February 14, 
THE KURAI* NEW-YORKKFt 
Woman and the Home 
From Day to Day 
FAITH. 
When the anchors that faith had cast 
Are dragging in the gale, 
I am holding quietly fast 
To things that cannot fail. 
I know that right is right ; 
That it is not good to lie; 
That love is better than spite, 
And a neighbor than a spy ; 
That the rulers must obey; 
That the givers shall increase; 
That Duty lights the way 
For the beautiful feet of Peace. 
And that somewhere beyond the stars 
Is a love that is better than fate. 
When the night unlocks her bars 
I shall see Him, and I will wait. 
—Washington Gladden. 
. * 
Of course the fore-handed woman is 
now busy with her sewing. January being 
the season of white-goods sales, it is the 
time to buy materials for underwear and 
washing blouses. Colored wash goods, 
too, appear in these sales, and all these 
standard materials may be bought at a 
reduction. We prefer English longcloth 
for all muslin underwear, because of its 
smooth weave, soft finish and excellent 
wearing qualities; it may be secured in 
many different weights, though nainsook 
is preferred for finer garments. Where 
underwear cannot be made at home there 
is a wide range of choice in ready-made 
garments, but where economy must go 
hand in hand with refined taste one gets 
better value in the home-made article. 
At present most underwear is scant in 
cut, and very elaborately trimmed. It is 
quite instructive to find a plainly made 
garment of fine material, with no other 
trimming than a cross-bar muslin hem 
through which ribbon is run, more ex¬ 
pensive to buy than one with a yoke of 
elaborate lace and embroidery. But then, 
the coarseness of the trimming is over¬ 
looked by the buyer, who wants some¬ 
thing elaborate, and who has not learned 
to discriminate. By selecting good pat¬ 
terns and material, and following the 
style of the better goods, one secures 
something far superior at less cost. 
When neck and arms are finished by a 
three-quarters or one-half-inch fold of 
cross-bar through which ribbon may be 
run, the result is attractive, up-to-date 
and durable. 
* 
The question of house dresses cannot 
be settled by all women on the same lines. 
The ideal dress for the working house¬ 
keeper is washing material, made in one 
piece, with convenient fastenings, so that 
it can be quickly adjusted. However, 
there are many country houses in the 
North where, during severe Winter 
weather, a woolen dress must be worn, 
and we can only suggest using a mate¬ 
rial that will wash, and making it on 
practical lines. Nothing Is more slattern¬ 
ly than a once-stylish cloth dress, reduced 
to kitchen service because it is too shab¬ 
by for other wear. Percale and chain- 
bray are about the most practical wash 
materials for house dresses, with prefer¬ 
ence given to the former because it 
shrinks so little and irons so nicely. And 
don’t make all the house dresses alike 
in cut or color. We have heard of an 
economical woman who made all her 
working dresses and kitchen aprons of 
the same dark blue percale, which she 
bought by the piece, so that she could 
always cut patches out of the worn gar¬ 
ments to mend the others. It was econ¬ 
omy, no doubt, but it is not likely that 
she got much pleasure out of her clothes. 
Years ago, when we were all wearing 
separate waists and skirts, one energetic 
woman sent us a description of her work¬ 
ing dress, which she wore while employed 
in the garden. It was made of denim, 
all in one piece, with patch pockets on 
both waist and skirt, and seemed at that 
time a very emancipated garment. Now¬ 
adays such dresses are made of khaki 
and other materials by fashionable out¬ 
fitters, for hunting and camping trips. 
In .spite of all the comments on extreme 
fashions, there never was a time when 
there was more opportunity for making 
clothes comfortably while at the same 
time keeping in touch with style, and 
•there is no reason why the working dress 
should not be attractively made, without 
'losing sight of its usefulness. 
The Mother’s Charge. 
The housekeeper, the homemaker, the 
mother, who is the mainstay of the home 
is often sadly neglected, not appreciated, 
and I for one, was much pleased to find 
so many pages devoted to her in the 
December 20 R. N.-Y, only wish it could 
be a weekly occurrence. We all realize 
that many mothers are not appreciated by 
their own family. At whose door does 
the blame lie? I, having been a public 
school teacher for many years, had a 
fine opportunity to make quite a study 
of this neglect, and the conclusion I 
have reached from my observations is 
that it is more often the mother’s own 
fault that she is not given the considera¬ 
tion, the appreciation, she so justly de¬ 
serves. The mother should reign as 
queen in her household, but too often she 
is its slave. Her children should be 
taught from babyhood up to respect her, 
to work for her, to love her, and to give 
her the best. 
I think I can illustrate my point in 
no better way than by giving an actual 
occurrence that come under my observa¬ 
tion some years ago. I was teaching a 
large Sunday school class of boys just 
in their “teens.” One Summer we went 
camping for a week. One day was set 
aside as visitor’s day. The parents and 
friends were to spend the day and take 
dinner with us. How those boys did 
work to “fix up” the camp and make 
everything look fine! Two of the boys, 
Ed and Walter, were especially anxious 
that everything should be at its best. 
When their parents arrived Ed rushcd to 
the carriage; helped his mother out, 
guided her to the coolest, prettiest spot 
in the camp, arraigned some cushions in 
a steamer chair, an 1 said, “Here, mam¬ 
ma, is a dandy place to rest.” In the 
mean time, Walter had appropriated the 
best hammock on the grounds, and when 
his mother, waiting on herself, had re¬ 
moved her wraps and found a seat, 
nearly his first words to her were, 
"Mamma, did you bring me a clean 
shirt?” A homely illustration perhaps, 
and a seemingly trifling incident, but it 
gave me quite an insight into the home 
life of those two boys. 
The mothers were both well educated, 
refined women, blessed with plenty of 
good common sense, but evidently Ed’s 
mother understood more fully how to 
train her boy to respect and love her, to 
wait upon her, in fact how to instil in 
him habits of thoughtfulness, carefulness 
and unselfishness, that would make of 
him a man always ready to extend a 
helping hand and give a kind word to 
the needy and discouraged, wherever he 
found them. Walter’s mother loved her 
boy and thought she was doing her best 
for him by waiting on L,m, oy doing 
everything for him. She did not under¬ 
stand the effect of habit, especially on 
children. Mark Twain quaintly put it 
that, “Habit is habit, not to be flung out 
of the window carelessly by any man, 
but coaxed down stairs one step at a 
time.” She did not realize that this 
“coaxing down stairs one step at a 
time,” was much easier done in child¬ 
hood, and would not only save herself 
and her boy a world of trouble as the 
years went by, but would be the making 
of a man of him in the true sense of the 
word. 
It is the duty of every mother of 
future men and women, to make the most 
of what she has, to train those boys and 
girls to look beyond their own wants 
to the needs of others. The quicker she 
realizes that she is not doing this by 
making a slave of herself, the more easily 
will she be able to develop in her chil¬ 
dren the traits of patience, unselfishness, 
obedience, gratitude and appreciation. 
Blessed indeed are the mothers who 
have a goodly supply of gumption—that 
is; those qualities which make strength 
of character, which give the power to 
see and do aright. The word “gump¬ 
tion” is strictly Hoosier and they say 
“Gumption is the ability to put the 
grease where the squeak is.” May the 
mothers of our land leave no stone un¬ 
turned until they realize fully just what 
and where the squeak is in their house¬ 
hold, and then apply the grease with 
such a liberal hand, that all our boys 
and girls will soon have such well de¬ 
veloped bumps of gumption they will be 
ever ready to lend a hand to help. 
E. M. s. 
warmtn and ventilation. 
Baby John, who is three and a half, 
has his own little bed, of course, and as 
he is a fresh air baby, he is used to sleep¬ 
ing with the temperature of his room 
the same as that out of doors. Last 
Fall he was promoted to a new crib, 
one of those little white iron beds whose 
sides let down and are put up at night, 
fastening baby in securely. He was very 
fond of his little new bed from the first 
and needed no coaxing to be undressed at 
seven o’clock. In fact he began at this 
time to make himself ready for bed. All 
went well until severely cold weather 
set in, when baby awoke in the early 
morning hours, shivering and whimper¬ 
ing. Mother had to take him into her 
bed, which was only a few steps from 
the little one. This happened every cold 
night for a week or more, and then 
mother began to think something must 
be done. Baby wore as warm night 
clothes as seemed necessary, and his bed 
covering was both light and warm. Then 
she examined the new bed thoroughly. 
It had a rather light ready-made mat¬ 
tress which came with the bed. Over 
that was a mattress pad of tufted cotton 
and then a small homemade mattress 
made of wool. It ought to be warm 
enough, but the fact remained that it 
wasn’t. 
Now upstairs in the storeroom was a 
big sack of downy duck feathers, just 
the very thing, thought mother, and that 
very day she made a sack of new ticking 
to lit the little bed and emptied the light, 
fluffy feathers into it. Baby John help¬ 
ing (?) and very much interested. Then 
it was made up in the little crib and no 
complaint since has been made of the 
cold. 
In Switzerland, feathers are commonly 
used as a filling for comforts, making the 
lightest, warmest possible of bed cover¬ 
ings. Plenty of pillows help to keep 
one warm, not putting them all under 
the head of course; one tucked in at 
the back is a real comfort in zero 
weather as is also a hot water bottle or 
soapstone made up at the foot of the 
bed. Feather beds are out of fashion 
and justly so in warm weather, but they 
may be rendered sanitary by live steam, 
and for outdoor sleeping furnish warmth 
and comfort not to be despised. 
F. J. F. F. 
Great men are they who see that 
spiritual is stronger than any material 
force; that thoughts rule the world.— 
Emerson. 
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