Daily Kennebec journal., 1895-11-28

enough
DO you know, she asked me. ''that
OF thirty ynine mechanics who worked il
one shop in the city of New York. only
one had home made bread in his dinner
pau: Only one in thirty nine whose wifi,
made the bread that her family ate. or, a.
was shown, too, made or Jnended the
Clothes they wore. And only that one,
1t goes without saying, had money in tht
pank. In another part OF the same city,
out of PA families, where the husband,
we're workingmen with low wages, and
Wnere there were children in every home
nVe OF the wives knew how to make
bread and one did make 1t, for her
family And only one woman out of the
244 knew how TO cut and make the
clothes that she aud her children wore.
That S New York, you say, not New Eng
land. But New England has its own
story to tell. New England is changing,
aud we have got TO change with it. or
change 1t. 10 keep it from being what the
Pilgrim fathers never intended it should
be
How many women would YOU find, in
any manufacturing town, who have any
intelligent idea of the relative value OF
even our common foods? OF the methods
OF cooking by which they may he made TO
yield the largest proportion of nutriment,
or how even an inexpensive dietary may
be varied, and made appetizing and in
viting: Of the foods suited to the differ
or occupations? OF sanitation and the
care of the sick: Or how to spend judici-
ously what she has to spend for the cloth
ing of her family or for household plen-
lshing, or how to take care of it after 1t
has been purchased:
| asked the circle some of these uues
tions, and we agreed that there were some
few things we could do. We can unite
with the Y's in supporting a cooking and
sewing class, and can give something
towards maintaining their new evening
school for manual training And we
voted to give up the Tennyson lectures,
and read our Tennysons by ourselves in
stead, and use the money it would cost
for some talks on sanitation, and home
nursing. and kindergarten work, and
kitchen chemistry, and two or three other
things"
Betsey happened to glance just then at
newspaper that lay on the table. 1t had
IL patent medicine advertisement cut, one
of the Before an After kind. on the out
side
'' / can do better than that, she said,
"or could, if had had kodak | ran
into see Rachel Collins a minute last
night, and they happened to be just sit
n Inmn 70 nd I
a change in anybody, its Frank Collins
He got out of work two or three years
ago. They cut down and shut down.
there ut the shop and when they started
up again, for some reason they left him
out. He felt it good deal, and he tried
to do two or three things he couldn't do.
just to show 'em, he said. And he lost
what he had, end his courage too. And
| guess they have seen pretty hard times,
he and Rachel l thought the last time
saw him anywhere, that I'd never seen
young man run down so fast And
tonight l hardly knew him. He's
Strengthened up, and rounded out. and
his eyes are clear and steady, and he looks
you in the face when he talks, and l never
heard him talk 50 well. My picture
should be labeled Before and After, too;
and the specific should be work.
"If l had any money to speak of, I'd
put my capital into labor They wouldn' t
fight, | guess, with a clear head and
kind heart behind them And whatever
sign my factory bore. whether of ham
mers, or shoes, or CLOTH or paper or pins,
or ploughs, / should know it was making
men"