HOMEBYMrs. Louise H. Miller.
HOMEBYMrs. Louise H. Miller.
The Home Department welcomes suggestions, recipes, useful hints, brief articles, short accounts of what women have done in their homes and home towns, and brief,truestories of “Heroism at Home.” We are all working together and we want to put into our Department anything that will make the housewife’s life brighter and more useful. We, all of us, are the editors of “Home”; let us make it as good as we can.
Every month there will be aprize of a year’s free subscription toWatson’s Magazine, sent to any address desired,for the best contribution. There will also be, every month, aprize of another such free subscription for the best true story of “Heroism at Home.”These two prizes will not be given to the same person.
The names of those contributing recipes and suggestions will be printed with what they send in, unless they request to have their names omitted. The names of those contributing stories of “Heroism at Home” willnotbe printed unless in exceptional cases. The reason for not printing the names in this case is that the stories are true and the characters in them are real people who might be sensitive about having their most private affairs set forth in type with their right names appearing in it. If we published the names and addresses of the person who sends in the story about them it would be almost the same as publishing their own names. In each number there will be a note saying that such and such a story receives the prize, but no names will be given. The names in the story will be left blank or fictitious names will be supplied. Under the head of “Heroism at Home” are further particulars.
There is no need to worry about “not knowing how to write.” What our Department wants is thefacts. If any corrections are really needed, they can easily be made. We aren’t trying to be “authors”—we’re just women trying to help one another.
The Editors of the Magazine tell me that it will simplify matters very much if we make a few simple rules for sending in contributions. Let us see how the following will work out:
1.Make all contributions short and to the point.
We have only a few pages altogether; there are a lot of us to contribute and there are many things to talk about.
2.Address everything carefully and in full to Mrs. Louise H. Miller,Watson’s Magazine, 121 West 42d Street, New York City.
3.Write on one side of the paper only.
4.No letters or manuscripts will be returned.
Make a copy of everything you send if you want to keep it.
May Number.—A continuation of this month’s subject for discussion.
June Number.—Our common ornamental flowers, wild and cultivated.
July Number.—What women can do toward improving and beautifying their home cities, towns, or country districts.
The Department this month is something like! The Other Editors have taken hold! I knew that I should have to write most of it for the first two months, until time enough had passed for contributions to come in from the rest of you. Now the suggestions, recipes, articles, and stories of “Heroism at Home” have begun to come from all over the country and our Department begins to take on its permanent form. Every month from now on ought to be a big improvement over all that went before.
The letters received have made me very happy, for they contain many words of praise and good wishes for the Department and prove that the writers are ready and willing to help edit it and that theycan. Don’t misunderstand me. The words of praise are not formywork in the Department, but for the Department itself—for the plan of having us all work together for our common good. It is a good plan and, now that you are actually at work with me, I know we are going to work that good plan out and work it outwell!
Unfortunately, some of the letters did not reach me in time for publication in this number. They will not be lost to the Department on that account, however. Also, the final date set for letters on Why Women Should be Interested in Politics came so soon after the day when the March issue was mailed out that there was hardly time for many to reach us. The Magazine was very late last month. The Editors couldn’t help it, and they are trying hard to get this April number out promptly on time. After this we will not set any particular date for letters to be in, but if, for instance, you want to say something in the May number, send it to me as soon as you can after getting this issue.
After talking with the Editors and thinking it over by myself I can see that it will not always be best to publish every letter as soon as it comes in. For example, an excellent letter has been sent to us from Nebraska telling how the women of a certain town have organized and done a great deal for the beauty, comfort and usefulness of their little city. It came in response to something I had said in the Department. Now this letter is just the kind of thing we want, but it seems to me better not to use it in this issue which is devoted chiefly to woman’s interest in politics.
Don’t you think it would be better to devote a whole number later on to the subject of what women can do for their native towns or districts? They have organized in a great many places and there are several national societies devoted to civic improvement. The members either do things themselves, or use their influence to secure good local laws to bring these things about. It is surprising how much they accomplish.
The field is a large one and covers many things—beautifying public squares and streets, making front and back yards attractive, improving the schools and school-yards, securing parks for the people, making better the towns’ sanitary conditions, establishing dinner-clubs for factory girls, pushing the right kind of legislation for the community, planting trees, flowers and grass, establishing traveling or stationary libraries, starting church or public lecture courses, public baths, hospitals, suppression of smoke and other nuisances such as overhead telephone wires and ugly advertising boards—oh, there is no end to what can be done! Of course, no two communities need just the same improvements and town and country have different problems, but wherever you live you will find something that can be made better. And we women can do it! “A revolutionizing power as to all that changes the ‘order of one day’ lies in feminine hands, through the use of what is distinctly hers,” says that wise woman who, under the name of “C,” writes those splendid articles called “Home Thoughts” for the New YorkPost.
All this isn’t a matter of theory. These thingshave been donein many places. And why shouldn’t woman be able to bring about public improvements? More than half the population of the United States are women. In many places we can vote. Everywhere we wield a great influence over those that do vote. And surely we have brains enough.
To my mind, local women’s clubs organized for some such purpose as this are a good deal more worth while than women’s clubs organized merely for self-improvement. Work for the improvement of others—that is the best way to improve yourself. Be a citizen as well as an individual. Women’s literary and current events clubs are good institutions when they don’t try to do foolish things or make us neglect our home duties, but these same clubs might do the world, and the members, too, greater good if they would also turn their attention to helping the whole community to better things.
But to return to that Nebraska letter. I suggest that we keep it till our July number and devote that whole issue to the question of women and civic improvement. I hope that every one of you who has done any work of that kind, or seen it done, will write to the Department and tell us about it. Remember that the July number comes out June 25 and that the letters should reach me about three weeks before that time. Write now.
June is a month of flowers, how will it do to devote the June number to them? That is a very big subject, so we’d better narrow it down a little. Suppose we consider only the ornamental flowers common to our gardens, woods and fields. Let us all contribute something as to the care and raising and nature of them.
We will not “study botany,” as they do in school and college, but, besides collecting information on planting, watering, repotting etc., we can get a very good bird’s eye view if what flowersare. Nearly all of us have probably raised flowers or seen them raised, but there are enough interesting facts about them to fill a hundred numbers of our Department. Let us try to collect as many interesting facts as possible so that we can have a broader knowledge when we see them or work with them in the future.
We will not include the plants or trees that bear our common fruits and vegetables. This is a subject by itself and perhaps we can take it up in some later number.
Though we are going to confine ourselves to our common flowers and plants let us get a general idea of where they belong in the vegetable kingdom—in regard to ferns, mosses, mushrooms, sea-weeds, lichens, etc.
For instance, which of these is the nearest relative to the asparagus—the oak, the fern, the lily, the mushroom or the rose? The question isn’t important to us in itself, but a very little effort will enable us to understand the general arrangements of the plants so that it will be an added pleasure all our lives.
Whatisa plant? What is it composed of? What does it eat? Drink? Breathe? What are the leaves for? The roots? The flowers? Why do plants differ so among themselves? Why does one grow from abulb, another from fine roots? Why is the seed of a maple put in that peculiar little case you crunch under foot on the pavement?
Oh, there are lots of “whys”! The nice part of it is that it is all very simple, after all. We can find out a great deal with very little trouble. There are plenty of easy books on the subject, nowadays, and a good many people who know about plants. Many of you know all these things, and more, without asking.
The things suggested in the last paragraphareimportant to us if we are raising flowers. If you raise flowers you are a flower-nurse and a flower-doctor. How can a nurse or doctor do much for a patient unless she knows what the patient eats, drinks and breathes, and what the various members and organs of the patient are for?
Where did our flowers originally come from? Are they all native to America? If not, how did they get here? Were they always as they are now?
How do plants reproduce their kind? Do all plants have seeds? Do seeds always grow into plants just like the one on which they grew? If so, have all the many varieties existed from the first? If not, how can you get another plant like the parent? Do you know what Luther Burbank, the “California Wizard,” is doing? Has a seed one parent or two? Where is it, or where are they? It’s easy to ask questions, isn’t it?
Yes, and it’s surprisingly easy to answer them, if you try. An encyclopedia will help you, if you consult it. So will an unabridged dictionary, though it doesn’t say much and is often very technical. Of course a botany will and there are many “popular” books now that give you much interesting information. Don’t make a lesson out of it. You may be able to answer some or all of the above questions without help of any kind. If not, take a few minutes some time soon and browse around among some of those books and pick up anything that strikes your fancy. If there are no books handy, ask your friends. It is as good as a game of “Authors” any day! If your friends don’t know, you are very lucky. Then you can do a little observing and thinking on your own hook. That is a hundred times better than being told or taught.
There is nothing that can be made more deadly dry and tedious than “botany”: there are few things that can be made more delightful and interesting than a commonsense study of flowers!
Have flowers played a part in history? What was the “War of the Roses?” What is the fleur-de-lis, the emblem of France and used so much in decoration and jewelry? Do you remember the story of Narcissus in Greek mythology? What other flowers have figured in history? Do you remember, in our February number, what royal family had the broom flower as their badge? What is the national flower of Scotland? Of Ireland? Of our country?
Do we Americans use much taste in making bouquets? What is your idea of a really beautiful and artistic bouquet? Do you know the Japanese idea of a bouquet?
Is it healthful to have many plants around you? How do plants keep the water fresh in an aquarium?
Tell us your best remedies for insects that injure plants? What plants are best for the house in winter? In summer? Do you know how to make good window-boxes? Tell us anything you know about plants and their care.
Would your town or district be pleasanter and better to live in if more flowers and trees were growing in it? What are parks worth to a large city? But there. I am running into our subject for July!
Are you supposed to answer all those questions? Bless you, no! No onehasto do anything in our Department. We get work enough in our daily lives—our Department is to afford us a change and relief from everyday work. It isn’t any the less play because we can profit by it and learn things from it. And perhaps it will teach us how to turn some of our daily work into an interesting kind of game (if we haven’t learned how to do that already) and yet do it better than we did before. The questions are merely to suggest things for our June number. Pick out a few that interest you and find out something about them or tell us what you know already. Mercy, no! You don’thaveto! But you’re likely to find a little of it amusing and pleasant and to add a bit more interest to your life.
If we only know how, and try, we can make our livessomuch more pleasant for ourselves and those about us! It is very easy. And it doesn’t take much time or brains or money or anything else, except “gumption” enough to try.
So for May we will continue our discussion of woman’s interest in politics; in June, our common, ornamental flowers, wild and cultivated; in July, what women can do toward improving and beautifying their native town or district.
I have asked the printer to put the above announcement at the beginning of our Department for the sake of convenience.I believe it will be a good plan to announce our monthly subjects three numbers ahead all the time, so that we can have plenty of time to think them over in advance, make suggestions and send in information.
Now, what shall we have for the August number? If there is something you are interested in or want to talk about or hear others talk about, send it in to the Department. Do this not only for August but for all the following numbers. I chose the subject for the first few months in order to get our plan started. Now I have had more than my share of “chooses” and all the others are for you to select. It may be that I can arrange to have a special prize offered each month for the best monthly topic suggested. I’ll try.
There is one answer that is sufficient in itself—Because her daily bread depends upon politics!
Is there any particular reason why she should go about her daily work like a mole and pay no attention to the things that make her life hard or make it easy? Doesn’t she suffer from unjust laws and bad conditions and profit by just laws and good conditions as much as her husband does, or her father, son, or brother?
Someone objects that politics is for the man to take care of; housework is woman’s sphere. That isn’t quite a fair statement of the case. The man’s part in the care of the family is his business: the woman’s is her housework. Politics is a third question. Why should the man alone have this to see to? A good many objections will be offered to this, too,but all these objections will boil down to just one thing—because hedoes! And that isn’t any reason at all. If you were asked why little children should work in factories and kill their health and youth, would you consider “Because they do!” a sufficient or sensible reason?
The men say that when women discuss anything they never get anywhere because they fail todefinethe terms they use, and may all be talking about different things under the same name. I think men make this mistake about as much as we do, but let’s be on the safe side this time and define just what we mean by “politics.”
Politics in our country have become so disreputable that we are likely to feel that having anything to do with them is bad taste or even degrading. It is natural to feel that way, but is it silly, nevertheless. It is bad taste, or even degrading, to have anything to do with a notorious criminal, butnot if you are making him betterinstead of letting him make you worse! This is particularly true when it is partlyyour fault that he became a criminal!
Now as to the definition of politics. The Standard Dictionary gives this:
1. The branch of civics that treats of the principles of civil government and the conduct of state affairs; the administration of public affairs in the interest of the peace, prosperity, and safety of the state; statecraft; political science: in a wide sense embracing thescienceofgovernmentandcivil polity.2. Political affairs in a party sense; the administration of public affairs or the conduct of political matters so as to carry elections and secure public offices; party intrigues; political wire-pulling; trickery.3. A man’s political sentiments, party preference, or connection.
1. The branch of civics that treats of the principles of civil government and the conduct of state affairs; the administration of public affairs in the interest of the peace, prosperity, and safety of the state; statecraft; political science: in a wide sense embracing thescienceofgovernmentandcivil polity.
2. Political affairs in a party sense; the administration of public affairs or the conduct of political matters so as to carry elections and secure public offices; party intrigues; political wire-pulling; trickery.
3. A man’s political sentiments, party preference, or connection.
The word, then, has three shades of meaning. The third one we need not bother with, since it merely means any man’s opinion on the things given under Number 1 and Number 2.
Now let’s contrast Number 1 and Number 2. There are some large words there, but if we take it a piece at a time we shall at least see that there is a tremendous difference between the two shades of meaning.
In Number 1 politics means the fair and unprejudiced study of how a nation should be governed, but in Number 2 politics meansHow much can you get out of it regardless of the general welfare!
In Number 1 the object is the “peace, prosperity and safety of the state,” but in Number 2 the object is to “carry elections and secure public offices”—“party intrigues; political wire-pulling; trickery.”
It is Number 1 we are considering primarily. True, if our daily bread depends on politics, we are also interested in “how much we can get out of it,” but we mean by this how much we can get justly and honestly—our equal sharealong with everyone else. “Equal rights to all, special privileges to none.”
No, no! I’m not advocating the People’s Party principles just because I quote one of their watchwords. That motto is not theirs alone, but that of every honest citizen, no matter to what party he belongs. It is merely an expression of the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence. Whatever I may believe personally, it is no part of my business to plead the cause of any political party in our Department. We have nothing to do with parties. Our object is to consider how our nation is governed and how itshouldbe governed—national, state, county, township and city governments, under whatever names these divisions may be called in different places.
We are primarily concerned with definition Number 1. We want to know how our nation should be governed. After that wewill consider Number 2, and see how itisgoverned.
Now, considering the awful amount of writing and talking there is about politics, the infinite number of questions there are to decide, and the unending difference of opinion on these questions, we can see at the outset that we can’t decide it all in two numbers of our Department. Nor in a hundred. We are not going to try to. All we want is an intelligent idea of the general situation and of our duty in the matter.
What is government at bottom? In the beginning there was no government or organization of any kind, not even the family organization. Each man or woman lived his or her own life separate from all others. The first organization came about when a man and woman decided to live together and raise children. They soon found that when they had a child to take care of they could not go on independently of each other as they had before. They had two things to do—to care for the baby and keep it safe every minute from wild beasts and other people, and to secure food for themselves and their child. If they both went hunting for food there was no one to watch the baby; if they both watched the baby, there was no way of getting food. They saw that they had to have somearrangement. They had todividethe labor. So the woman tended the baby and the man went hunting for all three. Each of them gave up a little of the former independence and received a new thing inreturn—help from another person. Thus the “family” began. It was the first step towardssocietyand government. They gave up part of their freedomin return for helpfrom others.
People lived by hunting animals and gathering fruits and berries at first. If a man laid by any food for his family, another man was likely to take it away while he was away hunting. He found it pretty hard to have to do anything himself and he at odds with other men. Pretty soon it dawned on him that it would pay to make some “arrangement” with those other men. He wouldn’t rob them, if they didn’t rob him. Later he arranged with a few of them to keep their families close together so that some of the men could protect them while the other men hunted for all. In some such way began the “town.” Each of them gave up a part of his freedomin returnfor help from others.
When many towns had sprung up these towns began to see they could to advantage make “arrangements” among themselves (just as individual men had done) for protection and other purposes. Thus the “state” or country came into existence. Each town gave up part of its “independence”in returnfor help from other towns.
Thus “society” was formed and grew more and more complex. Of course, I have only sketched the process in a very general way, but the idea is there. The one point we have to consider is that no one of these arrangements or institutions—the family, town and state—would be possibleunlessevery member gave up part of his original freedomin returnfor help from others. Abargainhas to be made. For instance, the different men and their families each made a bargain with the whole number to give up part of their freedom, time and energy to the band.In returneach was to receive his share of the freedom, time and energy the others had given to the band or town. Each man made abargainwith the town. He owed the town something: the town owed him something.
That was the beginning of government, and that is the arrangement at the bottom of any government to this day. Every government (town, county, state or national) is just a bargain between the various individuals and all of them taken together. Each owes something to all: all owe something to each.
The point is, in each case, is this bargain afairone? Does the individual give up more than he receives inreturn?
In olden times the average individual did give up far more than he got in return. Often he didn’t get much besides protection against some other government. Yet for this he frequently had to give upnearly allhis freedom, time and energy. A few individuals gained control of the government and, though they might not contribute as much as the others, took most of what the others gave for the use of the whole number, calling themselves kings, or dukes or emperors. The mass of the people forgot that originally the “government” meantallthe people. They came to consider the few who had gained control of the government asthe government itself. That is, they let themselves be cheated out of their share in it.
Our Declaration of Independence was one of the things that resulted when, after centuries of misrule and suffering, the mass of the people began to wake up to the fact that they had been cheated all that time under a bargain which had originally been fair. They had been giving more than they got in return.
In an absolutely fair government every individual would receive just as much as he gave and give just as much as he received. A modern government is so vast and so complex that it would be hard to measure each man’s share exactly, but the nearer any government comes to that, the better and fairer it is. England, for example, comes nearerto that ideal than does Russia; Russia nearer than Afghanistan.
The chief trouble in Russia is that the mass of the people have to give more than they receive. A comparative few have gained possession of the government and each takes a very, very large share of whatallcontribute, leaving almost no share at all for the majority.
Of course it is almost impossible to trace out just what each Russian peasant gives up to the government, and what he receives in return. Without a government of some kind he could not produce or hold anything except by force against his fellows—land, goods, money, family, all would betotallyinsecure. As it is, he does getsomesecurity in these respects. In return he gives practicallyallhis freedom, time and energy. On the other hand, a Grand Duke may give up to his country hardly any freedom, time and energy, and yet be rolling in wealth. Something is wrong. It is not a fair bargain. It is not a good government.
How aboutourgovernment? Is it a fair bargain?
Modern civilization is very complex. No two men can really give just the same amount to the common country, since all men differ in ability. But the country asks only certain things from its individuals. To be fair the point is toask the same from all. The country gives only certain things to its individuals: the point is togive the same to all. Our country doesn’t demand military service in time of peace, as do many other countries. And, inreturn, it doesn’t give us a tremendous standing army. If itdiddemand military service, to be fair it would have to make the demand equally ofallable to bear arms. If itdidgive us a big standing army, to be fair it would have to use this army to protect usallequally.
If our country taxes certain goods, it must tax them everywhere—not for one man and not for the next. If there is a tax of one cent on every bale of a certain commodity, each man should pay one cent for every bale he owns. If there is a tax of one cent on every dollar, each man should pay one cent for every dollar he owns.
Is this the case in the United States?
If the Government gives certain privileges to a few men, it should give the same to all. Is this always done in our country?
Of course all may not always want a certain privilege. It is open to all, but only a few use it. Is this all that is required of the Government? Or, since the Government has nevertheless given some of the general fund to only a few, should these few make some adequatereturnfor what they have used from the common property? Is this always done in our country?
Ask yourself similar questions about every case that comes up. What I have said doesn’t pretend to “explain politics,” but it ought to give everyone a test or basis to refer everything back to. Ask yourself whether any law or custom is afair bargain. You can tell well enough when you deal with the grocer or the milkman whether you are getting a fair bargain. Try to in these other matters.
But to come back to why women should take an interest in politics. One reason has been suggested—that her daily bread is affected by them. Another has been hinted at—that it is partly your fault that politics as practiced in this country are corrupt (definition No. 2). Since we are to devote the next number of our Department to this same question, we will do little now in this issue except suggest reasons and ask questions. I’m not going to do all the expressing of opinion just because I happen to have the chance all to myself this month. By next month I hope there will be letters and opinions from a great many of you.
In some parts of our country women can vote and it is likely that some day they will do so everywhere. When the country or state gives her the right to vote does that put her under any obligation to do or give anything in return for this privilege?
Who gives women (or men) the right to vote—the city, state or country?
Is it fair to give it to some women and not to all? Is it fair to give it to men and not to women?
Would politics be purer if women took more interest in them? If women voted?
In those places where women cannot vote what can they do towards securing good government? Can they do anything through their husbands, brothers and fathers? Through their neighbors? Through their own children? Can they do anything through the church? The schools? Last year, when Philadelphia threw off boss-rule, what was the method that succeeded in making the corrupt politicians surrender after all other methods had failed?
Can you tell the Department of any instance where the women have brought about, or helped to bring about, reforms in town, country, state or national government even when they were not allowed to vote?
Do you remember the saying that “the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world”? How much truth is there in it?
If you had a really intelligent idea of politics as they should be and as they are, would it bring you into closer touch with the men-folks of your family? Would it broaden your horizon? Would it interfere with household duties? Would it make you a better citizen? Could you accomplish real good by having this knowledge?
What is the best way of acquiring an intelligent idea of the subject, it you haven’t one already? Take the opinion of those around you? Read weighty and technical books and articles? Read first a very simple book on civics—on the organization of our Government? Would it be a good plan to read your boy’s school text-book on this subject?
Can some one point out a few articles in the numbers of this Magazine which make their point very clear and are easy enough for anyone to understand? Send the Department the names of a few that appealed to you, so that some more of us can venture on them. Similar articles in other magazines which the average woman can grasp without a previous extensive knowledge of politics or political economy? Books?
Can you decide a question until you have heard both sides of it?
Is it safe to believe all you read, or does it pay to consider when you read it, who wrote it, what personal or party reason he may have had for writing it?
Consider your local newspaper. Do you know the difference between the “set” matter and the “plate” matter and the “ready-print” matter in its pages? Why is this differenceveryimportant in deciding as to the value of an article in that paper? Who writes set matter? Has he “any fish to fry” when he writes? Who writes plate and ready-print matter? Has he any fish to fry? With a little care you can tell these three kinds of printed matter apart in your local paper. (Ready-print matter is used only in some country weeklies and dailies and some other small local papers. It can be “spotted” by noticing what pages of the paper always have it. Unfold the paper and lay it flat on the floor. If it is ready-print and has few pages enough to make only one sheet, all of the pages on one side will be ready-print. There won’t be any local articles or items in the print. Both ready-print and plate are in different type from set matter.) If a corrupt man or corrupt men wrote the ready-print and plate could they wield a vast influence? More than by writing the set matter? It is well worth thinking about.
Are there many magazines or papers that are not controlled by political or business interests? How much can you believe in a publication controlled in that way?
The voters of the country are divided into several political parties. Would it be better or worse if there were no regular parties and every voter voted independently?
What is a real democracy? Is the United States a real democracy now? Why?
What is meant by direct legislation—the initiative, referendum, recall and imperative mandate? Big words, but they stand for things worth knowing about and having an opinion on. And they are easy enough to understand. Would these things tend toward real democracy? Have they been tried in actual practice? If so, have they proved a success? Why? What effect would they have on the whole party system?
There, I think that is enough questions for one person to ask. Someone is likely to ask me a question in return—Howdo politics affect our daily bread? Well, there are several hundred answers to that. Let’s each of us suggest for the May number one or more ways that politics (according to both definition No. 1 and definition No. 2) affect our daily living.
We are not going to try to become experts in politics, but we do want to have an intelligent general idea of them. It is ourduty. In our May number I hope to have many opinions from women all over the country.
THE INTEREST OF EVERYDAY THINGS.
We had a glimpse last month at some of the interesting things concerned in bread and bread-making. The house is full of things we have known so long that we scarcely think of them except as parts of the daily routine, but which, if we turn our attention to them, prove veritable mines of information, history, travel and even romance.
A sponge is the skeleton of a very, very, tiny animal, or rather of a colony of thousands of such animals that live under water. When the little animals die they leave behind them this network of elastic fibers that they have built up. For a long time it was thought that sponges were plants, and even now scientists know really very little about these little animals. You have noticed how many kinds of sponges there are. These different varieties are caused partly bydifferences in temperature and chemical composition of the water and partly by the fact that there are more than one species or variety of the animal itself. There is no need to enumerate all the kinds of sponges from the fine, soft ones used in surgical operations to the big, coarse ones used for washing carriages. Nearly all the sponges inhabit salt water and the best ones come from the Mediterranean, particularly the Levant or that eastern part of the Mediterranean bounded by Syria, Asia Minor and the Holy Land and Egypt. Others are found in the waters around Florida and in those near Australia. The sponges are secured by means of native divers. In some places these men work all day long from sunrise to sunset through six months of the year, resting during the winter. The work is, of course, very hard and few of them reach old age. Often they are treated with inhuman cruelty by their employers and many are killed by sharks. Particularly in Florida there have been attempts made to raise sponges artificially, but though it is easy to secure the spawn of the tiny animals and succeed in getting them to attach their little colonies to stones, coral or other objects under water, the sponges never reach any considerable size and are commercially useless. They have also tried to propagate them by cuttings or slips, but here arises the difficulty of making the cuttings attach themselves to other objects, which is necessary to their development. And the little animals themselves, they go right on very quietly drinking in water and getting all they need from it—air, food and drink—whether they are off the coast of Europe, Asia, Africa, America or Australia or in a little glass aquarium being looked at through a microscope by a dried-up old man with spectacles and side-whiskers. And we use the sponges.
The right name of what we call corn or Indian corn is maize. The word is derived from the Spanish wordmaiz, which comes from the native Haitian wordmahiz. Corn in Europe means what we call wheat. Maize, or corn, like all our grains, belongs to the big Grass Family and is a native of America. Most of our other grains come from Europe and Asia, just as we ourselves did. It probably came from the table-lands of Mexico and Peru and has always been the chief food of the Indians. It was introduced into Asia, southern Europe and northern Africa and spread quickly and widely for a while. However, the climate was not hot enough for it in Europe and it is not raised there very much now. The English generally consider it fit only for animals and rather turn up their noses at us for eating it ourselves. The only time I ever saw any offered to an Englishman he was very polite about it but managed to avoid eating even a single mouthful from the nice, tender ears. Other nations are horrified at seeing otherwise well-bred Americans pick up a roasting-ear and gnaw it off the cob, and it must be confessed that it does look pretty bad unless a person is careful to hold it with only one hand and bite it off daintily. Many Americans who travel in Europe miss it terribly and one woman confessed to me that her chief reason for coming home was just to get some real American corn once more. I understand, though, that the English look on our popcorn very differently. It is said that two New England spinsters introduced it over there a number of years ago and their little stand rapidly became so popular that they amassed a very considerable fortune and lived happily ever afterwards. We use sweet corn not only on the cob, for fritters, puddings and so on, as corn-meal and for stock, but extract from it whisky, starch and glucose sugar. Besides sweet corn and popcorn the common kinds are flint and dent. Sweet corn gets its name from the large quantities of sugar in it. Popcorn pops because it has a great deal of oil and this oil explodes when sufficiently hot. Corn varies in color from white to black, but most of it is yellow or white. Like wheat, Government experts and other scientists in this country, Canada and elsewhere have been experimenting with corn for years and by cross-breeding and selection (about which processes I hope the Department will receive some interesting contributions for our June number) they have vastly improved the old varieties and produced many new ones.
When I was a child I remember being much impressed on being told that you never,nevercould find an ear of corn with an odd number of rows in it. Maybe you can, but I never have been able to, and, as that advertisement says, “there is a reason.”
Can someone tell us for our June Department? You may have heard the story of the Southern planter before the War who offered to give freedom to any slave who could find an ear of corn with an uneven number of rows. None of them could, though it is easy to believe they hunted a good deal, until finally another white man showed one of the slaves how he could cut a row out of an ear when it was very young so as to leave no mark when he presented it and demanded his freedom. The master kept his word and the slave went free.
VARIOUS HINTS.
It was almost equally hard to award the prize for the best general suggestion or recipe sent in. After some careful deliberation, it seemed that, all things considered, the free subscription this month should go to Alicia E. Storm, of Plessis, N. Y., though we hesitated, especially between this and Mrs. Richardson. A little later I hope to be able to send a little souvenir toeveryonewho sends in a contribution and doesn’t get a regular prize. In case this plan carries out, as I think it will, of course all who have contributed before that time will be remembered. And always there is the gratitude of those who benefit from your suggestion, and my own sincere thanks and your consciousness of having helped other women in their daily trials and perplexities.
We have no kitchen cabinet, and we keep a small table set for three in our kitchen, which is not large. The cooking stove, sink, and cupboards taking most of the room. I needed a small table to use for work and mixing table. There was a space behind the stove. I bethought me of the crate in which my sewing machine came. It is just the thing. The table is just about the right height, and the shelf below is as convenient as the top. I find that on baking day it helps very much to get everything one needs before commencing work. I use an earthen mixing bowl. After the bread and biscuits, I make pies, as the lard is then cold. Then I make my cakes and afterward doughnuts. It is a saving of time and fuel if one can bake a variety at once, as in cold weather victuals keep longer than in summer. A convenience for storing pies can be made by having several shelves sawed out large enough to hold your tins. One can use laths (four of them) for uprights, fastening them well at the four corners of the bottom shelf; then fasten the others about three inches apart. This gives more space, and keeps pies from being mussed.
Did you ever experience the difference between two neighborly calls? Mrs. A. relates the latest bit of gossip, making up in insinuations what she lacks in fact. She talks about her dressmaker, criticizes the appearance and dress of her friends, and gives you an uncomfortable feeling—thinking perhaps you will be the subject of unpleasant remarks. Mrs. B. is fresh and cheery. She asks about your plants, and tells of the growth of her own—of every new bud. She tells of the cunning things her baby has said, of the nest her canary is building, of the new book she is reading. She tells, perhaps, of some ludicrous mistake she has made in her cooking, laughing at the same. This woman may not be intellectual in the highest sense, but she is charming. Her call will have made you happy all the day. We leave the effect of our presence—sometimes for long. So should we act that no sting of uneasiness be left in the hearts of those with whom we come in contact.—Alicia E. Storm, Plessis, N. Y.
Every work is easy and pleasant if you go at it as you go to a picnic. In house cleaning I fix one room at the time. It takes a week, but I have the most of each day and I do my work better, as I don’t have to hurry. No confusion in the regular routine of work; one thorough sweeping and dusting is enough for one day. If the tablecloth is clean enough for the home folks, it is all right for company. Don’t try to cook a variety of dishes each day. You won’t hold out so well, and one or two will do as well, and change them every day. Sheets, towels and some other things can be used all right without ironing. If you smoothed all the wrinkles out of all the rough clothes, you might have the wrinkles in your face. I read and rest some every day. Prepare two dinners on Saturday, and go to church and Sunday-school. I do have some trouble and everyone does, but I am always thankful, and my life-work is a delight to me. Let us try to do all things to the glory and honor of God. Although in the country, we have one of the best “teachers.” Our children attend, cold or hot, regularly. They are taught the Sunday-school lesson at school Friday afternoon.—Mrs. E. A. Richardson, Thomaston, Ga.
Many persons who churn in winter have trouble because butter will not come if chilled, and are obliged to throw the milk away, or feed it to the stock. If they will steam, not boil, the milk after milking, they can allow it to freeze solid and it will churn all right if thawed and warmed properly. This recipe has been worth many dollars to me, and hope it will help other women housekeepers.—Mrs. D. L. Burrows, Gibson, Ga.
Use stove polish. It is the very best thing. Rub a light coating over it and polish with polishing cloth or brush. The cloth or brush is generally sufficient. Only give an occasional coat of polish.—Mrs. D. L. Burrows, Gibson, Ga.
Boil skim-milk in it and then wash with good soap-suds. Use six quarts for an eight-quart kettle, and boil and simmer for twenty-four hours. This will also prevent future trouble.—Mrs. E. R. Putney, Kansas City, Mo.
Make the stone very hot on one side only; pour water on it to make it crack, and help it along with a heavy hammer. Another way, in the winter, is to bore a hole pretty well into the stone, fill with water and plug it firmly shut. The force of the water as it freezes will crack the stone. Still another way is to make a hole in the direction of the veins or cleavage of the stone, put in a cleft cylinder of iron, then drive an iron wedge between the two halves of the cylinder.L. L. Deweese, Piqua, O.
Melt together tallow and common resin, two parts of first to one of second. Apply hot—as much as the sole will absorb. Neat’s-foot oil is good also. These remedies keep the leather soft, prevent its cracking, and make it waterproof.—Mrs. N. O. Baker, Jersey City, N. J.
Take off the dust with a soft cloth. With a little flour and water make a lump of stiff dough and rub the wall gently downward, taking the length of the arm each stroke, and in this way go round the whole room. As the dough becomes dirty, cut the soiled parts off. In the second round commence the stroke a little above where the last one ended, and be very careful not to cross the paper or to go up again. Ordinary papers cleaned in this way will look fresh and bright, and almost as good as new. Some papers, however, and these the most expensive ones, will not clean nicely. In order to ascertain whether a paper will clean nicely, it is best to try it in some obscure corner. Fill up any broken places in the wall with a mixture of plaster of Paris and silver sand, made into a paste with a little water, then cover the place with a piece of paper like the rest, if it can be had.—Mrs. B. C. Benton, Denver, Col.
Place a piece of zinc on the live coals in the stove. The vapor thus produced will carry off the soot.
Sift powdered resin on the wound, wrap with a soft, clean cloth, and wet occasionally with water.—Miss Anna Paisley, New Orleans.
Wash in a solution of a teaspoonful of ammonia to two quarts of water, and afterwards in a solution of one part of muriatic acid to twenty-five of water. Sponges should be thoroughly rinsed, aired, and dried after every using. Unless they are kept very clean it is not well to use them. A piece of rough towel or tablecloth hemmed at the edges is much better. Another way to clean sponges is to steep them in buttermilk for some hours, then squeeze out and wash in cold water. Lemon juice is also good.