124 American Agriculturist, August 23, 1924 
Improvising Emergency Equipment for a Sick Room 
Make-Shifts that Aid Convenience—Child Training—Short Cut Hints from A. A. Readers 
W HERE illness occurs in the home, 
there are certain conveniences 
which may be very helpful and at times 
almost necessary, but which one does not 
feel like buying, especially where the 
illness is not expected to be of long dura¬ 
tion. The following suggestions may be 
of help to many who are confronted with 
these sick-room problems, as most of us 
have been at some time or other. 
An emergency table can easily be ar¬ 
ranged where there is a sewing machine 
that has a drop-head. Open the machine 
and push the leaf over the bed and it 
serves as a convenient table for the 
invalid. A square of rubber or oil-cloth 
under a white cover will protect the wood 
from hot dishes or glasses and also make 
it look attractive. • 
For heating broth, milk or a small 
amount of water in the sick room, the 
following method will serve nicely. Make 
a wire frame, about four inches in 
diameter, shaped like a wheel, using a 
strong but light wire for the foundation 
and running across the circle both ways 
with lighter and finer wire, wrapping it 
firmly around once at each intersection. 
This device placed over the chimney 
of an ordinary coal oil lamp will allow 
of the placing of a tin or aluminum cup 
over the flame of the lamp where its 
contents will become heated. 
Then you can also construct an emer¬ 
gency refrigerator. A flower pot wrapped 
in a wet cloth and placed over a plate or 
dish will keep the contents as cool and 
firm as if set on ice, and milk will not sour 
if the utensil containing it be wrapped in 
a wet cloth. 
Use an Umbrella to Avert Drafts 
An improvised screen may be made of 
a clothes-horse with a blanket thrown 
over it; or an umbrella may be raised and 
so placed that it will quite effectually 
shield the patient from drafts. 
In cases of sudden injury, if the patient 
must be put right to bed and a rubber 
sheet or large piece of oil-cloth is not at 
hand, try using old newspapers under the 
sheet to protect the mattress from blood 
and medicine stains. 
A small cream pitcher is an excellent 
thing to use in giving fluids to patients 
who are too ill to be raised up. 
Very often friends bring flowers to the 
patient. Sometimes the stems are very 
short as with pansies or violets. To 
arrange short stemmed flowers, cut a 
piece of wire netting to fit the top of the 
dish in which the flowers are to be placed 
and stick the stems through the meshes. 
With this arrangement the net may be 
lifted and the dish refilled with water 
without disturbing the flowers. 
Cooperate With Nature 
G OODNESS, taking care of children 
means' spending all your time mak¬ 
ing somebody do something he doesn’t 
want to do,” exclaimed young Mrs. Lane 
as she took Daddy’s letter-opener from 
the baby and motioned Billy and Sister to 
go on picking up blocks and toys. 
“Oh, I hope it is not as bad as that!” 
her mother laughed comfortably. 
“But how did you manage, mother, 
when there were six of us to get into mis¬ 
chief? It must have been Bedlam.” 
“I suppose it was noisy, and I don’t 
doubt that I was sometimes worried— 
and cross. But I have forgotten that 
part of it. That is one of the nice things 
about growing old—you forget so much 
that is unpleasant. 
“But about the children—I learned one 
thing, and it was that Mother Nature 
keeps a firm hand on all her babies and is 
quite determined they shall grow up to be 
normal, healthy human beings. So that 
working against Nature is very much like 
swimming up-stream, while cooperating 
with her makes the care of children com¬ 
paratively easy.” 
“I don’t know what you mean,” the 
daughter confessed. 
“Well,” explained her mother, “I have 
decided that all children pass through 
certain stages of development, and during 
each stage it is especially easy to teach 
them certain things. 
How the Child Develops 
“Of course, at first, the baby’s atten¬ 
tion is chiefly occupied with learning to 
manage his hands and feet. We do not 
usually interfere with the process, though 
sometimes people urge a baby to walk 
too soon. 
“Usually the four-year-old has learned 
to use his hands and feet. Movement of 
the arms and legs is what he wants, and he 
imitates his mother as she works about 
the house. During this period children 
can be taught habits of order and cleanli¬ 
ness which will stay with them all their 
lives. Though too small to do actual 
work, they are pleased to do little, step¬ 
saving tasks for mother, if the task is a 
matter of imitation. This imitative age is 
a period of golden opportunity. 
“Right on top of this lovable age comes 
the individualistic age, when, almost 
overnight, the child becomes distressingly 
selfish. He wants the best of everything 
for himself and will fight to get it. He 
wants attention and will try to gain it by 
showing off. He bullies the younger 
children and teases the older. He be 
comes a family nuisance, and his dis¬ 
couraged mother wonders what she has 
neglected to do for Johnny that he should 
get so far beyond control. It is not her 
fault, though. Mother Nature is prepar¬ 
ing him for the battles of life; she is teach¬ 
ing him to think and act for himself. 
Dame Nature Goes Right Ahead 
“That the process is painful to his 
parents and friends does not influence the 
old Dame for one instant. She knows 
what she is doing. Soon his selfishness 
will be controlled by conscious self-denial, 
and Johnny will begin to show real char¬ 
acter. His boastful contrariness, which 
challenges every statement, will soon be 
tempered by reason. 
“There are many things you can teach 
him at this age. He appreciates praise 
and will spend tremendous energy to gain 
it. He can be taught to take responsi¬ 
bility. The child asks innumerable ques¬ 
tions, and your greatest possible mistake 
is to ignore, ridicule or evade these ques¬ 
tions. Give truthful, serious answers, 
drawing him out when you suspect that 
some troubled thought lies at the bottom 
of the questions. 
“Besides these there are other—but, 
mercy, child, see what time it is! If I sit 
here lecturing, James will find no dinner 
when he comes home.” 
Uses for Left Overs 
Potato Nests. —Take left-over mashed 
potato and form into nests, brush the 
outside and around the edge of each with 
melted butter. Into each nest put a 
mixture of ground steak left from dinner 
or any kind of meat will do. Bake about 
fifteen minutes, basting frequently with a 
little melted butter or dripping of beef. 
Carefully arrange around the outside 
edge of a platter and fill the center with 
peas, prepared in a thickened white sauce. 
This makes a good supper dish. 
Beef Patties. —Take left-overs of beef, 
and run through food chopper. To one 
cup of beef add half a small onion chopped 
fine, one egg, two tablespoons of milk, 
salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and 
form into small cakes. Fry until nicely 
browned on both sides. Then slice the 
remaining half of onion into the dripping 
left in frying pan and a tablespoon of 
flour. Stir well into the dripping then 
add the liquid from one can of tomatoes; 
season with salt and pepper. Cook five 
minutes, pour over meat cakes and serve. 
Corn Fritters.—Beat three eggs very 
light, and three-fourths cup of sweet 
milk, salt and pepper to taste; add 1 cup 
of left-over canned corn, 1 cup of stale 
bread crumbs. Drop by spoonfuls into 
smoking hot lard and fry a delicate brown 
and serve immediately. 
Rice With Meat.—Two cups of cold 
boiled rice, 1 cup of ground left-over 
corned beef, 1 cup of hot water, 1 table- 
spool} of butter, salt and pepper to taste. 
Into a casserole put a layer of rice, then a 
laye” of meat with small bits of butter and 
seasoning on each layer. Cover with 
water and bake forty minutes. 
Eggs and Tomatoes. — Take the toma¬ 
toes left over from dinner; add a goo( 
pinch of soda, a bit of butter, salt ant 
pepper and a few cracker crumbs, he 
them boil. Scramble six eggs, put on a 
hot platter and pour tomatoes over them. 
This is a delicious supper dish. 
Turnip Cakes. — Mix well together 
equal parts of left-over mashed turnips 
and potatoes; season to taste. Allow one 
egg to each two cupfuls and one-hal 
cup of bread crumbs Form into smal 
flat cakes, roll lightly in flour, spreat 
with soft butter and bake in a quick oven 
to a pale brown.—M rs- R. C. DeLyne. 
Using Up Soap Scraps 
T HOSE untidy scraps of soap, too smal 
to use and too large to throw away! 
Put them all into a baking powder can 
and cover them with water. Perforate 
the cover of the can, fasten it on tightly, 
and set where it will be handy at dish¬ 
washing time. You will always have 
some nice soft suds to shake into your 
dish water, and you will be saved the 
“fishing around” for those elusive pieces 
of soap. 
Always re-cover your soap with water 
after using the suds.— Mrs. L. H. 
Brown. 
A. A. Readers Suggest That— 
First aid to the home laundress is found 
in an old baby carriage or a child’s ex¬ 
press wagon. Use it to trundle the heavv 
basket of clothes which are being hung on 
the line. 
* * * 
A moment spent in the preparation of 
the butter will save much time in the 
spreading of sandwiches. To soften the 
butter without melting it, pour hot 
water over a bowl and suitable earthen¬ 
ware cover. When these have been dried 
place the butter in the bowl and cover 
tightly. In a short time the butter has 
become softened. Stir it with a warm 
spoon until it becomes creamy, when it 
may be spread upon the bread evenly and 
without waste. 
Not only is less butter required when 
handled in this way, but the sandwiches 
are better.— Alice Margaret Ashton. 
* * * 
If the waxed paper in a package of 
raisins sticks to the raisins, place them 
in the warm oven for a few minutes 
and the paper readily peels off. 
* * * 
Peroxide will remove stains from 
white kid gloves and shoes.—Mrs. W 
H. H., Va. 
* * * 
Vegetable soup is a favorite. Season 
it with a piece of salt pork or smoked 
bacon and add a little sugar to soup. 
Very delicious prepared this way. 
* * * 
Use for old felt hats. Never throw 
away a light colored old felt. It makes 
the very best of wicks for lanterns 01 
lamps. Cut in strips the width best 
suited for the burners for which they 
are intended.—Mrs. R. V., N. Y. 
* * * 
To sharpen the knives of the food 
chopper, run a few bits of sapolio through 
as though grinding food. 
* * * 
Lay a damp cloth over a jar containin? 
cookies, doughnuts, bread, or any f°°“ 
you wish to keep from drying up, then 
put the jar-cover on. The' food will h 
fresh-tasting until used up. 
* * * 
When you break a spring clothesptf 
save the pieces to use as dish scraped 
They do not scratch, but clean dishes 
nicely. 
INDOORS AND OUTDOORS, SUMMER AND FALL 
No. 2118 is the sort of house'dress that always looks presentable. Made of percale, trimmed with rickraeh 
braid, it is perfectly suitable to wear into town or to the neighbor's. It comes in sizes 36,38, 40 , 4:2 and 44 inches 
bust measure. Size 36 takes 3% yards 36-inch material. Price, 12c. 
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of sizes—16 years, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44 and 46 bust measuic. In a medium size the pattern uses 3\i yards of 40- 
inch material, with f/s, yard contrasting. Price, 12c. 
A new and attractive one piece apron is No. 2176, which has a loose sleeve effect that protects but does not crush 
the dress under it. This pattern cuts in one size and requires 1 % yards of 36-inch material. Price, 12c. 
Hot iron transfer 700 (blue only) 15c extra. 
TO ORDER: Write your name and address clearly, also pattern numbers and 
sizes. Enclose correct amount in stamps and send to Pattern Department, American 
Agriculturist, 461 Fourth Avenue, New York City. 
FALL AND WINTER FASHION MAGAZINE.—It will be the finest we have 
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Send 10c with your order and we will send you a copy as soon as it is off the press. 
