked. Oyster dressing may be made by itself and cooked in the pan with the turkey, and in this way can be put into the oven at any time wanted. A dressing to be served with the turkey, but not cooked inside of it, is made of equal parts of mashed po tatoes, soft bread crumbs and finely chopped butternuts or walnuts; season this with salt, pepper and parsley and a small onion grated; stir this well together with some butter and the beaten yolk of two eggs; shape into balls and fry quick ly in very hot fat until r, nice brown. Pumpkin Pie Cut the pumpkin in small pieces after peeling and re moving the seeds, put into a kettle with a pint of water; cover closely until it gets to boiling well, then let simmer slowly with the cover off, that the water may evaporate as it cooks. The pulp should be thick and dry when thoroughly done, and it must be stirred often in order to keep it from burning. Rub the pulp through a sieve' or colander; some pumpkins will still have a little water in the pulp, and this may be allowed to drain off in the colander. To four cupfuls of the pumpkin allow four cups of rich milk, four well beaten eggs, one teaspoonful of salt, cup and a half of sugar, half a grated nutmeg, and two teaspoonfuls of ginger; beat well together to blend seasoning. Cinnamon or other de sired spices may be used. Bake in one crust in a steady oven until a golden brown. Historical Coincidences John Adams was eight years older than his successor, Thomas Jeffer son; Jefferson was eight years older than James Madison; Madison was eight years older than James Mon roe; Monroe was eight years older than John Quincy Adams. Washing ton ended his presidential term in the sixty-sixth year of his age; and so also did John Adams, Thomas Jef ferson, James Madison and James Monroe. Jefferson and Adams died the same day Fourth of July, 1826, just half a century after the Decla ration of Independence. Monroe died exactly five years later Fourth of July, 1831. Roosevelt is the only president seriously addicted to the woaring of spectacles. It is said to be a historical fact that all the presi dents of the United States had blue eyes, except William Henry Harri son. New York Press. What You Want to Know Where electric irons are used, the cost is said to be about five cents an hour, where the rate is ten cents per kilowatt hour; in some localities, iuo v , )M Ml ., -;'MUi)aari,( i.wL.