486 
WOMAN AND HOME 
From Day to Day 
Song in March 
I sing the first green leaf upon the bough, 
The tiny kindling flame of emerald fire, 
The stir amid the roots of reeds, and how 
The sap will flush the briar. 
I sing the sweeping beryl on the slopes, 
Ephemerae that come before the bees, 
The ferns renascent, and the virgin hopes 
Of pale anemones. 
I sing the dream’s unfolding, and I sing 
The chrysalis broken by the ice freed 
shore. 
The clear air winnowed by the bluebird’s 
tving, 
And April at the door! 
-CLINTON SCOLLARD. 
* 
Harper's Magazine gives this little an¬ 
ecdote, which, while intended to appeal 
to one’s sense of humor, conveys a decided 
moral: 
The Sunday afternoon quiet of the elder 
members of the Reynolds family in the 
living room was broken in upon by sharp 
words from the den adjoining. 
“You sha’n’t hang it there.” 
“I will, too.” 
“I’ll take it down.” 
“I won’t let you.” 
By this time mother and older brother 
interfered, preventing a tussle. And it 
was discovered that the cause of the ar¬ 
gument was a beautifully illumined Sun¬ 
day school card, bearing the words “God 
is Love.” 
Haven't we all met grown-ups whose 
religious training seemed as widely sepa¬ 
rated from their daily conduct as that of 
the two small boys quarreling over the 
Sunday school card? 
* 
The home gardener often finds wood 
lice or sowbugs a nuisance in the hotbed 
or frame. Florists have learned that a 
mixture of rye flouy, sugar and Paris 
green is an excellent bait to kill these 
creatures. The flour should be well 
sweetened and then enough Paris green 
added to make it quite green. It is used 
dry. along the edge of the bed, placed on 
a thin board, so that it remains dry, and 
care is taken to avoid wetting it when 
watering, as the sowbugs do not eat it 
when wet or caked. It also kills invading 
mice. Sowbugs or wood lice are neither 
bugs nor lice, properly speaking, being 
crustaceans, hence they are not discussed 
among insects. 
* 
We have been worrying about all that 
wasted barbed wire in France, aud won¬ 
dering how it could be utilized. It is 
said that there are at least 100.000 tons 
of it buried in the British lines alone, 
and it was found absolutely impossible to 
salvage it by hand. The British Salvage 
Committee designed a machine which 
absorbs the buried wire as neatly as a 
vacuum cleaner absorbs dust. The first 
machine was recently sent to France. One 
lorry and trailer carries the whole of the 
plant, which can work on the most un¬ 
even ground. A stout wire rope with a 
numbei of hooks is worked by a winch. 
As the barbed wire is drawn up it passes 
through two sets of rollers, aud the salved 
metal appears in blocks from a foot to IS 
inches square and weighing from 70 to 80 
pounds. For smelting it sells for £5 a ton. 
* 
On page 44S is a question relating to 
using the water in which potatoes are 
boiled, in a swine ration. Housekeepers 
who use potato water in bread mixing 
must remember that potatoes cooked for 
swine are boiled in their jackets, aud if 
any toxic quality existed it is not likely 
to be present in the peeled potato. Med¬ 
ical science reports solanin. the dangerous 
property found in many plants of the po¬ 
tato family, in the sprouts of old potatoes 
that were germinating, and such tubers 
would be very likely to be cooked for pigs. 
The danger would be destroyed by boiling, 
for in some parts of Europe green potato 
tops, which are known to contain this 
poison, are fed to stock when boiled, the 
water being discarded, as the poison is 
removed from the leaves by decoction. 
So science and practice agree, and the 
water from whole potatoes cooked for 
stock should be discarded. The water from 
peeled potatoes is free from this danger, 
and though it contains little nutriment in 
its slight starchiness, experience has 
taught many cooks that it makes whiter 
and lighter bread when used with dry 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
yeast. The practice is sensible and eco¬ 
nomical, though it has been largely dis¬ 
carded where the quick compressed yeasts 
are used. 
Women Workers 
Barbara’s letter on page 137 opened 
up to my mind a most vital question. 
Assuredly it is not “small” in any sense 
of the word. It looms mightily all over 
our land today. This problem has been 
No. 379 
with us for years, but until recently 
women never questioned the propriety of 
giving all their life and labor to the men 
folks of the family. The men took it as 
a matter of course, and the great majority 
did not mean to be unkind. They were, 
and are, simply thoughtless. 
To discuss the concrete instance of 
Barbara’s problem: She says they are 
prosperous and her father is kind. Two 
excellent reasons why she should have 
some of the comforts and pleasures that 
young people crave. Perhaps since she 
has been away from home for a time 
her value as a worker on the farm will 
be appreciated, and her father can be 
made to see the reason why she as well 
as any other laborer is “worthy of her 
hire.”' I would put the ease, plainly be¬ 
fore him, telling him that if he could 
not afford more I would gladly work for 
board and clothes, but under the circum¬ 
stances it was not right to expect me to 
do it. 1 would be dutiful and respectful, 
but I would be firm on the question of 
remuneration for work. Perhaps a talk 
with the mother might be more effectual, 
and then let the mother present the case 
to the father. I believe there is plenty 
of work for this daughter on the farm, 
and I think the whole family would be 
happier if she was at home getting the 
money she rightfully earns there.. But 
make no mistake, I do not believe in her 
staying on as an unpaid laborer, with a 
heart burning with longing for the pretty 
things she has a right to have, aud full of 
resentment because she may not have 
them. To do so is a crime against her own 
sense of right and justice, and is upholding 
a system that is causing sorrow to thou¬ 
sands of her sisters. If parents are help¬ 
less or needy it is the plain duty of chil¬ 
dren to sacrifice their life plans foi* them. 
They should do it gladly. . But in this 
case it would certainly be mistaken sacri¬ 
fice. If she stays home under the circum¬ 
stances, she will be tempted to marry 
almost any man who may ask her, simply 
to., escape from an intolerable position, 
and it may only mean changed servitude. 
If after a frank talk with her parents 
they do not see things as she does, I 
would certainly go ahead as a wage- 
earner, and be thankful that I had enough 
independence and spirit to do so. How¬ 
ever, I would study and try to get special 
training along some line, so that I might 
not remain in the ranks of the unskilled 
workers a minute longer than was neces¬ 
sary. Just now the wages look pretty 
good, but later on. when Barbara gets 
older and there is no chance for advance¬ 
ment, they will not seem so satisfying. 
I also believe that Barbara would be 
happier in something that was more dis¬ 
tinctly woman’s work now that the need 
March 15, 191b 
to fill the men’s places is decreasing. As 
she likes housework, perhaps it would be 
possible to take some training along the 
line of home economics, and to obtain a 
position that would be entirely to her lik¬ 
ing. And after all, work in something we 
really like to do is one of the best en¬ 
joyments we get from life. There are 
some things for which women are par¬ 
ticularly well fitted, and some that are 
adapted) to men, except in emergencies 
like the war, it is better to recognize 
this difference. 
To return to the problem in the ab¬ 
stract, that is troubling a thousand “Bai-- 
baras,” I ai.i inclined to think the women 
folk are quite as much to blame as the 
men. Men are often selfish because 
women make them so. Several months 
ago there was an article in The R. N.-Y. 
about a woman who had marri d and gone 
West. She labored seven days in the 
week, for her husband was opposed to 
church-going and Sabbath-keeping, in¬ 
doors and out for many years, and still 
remained sweet and wholesome in spirit. 
I gathered from the article that the 
woman might be taken as an example 
of commendable conduct and a spirit that 
rose above difficulties. But I do not in¬ 
terpret it so. I have never been an advo¬ 
cate of the “peace at any price” doctrine. 
Right and justice come first. If a woman 
is willing to endure indignities and 
wrongs herself, she ought not to be will¬ 
ing that her daughter should endure them. 
And that is the logical result of such a 
course: there is no home for the daughter 
worthy of the name, and she “dare not 
call her soul her own.” Let the wife on 
starting the new home insist on her 
rights, and train up her sons, if she has 
any, to regard the woman’s place in the 
home as important as is the man’s aud 
her rights as much to be respected, and 
in a few years this problem will dis¬ 
appear. 
I congratulate Barbara that she is 
awake to her rights. Good luck to her 1 
“May her tribe increase” ! 
MRS. CHARLES JOHNSTON. 
Wholesome Greens from Field and 
Garden 
In the Spring the human appetite 
craves green edibles, just as our four-foot¬ 
ed animals crave the first green nibble? 
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