The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-05-17


little dining room stove, struggling with ague
and Influenza while the oyer ambitious mother,
| by the help Of morphine and quinine, to keep
| down torturing neuralgia has had the house
| secured and cleaned from garrett to cellar and
| is now praying for mild spell to dry out the
| damp chambers and cure the family colds and
| keep the linen from mildewing in the swollen
| drawers and presses.
| Of course it was spring and of course house.
cleaning had to be done, even though the winds
| from the unmelted ice gorges We're sweeping
| fierce and strong and the air was mottled with
| threatening snow fakes instead of the pollen
of catkins and the showers of peach and apple
| blossoms OF course it would not be good
housekeeping to forego the paper-hanger and
| the whitewash- brush, even at the cost of lum-
| bago and rheumatism, and ear ache and
| tooth-ache and the ravages of the kidney fend
| and the winter cholera. Of course not, accord
| ing to foolish tradition; but 10, we would hint
of better way.
HEALTH, THE FIRST CONCERN.
| Just how many funerals have been precipi-
tated by early housekeeping this cold back
ward spring, only the Recording Angel in the
New Jerusalem can ever tell just how many
mothers have "gone beyond" leaving their
| motheress children to the keeping of the
stranger; just how many babes have been laid
| under the spring daisies by the exposure and
the dampness and the chill, even the physician
and the undertaken cannot hope to guess.
Cleanliness is next to godliness, but certainly
godliness does not require this spring holocaust
| of wives and babies, and godliness as you will
perceive, is placed before cleanliness.
| Mothers of America, use your God tai
ents and you must know for verify that only
at the risk of your own lives and those that are
more precious to you than life itself, do you
ever pull your house to pieces and turn it over
all at once to the demons of cold and dust and
| damp. One room at time, if your house is
SMALL and under no circumstances the whole
house at once. should be your motto for the
annual housekeeping. And every sleeping
chamber should be thoroughly dried before the
family are required to sleep in their renovated
| beds. Spring colds and fevers are the sappers
| and the miners that stand at the door of every
| human portal, waiting their chance to shake
| the foundations of vitality and strength. The
theme is momentous and vast, and only touched
upon by way of illustration as to what not to
| do.
Woman's Auxiliary Work.
ATTENTION, DELPHI POST, INDIANA!
The following letter from Pittsburg, Indiana,
a village of 800 or 400 inhabitants, in Carroll
county, one mile from the fine manufacturing
town of Delphi, records good work for the g..
A. R. of the latter place. All honor to the faith
full old soldiers who saved comrade from a
| pauper's grave! And now, will these devoted
men, so jealous of the honor of one who wore
the blue, extend their sympathies little fur
Their and take steps to lift the burdens of the
handwriting wife and care for the five little
| children of the man who was buried under the
| flag for which he fought? And Just here COM
rades of the Delphi Post, is the nucleus for o
| Woman's Auxiliary. What better motto can
any Post adopt than that of the great-hearted
Lincoln: ITO care for the widows and or
phans;" and who can so well aid the old SOL
diers in carrying on their work as their own
wives and mothers and sisters and trusted ad-
| visers in their every home trouble? Will not
| the Delphi Post take kindly interest in this
case? Somebody must be interested enough
| to secure its privileges for them. 1t will
| be found that the writer of the letter
which follows is herself ready to engage in
! any work within her reach in behalf of sol
| diers' families, and, should her services be
needed, her address may be secured by address
ing Mrs. Kate B. Sherwood, Toledo, Ohio.
| The following is the letter:
PITTsBURG, IND, April, 1885,
DEAR MADAM: / have read your letters on
caring for the orphan children of soldiers and as
there Is family--a mother and five ehildren-in
| this place, thought perhaps you would help them
Although they not destitute, yet they have not
the means OF getting an education. There are two
| girls and three boys-smart bright children The
oldest is fifteen years the youngest six years old
| The mother takes in washing, but that scarcely
makes living. The father died about year ago
| the Grand Army heard of it and buried him de-
Gently. There is Grand Army Post at Delphi
one mile east of here. If you wish to write to
them, address Mrs. Secretary Walls, Pittsburgh,
| Carroll county, Indiana Mr.. Walls tried to get a
| pension for them and almost succeeded, and do
| think if anyone is entitled to bounty they are
and ought have it by all means. Oh how long
| to do something for those in troubie-and this
world is full of it. If you know of aught that
| will find me willing worker am SO anxious to
| do what can. l would like to be nurse and
| care for the sick, and am sure if the war was
raging would be first to go nurse. In all do
| ask God to guide me. and hope He will give
| me something to do to help the great work
| Will you not also help me? If you know of any,
thing, please write your plans and will follow
| every step you dictate. ] shall look for
WILLING WORKER
INSURANCE FOR SOLDIERS.
| Comrade Frank T. Foster $50 and 1872 Vine
| street, Cincinnati, Ohio, the same whose card
| appears in THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE in con-
nection with Grand Army supplies, badges
| flags, &C., writes US a letter in which he
maintains that every soldier should make
| some provision for his family which would
| protect them from want in case of his death.
At the same time it is altogether certain that
| the great mass of Ohio soldiers are altogether
! ignorant of the privileges pointed out, or, in
of securing them. And then, again, it is not
always the bravest men who are possessed of
the very desirable qualities of prudence and
forethought.
| WORD FOR MICHIGAN.
! Comrades of the Department of Michigan, G.
| A. R., would do well to read the following COM
munication if they are DESTROYS of extending the
Order throughout the patriotic State of Straits
| Here is frst-class material and plenty of it for
Post, and Michigan should not oblige her old
soldiers to 60 rapping at the doors of other
States for the fellowship that they should have
| at home:
| FREMONT, NEwAYGo Co., MICH
| Mrs. SHERWOOD
DEAR MADAM: As have been soldier in the
| Nineteenth Ohio regiment will write to you for
| information concerning the Post at Toledo. / saw
| your name in The NATIONAL TRIBUNE and would
| be thankful for answer TO my questions: Could
JOIN the Post at Toledo, do live too far away
Would it be any benefit? What is the cost to join
| the Post, and how much the annual expense?
How often do the soldiers meet at their Post?
would like to belong TO some good Post where it
would be of some benefit to the soldier or the
| soldiers family. There are good many old
| soldiers here, but we have no Post organized any
place around Many of us old soldiers would like
| to join together. 90 {di Yours, etc,
sta 5n E. ECHTINAw.
General Topics.
WOMEN AT HOME AND ABROAD.
The mantle of the Czarina of Russia, for the