242 
WOMAN AND HOME 
- ■ ■ - — I 
From Day to Day 
The Wastrel 
Once, when I was little, as the Summer 
dark was falling. 
Among the purple upland fields I lost 
my barefoot way ; 
The road to home was hidden fast, and 
frightful shadows, crawling 
Along the skylir.'*, swallowed up the 
last kind light of day ; 
And then I seemed to hear you 
In the twilight, and be near you; 
Seemed to hear your dear voice calling— 
Through the meadows, calling, calling— 
And I followed and I found you, 
Flung my tired arms around you. 
And rested, on the mother-breast, re¬ 
turned. tired out. from play. 
Down the years that followed, though I 
trod strange paths unheeding. 
Though I chased the .iack-o’-lanthorns 
of so many maddened years. 
Though I never looked behind me where 
the home-lights were receding. 
Though I never looked enough ahead 
to see the Inn of Fears: 
Still I knew your neart was near me. 
That your ear was strained t<> hear 
me, 
That your love would need no pleading 
•To forgive me. but was pleading 
Of itself that, in disaster. 
I should run to you the faster 
And be sure that I was dearer for vour 
sacrifice of tears. 
Now on life's last Summertime the long 
last dusk is falling. 
Aud I, who trod one way so long, can 
tread no other way 
Until at death's dim crossroads 1 watch, 
hesitant, the crawling 
Night passages that maze me with the 
ultimate dismay. 
Then when Death and Doubt shall 
blind me— 
Even then—-I know you 11 find me; 
I shall hear you, Mother, calling — 
Hear you calling—calling—calling: 
I shall fight and follow—find you 
Though the grave-clothes swathe and 
bind you, 
And l know your love will answer: 
‘‘Here’s my laddie home from play ! 
—Reginald Wright Kauffman, 
in The Forum. 
Who can tell us how to cure duck and 
goose feathers for the making of pillows-/ 
We want the methods customary among 
Tht RURAL N 
housekeepers who make ii.se of such feath¬ 
ers. Are they washed, and is any form 
of curing by artificial heat resorted to? 
We should like a full discussion of tested 
methods. 
. $ 
The United States Department of Ag¬ 
riculture has printed a bulletin on “Fer¬ 
mented Pickles,” by Edwin I.e Fevre. It 
is Farmers’ Bulletin 1150. and may be ob¬ 
tained free from the Division of Publica¬ 
tions. United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture. Washington, D. C. Dill pickles 
are a familiar example of pickles soured 
by fermentation, and full directions arc 
given for making them. The bulletin in¬ 
cludes other pickles, and also sauerkraut. 
This would be a useful bulletin to file for 
reference later, for many inquirers ask 
for these recipes every season. 
v 
A delicious variation in baked beaus 
is to add some canned corn, or green corn 
cut from the cob, when the beans arc pre¬ 
pared for the oven. The quantity used? 
Well, the friend who told us about it said 
she just put in stewed corn left over 
from a previous meal, perhaps a cupful, 
in her usual pan of beans. 
A 
Can anyone tell us about mattresses 
made from feathers? These are not or¬ 
dinary feather beds, but solid mattresses 
made by filling compartments in the tick 
firmly with feathers. One of our readers 
tells us she has had mattresses made in 
this way; that they never matted down, 
were soft and elastic, and were superior 
to any other style, but she can now find 
no firm making them. We had never 
heard of them before. With the high 
prices for curled hair we are all interested 
in mattress economies, and there are too 
many hard-working people whose beds do 
not provide them with the rest and com¬ 
fort they deserve. Restful, well-kept beds 
are not as showy as a new automobile, 
but they mean more to the family com¬ 
fort and efficiency. 
Egg and bacon sandwich, as served in 
city lunch rooms, is not a very digestible 
dainty, but the following is delicious: 
EW-YORKER 
Fry thin slices of bacon crisp, then chop, 
and mix with chopped, hard-boiled egg 
and a little French dressing. Serve on 
lettuce leaves, between slices of buttered 
graham bread. 
Some Objections to the Hot School 
Lunch 
Some people are very enthusiastic over 
hot lunches in school. That may do very 
well for the city, where so many children 
are underfed, and not well nourished, but 
in the country, where children.*us a rule, 
have good food, all the apples one could 
wish for to take the place of other fruit, 
and all the milk they want to drink, it 
hardly seems necessary to demand the 
hot lunch. Since people have come to 
realize the value of milk as a food, chil¬ 
dren in the country are getting what milk 
they will drink. There may be a few 
exceptions, but the writer thinks they arc 
few, indeed. If the lunches could be fur¬ 
nished outside the school and brought in 
at noon, it would do very well, but where 
it interferes with the studies and takes 
the time of the teacher and two of the 
scholars every day, it seems a nuisance. 
We pay taxes in order that we may hire 
someone to teach the children their les¬ 
sons from their books, not to give them 
a little smattering of how to make cocoa 
and soup from canned goods. 
A teacher in the district school gets to 
the school at nine o’clock, or is supposed 
to. and is expected to stay until four 
o’clock. That leaves only six hours for 
study, and minus the recesses, only 5VL> 
hours; still much is said about higher 
wages for teachers. Where is there any 
work of a b^-bour day that a person 
with an ordinary education can get larger 
wages? 
Once a month teachers have t<* attend 
a “teachers’ meeting” nowadays to learn 
to play new games, to teach the children, 
and with the legal holidays it brings 
about 20 “working” days for the teacher, 
and with a 5%-hour day it seems as 
though $5 a day should be considered 
good pay, and that a teacher should give 
that time and all her attention to teach¬ 
ing the studies prescribed, instead of tak¬ 
ing their attention for one-third of their 
day for preparing and serving hot lunch. 
In our school at 1L:”0 two pupils are 
chosen to assist the teachers with prepar¬ 
ation of (he lunch. All are wondering 
who will be tin* ones to help, and really 
between that time and noon school hardly 
seems to amount to anything. Then at 
noon the lunch is served, and it is often 
1 :.‘>0 o'clock before everything is cleared 
away so school can begin for the after¬ 
noon. The children have missed their 
February 12, 1921 
romp in the open air. and have had a cup 
of cocoa or soup to “wash down” their 
bread and butter or sandwiches. If the 
cocoa is properly made and used the * 
same way. no doubt it is nourishing, but, 
or. the other hand, if the children allow 
the milk to boil in making, it is as harm¬ 
ful as anything a child need have to 
digest. For years and years children 
have carried cold lunches to school, aud 
years ago the children were much more 
sturdy and healthy than now. with all the 
new fads. A fad is all right sometimes 
and in some places, but it seems foolish 
to go wild over every new one that starts. 
Teachers now claim they can't find time 
to hear all the classes, so have geography 
twice a week, English twice a week, etc.. 
so why put in extra work that really 
amounts to nothing? Some claim a child 
is more efficient after having the cup of 
hot cocoa, but it seems doubtful if one 
cup a day would make much difference 
with a child’s health. The studies are 
skimmed over so a child can “pass.” and 
if their parents can afford to send them 
to training class a term they can teach, 
when possibly they could not even pass 
a six-years’ work in all the studies used 
in a rural school. 
A girl just starting in high school asked 
a teacher I know to help her in algebra, 
and after helping her some the teacher 
told her not to ask her to help her again, 
for she could not do the work. Yet she 
is teaching, and has been for quite a few 
terms. Let the teachers leave alone hot 
lunches and som<* of their other new 
ideas and teach our children the things 
they should learn, and teach them thor¬ 
oughly. and in a few years we shall have 
plenty of competent teachers. Parents 
will see to it that the children are well 
fed and nourished. M. 
A Bed Ticking Rug and Some Useful 
Hints 
I want to tell the readers of a crocheted 
rug I made of bed ticking, just the ordi¬ 
nary blue and white striped ticking. I 
had been making changes in my bedding, 
changing some mattresses, and had a 
quantity of ticking on hand, so 1 decided 
to make a rug. This one 1 made was 
for a bathroom ; it is 27 in. wide and ID 
in. long. I tried to cut in the white 
stripes, so the blue would predominate. 
I used just the single crochet stitch. It 
is all ticking excepting the border, which 
is a« follows : First crochet four rows of 
ticking, then three rows of dark blue 
material, then three rows of ticking, then 
seven rows of dark blue, theu have the 
center all ticking, and finish the opposite 
end with the same border. It is a very 
fine rug. I made this for my daughter- 
in-law, and on a hardwood floor it is cer- 
Don’t Wait— 
Old Prices Here at Last! 
sporting goods and toys;— 
china, silverware and novelties; 
—tools, hardware, auto acces¬ 
sories and farm machinery; all 
fresh new stock at prices that 
will amaze you. Better qual¬ 
ity at lower costs. 
^ Back again to old time prices. 
Values back to pre-war stan¬ 
dards in New ^ ork ! Read¬ 
justments downward on even- 
sort of merchandise are now 
available for you! 
“Your Bargain Book” Is Ready 
40,000 bargains await your 
selection in the big, new Charles 
William Catalog. No need to 
wait longer; prices are very 
close to rock bottom. Men’s 
women’s and children’s clothes, 
furnishings and shoes;—car¬ 
pets, furniture and hangings ;— 
Use Your Catalog 
Look through your book now, or 
write for it at once. Our old custo¬ 
mers will receive our new catalog, if 
they have not received it already. If 
you arc not a regular customer, the 
first glance through Your Bargain 
Book will make you one. A postal 
card request will bring it to you free. 
Charles William Stores 
73 1 STORES BLDG. r NEW YORK CITY 
