348 
American Agriculturist, April 14,192^ 
A Whole Page of Ideas For the Home Makers 
Clothes, Health and Hobbies are all Considered, while Aunt Janet Talks to Older Women 
A HOBBY, often recommended for 
the “tired business man,” has an 
equal or greater value for the middle- 
aged woman. She it is who may be¬ 
come a hypochondriac unless some new 
interest comes into her daily life. 
To many a woman of middle age has 
come her first vacation period in twenty 
or more years; her children are grown 
up and away from home, her house¬ 
keeping cares have greatly diminished, 
her busy earlier years have so shut her 
off from church and community activi¬ 
ties that she must make a real effort 
to get back into the swing. Then, too, 
she has probably had little time for 
self-improvement or study. 
Times change rapidly, and she, in 
her busy and confining home life, 
has not kept pace with events. This 
is the dangerous time, for her interest 
and attention are likely to be, turned 
in upon herself. Without a new ab¬ 
sorbing interest, she becomes self-cen¬ 
tered and morbid. 
Who Knows this Person? 
We have all known such women, 
nervous, semi-invalids who enjoy talk¬ 
ing of real or imagined ills. “I caught 
such a terrible cold last week, and it 
settled on my chest until I almost had 
pneumonia.” “The doctor says I have 
kidney trouble, and bladder trouble, 
and liver trouble, and rheumatism, 
and sometimes indigestion, and that’s 
enough for any one woman.” “I’m tak¬ 
ing two kinds of medicine now,” etc., 
etc., ad nauseam. 
Sometimes there really is genuine 
illness, but many times the aches and 
diseases are mainly fancied. The col¬ 
lege-bred daughter, with a knowledge 
of psychology, may understand the sit¬ 
uation and suggest a “mind cure,” but 
poor mother only feels that she is mis¬ 
understood, and that daughter is un¬ 
sympathetic, and draws closer in to her 
shell of self-pity. 
To such women an absorbing hobby 
may come as a life-saver in very truth. 
All her life she has probably had some 
unsatisfied longing—to paint, to collect 
moths, or to study music.. Only the 
other day an acquaintance confided, “I 
am. a natural born poet, but had to 
leave school when I was in the fourth 
grade and never could study any more.” 
Now, at fifty, she has the spare time. 
She is not very likely to become a poet 
laureate, but she will get an unlimited 
amount of pleasure from trying to 
write. 
Try a Correspondence Coui’se 
No woman in possession of her fac¬ 
ulties is too old to undertake some new 
interest. One middle-aged woman I 
. know is part way through her third 
correspondence course. She is not only 
keeping her spare hours fully occupied 
with congenial work, but she has no 
time to think whether she feels ill or 
not. She is benefiting physically and 
mentally, and, incidentally, in a small 
financial way also. 
A correspondence course has the ad¬ 
vantage over a course of study under¬ 
taken unaided, of giving an outside 
stimulus which prevents one becoming 
discouraged and abandoning the work. 
The necessity of sending in lessons at 
frequent intervals and the inspiration 
derived from a bracing comment or 
word of praise from the teacher, will 
spur one on to continue, and even to 
attain, some prominence in the chosen 
line. 
Consider What Others Have Done 
“Oldsters” have many surprising pos¬ 
sibilities hidden away under their gray- 
hair. George Eliot wrote her first novel 
while in her forties; Mrs. Amelia E. 
Barr was fifty and ill when she pro¬ 
duced her first novel, and had written 
over fifty between that time and the 
age of eighty-seven. S. Weir Mitchell 
wrote three historical novels between 
the ages of sixty-seven and seventy- 
nine. William De Morgan took up lit¬ 
erary work late in life, and produced 
four novels in the three years after he 
was sixty-seven. 
Similar accomplishments could be 
cited in other lines of endeavor, and 
any woman, whatever her age, may 
well feel encouraged to start in at 
once on whatever has been her most 
cherished ambition. 
Contentment will come and straddle 
the home ridgepole for aye!— ViNCY 
Preston Loops. 
QUICK ORANGE FROSTING 
After baking a cake one day, I noticed 
a lonely orange on the pantry shelf, 
and I thought some orange frosting 
would taste good, so I made up a recipe 
which was so delicious that I am pass¬ 
ing it on to others: 
Boil together the juice of one orange 
and one cup of sugar until it hardens 
when dropped into cold water. Then 
pour it slowly into the stiffly beaten 
white of one egg, stirring all the time. 
Beat until smooth and spread on cake. 
If a stronger orange flavor is desired, 
add a little grated peel. 
Before beating an egg white, I al¬ 
ways add a pinch of salt and one table¬ 
spoon of cold water. This insures a 
quick whip, and nearly doubles the 
amount of white.—L ulu A. Camp. 
A NOVEL SWEATER TO MAKE 
A sweater especially designed to suit 
the older woman’s figure is this, and it 
has lines which make it unusually be¬ 
coming. The sleeves are comfortably 
loose; the skirt portion is fulled over 
the hips, the waistline is low and 
marked only by a narrow drawstring 
belt. 
The original sweater was _ made in 
blue, with gray angora trimming. Pur¬ 
ple, black, a dull rose or dark gray 
would all be suitable for the sweater. 
Directions for making will be sent 
'for 12c in stamps. Address your order 
to Fashion Editor and ask for de¬ 
sign El. 
Next week we will show one of the 
new sleeveless tuxedo sweaters for the 
younger woman. 
AUNT JANET APPROVES OF 
HOBBIES 
Dear Nieces: 
What is a hobby and why? 
That is a double-barreled question 
that farm women might well think 
over. Too many of us think of a hobby 
as the idle-hour pastime of some city 
millionaire — collecting Chinese vases or 
raising expensive toy dogs. A hobby 
need not be a costly luxury—indeed, it 
may be a veritable life-saver for the 
country woman as well as for her 
more leisurely city sister. 
A hobby is simply a way of letting 
off steam. Steam which cannot escape 
explodes. Even children need a hobby; 
it may change as they grow older, or 
they may develop it along better lines. 
But usually we think of a hobby as the 
outlet by which some full-grown m'an 
or woman allows accumulating steam 
to escape. 
Mrs. Loops — you will find her article 
on this page—has some pertinent things 
to say about the especial value of a 
hobby to the woman just verging on 
middle life; the one who has perhaps 
lost the first enthusiasm of youth which 
transfigures homely tasks and not yet 
gained the philosophic calm of old age. 
She knows whereof she speaks. 
What hobbies have you found fun 
and profit, too—you busy farm women 
who still manage to catch a few hours 
a week for that important outside in¬ 
terest? The rest of us would like to 
hear about your hobbies, big and little. 
Yours, 
IS YOUR CHILD BEING CHEATED 
JEAN HENRY 
Child Health Organization 
EOPLE first began to be civilized 
when they hit upon means of meas¬ 
uring things—wheat, oil, cheese, skins. 
And with the bartering of so many 
pounds of this, for so many pounds of 
that, came two things into the minds 
of people. One was the desire to give 
as little as possible and the other was 
to get as much as possible. Since then 
the human race has been trying to keep 
itself honest. Those who buy have al¬ 
ways had to check those who sell. 
And in that way scales came to be 
one of the most important of the tools 
of civilization. 
There are scales in the barn, scales 
in the kitchen, scales in the grocery, 
scales at the elevators, scales at the 
railway stations. No one takes an¬ 
other’s word for the weight of the hay, 
of the sugar, of the flour, of the grain, 
of the cabbages. Every man is re¬ 
solved not to be cheated, but— 
Are there scales in the school house? 
Do you know whether your children are 
being cheated of life? 
It is perfectly true that life and 
health can be measured in pounds. Ac¬ 
curate tables have been worked out 
showing just how many pounds Mary, 
aged eleven, should weigh for her 
height, and how many pounds Bill, 
aged eight, should weigh. 
“Ma^? Why, she’s doing nicely,” 
you think. “Of course, she hasn’t been 
quite as round and rosy as her cousin 
of the same age over at Hillsboro, but 
she’s at the growing age.” 
Just think a minute. Since Mary 
began to grow so thin last fall, haven’t 
you noticed that she’s terribly fretful 
at times? Remember what a good child 
she always had been. Now she quar¬ 
rels with Bill and complains about 
helping with the dishes. 
A Few Pounds Make a Big Difference 
Just to look at Mary you would say 
she weighs ten pounds less than her 
cousin Sue. And those ten pounds that 
she lacks—what do they represent? 
They represent her present health, 
her future growth, her mental develop¬ 
ment. 
Is Mary to be cheated of these ten 
precious pounds? 
Of course not, if you know about 
it. But how can you know whether 
Mary’s weight is the proper anaount 
for her height unless she is weighed 
regularly? Mary is growing rapidly. 
If there were some one who would 
weigh the children regularly! It is so 
hard to. attend to things like that at 
home. Why not the school? 
If there are scales in every school 
where the children are weighed regu¬ 
larly once a month, you and all the 
parents of your district will know 
whether your children are being cheat¬ 
ed of the abundance of life and health 
to which they are entitled. 
Scales are truly one of the most im¬ 
portant of the tools of civilization. 
You can interest the other women, 
in your district in putting into the 
school-house this all-important tool, 
and keep up the interest in its use. A 
mother and a father should be as 
keenly interested in the child’s monthly 
weight increase as in his grade in arith¬ 
metic. Both may go up at the same 
time. 
The children themselves will be ab¬ 
sorbed in the game. When Mary steps 
onto the scales n^xt month and finds 
that she is two pounds nearer “her 
number,” she’ll begin to look forward 
with keen joy to piling her record up 
faster than, the others month after 
month. _ 
TWO SMART SPRING DRESSES 
IRST, a dress for the heavier mate¬ 
rials, twill, or silk, or satin. The 
ever-popular navy blue or medium gray, 
with black trimming and a smart buckle 
to add style, would be excellent for 
No. 1645. You can make it with the 
flared sleeves and long filont panel 
shown in the larger picture, or with 
the close sleeve and plain side closing 
illustrated in the smaller one. This 
pattern is excellent for its adaptability, 
as it can be used in a variety of ways, 
simple or elaborate. 
No. 1645 cuts in sizes 34,36,38, 40, 42, 
44 and 46 inches, bust measure. In the 
36-inch size this style requires SVz 
yards 40-inch material, with 1% yards 
32-inch contrasting. Price, 12 cents. 
Then comes a frock of distinctly new 
design. The dropped waistline, popular 
“jacquette” closing and one-piece gath¬ 
ered skirt are all features of the new 
mode. No. 1718 is suitable for a cool 
figured voile, for a printed foulard, or 
for a gay Egyptian crepe. Or it could 
be made of plain material and one of 
the new and riotous oriental designs 
used for trimming. 
No. 1718 comes in sizes 16 years, 36, 
38, 40 and 42-inch chest, bust measure. 
Size 36 requires 3% yards 36-inch ma¬ 
terial, with % yard contrasting. Price, 
12 cents. 
To Order: Write your name and 
address painly, enclose 12 cents in 
stamps for each pattern ordered; send 
your order to Fashion Department. 
Our Spring Book of Fashions, con¬ 
taining all the new models for the com¬ 
ing season, is ready. In addition to 
over 300 patterns, there are pages oi 
embroidery designs, styles worn by 
movie stars, and dressmaking lessons to 
help the beginner. The price is 10 cents 
a copy. Address your order to Fash¬ 
ion Department, American Agricultur¬ 
ist, 461 Fourth Avenue, New York. 
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