Bellefonte, Pa.,
SEVEN TIMES TWO-—-ROMANCE.
February 27, 1914.
You bells in the steeple, ring out your
changes,
How many soever they be,
And let the brown meadow lark’s note as
he ranges,
Come over, come over to me.
The foxglove shoots out of the green-mat-
ted heather,
Preparing her hoods of snow;
She was idle, and slept till the sunshiny
weather:
0, children take long to grow.
1 wish, and I wish that the spring would go
faster,
Nor long summer bide so late;
And I could grow on like the foxglove and
aster,
For some things are ill to wait.
1 wait for the day when dear hearts shall
discover,
‘While dear hands are laid on my head;
““The child is a woman, the book may close
over, :
For all the lessons are said.”
1 wait for my story—the birds cannot sing
it,
Not one, as he sits on the tree;
The bells cannot ring i’, but long years, O
bring it!
Such as I wish it to be.
. —From Songs of Seven.
FROM INDIA.
By One on Medical Duty in that Far Eastern
Country. A Fatally Sick Child. Sees a Hock-
ey Game. Flowers Blooming at Christmas
Time, and Peculiar Traits of the Natives.
JHANSI, JANUARY 17th, 1913,
Dear Home Folk:
I have again settled down to work and
there is little to say but medicine. This
week I have been most interested in a
case of meningitis in a child of seven,
and although it just tears your heart-
strings to see the suffering, it is very in-
teresting to watch developments as it is
probably due to tuberculosis. The case
was absolutely hopeless from the start,
but was so strange that nearly all the
symptoms were marked.
The poor mother! Such dumb devo-
tion is pathetic, and this is the seventh
and last child. She asked whether she
had done anything that could bring such
a condition onto her child. Had she fed
him something wrong, and is too igno-
rant to understand when one does try to
explain, but is so very grateful for all
services rendered. I have just come
from the hospital and to see that little
body twitching, those wide, unseeing
eyes, and see that mother sitting sleep-
less beside the bed, and this is not the
first, but the sixth or seventh night.
Truly one longs for death to end the suf-
fering and put such a picture of woe out
of your sight. One is so helpless and
can only pray. But I must not send such
pictures home; I must tell you of the
sunny side.
This afternoon I went to see a hockey
game. It is exactly one year ago that I
went to the same game, and that was
just four days after my getting here. It
was a very nice “at home” day and all
the women were out with their best
clothes on, but now since I know them
nearly all they no longer seem cold and
distant. The game was very exciting as
the score was 5-3, and one didn’t have
any time to waste looking around at such
common things as clothes. As there are
three days more of this sport I hope to
know something about it before they fi-
nally stop.
Tonight there is a big fancy dress
dance at the club and I was asked many
times to come, but I shall wait until I get
back to the U. S. before I try to see how
much I have forgotten. I would like to
see the costumes as I am told some of
them are to be very beautiful, but the
dance room is small and there is no gal-
lery, and I wouldn’t care to even try
playing a mouse in the corner.
Today I was called into a far corner of
the city to see a patient and after exam-
ming every part of her except her toes,
she offered me about one-half the regu-
lar fee, which I declined to accept, and
she then gave the regular amount. I
told her I would send one of my nurses
to do this work for her and it would
mean only 1 Rupee, but she said, “No, I
will pay what you ask, but I want you to
come.” Such confidence in the M. D.
Just lay your hands on and I shall be
better at once; so I promised to make
three calls a week.
It is queer to have the garden doing its
best just at Christmas time, and chrys-
anthemums, nastuftiums, violets and
roses trying to outbloom each other, and
still you sign January, the days are too
short for comfort, and one gets up in the
dark. It is getting warmer; would that
one did not have to remember the time
when the sheets, the bed, and even your-
self are hot. If it were always as it is
now it would be the most ideal place one
could wish for, so far as climate is con-
cerned. But the yellow, sandy look is
becoming more marked each day, and al-
though the green trees still hold their
leaves, most of the others are bare and
the grass is entirely a thing of the past.
One day last week one of my patients
came in with a present wrapped in her
kerchief and when I opened it there was
a doll, dressed in the exact copy of her
own clothes. I was so delighted for no
description of mine would ever be half
so good, except that this doll has too few
colors on it to be exact, as this woman
shows unusually good taste in color com-
binations, while generally the Hindu and
Mohammedan woman puts on the most
brilliant colors she can find, regardless |
of effect. I will bring my doll home with
me and you will see for yourself the rich-
ness of it all. These women also wear
big gold and silver rings that cover their
entire finger and where the stone should
be there will be a hole; they will some-
times have four or five of these stoneless
rings on one hand. My “Parsee” patient
is always tastefully dressed being nearly
| always in one complete color. I must
tell you of her Christmas gift. Whenl
got back they told me the “Lady” had
been waiting to see me, sending each day
to know whether I had returned, so a
note was sent and in about an hour came
a cake; it was “fearfully and wonderfully”
made; flowers and buds all in sugar, and
last, but not least, nodding from the
side in truly a most artistic fashion, was
a yellow silk rose bud with a stem at
least four inches long; how it was stuck
there I have not yet found out. As these
cakes are generally made of fruit,and my
stomach had had too many rich things to
sample this Christmas, I put it into a tin
box where it awaits the knife; but Ishall
be very careful when I do carve the thing
to see just how it was put together.
No German cake-baker, I have ever
known, could touch these things that are
served to us,—and the colors! Our cook
was told to make a lemon pie with white
of egg on top; when it came to the ta-
ble one half of that merangue was car-
| mine red and the rest emerald green,
with woe-begone specks of white over all,
and we were expected to eat of this
mess. 1 was glad that I could truthfully
say, “I don’t care for lemon custard,” for
I feel sure had I eaten some of it, the
color combination alone would have
made my “little Mary” turn upside down
and writhe with distress.
(Continued next week.)
WOMAN SUFFRAGE IN CALIFORNIA.
BY FRANCES MAULE BJORKMAN.
In 1911 a woman suffrage amendment
to the State constitution was submitted
to the voters by the California Legisla-
ture, and was carried by a mojority of
4,000.
Never in the history of American poli-
tics, has there been such a registration
of voters, as that immediately following
the enfranchisement of the California
women. In Los Angeles, where the first
city election was held, practically all
women of voting age hastened to place
their names upon the rolls, and from 95
per cent. to 99 per cent. of those register-
ed actually cast their ballots, out num-
bering the men in almost every district.
The women’s first care after their en-
franchisement was to put through a
most extraordinary legislative program,
which, while it was probably not design-
ed, except incidentally, to demonstrate
the fact that they knew how to use their
political power when they got it, actually
did serve that end most admirably.
Some of the laws passed in this one
session are as follows: ;
The Mothers’ Pension Law, granting
aid to needy parents, in order to keep
the children at home rather than have
them committed to institutions.
The Health Certificate Law, requiring
a certificate of freedom from venereal
diseases of all men before obtaining mar-
riage licenses.
The Minimum Wage Law, creating a
commission to investigate the conditions
of industry of women and children with
power to invoke a minimum wage in in-
dustries paying less than a living wage.
The Red Light Abatement and Injunc
tion Law, placing the responsibility of
disorderly houses upon the owners and
lessees rather than upon the inmates,
and forbidding such houses.
The Joint Guardianship Law, giving
mothers equal rights over their minor
children.
The Juvenile Court Law, separating
dependent from delinquent children.
The Extension of the Eight Hour Law
for Women to include workers in apart-
ment houses and nurses in training.
The Age of Consent Law, raising the
age from 16 to 18.
The State Training School for Girls,
providing a separate institution for girls,
with the most approved correctional
methods and thorough vocational train-
ing.
The Teachers Pension Law, granting
pensions of $500 a year to all teachers
who have been in service 30 years.
The Weights and Measures Law, pro-
viding for a complete standard of weights
and measures and regular inspection of
dealers.
The Milk Inspection Law, providing
for strict regulation of dairies.
The White Slave Law, prohibiting traf-
fic in Women between counties.
The Tuberculosis Law, providing for
the reporting of all such cases.
Amendment to the Liquor Law, for-
bidding the sale of liquor between 2 and
6 a. m.
The Workman's Compensation Law,
requiring compulsory compensation for
injuries, and establishing a system of
State industrial insurance.
The Bill Board Law, limiting bill-boards
to ten feet in height and prohibiting spite
fences of more than that height.
The Bastard Law, requiring fathers to
help support illegitimate children.
The Amendment to the Child Labor
Law, raising the age limit of child work-
ers from twelve to fifteen.
Prison Reform, all sentences except for
murder are made indeterminate, straight-
jackets and cold showers are prohibited,
and arrangements are made for the pay-
ment of wages to States’ prison convicts
and for assistance to discharged prison-
ers.
Hon. John D. Work, U.S Senator
from California says: “I have always
taken pride in the campaign that the
women waged in my State to secure the
franchise. It was a dignified, earnest ap-
peal to the judgment, reasen, and con-
science of men,’. .. .. I am proud of the
men of my State who were broad-mind-
ed and far-seeing and patriotic enough
to grant the franchise to their women.”
Publicity Committee
Woman's Club.
Why Do Stars Shoot?
The foliowing, taken from the Si
Nicholas, is in answer to a subscriber's
question as to why shooting-stars move:
Each so-called shooting-star is merely
a cold little meteor which is moving
around the sun in its own path, just as
the immensely larger comets and planets
are doing. On the average, these particles
are moving about twenty-six miles a sec-
ond when they are at the distance from
the sun that the earth is, and, as the
earth itself is moving eighteen and one-
half miles a second, the two bodies are
sure to collide with each other with a
high velocity. If the earth runs into the
particle in such a way as to overtake it,
it will strike our air with a speed of only
about eight miles a second; if they meet
“head on,”’ so to speak, they may come
together with a speed of forty-four miles
a second. In either case, the friction of
the air on the cold particle, as this plows
through the air, instantly heats it up to
a heat so great that it is vaporized and
appears to us as a shooting-star.
The reason why the little meteoric
particles are moving so very swiftly in
the first place is simply because they are
falling toward the sun. Every world and
sun attracts everything near it by virtue
of the wonderful force known as “gravi-
tation.” You “weigh” something, or feel
heavy, simply because the great earth is
pulling you toward itself, and when you
drop a stone from your hand, it falls be-
cause the earth is pulling upon it. If
you could carry the stone many millions
of miles away from the earth and there
let it drop, it would begin to fall toward
the earth very slowly, but as it fell, it
would continually move faster and faster,
until when it finally struck the earth, it
would be moving no less than seven miles
in each second.
Now in exactly the same way, each of
the little meteoric particles away off in
space began long ago to feel the pull, or
“gravitation,” of our sun, and to fall to-
ward that body. If the meteorite and
the sun had both been at rest at first, the
meteorite would have simply fallen into
our sun; but as our sun is moving
through space at the rate of eleven miles
in each second, the meteorite will not hit
it exactly, but will miss it and begin to
swing around it in a curved path. As
the sun is so much larger that the earth,
its pull is very much greater. If you
could visit the sun, you would find when
there there that you weighed more than
twenty-seven times as much as you
weigh on the earth; that is, the sun
would pull you down twenty-seven times
as hard as the earth does. If you weigh
100 pounds here, you would weigh 2,700
pounds there, and be crushed by your
own weight. This great pull of the sun .
on each of the meteorites makes them
fall very swiftty indeed; it is because the
pull is so strong that when they have
fallen toward the sun to the place where
the earth is, we find them moving some
twenty-six miles in a single second.
How Napoleon’s Engineer Measured a
River.
An engineer found himself summoned
one day into the presence of his com-
mander Napoleon stood on the bank of
a wide river gazing across to where the
enemy had planted batteries, which he
desired to attack with artillery.
“How wide is that river?”
question put to the engineer.
“Let me get my instruments,” was the
reply as he turned to go for them.
“I must know at once,” the emperor
insisted.
The engineer went down to the level
bank of the river, and, standing erect,
gradually bent his head forward till the
edge of his hat brim just touched the
line from his eyes to the water line at
the opposite bank of the river. Then,
keeping his head bent as it was, he
wheeled a quarter turn till his eyes look-
ed along the hat brim and met the land
at a point on the same side of the river |
on which he stood. i
Here he noted a rock or tree near the
point at which his eyes met the ground,
and, calling a soldier, directed that a
stake be driven near that point, as he
should direct. Then, by motioning just
where to drive the stake, he fixed the
point -at which the line from hat brim
and eye reached the bank. Turning to
the emperor, “Your majesty,” said he,
“the distance from where I stand to the
stake is the width of the river.” i
And so it was, as you can readily see. !
If the emperor did not promote that |
officer—why, then the story does not end
as it should!
was the
A Temperance Medicine. |
There is one feature of Dr. Pierce's
Favorite Prescription in which it differs |
from nearly all other medicines put up |
for women’s use: It contains no alcohol, |
neither opium, cocaine, nor other narcotic. |
It is in the strictest sense a temperance |
medicine. “Favorite Prescription” has
accomplished wonders for women. It
gives weak and nervous women
strength of body and nerve. It
cures the drains, inflammation, ulcera-
tion, and bearing-down pains which ruin
the health of women. It practically does
away with the pains of motherhood. It
makes weak women strong and sick
women well. :
Stage Paint.
Painting the face on the stage is a
barbarous custom come down to us
from the age of ofl lamps and candles. |
With gas and electric light and opera
glasses for the remote seats in the
house it is not needed.—London Dra-
matic Journal. :
Charges.
“Your lawyer made some pretty se-
vere charges against the other fellow.
didn’t he?”
“Y.e-e-8, but you ought to see how he
charged me!”
There is a sufficient recompense in
| «=(icero. J
the very consciousness of a noble deed.
! Your confounded paper had an out-
OLD TIME PORTRAITS.
Does There Exist a Reliable Painting
of the Poet Burns?
Was this the face that launched a thou-
sand ships
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
asks Marlowe, writing of the vision of
golden Helen. A similar guestion has
been asked in regard to the diverging apove or below the normal line.
-portraits of Mary Stuart.
the face that turned so many heads
Was this
some 350 years ago? The queen of
Scots was assuredly bewitching. Knox
admits it; Knollys asserts it: Ruthven
lost his heart to ber in Lochleven cas-
tle: whoever saw her desired her, Yet
not one of Mary's portraits represents
her as beautiful. Romney has suffi:
ciently explained the fascination of
Lady Hamilton for Nelson. But Mary
Stuart’s charm remains unexplained
by her portraits.
And what about Burns? The point I
wish to make is that old portrait paint
ers -are not to be depended on for strict
fidelity to their originals. The mere
fact that they differ so much in their
representations of the same subject is’
enough to prove it. In regard to!
Burns. the question bears a twofold
aspect. Not only do the portraits of
the poet disagree with one another.
but even that which by its frequent
reproduction has tacitly been accept!
ed as the truest representation cannot |
have been exactly like him when it was |
done. | refer, of course. to the famil-
iar Nasmyth head and bust. painted in |
1787, when Burns was carrying all be !
fore him on his first visit to Edin-!
burgh.—J. Cuthbert Hadden in Secrib-
ner’s. !
REAL ESTATE LEASES.
Origin of the Custom of Making Rent-'
als For 99 or 999 Years.
Whence originated the use of the
odd term in leases. 99 or 999 years? |
In other days lessees and mortgagees |
in possession of real estate for 100 or.
1,000 years demised the same at an an-
nual rental, retaining a reversion for '
the last year of the original term,- The |
object of this proceeding was to be
found in the unwillingness of the un-
der tenant to become bound to the per-
formance of the covenant contained in
the original grant and also in the im-
portance to the lessor of a reversionary
interest, without which, under the old
English practice, he could not recover:
his rent by distraint.
Sometimes this reversion was for
only three days or even for only one
day, but usually in long terms the last |
year was retained. Out of this came
the popular notion that the law pro-
vided this distraint, and hence leases!
were made for 99 or 999 years, when ;
there was no reason whatever for any |
such odd period of time.
In England there was in special’
cases a restraint on corporations or:
ecclesiastical persons prohibiting the
demise of lands belonging to them to!
the impoverishment of their successors |
for a term beyond 100 years and such!
leases were accordingly made for 99
years.—Harper’'s Weekly.
Boosting a Stock.
“Stocks are valuable in keeping with’
the demand for them.” said a Wall
street man. "and the ‘demand’ is often
FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN
DAILY THOUGHT.
I have found by experience that nothing is
more useful to a man than a spirit of mildness
and accommodation.— 7 erence.
Chicago.—Fashionably dressed women
next spring will not have any natural
waist line. Dressmakers have decreed
that the girdle shall be placed sithel
or
long-waistd wonien, the girdle will be
nearer the shoulder blades and for short-
waisted women it will be shifted nearer
the hips, thus equalizing the proportions.
This is one of the features brought out
at the semi-annual style show, which
opened today and wili continue tomor-
row. More than 200 manufacturers at-
tended the opening session and they rep-
resent 40,000 persons engaged in the
dressmaking industry.
All the new styles are displayed night-
ly on;living models at Orchestra Hall and '
explained by the designer. The exhibit
shows numerous extreme styles for
spring wear, with high coliars and a large .
Charmeuse, !
variety of fancy materials.
plain and printed crepe and taffeta will
be the popular fabric for gowns and
three-piece suits. There is a decided
tendency toward better materials and
less trimming.
Fullness of the hips produced by the
use of pantere ruffles, tunics and bus-
tle bows, with skirts very long, extreme-
ly narrow at the bottom and litted in the
back. The fashion designers are un-
doubtedly making a determined effort to
revive the bustle, although the first at-
tempt will show in the use of immense
bows. If these prove popular, more dar-
ing efforts will be forthcoming. If they
do not meet public approval, the bows |
may be relegated and the merchants will
not lose the sale of their stocks of
| dresses.
{Medici collars, standing frills and low!
| V or square necks, raglan and kimono
sleeves will be popular, and there are
many lines which eliminate the arms-eye, |
short and three-quarter length sleeves, !
with a flare of frills extending to the fin-
ger tips.
If any artistic folk have hopes that 1914
is going to usher in an era of handsome
hats as a reaction from the freak head-
gear of the past, they are doomed to dis-
appointment.
There’s no hope in hats. That's the
plain truth.
| A milliner who always has the last
i word in headgear said recently that all
. the early spring models in Paris are still
| distinctly freakish, and the only gleam of
light is that the big hat is coming in
again to relieve the tension somewhat.
“Not that I believe women will ever
and it covers a multitude of sins in the
way of hair. :
“You see, you can dress your hair in
the morning and then your hat hides
every bit of it, and you don’t remove it
again till hairdressing tiine. The little
hat will stay, but toward spring the big
hat will give variety and relief.”
After the holidays are over, and the
house once more has its usual appear-
ance, it is advisable to look about to see
what is required in the way of fresh sup-
January it is the custom at all
hold annual sales of
housekeepers usually
During
the large stores to
white goods. Careful
| take this yearly opportunity to restock
: their linen closets, getting the
| many real bargains. :
benefit of
It is not good management to wait
until the tablecloths, sheets, pillowslips,
etc., are all showing signs of wear before
replacing them. Even a young house-
FARM NOTES.
—The amount of fat in the interior of
cheese is not decreased during ripening.
The superfluous fat is usually decom-
posed and the fatty acids set free.
—To fatten cattle, feed cut hay with
rlenty of ground cornmeal. Let them
run in a yard where the sun will shineon
Hien, Keep house nightly and on stormy
ays.
—Steady work is more desirable on the
farm than overwork. Those who at-
tempt to do more than they are able to
stand soon break down and are not able
to accomplish permanent results. The
best plan is to adopt a system and work
regular hours, taking care always to at-
' tempt no more than you are able to ac-
complish.
—Good farming includes rotation of
crops, fertilization of soils, thorough and
timely preparation of seed bed and skill-
ful cultivation. It includes choosing of
good seed, suitable soil, proper time and
method of planting and cultivating har-
vesting and marketing. It includes the
use of improved implements and ma-
chinery, ample power and intelligent
labor, Good farming must include live-
stock.
—In order to get the maximum profit
from feeding a balanced ration to the
cows it is necessary to keep them in a
warm, comfortable stable, which is well
lighted and ventilated; otherwise much
of the feed which should be used to pro-
duce milk will be required to keep the
animals warm. We do not mean by a
warm stabie one heated upto 60 or 70
! degrees F. in cold weather. But one
which maintains an even temperature
around 45 degrees, never falling below
the freezing point and always containing
| a plentiful supply of fresh air without
drafts. A stable which is made warm at
the expense of proper ventilation is not
a place in which to keep cattle in a
healthy condition.
—The well known tendency of clover
hay when fed to horses to produce in
‘ them the ailment known as “the heaves”
renders that valuable stock food unpopu-
lar with those who do not know its nutri-
tive constituents. The trouble is the
horse is given all it will eat, thus over-
loading his stomach with very rich food,
which crowds its lungs and prevents
their free action. Well-cured clover hay
iin right amount is not likely to give
trouble, and less grain will be needed
than when almost any other kind of
roughness is fed. Some authorities claim
that one pound of hay and one of grain
per day for each 100 pounds weight of
the horse is about right for ordinary
work, and for hard work increase the
‘really abandon the little hat,” she said. ral ;
i “It is too convenient and easy to put on | grain accordingly,
—One thing that every breeder of
sheep should always strive to do is to es-
| tablish some particular type throughout
' the flock. This is of much importance.
Nothing goes farther than uniformity. It
i never fails to attract attention. It always
pleases the eye of the visitor or prospec-
| tive purchaser. This quality has many
| times sold a flock of very common or
medium quality for a long price. Indi-
| viduals that are strong producers have
usually inherited the trait from their
‘ancestors. The development should
! always be encouraged. There may be
' ewes in the flock that produce a fleece of
greater length and stronger fibre than
‘others. This should be noted and re-
membered in the selection for the up-
| keep of the flock. They are important
| factors in profitable sheep husbandry.
| —Cabbages in winter storage are en-
! dangered in two directions—from wilt-
| ing if kept too dry; from rotting if kept
| too warm and moist. You can hang
created by queer methods. A few years keeper with all her new linens in excel: | them up in an ordinary cool house cellar
ago a man who is well known in the | lent condition, would not go amiss if she | by the roots, with the head wrapped into
street was overloaded with a -certain | began to add one tablecloth and a pair | several thickness of ordinary newspaper.
stock. He told his wife there was;
money in it and that it would soon
have a big rise. Next day the good!
woman gave the tip to the woman who |
came daily to massage her. The latter !
had many wealthy clients, to whom
she gave the get-rich-quick tip. The;
stock became popular. the man sold!
out, and the masseuse who set the ball
in motion never knew why she receiv-
ed a present of extraordinary value at
Christmas time from her client.”
“From which one?”
“Why. from the one who said it was
a ‘good thing.’ of course. The others
probably discharged her.”—New York
Tribune.
Hyderabad.
The state of Hyderabad, located
about midway between Madras and
Bombay, in the south central part of
India, with a population about equal
to that of New York and Massachu-
setts combined and with an area of
82,608 square miles (just about the
same area as Kansas) is, generally
speaking. the most important native
state in India in population. wealth
and potential resources. It has many
wild creatures, including tigers and
leopards in abundance and occasionally
bison and elephants. There are also
wild hogs, antelope, hyenas, wolves.
jackals and bears.
He Still Had It.
“Look here, you swindler!” roared
the owner of the suburban property to
the real estate man. “When you sold
me this house, didn’t you say that in
three months I wouldn’t part with it
for $10,000?"
“Certainly.” said the real estate
dealer calmly, “and you haven't, have
you?’
A Little Too Much.
“This is what I call adding insult to
injury.” ;
“What's the trouble?”
“An editor not only returns my man-
uscript, but he wants me to subscribe
for his paper.”—Birmingham Age-Her-
ald.
—_—
Right on the Job.
Indignant Citizen (to office boy)—
rageous attack on me this morning.
and— Office Boy (briskly)—Yessir.
How many copies will you have?
Noble Thoughts.
Beautiful this thought and beautiful
the language wherewith Sir Philip Sid-
mney gave it expression, “They are nev-
er alone who are accompanied by no-
ble thoughts.”
oT
of sheets to her store every year.
By doing this she would never have to
restock entirely. By and by she would
look forward with pleasure to her annual
tablecloth and dozen napkins, and during
the year she would feel happy to know
her linen closet was in good order.
The sale of white goods isa tempting.
one to the woman who loves her home,
for there is something inherent in every
woman which makes her fond of looking
at fine damasks and linens.
Besides the linen closet there is the
kitchen to be remembered. Dish towel-
ing has a way of wearing out quickly,
and January seems to be the best time
to replace that also.
Itis a good plan to buy toweling of
different checks or borders and to keep
them for distinct purposes, thus avoiding
the necessity for marking the towels.
For the bathroom basin and tub a
large blue plaid may be selected; for the
pantry, a large, red plaid; for the kitchen,
a small red one, and so on. Each lot of
towels may then be easily sorted on iron-
ing day.
Blankets that have been washed or
cleaned shrink a good deal, and when
tucked in at the foot of the bed are not
long enough to cover one well over the
shoulders.
They may be lengthened with but little
trouble by sewing a strip of unbleached
sheeting, the width of the blanket at one
end. This end may be used at the foot,
the sheeting being well tucked in under-
neath the mattress. This will leave the
entire blanket for covering purposes.
When sheets of different widths are in
constant use in a home it is often impos-
sible to sort them without opening them.
to determine where they belong.
It is a good idea to mark such sheets
on the left-hand corner of the wide hem
with Roman numerals, using marking
cotton or indelible ink. Thc large size
double sheets may be marked I; the
three-quarter size, II; the single sheets,
III. By this method one may tell at a
glance which one to take.
Pillowcases give out first at the cor-
ners, so in making new ones it would be
well to remember this and make them
longer in the first place; then it would
be an easy matter to cut off the worn end
and stitch a new seam. .
Another suggestion concerning pillow-
cases is to make them open at each end,
like a bolstercase. In this way the wear
is more distributed. Such cases should
be made longer than those which are
closed at one end.
Since the experiments of Professor
Metschnikoff with the ferment in sour
milk, called lactic acid, and its effect in
preventing premature old age, butter-
milk is no longer considered merely a
by-product of butter making. It is now
an important article of food, as a glass
of it contains about as much nutriment
as a large potato, or half pint of oysters.
The sour taste is caused by the lactic
acid, in reality, the real digestive factor,
as buttermilk is more easily digested
| than sweet milk, and is fed extensively
to babies in Holland.
| This keeps them from drying out and wilt-
ing. They are not as liable to rot as
| when stored in a heap. On a large scale,
cabbages are stored in double-walled,
| tightly-built cold-storage houses, placed
i in tiers on shelves aiong the sides, with
| narrow walks or alleys between so that
every part of the house and every shelf is
accessible. By the use of ventilators the
temperature is kept down as near as pos-
sible to just above the freezing point In
an outdoor root cellar I would adopt a
similar method of storage, rather than
place the cabbages in a big heap on the
floor. In preparing for such storage the
roots are cut off and the damaged or
mature outer leaves removed.
—The number of plants that may be
grown upon an acre of ground depends
upon the capacity of the soil to supply
the necessary food. It is sometimes
easier to grow two crops at the same
time, provided they widely differ in char-
acteristics, such as cow peas or beans,
between rows of corn, than to have too
many stalks of corn, as the two crops
will not draw upon the soil for the same
proportion of food. The greatest enemy
a plant can have is another plant of the
same kind growing by its side, as both
feed upon the same materials. Remove
the weaker ones and the stronger plants
are benefited. One good plant will yield
more than two half-starved ones. Where
the land is in good condition, well
manured, and fertilizer also used, it will
be able to produce several strong plants
grown close together, but the conditions
must also be favorable in other respects,
for should there be a lack of moisture a
struggle between the plants occurs for a
supply, and they will have to compete
with weeds if they are not kept down by
thorough cultivation of the soil.
—A wild vine dug up from a low piece
of ground years ago, and transplanted to
a higher location on sandy soil, if it fails
to properly set the fruit, is probably not
to be depended on to give fruit worth
having. The first question I would ask
is: “Will the fruit, if we bring the vine
forcibly into bearing, be good for any-
thing?” Why not set a vine of a known
De sort, one that will succeed and give
good fruit, even if nothing more than the
old reliable Concord? This wild vine,
which makes a big growth of wood each
year, may be of more use for covering a
building, or some unsightly object, with
a mass of foliage, than for giving much
or desirable fruit. Possibly it may bloom
freely, but fail to set fruit for lack of
potent pollen. Some grape vines, like
the Brighton, are self-sterile, and in order
to produce perfect clusters of fruit need
the assistance of other varieties near
them to pollenize or fertilize the fruit
blossoms. If you are bound to get fruit
from a wild, strong-growing vine, how-
ever, you might try the expedient of
girdling the vine. On some of the
branches, high enough to leave some
chance for unrestricted growth below the
point or points cf girdling, remove a ring
of the bark, say an inch in width, soon
after blooming.