NOTE AND COMMENT. 
Rkmembeb that the competition in prize articles on 
“The Untrained Girl,” closes on February 17. 
f t t 
Who can show a better record for healthy children 
than the parent who writes on that subject in another 
column ? Ill 
That competent help is hard to procure, especially 
in the farm homes, is a fact. The why and wherefore 
is not so evident. Next week we shall give opinions 
from housekeepers in widely separated parts of the 
country in relation to this problem. These will be 
full of suggestions from practical women. 
t + t 
The women of the Empire State who were anxious 
to exercise the right of suffrage at the last election 
were denied this right because the word “male” stands 
in the Constitution as one of the qualifications of a 
voter. An earnest effort is to be made by the friends 
of woman suffrage to influence the Constitutional Con¬ 
vention, which meets in Albany in May next, to strike 
out this word. If this be done, the amendment must 
be ratified at the polls by the voters before becoming 
effective. The result depends largely upon the women 
themselves. Do the great body of them desire to ex¬ 
ercise the right of suffrage ? 
t t t 
Skim-mii.k cheese is generally considered very poor 
eatiag. Edward Atkinson, at a recent meeting, dis¬ 
cussed its value as food. To show its real food value, 
he compares it in its constituents with the b3st sirloin 
beef, from which it appears that a pound of protein 
(of which a man engaged in active labor needs one- 
quarter of a pound per day) can be secured in the form 
of skim-milk cheese at a cost of 13 cents, while a pound 
of protein in the form of sirloin steak would cost $1.06. 
Notwithstanding the exceeding cheapness and nutri¬ 
tiousness of such cheese, it is a well-known fact that 
very little is eaten either by rich or poor, because, as 
Mr. Atkinson thinks, the people are ignorant of the 
proper way to cat it. Raw, it is indigestible and not 
over palatable, but if cooked in any one of the numer¬ 
ous ways suggested by this apostle of better and 
cheaper living, it is said to be agreeable and whole¬ 
some. Inasmuch as it is difficult to get much but skim 
cheese in some markets, these are encouraging facts. 
four. Diseased minds are seldom found in healthy 
bodies. Keep this thought before you, mothers, and 
when your baby makes its advent into the gaseous, 
groggy atmosphere of life, there and then commence 
a rigid, thorough, healthful discipline, which shall 
certainly and surely develop into the rounded fullness 
of physical perfection. 
“But what of the mental part of the child?” you 
ask. If the physical structure be well built from the 
foundation one half of the battle is over ; the mind of 
the child is more susceptible to healthful ideas and 
impressions than to unhealthful ones. This, to my 
mind is true reform, which, if practiced and carried 
out, would result in a nation of level-headed men and 
women. But this much-to-be-desired state of things 
will never be realized until women are educated to 
care less for carpets, dungeon-dark rooms and the 
hollow mockeries of so-called society, and more for 
clean, frugal homelike homes and bright, healthy, 
happy children. L. e. b. l. 
ABOUT THE CHILDREN. 
OME years ago I read a book called Jonathan 
Slick, which portrayed high life in New York 
City. It was so funny and interesting that I read it 
aloud to my husband. For some time afterward I 
would catch myself saying, “I’ll be darned to darna- 
tion,” etc. If grown people are so impressed with 
what they read, what can we expect of our children? 
The world is full of good books, and there is no reason 
why our children should’nt have the full benefit of 
good, pure literature. 
Some time ago, a writer in The R. N.-Y. expressed 
the opinion that children treated kindly would always 
obey better than the children of stern parents. 
I think that she is wrong. Lately I visited where 
there were two children, and as I was not well, the 
mother put on some canned cherries for my breakfast. 
The children with one accord began to tease: “I want 
some cherries.” “No, dear, you must wait until din¬ 
ner time, then you can have some.” “I want some 
cherries, I do;” and they all began to cry. “Now, my 
dear,”—to one child and then another—“I am sura 
you are not going to let the lady see you cry, and be a 
naughty child.” But they called out the louder, “I 
will have some cherries. I’ll tell my pa, I will. I’ll 
cry, see if I don’t. I’ll cry harder, so, there.” After 
coaxing them for half an hour to be good, the kind, 
but weak, mother brought out the cherries. When 
she put some on the oldest boy’s plat a, he looked at me 
with a bold air, as though to say: “See 1 I did get 
some ! ” That mother says she was always scolded as 
a child, always whipped, and never allowed to do as 
she wished. She says that her children shall be al¬ 
lowed to do as they please, so that they may have a 
free, happy childhood, and not wish to leave home 
early. 
I know another mother brought up after the same 
manner. She, however, does quite differently, and 
profits by the lessons she learned in childhood. She 
looks back and remembers that when her father said 
no, he meant it, but when her mother said no, she 
could always be coaxed afterwards to say yes. The 
father was respected and obeyed, but the mother early 
lost control of her daughter. The one was firm, but 
kind ; the other was scolding and whipping one mo¬ 
ment, the next all kindness and love. So this younger 
mother, while firm, is kind, and her children know 
that if mamma says no, she means no, and there is no 
use for further teasing. Once in a while she whips 
them, but never in a fit of anger, nor does she allow 
herself to get angry before her children. She reasons 
with them, explains all the whys and wherefores, and 
her little ones say : “ Mamma is so good ; she never 
scolds or whips us unless we are naughty and deserve 
it.” Parents must not expect to have perfec-t child¬ 
ren, for perfect children do not usually belong 
to this earth any more than perfect older people. 
Whipping will keep some children meek and sub¬ 
missive when young; but many times they are all 
the worse when old enough to rebel. But if parents 
show by their very sorrow that the thought of whip¬ 
ping the children causes themselves pain, there is 
little to fear from the after effects of an occasional 
whipping. I once knew a girl whose father never 
whipped her; but if she did wrong, it would make him 
look sad. She said to me : “ I would rather papa would 
whip me than to look at me so.” 
I have long since found that, with my little ones, 
kind words with firmness are best. Neither my hus¬ 
band nor myself is quick tempered, consequently none 
of our children is. But I have seen children so very 
hot tempered that (no matter how kind their parents 
were) if crossed in anything, they would fly into a 
corner and bump their heads against the wall or 
destroy their toys. What are parents to do in a case 
of this kind ? I know a man who was whipped again 
and again as a child to break his temper ; but it is as 
bad to-day as during childhood, if not worse. Let 
some one who knows, tell us what should be done in 
a case of that kind. I think most doctors would say, 
and rightly, too, let the prospective mother do her 
part, and there would not be so many such children in 
the world. But the child inherits the father’s dis¬ 
position, too. MABEL H. MONSEY. 
HEALTHY CHILDREN ON BARE FLOORS. 
“ ■o ARE floors and weak lungs,” in a recent Rubal, 
hits me right at home ; only I would say that 
bare floors make strong lungs, carpeted floors, weak 
ones. The sequel makes it all right, though. How¬ 
ever much we may try to dodge it, the fact remains 
that in this day and age of great achievements wonder¬ 
ful improvements, fast living, and Jehu driving, 
health and longevity are lost sight of completely, and 
if, perchance, they are thought of at all, it is in the 
light of a secondary appurtenance. This accounts 
for our overflowing graveyards, our thousands of 
invalids and, in a remarkable degree, for our crowded 
insane asylums. During 10 years of married life, I 
have never had a carpet in my house. I have 
four children (little girls) ranging in age from nine 
years to 18 months. In all this time I have been 
obliged to call in a physician but once, and in that 
case one visit sufficed. I challenge the world to meet 
me in open contest and confront my children with four 
more like them, strong and fleet of limb, full chested, 
complexion clear of spots and tinged with the hues of 
health; physically perfect so far as the eye can de¬ 
termine ; no consumptive tendencies, save that which 
is manifested when gathered around a well-filled 
table. To what do I attribute this condition of things? 
To common sense, first, last and always, the use of which 
provides bare, clean floors, frequent baths, an abund¬ 
ance of light, pure air and sunshine ; plenty of warm, 
substantial clothing, and an abundance of good, whole¬ 
some food, well cooked. 
Ladies, mothers, if you will carefully observe the 
foregoing rules, you will find that nine-tenths of 
the ills flesh is supposed to be heir to, will vanish like 
the mists of morning before the rising sun, and the 
“ child crop,” of which The R. N.-Y. so often speaks, 
be brought to successful maturity. This is an age of 
reform (?). The pulpit, the press and the people cry 
reform, reform ! Each one goes about it in his or her 
own way, generally no two alike. Well, there is dire 
need of reform, but, as it is conceded by all that the 
homes make the nation, would it not be well to begin 
there ? Frail, delicate, diseased bodies produce dis¬ 
eased minds just as surely as that two and two make 
B O YA L B 
touring hard times consumers 
I t cannot afford to experiment 
J with inferior, cheap brands of bak- 
ing powder. It is NOW that the 
] great strength and purity of the 
ROYAL stand out as a friend in need 
-to those who desire to practise Econ¬ 
omy in the Kitchen. Each spoonful does its per¬ 
fect work. Its increasing sale bears witness that 
it is a necessity to the prudent—it goes further. 
N.B. Grocers say that every dollar in¬ 
vested in Royal Baking Powder is 
worth a dollar the world over, that it 
does not consume their capital in dead 
stock, because it is the great favorite, 
and sells through all times and seasons. 
ROYAL BAKING POWDER CO., 106 WALL ST., NEW-YORK. 
