475 
my home much of the Summer underwear, 
both for the children and myself, ie made 
from them; then there are quilt linings, 
dyed blue, brown or yellow, and many 
other things which are both serviceable 
and pretty. A neighbor makes table¬ 
cloths for everyday wear by sewing four 
sacks together and brier stitching around 
the hem with turkey red. 
Are you going to paper the house this 
Spring? Wallpapers have advanced in 
price until one must plan to save as much 
as possible. It sometimes happens that 
remnant rolls of different designs, but 
with the same solid colored back, may be 
had at a bargain, and by turning the 
wrong side out. and using a pretty floral 
border, which may be cut from another 
reipnant roll, we may have a pretty pa¬ 
per for the bedroom, or other small rooms, 
at a very nominal price. 
LII.LTE KEEL) YORK. 
The Hot School Lunch in Maine 
Regarding recent comment on the hot 
school lunch, it would be extremely un¬ 
wise to expect that any new idea or in¬ 
vention should at once meet with the ap¬ 
proval of everyone, the world being made 
up of both broad and narrow minded peo¬ 
ple. Do you not recall that when Fn'ton 
started up the Hudson with his little 
steamboat scores of people stood on the 
banks jeering at him? Of course we 
must look for criticisms on the hot school 
lunch as well as any other so-called 
“fad.” 
The writer*happens to be in a position 
to know positively that there are few, if 
any, rural school teachers who do not 
reach their schools until nine o’clock in 
the morning; also that by far the ma¬ 
jority of teachers remain at their schools 
until 5 or ;> :.°>0 o’clock every night. It 
is certainly a grave mistake on the part 
of any citizen to take a stand in opposi¬ 
tion to the public schools. In so doing 
he is merely condemning what lie himself 
has an interest and share in. It is per¬ 
fectly fitting that the taxpayers should 
criticize the schools, but let their criti¬ 
cisms be constructive and not destructive, 
and thus help the cause instead of hinder¬ 
ing it. 
As to our grade teachers not being 
qualified to instruct the high school pu¬ 
pils during the evening in algebra, geom¬ 
etry. etc., that is not what she is receiv- 
• ing pay for; not what she has had her 
training for. Most of lie are willing to 
admit that unless we are constantly prac¬ 
ticing on certain problems we are unable 
to solve them. ITow many of ns can read¬ 
ily compute compound interest on a note 
which has run for perhaps -0 years? 
We do not attempt it. Instead, we take 
it in to the bank, where it is done for 
us in a remarkably short time. Perhaps 
we once knew how to do this ourselves, 
but we have forgotten. 
You may say that a school teacher 
should be able to do all these things. She 
should be and she can, but she will have 
to have time to work on them, because 
she may not have had any occasion to use 
certain facts that she once learned. Edu¬ 
cation is not remembering facts, but it 
is rather the knowledge to recall ways by 
which we may obtain these facts. 
Do you expect your rural school teach¬ 
er to spend two hours a day preparing 
and teaching high school subjects? Tt is 
my opinion that high school teachers do 
not altogether approve of this work. They 
intend that pupils who are deficient shall 
come to them and receive help. 
Everyone must have a few moments to 
himself, and a school teacher is no ex¬ 
ception. She especially should have time 
in which she can improve herself pro¬ 
fessionally by reading and in other ways. 
It also should not be forgotten that she 
should have a place in the social life of 
her community. Instead of discussing 
and criticizing her at your social gather¬ 
ings, it is your duty to see that she has a 
way to attend them, and that she meets 
all the people there. After you have done 
your part the teacher will do hers. 
Now for a few words about the hot 
school lunch. Cooked and served in the 
proper way, the hot lunch cannot help 
being a very great help to pupils who 
have eaten a hurried breakfast at 7 
o’eleck and walked or rode from one to 
three miles to school. Any teacher who 
serves the hot lunch will tell you that, 
her pupils do much better work in the 
afternoon if tiiey have had something 
warm to “wash down” the oftentimes 
meatless sandwiches and butterless bread. 
Concerning the time spent in prepar¬ 
ing the hot lunch, the lunch is started at 
recess by the teacher with the aid of one 
or two of the older pupils. During the 
15-minute recess everything is made 
ready. One pupil is allowed to sit in a 
seat near by the oil stove, and whenever 
the soup or whatever it may be needs 
stirring she gets un quietly and tends it. 
This does not stop her from doing her 
studying, and certainly takes none of the 
other pupils nor the teacher’s atten¬ 
tion. At noon the pupils are served and 
have a quiet, happy meal, after which 
two or three of the older girls help the 
teacher in clearing up the room. In a 
very short time the room is all in order 
once more and the pupils still have ample 
time for “their romp in the open air.” 
The writer of the article which I am 
answering may never have had to eat a 
cold lunch except perhaps on some sort 
of a pleasure excursion. Let her or any 
other taxpayer take up the pail containing 
a biscuit and a doughnut or cooky, and 
perhaps by good fortune a piece of cake, 
this food not being wrapped in a paper 
napkin but literally “thrown” into the 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
pail, walk a mile or more to the little 
schoolhouse on the hill, study and recite 
until 12 o’clock, and then when it comes 
time to eat I wonder if he would not be 
more than grateful for something warm 
(be it nothing more than a cup of cocoa 
or of soup). 
Some rural communities are much bet¬ 
ter off than others. In my community 
many of the children are underfed. These 
same children are at the present time re¬ 
ceiving hot lunches every day, and it is 
easy to see the good that comes from 
them. Every pupil looks forward to the 
hot lunch, and there is only one parent 
who does not heartily approve of it. 
Not only are hot lunches being served 
in this district, but in every rural school 
in our union of two towns, together hav¬ 
ing 20 such schools. In fact, the hot 
lunch is becoming universal in all of our 
towns throughout Maine. Let us watch 
for the results in a few years to come. 
Just now the good work has only begun. 
Garden Notes from Ohio 
The seed catalogs are arriving, and I 
have just made a survey of our supply 
of seeds saved from last year. We have 
home-raised onion sets and think they 
are better than most that are to be found 
in the seed stores. In our locality it is 
hard to get the very small sets, and the 
larger ones send up blossom stalks before 
the onions have grown to a good size. 
We save our own sugar corn. too. and like 
the Evergreen better for all purposes than 
any other The chickens play havoc with 
Embroidery Designs 
m** a «?!«« 
*•". "■* .;». 
72.). Design for border or Towel end in 
ori;s.< slitcli style. Transfer 20 cents. 
953 
: •.: 
0-.i. . for embroidering a border 
in cross .icn style. Transfer 20 cents. 
the dwarf varieties in our garden, and 1 
have heard that in some localities the 
skunks make regular visits to the patch of 
early corn. Yes, we allow the email 
chicks to run in the garden. When they 
grow too big to creep through the meshes 
of the wire fence they have to find other 
hunting grounds. But the little fellows 
are better to rid a garden of melon and 
cucumber bugs, of the little plant lice 
and other pests than any “dope” we have 
found. Besides, it gives them a place 
away from the old chickens to hunt in 
peace, and they seem to thrive with but 
little damage to the garden plants. 
Last year we tried the Fordhook bush 
Lima beans and found them a pleasant 
surprise. They mature much earlier and 
bear all through the hot Summer months, 
yielding a surprising number of beans for 
the size of -the plants. A few years ago 
we experimented with the little Fordhook 
squash and found them a splendid sub¬ 
stitute for sweet potatoes. We do not 
seem to have a- suitable place to keep 
sweet potatoes over Winter. Perhaps it 
is that we do not put them away just 
right. But the little eq.uashes are no 
trouble at all. We gather them just be¬ 
fore frost and lay them two or three deep 
on a low shelf in the cellar. We still 
have a dozen or more as I am writing 
this (mid-February) and have lost none. 
At first I found them a nuisance to pre¬ 
pare. for the rind was as hard as flint, 
and when I succeeded in getting it off 
there was but little meat left. Due clay 
T read directions which said to cut them 
in half, scrape out the seeds and place 
(lie halves upside down in a baking or 
bread pan. I tried the scheme, and was 
disgusted to think of the squashes I had 
labored over, cutting my fingers and 
wasting the best part. The squash baked 
in the new way was cooked in about a 
half hour, was very tender andi seemed 
to keep much sweetness and richness that 
disappeared when it was stewed. T count 
squashes now as I do 
or turnips. 
we try one or two ex¬ 
periments each year and have discovered 
several treasures. Last year we tried 
the Chinese cabbage or pe-tsai. It is to 
be in our list of seeds again this year. 
It is as easily grown as turnips, and is 
good cooked or as cold slaw or a salad. 
It is a pleasure to grow, for it grows 
rapidly and is beautiful, with its erect 
clusters of delicate green leaves, which 
grow so compactly that three-fourths of 
them bleach to a pure white without any 
assistance. 
I read in The R. X.-Y. of some one’s 
experience with the Cardinal climber and. 
like a child, I was not satisfied with her 
failure to got any blossoms, but lmd to 
try It myself. Perhaps her Vermont 
Summer was not long enough. I planted 
tlie seed in the house in March, raised 
three little plants, and by the end of Sum¬ 
mer had a lovely screen of lacy foliage 
starred all over with brilliant scarlet 
(lowers, and a couple of hundred ripe 
seeds. This year I shall soak the seeds in 
warm water for 24 hours or more before 
putting them in the ground, and T think 
T shall plant them the first of March or 
even earlier. mrs. e. e. f. 
on our Fordhook 
on our pumpkins 
“Just for fun" 
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Look Through Your 
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If you are an old customer you will 
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766 Stores Bldg- 
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Standish & Alden, Inc- 
Box 677, Dept. 109 
HAVERHILL, MASS. 
ASPIRIN 
Name “Bayer” on Genuine 
TELL TOMORROW’S 
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DAVID WHITE, Depl 114,419 E. Water Si., Milw»uk<*, Wis. 
$ 1.25 
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Complexions 
Are H ealthy 
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of Monoaeetieacidester of Salicyficacid. 
“ Dish Toweling ” 
Direct from Mill 
15 yds. of best quality 14" checked Cotton Dish 
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Direct to You 
