Ti-WB "& 4 M K HI ,fcw It The Commoner. ft drsrz? ' yvcLXi. --- y luu uuivu tr i i m a , " v? vwii VOLUME 13, NUMBER 23 Conducted by t!eek&sAcfp Littlo Master Tho Littlo Master lies so still, With quiet hands and folded eyes; It can not bo it is his will To let the bright hours slip away, Forsaking all his merry play It is a strange and sad surprise! The Little Master sleeps so deep. Ho docs not list to any call; He does not hear his mother weep, Or hoar tho happy robins sing, Ho takes no heed of anything Wo can not wake him up at all! Tho Little Master sleeps so long; The day and night to him are one. No evening prayer, or morning song, Or tripping feet adown the stair, Or ringing laughter anywhere His little joyous time is done! Oh, Littlo Master, Btill and cold, Fairer than all the fair, you lie This last hour in the dear home-fold, And then your couch a low, green bed, Witr sweet flowers strewn above your head Oh, Little Boy, good-by, good-by! i Emma A. Lento in Farm Journal. Aid for the Dcnf Some weeks ago, I was in company with several persons who were so unfortunate as to have defective hearing, and there were several me chanical appliances for their relief among the afflicted ones. But one of these appliances was so simple, so inexpensive, and so easily and effec tively used that I must tell you about it, with the permission of the lady who used it. Get of tho fancy work store, or at any other place where you can find it for sale, a sheet of celluloid, about twelve inches wide. I think my. friend said It would cost about sixty-five cents; but oven at that, it is very inexpen sive. Roll the sheet so tho opening in the center will be about an inch and a half in diameter, and tie a' cord around tho roll, to keep it in shape. Then, tie a ribbon around tho roll about the middle, and have the ends of tho ribbon long enough to make a loop sufficiently large to slip over the hand, and carry tho roll on tho arm. It is exceedingly litrht. and always within reach. When you wish to hear what is said, put tho open roll, one end over the opening o tho ear, and have tho speaker put his or her lips quite close to tho othor open end and talk into tho roll. just aB you do with tho telephone. Tho contrivance was so simple, inex pensive, easily carried and effective in enabling tho lady to hoar conver sation, that I felt that you would all bo glad to hear of it. A deaf per son must learn not to bo sensitive about tho affliction; but sometimes it is very hard to do. I know; for I am ono of tho afflicted, myself. but they are not often used. A sick person should have nourishing foods, well and delicately cooked, and served with extreme daintiness. Often, if the tray is daintily arrayed, the dishes pretty, the napkin per fectly clean, the food will be eaten with a relish when, if the arrange ments of the tray were untidy, noth ing would be touched. In serving soup to an invalid, do not salt and pepper it, but leave that to the taste of the invalid; every bit of grease should be carefully skimmed off the surface, and the broth should be served hot. A cool, greasy soup is disgusting and unwholesome. The bread should be thinly and smoothly sliced, and if buttered lightly, so much the better. The tea or coffee should not be slopped about over the dishes, and the spoon should be bright and shining and laid in the saucer. The meat, if meat is served, should be nicely and thinly sliced, and all the ragged edges trimmed off. Gravies would better be served in a separate small dish. There are so many pretty paper napkins now on the market, and very inexpensive, that there will be no need of a soiled, crumpled napkin. An invalid's '.ray is a household necessity, as ono never knows when it will be wanted. Very pretty ones can be had for as little as ten or fifteen cents each. Remember that daintiness in serving is fully as im portant as good cooking; but tbey are both o the utmost importance, and every girl should learn to cook for an invalid. family has steady work all tho time. At a convention of the Lutheran church recently, it was stated as a fact that the average salary paid to ministers is $G00 annually, with the added remark that, if laymen had to manage on the same wages, the poor houses would become over-crowded. In these times, it is almost an im possibility to keep a family together in decency on such a wage, owing to tho cost of shelter, food and cloth ing, to say nothing of other absolute ly unavoidable expenses. In many such families, the wife, already taxed beyond her strength in caring for the family needs, supplements the husband's earnings by doing laundry work, plain sewing," or in various other ways that forces her to neglect her" young family. ffined or vaselined paper, pasteboard or cork stopper, or other cover im permeable to air and moisture tn prevent it from hardening, c'law stoppered bottles, however, should not be used, as a little silicate may find its way to the ground neck and it will be impossible to remove tho stopper later on, as silicate of soda will cement the stopper to the nek of the bottle. One part of th0 bill cate should be mixed with ten parts of boiled water, or one part pow dered silicate should be dissolved in thirty parts of boiling water, and ihe solution well cooled before immers ing the eggs therein." About tho Parcel Post How many of you have tried the parcel post, and with what success? It is claimed that up to May 1st, there had been carried 150,000,000 packages, and the increase had been at tho rate of 10,000,000 packages each month. Tho great bulk of the business comes from the cities. The movement from the country to the city has scarcely begun. Growing Horsc-Radish for Profit We have had several letters and some clippings on this subject, and as we can not give any of them in full, we give a summary of all. Every one of the writers discourages the idea of making a specialty of grow ing the roots, as a market for the roots, unless of the very best shape, is hard to find. Where but a limited amount can be disposed of to local buyers, or through arrangements with commission houses in the cities, the straightest roots can be sold as dug; but the roots which are poorly and irregularly shaped will have to be sold grated and in bottles. A plant that grows a lot of -side root branches, or divided main root, will not sell well anywhere. A limited market can be worked up for the grated root put up in bottles with a gross weight of one pound, contain ing something over half a pound of the grated root, well mixed with good vinegar. Such bottles are sold at retail for about ten cents each. Exterminating tho Fly Here is another "sure death to the fly" recipe: Do not, under any cir cumstances, try to drive the fly out of the house. Try to kill every one that finds an entrance into the room, and in this way, shorten the number not only of the present generation, but of the coming multitude. No dead fly can leave progeny. Kepp windows and doors screened, using mosquito netting if nothing better can oo nau; and whenever a fly is found to have gained an entrance, just get after it with the whole family, and keep after it until its term of activo service is cut short Kill the flies. Directions for Packing Eggs Only clean, sound eggs, with strong shells, should bo packed in waterglass; they should be as fresh as possible, and should not be washed, as the water will remove the coating from the shells; eggs should not be more than one day old, to havo best results, but they may be used older. Unfertilized eggs are better for the purpose than the fertilized, but' the fertilized eggs will keep well is care is taken to have them per fectly fresh, as they must be put into the solution within a few hours of their having been laid. To have the unfertilized eggs, the male bird must be removed from the flock some time before the packing is begun. When the eggs are packed in the liquid, the vessel should be at once care fully sealed, with the paper or paste board treated with paraffin or vase line, or with tbe screw top or other cover that will be air-tight. If this is not done, the water will evaporate in time, and expose the upper egg3 to the atmosphere. After packing, the sealed vessels should be stored in a cool place. Cooking for tho Sick This is one of the branches of the housewife's education which is only too often neglected; yet it is very important. A woman may bo a very excellent cook where healthy appe tites are to be sorved, but there are so many little things that the delicate stomachs of tho sick require, and upon which their recovery is large ly dependent, that it seems one should know how to make the simple, dainty dishes. Nearly every cook book contains recipes for these dishes for the sick, Living Wages" There is a groat deal of advertis ing of the fact that girls are paid such poor wages; but very little is said of tho wages which tho majority of men, heads of families, are paid Thousands of men with families of littlo children good, industrious, moral men, are working for $10 a week wages; many of them for ev.n less than ton dollars a week. Many men who would gladly work can get employment but part of the time. Tho wives and children of such meu are seemingly cdmpellod to earn something to keep oven the scantiest food, clothing and shelter for tho family, even whore tho head of tho Packing Eggs in Wrater-Glass We have frequent inquiries about this method of preserving eggs, and as the work should be donp when eggs are plentiful and cheap, we give a few more items concerning it, copied from Good Housekeeping Magazine: "Water glass or soluble glass is the popular name for potas sium and sodium silicates. Com mercial water glass, often a mixture of both silicates, is much cheaper than the chemically pure article, and is just as effective for preserving eggs. It is sold in two forms, a syrup as thick as molasses, and a powaer. Tne cost varies. Water glass sometimes sells as low as a cent and three-quarters a pound in large quantities. The retail price is commonly ten cents a pound. Much of the water glass is alkaline in re action. Eggs preserved in such water glass will not keen well, an test it before using, with ;, piece of litmus paper, obtained at any drug store. If the litmus, red at first turns blue when placed in the water glass solution; or if tho litmus, blue at first, remains blue, it Is a sure test that tho solution is alkaline and unfit for use. Use clean receptacles or nca earthenware, wood, or of most any material, if same is paraffined inside and can be sealed hermetically. One half gallon screw-top glass jars which will hold fourteen or fifteen eggs are most satisfactory, and in every way advisable. Common sill ?i . , 0fB0da or water-glass, a syrun- lckiHQUi,d iwei 00d results; it should be kept well sealed by para- Query Box M. N. The official flower of Spo kane, Wash., is the aster; that of Portland, Ore., is the rose. p. "vy, b. Tho item about the egg-shell remedy was merely a bit of reprint; I do not suppose it can ho found in the drug-stores, or would be worth buying, if it were. H. L. -Institutional life for chil dren or for old people is seldom what the managers of such places hold it up to be. The best of in stitutions are seldom as good as tho very mediocre home, where love is. A. G. H. Do not experiment with cheap typewriter ribbons. It 13 claimed that a light application of olive oil, brushed over the ribbon with an old tooth brush, will serve, but I know nothing of it. Get riD bons of a reliable firm. R. S. The falling of tho 1 will probably continue until the scajp ailment is cured. If it is dandruff, we have frequently given a cure ior that. Cure the ailment, let all t no dead hair fall, and then use a tonic, keeping the scalp free from disease. The hair will grow again. Anxious Thirteen states n passed mothers' pension ijijs, several large cities also naje mothers' pension laws, and seveu other states are said to be consider ing a' trial of them in their large cities. When the mothers are force" to give up their children, the i aw has, in most cases, to partly wholly support them, and it Is mo humane and just to leave the cai dren with the mother and gne Bei aI O. R. S.-Send to the Department of Agriculture, Washington, u. for their free literature on the su ject of canning and preserving, write to your congressman, should supply you with the pampn lets. in Gooseberry Dainties .. ,,. in shown England than in America foi 6"