February 11 
108 
THE RURALFNEW-YORKER. 
[ Woman and Home j 
From Day to Day. 
What if some morning, when the stars were pal¬ 
ing, 
And the dawn whitened, and the East was 
clear, 
Strange peace and rest fell on me from the 
presence 
Of a benignant Spirit standing near: 
And I should tell him, as he stood beside me, 
“This is our Earth—most friendly Earth, and 
fair; 
Daily its sea and shore through sun and shower 
Faithful it turns, robed in its azure air: 
“ There is blest living here, loving and serving, 
And quest of truth, and serene friendships 
dear; 
But stay not, Spirit! Earth has one destroyer— 
His name is Death; flee, lest he And thee here!” 
And what if then, while the still morning bright¬ 
ened, 
And freshened in theelm the Summer’s breath, 
Should gravely smile on me the gentle angel, 
And take my hand and say, “ My name is 
Death! ” —Edward Rowland Sill. 
* 
Mrs. Rober, the famous teacher of 
cooking, is at present engaged in show¬ 
ing how a small family may live on $18 
a week, when the housekeeping is rightly 
managed. We have no doubt that her 
instruction will be sound and practical, 
but many of us would feel still more 
grateful if she would teach us how to 
live acceptably on $8 a week. 
* 
A South Dakota woman who owns a 
stock ranch, recently covered herself 
with glory by “ roping in ” a huge gray 
timber wolf. She had lost young stock 
by the ravages of the animal, and dis¬ 
covered the marauder in the act of at¬ 
tacking a calf. Having no weapon, 
she roped the animal and, being on horse¬ 
back, started on a run, dragging the 
wolf until it was exhausted, when her 
dogs finished it. Wolves are reported 
as unusually numerous and extra bold 
this Winter, in many parts of the West. 
* 
The Kentucky Federation of Labor 
recently sent to the General Federation 
a resolution asking the Government to 
exclude all women from every place of 
employment outside the home. Com¬ 
menting on this, a woman speaker at 
the Pilgrim Mothers’ dinner in New 
York observed : 
Certainly such a proposition as this should 
have been followed by one to provide all women 
with good husbands. There are in this country 
about 2,000,000 more men than women, and the 
Federation of Labor should certainly have ac¬ 
companied this statement with another: “ Re¬ 
solved , That this association pledges itself to fur¬ 
nish husbands for all unmarried women on ap¬ 
plication to the secretary.” Good husbands 
should be guaranteed, also, for under existing 
conditions, too often, a woman must support not 
only herself, but her husband also. 
* 
A group of women who had just ad¬ 
journed from a club meeting in New 
York, were discussing the best ways of 
resting themselves. A woman physician, 
who was appealed to for an opinion, said 
that she usually didn’t rest, except on 
Sundays. If, however, she was suffering 
from a nervous strain, she took a brisk 
walk in the open air ; if from physical 
fatigue, she took a cold bath, and then 
sat down to read a novel and eat apples. 
She didn’t believe in taking stimulants 
or bracers of any kind. Some of the 
club women held that modern women 
get far more tired than their grandmoth¬ 
ers, because they suffer a greater ner¬ 
vous strain. Some one suggested that 
the pioneer mothers must have felt a 
decided nervous strain, when they had on 
their minds the midnight raids and scalp¬ 
ing bees of the Indians, to say nothing 
of wildcats in the woodsheds, and rat¬ 
tlesnakes on the doorsteps. Different 
plans were suggested for the relaxation 
of nervous strain, and one woman sur¬ 
prised the audience by asserting that her 
plan for resting herself was to sit in 
an easy chair with her feet on the table. 
It was generally suggested that an occa¬ 
sional day’s rest in bed, without sickness 
for an excuse, was necessary for very 
busy women. Unfortunately, the women 
who have greatest need for this prescrip¬ 
tion never have a chance to take it. It 
is rather hard for the woman worn out 
by a ceaseless round of family cares and 
hard work to sympathize with one who 
suffers from “nerve exhaustion” as a 
result of too many women’s clubs and 
self-inflicted social exactions. 
*■ 
It is reported that Kokomo, Ind., is 
about to establish a curfew ordinance, 
to prevent children from running about 
the streets at night, but as complaint 
has been made that gadabout mothers 
are largely responsible for this evil, the 
ordinance is extended by the following 
provision : 
It is further provided that, when a child comes 
home at the prescribed hour and finds its mother 
not present to hear its prayers and put it to bed, 
it shall report such dereliction to the Mayor of 
the cltyt whose duty it shall be to search for the 
absent mother until found, and if it should be 
shown that the mother was not on an errand of 
necessity or mercy, it shall be the duty of the 
Mayor to administer a reprimand to said mother. 
The opinion of Kokomo’s mothers as to 
this ordinance is not given, but it is as¬ 
serted that one reason for this ruling is 
the prevalence of feminine card parties, 
which cause the women to neglect their 
homes. 
* 
Among fashionable furs worn this Win¬ 
ter, huge collars of red, black or silver 
fox have been very popular, and they 
are extremely realistic, having heads of 
the natural size, with glaring eyes, long- 
drawn-out bodies and bushy tails. We 
heard recently of a Philadelphia girl 
who stood gazing into a shop window, 
while she held her fox collar gracefully 
in one hand. All was well until a bull 
pup strolled around the corner, mani¬ 
festly looking for trouble. The dog 
seized the fox collar, under the obvious 
impression 'that he was a public bene¬ 
factor, gave it a preliminary shaking 
before the owner realized the disaster, 
and then tore around the corner with 
every evidence of keen enjoyment. A 
policeman gave chase, but at last reports, 
the dog remained a good first, and the 
feelings of the bereft young woman were, 
evidently, too emphatic to be expressed 
in print. 
* 
The Kentucky State Federation of 
Women’s Clubs is much interested in 
traveling libraries, the State being di¬ 
vided into districts, each district under 
supervision of the Federation. Books 
were collected, and this collection was 
labeled, catalogued and packed in strong 
wooden boxes averaging 55 volumes to a 
box. The boxes are made of heavy sea¬ 
soned wood, securely fastened with 
screws and locks, and on arrival are 
used as libraries. Duplicate catalogues 
are made of the books in each, one copy 
fastened on the inside lid, and the other 
retained by the committee for reference. 
The stations designated to receive the 
books are wholly in the mountainous 
part of Kentucky. The boxes travel 
over the mountains by wagon or down 
the river by push-boats in April and 
October. They rest six months at a 
place, some reliable person being found 
in each community willing to Berve as 
librarian. 
* 
After reading of the battle between 
Gen. Bacon’s troops and the Pillager In¬ 
dians, in the last Minnesota outbreak, 
it is hard to realize that some of the 
beautiful laces purchased by wealthy 
New York women come from this very 
locality, and that the wives and daugh¬ 
ters of the warriors who killed Major 
Wilkinson are adepts in the intricate 
stitches of Battenberg and Princess 
point. Instruction in lace-making was 
given to Chippewa women at the White 
Earth Reservation 10 years ago, and was 
afterwards extended to Leech Lake and 
other points, and to Shoshone and Piute 
squaws. The teaching was naturally 
difficult at first, and it was especially 
hard to make the women understand the 
need for careful work and cleanliness. 
The instruction, however, was of great 
advantage to the women in every way, 
and many of them have become very 
expert. It is strange to think of an In¬ 
dian woman, living in a log hut or tepee, 
engaged in making articles of luxury, 
of whose use, even, she must have small 
conception. 
New Ideas in Hooked Rugs. 
HOW one designer stirred up a vil¬ 
lage COMMUNITY. 
(Conclvded.) 
The Artistic Microbe. —The enthusi¬ 
asm of the affair spread like a contagion 
among the country people. In their 
eagerness to secure work, many who 
outwardly lived in supposed respectabil¬ 
ity, revealed pitiful cases of need and 
destitution. It was a delicate matter, 
however, to give out work indiscrim¬ 
inately, for the reputation of the infant 
industry rested on maintaining a high 
standard of workmanship, and it was 
often difficult to reconcile the conflicting 
claims of philanthropy and commercial 
prudence. The burden of planning color 
schemes, of dyeing goods to carry out 
each special order, of teaching workers 
to adopt the new method of using ma¬ 
terials, of securing a uniform product 
from many hands, of examining every 
rug before delivered, was greater than 
one can imagine. Every feature of it 
involved pioneer work. But orders were 
promptly and satisfactorily filled, and 
many who bought Gne ordered more, and 
when the season ended and the respect¬ 
ive owners took their rugs with them, 
they scattered the news of the young 
enterprise in New York, Boston, Chica¬ 
go, Washington, Portland and other 
cities. 
Its Far-Reaching Results. —More in¬ 
teresting than the sale of the rugs was 
the result upon the community. Women 
who were notoriously lazy applied for 
employment; men who had loafed about 
the house or country store began to de¬ 
vise improvements of the frame in which 
the rugs are made and of hooks for 
workers. Some tried to invent easier 
methods of stripping the cloth used; 
and in various ways, the whole public 
sentiment was quickened. It fostered a 
friendly intercourse ; women dropped in 
to see how the favored workers got on, 
and gathered what information they 
could regarding the new methods. Many 
who were too proud at first to ask for 
employment put their frames in readi¬ 
ness for prospective orders. Very soon 
several women became so proficient as 
to earn at the rate of $1 a day, which 
does not mean a day of steady work and 
factory hours, but one interspersed with 
household duties in their homes. The 
women are not paid by the hour, but by 
the square foot, the price varying ac¬ 
cording to the intricacy of the pattern. 
Patterns and Designs. — A special 
feature of these hand-made rugs, which 
look like the heaviest Wilton velvet, is 
plain centers of a dull tone of blue, terra 
cotta, yellow, old pink, tan or brown, 
with borders of various widths, the 
ground of which is of a contrasting color, 
executed in harmonious effects. Rarely 
attempting to imitate Oriental rugs, they 
are modelled after them in coloring and 
simplicity of pattern. They are made to 
suit the purchaser’s taste and require¬ 
ments in size, color and design. Small 
sketches and samples of material are 
sometimes forwarded on request when 
the would-be purchaser gives the char¬ 
acter of the rug he desires, the size, and 
general color scheme. Made at a living 
wage and of all-wool materials, these 
rugs cannot compete in price with the 
cheaper grades of Oriental and foreign 
manufacture, with eastern labor work¬ 
ing at starvation wages. On the other 
hand, ordinary Oriental rugs cannot com¬ 
pare with the hand-made rug in point of 
durability, many of the latter being 
known to wear 30, and even 40 years. 
Cross Stripes. —One especially pleas¬ 
ing and popular design is a simple use 
of cross stripes which do not extend to 
the edge of the rug, the ground being of 
that peculiar dull red seen in Bokhara 
rugs, with cross stripes in cream color, 
dull yellow or dark blue, outlined in 
black or yellow. Other grounds are used, 
such as Gobelin blue with cross stripes 
of cream color, tan or old rose. Old rose 
or dull yellow grounds have the pattern 
in black. The smallest size in this pat¬ 
tern is 40 x 21 inches, and costs $4.50. It 
can be indefinitely extended for hall 
strips or for dining rooms. The cost of 
large rugs with more elaborate designs 
or with borders ranges from $1 to $1.25 
per square foot, and in a few cases, even 
higher, where the pattern is intricate 
and requires greater skill in execution. 
So far as it is known, this is the first at¬ 
tempt to place the hand-made rug upon 
a commercial basis, and at present it 
stands unique as a village industry. 
Fish as a Food. 
There is no more valuable food in the 
whole list than fish, says the Woman’s 
Home Companion. It is easy of diges¬ 
tion, it is inexpensive, and it is plenti¬ 
ful. While it has not the amount of 
nutrition found in meat, it has, never¬ 
theless, sufficient, and as it has a large 
amount of phosphorus, it is very benefi¬ 
cial. Indeed, recent investigators claim 
that the nutritive qualities of fish have 
been very much underestimated in the 
past, and that it is able to hold its own 
in this respect with almost any of the 
animal foods. 
Fish should be eaten while perfectly 
fresh and while the flesh is yet firm ; 
otherwise all its beneficent qualities are 
lost, and it becomes poisonous. Whole¬ 
some as it is when fresh, it becomes pos¬ 
itively deleterious to health as soon as it 
loses its freshness, and even with the 
best-known methods of preservation, 
the change cannot long be deferred. 
Never buy fish when the flesh is soft •’ud 
flabby, unless you desire a genuine fit of 
indigestion, if not a severe and painful 
illness. Fish may be cooked in a variety 
of ways, but the most wholesome meth¬ 
ods are boiling and baking. Small fish 
and pieces of large whitefish are good 
if fried, but oily fish should never be 
cooked in this way. Boiling is the least 
desirable mode of preparing fish, be- 
..'WHifqfq/'U'U'U'U'WWMWU'W'H'K'W'li'tiniMifliMil'irM'H-Jj 
FEED CHILDREN! 
THEY NEED its rich, flesh-making gluten £ 
and bone-making phosphates. As well feed £ 
children laundry starch as many white-flour £ 
starchy foods. Infant mortality is largely £ 
the result of too much starch in the food. 5 
| For Children and for Grown Folks \ 
5 . 
WHEATLET 
£ is a remarkably healthful 
5 food. Wheatlet contains 
5 only the nutriment of the 
£ whole wheat. Sold in 2 lb 
C packages. 
£ if your grocer does not 
S keep Wheatlet have himor- 
£ der some for you, or send 
i us his name and your ord- 
£ er—we will see that you 
S are supplied. Avoid sub- 
£ stitutes. 
r Send for booklet, 
i The genuine bears our label and name £ 
£ and is made only by the ; 
£ Franklin Mills Go., Lockport, N. Y. ) 
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