44 
January 14, 
THE R.UFtA.I> NEW-YORKER 
Aunt Martha’s Envelope Library. 
We were sitting on the shady end of 
the veranda, busily engaged in trying to 
work out the details of a somewhat in¬ 
tricate piece of Irish crochet, when we 
heard a timid knock at one of the 
veranda pillars, and looked up to see^ a 
tiny maid gazing gravely at us. She 
courtesied prettily in response to our 
greeting and walked timidly over to 
Aunt Martha. 
“I’m going to have a birthday party, 
and my mama said maybe you would 
please to tell me some games to play, 
she whispered. 
“To be sure I will,” said Aunt Martha, 
kissing the eager upturned face, “but 
first 1 must know how many are to be 
invited, and whether it is a party for 
little girls or for girls and ? boys, and 
when and where it is to be. 
“On the lawn if it is pleasant, and in 
the house if it rains,’ replied the little 
one. beginning with the last question. 
“I’m five years old next Saturday and 
my mama said they was to come at 
two o’clock, and I have asked -then 
followed a long list of names and 
there will be girls and boys, she added, 
looking expectantly into Aunt Martha’s 
face. 
“Very well, dear. You come over on 
Saturday morning and I will tell you 
how to play several games which .I am 
sure vou will all think great fun, said 
Aunt Martha. 
“I knew you would, said the little 
one joyously, and she darted away, call¬ 
ing over her shoulder, “I'm going to 
kindergarten.” . . 
Aunt Martha drew a small pad with 
pencil attached from her apron pocket, 
and jotted something down on it, then 
resumed her crocheting. 
“Good morning!” The speaker was a 
rosv-faced young woman in the next 
yard. A troubled expression on her face 
was explained by her first words, “Tom 
* has just telephoned that I am going to 
have company for luncheon, and T can t 
think of a thing to give them. It isn’t 
that I don’t have things, but I don’t 
know what to get for a company lunch¬ 
eon in a hurry. Can you tell me?” 
“Give me 10 minutes and I can,” Aunt 
Martha replied as she went into the 
house. In a few minutes she was back, 
carrying an envelope and a sheet of 
note paper. “I have written down three 
‘hurry up menus,’ ” she said, as she 
passed the paper and envelopes over the 
fence. “I think one of them may be 
what you want, and there are recipes 
tor one or two dishes which may be 
prepared on short notice, which you may 
like to try. They are tested and will 
be sure to be good. You may^ return 
them when your guests are gone.” 
The girl’s face cleared as she looked 
over the menus. “That first one is just 
the thing,” she exclaimed. “Thank you 
so much. I get so flustered when I 
have to plan meals in a hurry for com¬ 
pany. I can’t seem to think of any¬ 
thing,” and she hurried away to pre¬ 
pare for her unexpected guests. 
We had successfully copied the first 
‘figure when Nellie Evans came hurrying 
in and seated herself on the top step. 
“You see it’s this way,” she began, 
“the Baracas and Adelphis and the Y s 
and the Order of the Shield are each 
to be responsible for one social during 
the season; and our class, the ’Order 
of the Shield,’ are to have one next 
month, and we want to have some sort 
of an entertainment for part of the. 
evening and the rest of the time we 
want to have something everyone can 
take part in, and I told the girls I was 
sure you would know just the thing, 
and I knew you would help us. ^ ou 
will, won’t you ?” 
“And probably I will,” remarked Aunt 
Martha dryly. 
“And we’re to meet to plan it out on 
Monday evening,” continued Nell, ob¬ 
livious of any inference in Aunt Mar¬ 
tha’s words, “and I wondered if we 
might meet here, so you could tell, all 
the girls just what to do, you know.” 
“And you certainly may, and I will be 
delighted to have you,” Aunt Martha 
replied. 
Nellie laughed. “Did I use too many 
ands? I don’t care, it’s a dear little 
connector, and I haven’t time to, bother 
with grammatical intricacies. I’m late 
to my music lesson now, but I feel as if 
our social was all planned now. Good¬ 
bye,” and she hurried away. 
Aunt Martha jotted something more 
down on the pad in her apron pocket. 
“Have you a recipe for carrot mar¬ 
malade?” said Mrs. Wilson, coming in 
the gate, which Nellie had left open. 
“I’ve looked through all the cook books 
I have and I can’t find a recipe, and 
mother says, ‘Why don’t you put your 
bonnet on and run over to Martha’s? 
She’s sure to have one.’ And so I 
came right over. Have you got one?” 
Aunt Martha went into the house 
again and soon came out with the de¬ 
sired recipe. 
“It seems as if you always had the 
thing we’re looking for, no matter what 
it is,” said Mrs. Wilson, as she took 
the recipe and started down the steps. 
“I think Mrs. Wilson sized up the 
situation about right,” I said, as that 
worthy lady disappeared down the 
street. “And still the wonder grew 
that one small head could carry all she 
knew,” I paraphrased. “How do you 
do it, Aunt Martha?” 
“As I told you, I began years ago,” 
she said, “and I have kept it up. I keep 
my magazines on file through the year, 
but I mark every article which I care 
to save as I read them. Then, at the 
end of the year I spend all my spare 
time for a week or two cutting clippings 
and filing them away. I wait until the 
end of the year because I loan my 
magazines to friends and I do not like 
to have them disfigured when they take 
them to read. As for the case, your 
uncle gave that to me last Christmas. I 
like it because I can add new sections as 
I need them. Before I had this case I 
used one which I made myself. You see 
“Come, and I will show you,” she- I keep my patterns in it now,” and she 
replied, leading the way to her sewing drew back the curtains of a case made 
room. “There, ’ she said, pointing to a of grocery boxes into which she had 
sectional bookcase with heavily frosted fitted partitions of thin boards. that 
glass doors, “you see the source of all 1S within the leach of anyone, I am 
my wisdom. My small head don’t carry su jT- 
it at all. It is, as you will see, carefully What would you take for y our E - 
labeled and packed away in those en- velope Library . I asked as we returne 
velopes,” and she pushed back the door to veran da. „ „ 
to one section, revealing a case of Why, my dear, she began, y u e 
pigeonholes filled with white envelopes, I never thought of sue i a t iing. 
4^x11 inches in size. “This is what I wouldn t take anything for it, she broke 
4^2x1 _ 
call my envelope library, and this,” 
throwing open the top section and 
pointing to two drawers which occupied 
the width of two pigeonholes in the sec¬ 
tion, “is my card index.” The drawers 
were filled with cards indexed in true 
library fashion. 
“But what is in the envelopes?” I 
asked. 
“Clippings,” she replied. “I began 
collecting them when I was a mere child. 
At first l had a -scrap album, but often 
there were things on both sides of the 
clipping which I wished to preserve, and 
the scrap album would not do unless I 
purchased another paper or magazine, 
so I took to putting such things in en¬ 
velopes. After a time I discarded the 
scrap book entirely and placed all the 
clippings in envelopes. The difficulty 
which arose then was that I never knew 
where to find anything. After I had 
filled a dozen envelopes the task of 
searching for some article was too bur¬ 
densome, so I began to label each en¬ 
velope, writing on the outside the title 
of each clipping as I inserted it. This 
worked well until my clippings outgrew 
their envelopes. Then I began increas¬ 
ing my envelopes and subjects. For 
example, in place of the one envelope 
labeled ‘Cooking Recipes,’ I use many 
envelopes for each department of cook¬ 
ery. There is an envelope for every¬ 
thing to be cooked; each kind of fruit, 
each vegetable, each variety of meat, has 
an envelope. On my cards I make a 
note of every clipping .filed, giving the 
title and number of the envelope. As 
the envelopes are arranged alphabetically 
I find it an easy matter to locate any 
clipping in a moment.” 
I looked hastily through the card in¬ 
dex, and became more and more im¬ 
pressed with the possibilities of such a 
system. The index was quite complete. 
Under the subject of Recipes, I found 
such recipes as “Chicken and Egg Salad" 
noted on three different cards under the 
headings, “Chicken,” “Egg,” and “Salad.” 
Each referred to the same envelope, 
which in this case was “Salads.” There 
were five salad envelopes, I noticed, 
labeled respectively “Meat Salads,’’ 
“Vegetable Salads,” “Fish Salads,’ 
“Fruit salads,” “Salads,” the last to in¬ 
clude all salads not included in the 
others. There were a number of menu 
envelopes, suggesting menus for almost 
every occasion imaginable, judging 
from the topics. There were menus for 
children’s parties, afternoon parties and 
teas, company breakfasts, dinners, and 
suppers, evening gatherings, public and 
private, etc., etc. But the cookery and 
household sections were not all. There 
was a literary section holding clippings 
giving “Short Biographies,” “Travel 
Sketches,” “Stories of Famous Men,” 
“Poetry,” “Music and Musicians,” and 
many more subjects. Then there was 
the entertainment section with its thou¬ 
sands of suggestions for good times. 
Public entertainment programmes for 
all occasions, parties to suit every season 
and occasion, picnic plans, missionary 
programmes and socials, games, puzzles, 
children’s parties, in short, every possi¬ 
ble form of entertainment seemed to be 
represented in the list. There was a mis¬ 
cellaneous section holding information 
on a variety of subjects. Toilet recipes, 
fancy articles, Christmas suggestions— 
but you will hardl” care for a continu¬ 
ance of the enumeration. Enough has 
been given to suggest the possibilities of 
such a plan. I understood now why 
everyone called on Aunt Martha for 
ideas. 
“That is splendid,” I said, admiringly, 
“but not everyone can afford sectional 
bookcases fitted up like that, and then, 
where did you get all your clippings?” 
off emphatically. 
“I should hardiy think you would,” I 
said. “It is a veritable mine of informa¬ 
tion, but suppose you had magazines 
which you did not care to destroy'. I 
have several volumes of fancy work 
papers which are a constant source of 
annoyance to me, because I never know 
where to find things in them, and I have 
to look through so many before I run 
across what I want.” 
“The card index will solve that prob¬ 
lem,” sard Aunt Martha. “Perhaps you 
noticed down in the corner of some of 
the cards in my library index the letters 
X Y Z.” I had noticed them. “They 
refer to a card index which I keep to 
index just such papers and books. They 
show that there is something on the 
same subject in some paper or book 
which will be recorded in the other 
index.” Just then the minister’s wife 
came in the gate and I came in the 
house. 
“Can you suggest something to fill in 
the time which was to have been taken 
by Miss M— at our missionary meet¬ 
ing? You know she is ill,” I heard her 
ask as I came through the hall. I was 
sure Aunt Martha could. 
martha’s niece. 
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