Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, January 07, 1927, Image 2

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    " Bellefonte, Pa, January 7, 1927.
College Life and Preaching
Experiences.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
By Rev. L. M. Colfelt D. D.
In the autumn of 1869 I started
from Winchester via the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad for Princeton Sem-
inary. At Baltimore the connection
with the Philadelphia and Wilming-
ton Railroad was made in a horse-
drawn car, no tunnel being then in
existence. At Philadelphia I landed
at the depot on South Washington
avenue. Philadelphia disappointed me
greatly in this first impression with
its few and widely detached buildings
of imposing architecture and its miles
of 2-storied brick residences. Market
street was distinctly forbidding with
its few large business structures sand-
wiched between meaner buildings and
with its horse-drawn freight cars mon-
opolizing the middle of the street, con-
veying freight to the business houses
on either side from the Schuykill to
the Delaware. Stopping only long
enough to buy at Strawbridge’s the
necessary bed furnishings for my
room, I landed in Princeton the same
evening and was domiciled in a com-
fortable room in Brown Hall, free of
charge, save for the payment of a
janitor’s fee. Board was gotten at
the Refectory, if I remember correct-
ly, at $5.00 per week. No “Exams”
were required, a college diploma and
credentials of the home pastor meet-
ing all the conditions. Then began
the daily recitations to the various
professors, and as at college, the de-
mands on my time in preparation of
the assigned tasks left me abundant
leisure for general reading and the
trial of my apprentice hand on serm-
onic preparations. Dr. William Hen-
ry Green, shortly after my admission.
summoned me into his study and
placed before me a request received
to send a student to Dr. Mann's
church, at Kingston, three miles dis-
tant, to teach an adult Bible class on
Sunday afternoons. I responded to
the call and soon thereafter found my-
self invited to conduct a preaching
service at a school house in a hamlet
some miles distant in the country,
which I was glad to do for the prac-
tice in actual conduct of a church
service. It was an invaluable exper-
ience and I was greatly encouraged
by an attendance that crowded the
small room. Two incidents occurred
that led to a change in my method of
preparation. During one night serv-
ice a great Dane dog entered the door,
marched deliberately down the aisle to
the improvised pulpit and turning
about, marched as deliberately back
and out the door again. Every eye
was directed away from the preacher
to the dog and the young folks titter-
ed, nearly destroying the sequence of
my thoughts and utterance, for up to
that time I wrote my sermons, coni-
mitted them slavishly to memory and
used not a scrap of MSS in the pul-
pit. Later a much more disconcert-
ing interruption took place, A mid-
dle-aged man came to a night service
accompanied by a 16-year-old daugh-
ter and seated themselves just in front
of me. She looked up into her fath-
er’s face and smiled and grimaced as
if my manner or matter in the pul-
pit was immensely diverting. She
persisted all through the discourse.
At first I was so disturbed that I
could have sank through the floor and
was almost thrown on my beam-end.
But I felt there could be nothing
Judicrous in my performance. I ral-
lied myself with a sense of indigna-
tion at the culprit and made a safe
conclusion. I afterwards found she
was partially demented. But these
two incidents taught me that my
method of memorizing sermons was
faulty and thenceforward I took care
to so prepare as to fix the thoughts of
my sermon in an orderly manner from
introduction through the various
heads to the application in my mind,
leaving the language to take care of
itself. This proved the better method.
Thenceforward disturbing inci-
dents might take place in the aud-
ience, indeed, people might faint and
be carried out, but by directing my
2aze in another direction I never had
any trouble in maintaining the thread
of remark. But its chief benefit was
in combining the most careful prepa-
ration with the utmost freedom of
speech and under the inspiration of
the audience the actual utterance was
more spontaneous, rythmical and
choice than the stereotyped, written
effort. After years of experience I
am persuaded this is the best method
providing against the lazy shallow-
ness of the pure extemporizer and
leaving room for fervid flights of elo-
quence. By this method I do not think
a single sermon I ever preached was
not fit at its close for the printed
page. My method of preparation was
to first conceive and jot down on
a convenient envelope or piece of pa-
per the single thought of my introduc-
tion, the main thoughts in logical or-
der developing the subject in a few
heads, followed always by the home
thrust or application. This was the
only pleasureable part of the sermon
making, exercising the originating
powers. The rest was the task-work,
and consisted in reading up the sub-
ject, culling from literary and person-
al stores illustrations embellishing
the theme, brooding, incubating and
at last pacing up and down the floor
and thinking out in terms of speech
the thoughts from beginning to end
and stamping them on my conscious-
ness so that I could face any audience
without fear, knowing that as long
as the organism of the brain did not
give way, I could clothe my thoughts
So prepared, in some sort of language.
I have been thus frank and extended
in diseribing my method for the bene-
fit of theological students and because
many distinguished preachers have
queried me upon the subject. Other
things being equal I am of the opin-
ion that the preacher who uses no
manuscript or even notes in the pul-
pit will be the more effective, provid-
ed he makes studious and careful
preparation.
To resume my narrative, from the
close of my learning how to preach
at the expense of my school house
audience I had invitations to supply
pulpits on Sundays during the whole
of my Seminary course, which I avail-
ed myself of without detriment to my
standing, for I never missed a ques-
tion in my entire course. This extra
work in the way of preaching provid-
ed me with funds enough to discharge
my Seminary expenses and even put
another student through the entire
course. During my third year at the
Seminary, with several others of the
graduating class, I was invited, ac-
cording to custom, to preach at the
night service in the First Presbyter-
ian church which at that time was
attended by college and seminary pro-
fessors and practically the whole body
of seminary and college students.
This was perhaps the most trying ex-
perience of my forensic life. Com-
panions of mine, more jealous perhaps
than myself of my reputation, told me
I did not do myself as great credit as
upon some occasions when they heard
me. It was doubtless because of be-
ing over-nervous. But the matter of
it made sufficient impression as I
shall relate later upon one cool and
dispassionate critic, a college pro-
fessor, to affect in a remarkable man-
ner my after career.
At this time the college had retired
from its presidency Dr. MacClean,
and called Dr. James McCosh, of Bel-
fast, to succeed him. Dr. McCosh
was one of the really great men I have
ever known characterized by an over-
supply of egoism. It was laughable
to see him pause in the course of his
lectures and scratch his magnificent-
ly formed head and digress into some
anecdote, always tending to sound
the praises and glorify the prescience
of Dr. McCosh. A fine metaphysician,
he was the author of a number of
valuable philosophical works. To his
honor he was one of the first educators
of distinction to welcome the value of
Darwin’s and Herbert Spencer’s scien-
tific researches and to brave theo-
logical odium in seeking to estab-
lish a working harmony between
evolution and religion. Thecstic-Evo-
lution has since established itself as
the basis of all college and university
education throughout the world and
the belated attempts of such novices
in science as Mr. Bryan and persecut-
ing laws of some southern States to
withstand the progress of humanity
in physical knowledge are about as
rational as Canute in his chair on the
sea shore commanding the waves to
retire. Indeed, it makes one blush to
think that such an exhibition of ill-
advised intolerance should have taken
place in the 20th century and in an
otherwise intelligent part of the
Union. Oh! Religion! In Thy name
what follies have been committed.
Dr. McCosh was married to the sister
of Dr. Guthrie, the most distinguished
preacher in Scotland in that day, and
later I enjoyed the hospitality of his
home and lived to not only welcome
him to my home in Philadelphia but
my pulpit in the First Church, agree-
ably surprised to find he was as good
a preacher as an able metaphysician
and withal a quite approachable and
genial man.
I well remember taking him during
the meeting of the Evangelical Alli-
ance on an unoccupied evening to the
Young Men's Christian Association
hall to listen to Shehadrai, a famous
i Hindoo convert to Christianity, make
running comments on stereopticon
views of Hindoo life, Shehadrai never
having seen the pictures or rehearsed
his remarks. It was a deplorable mis-
fit and I can not forget the helpless
misery and horror of the Hindoo as
the pictures were flashed forth and he
was expected to make some appro-
priate comment. The fiasco ended with
a film depicting a group of children.
Floundering helplessly the Hindoo
stuttered out, “They i-look I-like re-
re-respectable children,” and flung
down his pointer and ended his tor-
ture.
During Dr. McCosh’s period and my
seminary course various preachers
were invited to fill the pulpit of the
First Presbyterian Church. Dr. Theo-
.dore Cuyler, Dr. Vandyke, father of the
poet and Amabssador, Dr. John Hall
and others frequently delighted us
students with their messages. But no
man loomed so large, intellectually,
and made so indelible an impression
as Dr. Duryea, of Classon Ave., Brook-
lyn, then in the prime of his manhood.
He united all the qualities of a great
preacher. He pronounced the semi-
centennial oration of Dr. Charles
Hodge. It was universally supposed
that he would succeed Dr. Hodge in
the chair of Systematic Theology to
which he was entitled by the regency
of his intellect. By common consent
of those who knew him he was the
brainiest man in the Presbyterian
church, not merely in mental acumen
but in power to summon his mental
resources into action. But the hope
of the student body was frustrated.
The Hodges and the Breckenridges,
with their conservatism and prestige,
being too strongly intrenched to per-
mit the intrusion of this young intel-
lectual giant with his dynamic energy
that might have revolutionized the
Seminary and brought it abreast of
Theological progress. Princeton Sem-
inary has remained a close corpora-
tion, idolatrous of its traditions, until
this day.
Dr. Charles A. Hodge was engaged
in reducing the work of his life as
a teacher of Theology to print, the
fruit of which was apparent in four
volumes published by Scribners, of
New York. He was well fitted for his
task, being characterized by compass
of mind. He had not the genius of
Robert Breckenridge nor Dr. Thorni-
well, but they had narrowly restricted
minds and might be defined as special-
ists compared with Dr. Hodge, nor had
they his wide preparatory training
and full-orbed learning. He had a
philosophical brain and altogether
was a genius in systematizing in a
clear, comprehensive, complete man-
ner the whole body of Augustinean
Theology. His volumes are an un-
rivalled compendium of what Presby-
terians are pleased to call Orthodox
Theology. Dr. Hodge was one of the
few Theologians who impressed me
as a devout Christian. In his sim-
! plicity he was a child. Theology is
mostly philosophy applied to the
scriptures, and philosophy has the ef-
fect of drying up the milk of human
kindness and shutting up the bowels
of mercy. But Dr. Hodge was larger
of heart than of head. It was in the
prayer meeting talks to the students
of a Sunday afternoon that the real
nature of Charles Hodge revealed it-
self and we were often surprised by
the depth of his emotions. His pray-
ers were models of tenderness, sim-
plicity and childlikeness.
The next figure that loomed large
in the faculty was Dr. William Hen-
ry Green, Professor of Hebrew. He
was almost a fanatic in his depart-
ment and soon impressed every one of
us with the fact that Hebrew was the
“sine quai non.”. The author of his
own grammar of instruction, he was
so tremendously in earnest that he in-
oculated us with his enthusiasm, and
very dense, indeed, must be the stud-
ent who could pass through his course
without a good, working knowledge of
the language. He was an excellent
preacher and the one professor I chose
in preference to any other to fill my
pulpit in after times during enforced
absence.
Dr. Caspar Wistar Hodge, son of
Dr. Hodge, was professor of New
Testament literature. His lectures
were masterly and more up-to-date
than any of the faculty. But he
seemed to be very shy and had the
air of one who was frightfully bored
by it all. As he sat reading his lec-
tures, crowded with the learning of all
the modern schools of thought, he was
continually drawing his handkerchief
through a loop made by his thumb
and forefinger, stretching himself
and squirming and yawning as if Le
would like to see the whole business
consigned to Tophet. And yet if a
vote of students had been taken for
the best-liked professor, the unanimous
suffrage would have been in favor of
Caspar Wistar Hodge.
The one sui genris professor was
Dr. Alexander T. McGill, Professor of
Hamiletics. He taught our young
ideas how to shoot into sermons and
was eminently fitted for the task,
possessing a most acute intellect and
a mastér of choice language. The
world lost a prime constitutional
lawyer when he chose the pulpit. He
could make a most wonderful prayer,
absolutely devoid of a single word of
his own, composed from first to last
of devotional texts of Scripture as
aptly culled and dovetailed together
as to form an exquisite mosaic; of a
truth, apples of gold in baskets of sil-
ver. This professor attended to all
the business affairs of the Seminary.
I owe him thanks for teaching me the
anatomy of the sermon, in which he
was a past master, as well as for
many personal kindnesses.
Dr. Moffat, of Scotch origin, once
a shepherd lad in the Highlands,
completed the faculty as Professor of
Old Testament history. He was not
a man of remarkable erudition but
withal an enthusiastic lecturer and
succeeded in interesting us in the suc-
cessive cycles of pre-Christian history,
being gifted with an ornate style and
a vivid, imagination. ys
Before leaving my Seminary days
I must record my conviction that
Princeton Seminary had an over-
weening pride in its conservatism.
It savored of being right-e-ous over-
much and came dangerously near
making the Scripture vain by its
Princetonian traditions. It was with
great impatience while a student that
I listened to the orators, chosen to
represent the Seminary on special
public occasions, set forth the dis-
tinguished services rendered by the
Seminary to the church and the world
in steadying the Ark of God, summing
up all the virtues of this school of the
Prophets in the one paramount claim
of soundness in doctrine. Like David
Harum’s horse, the church might al-
ways remain assured that Princeton
Seminary could be trusted “to stand
without hitchin” and keep steadfast-
ly in the beaten paths. So much was
this conservatism in evidence that
Henry Ward Beecher was not persona
grata to the Seminary authorities,
doubtless because of his liberal tend-
encies. The students of the graduat-
ing class up to that time were per-
mitted to choose some eminent divine
to address them at the Commencement
period on the art of preaching. Henry
Ward Beecher was invited by my class
and made his address in the Second
Presbyterian Church, taking for his
theme. “Fishers of Men,” developing
it in his inimitable style. I recall that
the students had circled the platform
with a profusion of flowers. The first
words of Mr. Beecher were, “I feel
like John the Baptist crying out in a
little wilderness!” There certainly
was nothing in the address of this
man, confessedly the greatest pulpit
orator America has produced as well
as the greatest of the Yale lecturers
on preaching, calculated to give um-
brage to the greatest sticklers for
orthodoxy, delivered as it was in a
conversational and quite fatherly
tone and embellished all the way
through with illustrations drawn from
the practical experience of a fisher-
man. But it seemed that the very
presence of Mr. Beecher at any func-
tion even so remotely connected with
the Seminary was an abomination not
to be endured, and thenceforward the
privilege of graduating classes to
choose an orator was abolished.
The rift between the student body
and the faculty thus began to be ap-
parent in my term, as witnessed by
the Beecher episode. In fifty years
it has widened so perceptibly that the
students a few years ago went so far
as to make formal protest against one
of the professors that he was so tran-
scendental in his metaphysical teach-
ing that he was quite incomprehen-
sible. He was like the German pro-
fessor, I think it was Schliermacher,
of whom Dr. Hodge used to relate,
thet he claimed that only one man be-
side himself in Germany comprehend-
ed his system and he had great doubts
about his ability to understand it.
That rift at Princeton has widened
until an almost impassable gulf yawns
between the faculty and not an in-
considerable body of students and
alumni, amounting te a scandal in
the Presbyterian church. The last
General Lenny appointed a com-
mittee, with the Moderator at its head,
of the difficulty is just the old, never
ending, irrepressible conflict between
Progressive Theology and Traditional
Stagnation. At one time it is called
; Old School and New School, and splits
i the church. At this time it is called
‘Fundamentalism and Modernism.
Thereis a sense in which every gen-
{eration passes through a revolution.
The young spirit rebels instinctively
against the old forms and habits of
thought. Like new wine it strains
the skins of the past to bursting.
Thus society is always casting its skin.
It moults with more or less sickness
and sadness but only to come forth
in due time with fresh vigor and in a
braver dress. But in that department
of human life which is the most vital
and should be the most progressive—-
the Religious—there is a large and
sincere class which manifests the most
determined resistance to anything sav-
oring of change. They maintain with-
out the slightest compromise that the
Reformation was completed as to The-
ological Doctrine and Ecclesiastical
Order by Martin Luther and John
Calvin, that these great servants of |
the Church have left their successors
‘nothing to do but walk in their foot-
steps and decide every case of Theol-
ogy by the precedents they have put
on record—that what is new in Theol-
ogy is not good—in a word that the
. Bible is doctrinally exhausted and
capable of no other interpretation but
that which has been set forth in the
| sound, orthodox Princetonian tradi-
tion. All is summed up in the one
truism, there is no safety but in the
old paths. But there is only one sys-
tem of Theology that will not change.
It is a dead system. The mummies of
Egypt change not. Rameses is drag-
terred 3000 years ago. As for a sys-
tem of Theology that seeks the sui-
frages of intelligent men, why it is
preposterous to say it must not
change, is not changing. Growth in
moral consciousness, new sources of
knowledge applied to the interpreta-
tion of the Word of God must force
endless readjustments. The earth does
move and Princeton Seminary must
move with it if it is not to involve the
Church in disruption or give place to
institutions better fitted to discern tlie
signs of the times.
A HOMEY LETTER FROM CHINA.
Chungking, China, Sept. 20.
Dear Home Folks:
Well, we spent the summer at Tsen
Jia Ngai (here at home, in other
words,) and we all came through with
flying colors. Fortunately, it was a
very cool summer, but we did get some
real Szechman heat the last two weeks
of August. I almost succumbed once or
twice, not anything serious, but I just
didn’t have much pep. One night, or
morning rather, it was 88 degrees in
our bedroom at two o’clock, and it was
cooler in there than on the sleeping
porch where cur beds were. But now
we're enjoying the September rainy
season, and it’s hard to believe that
it was ever as hot as it was a few
weeks ago. :
We made an ice chest out of a pack-
ing box, so we could have cold water
to drink and cool things to eat. That
helped out a lot. We also managed to
have ice cream at least once a week
and sometimes oftener. We have had
a picnic supper at one of the three
houses here in the country every Sat-
urday night, and ice cream was al-
ways on the menu. On Billy’s birth-
day I bought a dozen lemons for $2.04
Mex. a dozen and made lemon ice. It
was the most delicious and cooling re-
freshment we have had this summer.
Mex., so you see ice in Chungking is
a luxury. But we manage to save on
other things so don’t feel that we were
extravagant to indulge ourselves that
way. If we had gone to the hills we
would have had a much more expen-
sive summer than we had.
I haven't been away from the coun-
try since early in June. I planned to
go into the city last week but because
of the rumored uprising the consul ad-
vised us to keep off the streets as
much as possible. If things become
quiet I'm going in Thursday.
Billy grows like a weed and gets
cuter and more difficult to manage
every day. He is now a year and one
month old and weighs 22 pounds and
one ounce. I guess I'll close for this
time, with lots of love to all.
Mrs. W. R. NORTH.
Tells How Hot Rock Penetrated Coal
Vein.
A Christmas gift of the experiment
station of the school of Mines and
Metallurgy at the Pennsylvania State
College to the scientific world is a
new bulletin describing the penetra-
tion by igneous rock of a soft coal vein
at Dixonville, in Indiana county.
Thousands of years ago, molten
rock was forced up through the rock
strata in Indiana county and evidences
of it were found when miners were
removing coal from a mine at Dixon-
ville, It came to the attention of
faculty members of the Penn State
mining school and it was investigated
by Professor Arthur P. Honess and
Charles K. Graeber. They found the
coal well coked on either side of the
peculiar rock formation that had
thrust its way through the coal vein,
and the rock itself gave valuable
scientific information that has been
described in the experiment station
bulletin. Only one other formation of
its kind has been located in Pennsyl-
vania, the mica peridotite dike in Fay-
ette county.
Plan for the 1927 Garden.
A few of the 1927 garden seed cat-
alogs have been distributed by seeds-
men. The rest will follow early in
January. They are more beautiful
and interesting than ever. They make
very interesting reading after the hol-
iday season when you are looking for-
ward to spring planting. Jot down
the varieties and amount of seed you
require. Send your order early.
rn pf ietimaiin
——The Watchman publishes news
when it is news. Read it.
‘to make an investigation. The cause
ged from his tomb just as he was in-
Our ice bill for August was $17.25
LB MTOR 0 3 SERIO
FARM NOTES.
—Many farmers in Pennsylvania
already have suffered a distinet loss in
seed corn through freezing, according
to reports received at the Pennsyl-
vania State College. Only careful
storing will prevent others losing
their seed corn supply or at least hav-
ing the vitality of the seed consider-
ably reduced by frost damage. A lit-
tle heat in the seed room will help
save the seed which will be so valu-
able next spring.
It is discouraging—and to the ama-
teur gardener it is a mystery—when
there is a failure in the potato crop,
especially when large vines are grown
and no potatoes of any size are found.
The best of potato soils are at times
not free from the troubles that will
be herein described.
By having a correct understanding
of certain peculiar conditions of the
potato plant, which have been ascrib-
ed to various causes, such as water,
the most successful grower can modify
his system of culture to advantage.
Following are some of the preplexi-
ties: Good vines with no tubers or a
cluster of small, worthless tubers; in
many instances, even in the best po-
tato soil, the plants fail to come up,
‘or weak plants are produced, which
die before the potatoes are mature,
thus resulting in a poor stand; potato
blight, or the dying of a portion or
all of the vines; russeted and scabby
potatoes; blight and scab also seen in
the best potato district and finally col-
lar rot or black ring of the vine, at
the surface of the ground.
Experiments have proven that any
and all of these conditions can be pro-
duced by the action of a certain plant
disease, and observations in many
parts of the State show that this fun-
igus is abundant, and is undoubtedly
. responsible for most of the lack of
success in potato growing.
Professor Paddock, of the Colorado
Experiment Station, gives this in-
formation of the nature of the disease.
This fungus appears to grow natur-
ally in this State, as it is found in the
remote and newer parts, and it also
attacks a number of plants other than
the potato, both cultivated and wild.
After the soil has become infected the
fungus persists for a long time.
If the fungus is not already pres-
ent, the soil will soon become infect-
ed after potatoes have been grown.
This is true for the reason that it is
difficult to find a sack of potatoes free
from all traces of the disease. It lives
over winter in the cracks of rough and
russeted potatoes, and in the ulcers
of scab, and also in what appears to
be patches of dirt which stick closely
to the surface of the potato. By look-
ing closely at these dirt-like appear-
ing objects, it will be seen that they
are not composed of ordinary seil. In
fact, they are made up of the close-
ly inter-woven root-like organs of the
fungus.
This tiny plant also produces an
abundance of seed-like bodies or
spores which help to spread it. They
are borne only on green potato vines
and just above the surface of the
ground. Here a thin, delicate layer
is formed that looks like a slight de-
posit of alkali, and the spores are
borne on the tips of the threads of
which it is composed.
When diseased potatoes are used for
: seed, or when clean potatoes are plant- i
ed in infected soil the fungus starts
{into growth with the young potato
! plant. The tender shoots are often at-
alkali, altitude, etec., it is possible that | bod
‘tached. For illustration, two shoots
{rot off by the fungus before they ;
' reach the surface of the ground, and |
at the same time two more are badly
injured, and might have become ma-
ture plants but for being affected with
| the familiar collar rot or black ring.
But the most damage is done by cut-
ting off the tuber stems, this portion
of the plant being especially liable to
attack. These stems are often cut off
as fast as they grow out, thus leav-
ing no place on which tubers may
form. But in some instances a clus-
ter of small or “little potatoes” form
around the main stem, seemingly the
result of girdling by the fungus.
In potato scab it will be found that
the tubers are often made rough and
scabby by the growth of the disease
on their surfaces. All gradations of
these injuries may be found, a rough
or russeted appearance to deep scabs
or ulcers that greatly injure the ap-
pearance of the potato. Singularly
enough, scab is more common in the
best potato soil than it is in localities
where the crop is precarious. :Sandy
or gravelly soils, when first brought
under cultivation, often ‘give a large
per cent. of scabby potatoes, but after
one or more crops of alfalfa have been
plowed under, this tendency is par-
tially corrected.
When the vines are struck with
blight, the leaves die and the vines are
destroyed before the crop is mature.
This is generally supposed to be due
to diseases which attack the top of
the potato plant. Spraying experi-
ments tried with Bordeaux mixtures
did not lessen the blight, and the mi-
croscopic plants which cause these leaf
diseases are not commonly found as-
sociated with this trouble, It is con-
cluded, by some authorities, that the
premature dying of the potato vines
is usually an evidence that the under-
ground parts have heen severely in-
jured by the fungus in question.
The running out of potatoes, as it
is termed when the tubers become
pointed or much elongated, appears
also to be associated with the attacks
of this fungus. But just what the re-
iation is between the two has not yet
been determined.
—The State Egg Show to be held
at the time of the State Farm Pro-
ducts Show at Harrisburg provides
classes for boys and girls between the
ages of 16 and 20 years; for backyard
poultrymen living in villages, towns
and cities; for farmers who keep less
than 500 birds, and for farmers, hatch-
eries, and commercial poultrymen
with 500 or more birds. Premium lists
and entry blanks are obtainable from
the local county agent, located at the
county seat; the Poultry Extension
Department, State College, Pa., or the
Department of Agriculture, Harris-
burg, Pa.
Sr ———————— A ————
—Subscribe for the “Watchman.”
FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN.
DAILY THOUGHT.
How little it costs, if we give it thought,
To make happy some heart each day.
Just one kind word or a tender smile,
As we go on our daily way.
Perchance a look will suffice te clear
The cloud from a neighbor's face,
And the press of a hand of sympathy
Will a sorrowful tear efface.
Home Notes.
—Every housekeeper should be per-
fectly familiar with the three food
products. This is the foundation of
menu making. Proteids, carbohy-
drates and fats are the three divi-
sions into which all foods are classed.
Proteids are the muscle builders and
are found in meat, beans, peas, eggs
and nuts. Carbohydrates are the
starches and are found in cereals, sug-
ar and starchy food. These foods pro-
duce fat and energy. Fats, such as
oils, butter, lard, etc., give heat to the
vy. A general knowledge of these
food properties as they are found in
various foods underlies successful
cooking as well as menu making.
A good menu is a well balanced
menu in regard to these three food
principles. A practical study of these
foods is the best way to avoid errers
in diet.
Do not serve several foods of the
same composition at the same meal,
such as potatoes, rice and macaroni.
Do not serve bean or pea soup with
roast meat, salmon salad and cus-
tard.
Try to vary the regular diet. If
a heavy meal is served use a light,
easily digested dessert.
To avoid serving several foods of
the same composition, have in mind
small groups of foods ailke in com-
position. The first and most impor-
tant group to consider is that of pro-
teid food:
Group one—Meats,
nuts, dried peas, beans.
Any of these foods can be used for
meat, or if nuts, beans or peas are
used for a puree, meat can safely be
left out of the menu.
For every meal select food from
each of the groups mentioned—Pro-
teid, carbohydrates, fats.
Add to this some fresh fruit or
vegetable three times daily and a good
beginning will be made towards pro-
ducing a balanced menu.—Woman’s
World.
—During the World War 200,000
men in the United States forces were
wounded and 77,000 were killed. Twice
as many women have died since the
war on the confinement bed, and twen-
ty times as many women have been
wounded. The confinement room has
appropriately been called the woman’s
battlefield. If we compare the lives
of the babies that have been lost dur-
ing delivery with those of the soldiers
during the war, one year will show
three times as many! And the pity
of it, and the vital and encouraging
lesson to you, dear mothers, is that
nearly all of this misery could be pre-
vented.
The objects of prenatal care are so
to. conduct the mother and baby
through pregnancy that both may be
strong and healthy to the end and
ready for the process of delivery with
the assurance of a successful birth, a
living, undamaged child, and a prompt
recovery of the mother, while the new
individual is given a good start to-
ward healthy citizenship. This is no
small task, and success depends on
the cooperation of the father, the
mother, the doctor and the nurse.
The majority of women try to live
up toahigh health standard when
shown how. Not a few women, however
deny the baby fresh air and sunlight.
They will not take sufficient exercise to
revivify their blood for the baby, they
keep late hours and by excessive
smoking, or even alcoholics, poison
the baby. By taking long and rough
automobile rides, or doing hard-
driven sports or sea-bathing they ex-
pose themselves to the danger of mis-
carriage. By eating improper foods
they upset the baby’s nutrition as well
as their own. The same may be said
about inattention to the natural func-
tions of the body. A baby is worth
ten months of any woman’s time, and
during this period she should devote
all her talents and all her thought to
its welfare and that of its mother.
Many babies die from blood taint
and from premature birth. Therefore,
let the mother have her blood tested
and take treatment, if necessary. And
let her take good care to avoid mis-
carriage. The later advice is partic-
ularly needful if she has had a mis-
carriage before. Avoidance of strenu-
ous exercise, rest at the time the per-
iods would usually fall due, notifying
the doctor at the first evidences, such
as pain or flow, are rational precau-
tions. Her diet should not be restrict-
ed to keep down her weight, unless the
increase of fats is excessive—and this
her doctor will decide. The diet should
be rich in lime, iron, phosphates and
vitamin-bearing foods, like milk, eggs,
fresh green vegetables, cereals.
—It is not the manner in which we
pronounce unusual words which
stamps cultured or uncultured. Many
persons who are perfectly familiar
with the meaning of some imposing
words which they frequently meet in
print, seldom get them out in ordinary
cheese, eggs,
conversation. Consequently, when
they do their pronunciation is apt to
be faulty.
On the other hand, a person who
makes a practice of looking up every
new word which he meets and who has
therefore acquired ‘a correct pro-
nuciation of unfamiliar words, is
very lkely to mispronounce small
words. As has been said, this is a
great deal more damning than the
failure to be correct in large words.
For it is from the purity of our accent
in using the words heard every day
that a person’s early breeding and en-
vironment must be inferred.
For this reason, do not neglect to
investigate your treatment of ordin-
ary words. Observe the stage pro-
nunciation of numerous small words,
notice the speech of the most cultur-
ed persons with whom you talk and
you will find how many seemingly un-
important words you have mispro-
nounced.