The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1896-04-11
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SOME RAMBLING THOUGHTS,
written for the Democratic Advocate,
BY MEMO,

Dwellers IN cities may OIten see tue lestNe
Nanny RECALLING herself upon scraps Of wrap
ping paper, posters of rainbow hue and
goodness knows what else; yet the pene-
trative quality of her gastric juice and the
wonderful alchemy of the department OF
her interior enable us to get from such
plebeian sources delicious goat 5 milk,
highly recommended for the two interest
ing siIs. = infants and invalids.
Dame Nature is wondrous wise. She
will not proffer hickory nuts to horses, but
save them for squirrels. She feeds no tish
upon timothy hay Arctic moss Is not hit
for lion but is reserved for the musk-ox
and he thrives thereon. The amusing
monkey is never reduced TO satisfying his
needs on a sandy shore rich in shell fish
Thus it goes Everything has Its own
individual taste and is placed where that
taste can be most easily gratifed. There
is a niche for everything and everything Is
in its niche The hog is wallowing in the
mire, the mole with blind persistency Is
driving his never ending tunnels, the croco-
die is slothfully watching for Egyptian
dogs and fellahs, and the iehneumon is
eyeing the crocodile and growing fat on its
eggs.
The only creatures ont of accord with
all these beautiful economics Of nature are
human beings. Their three-fold natures
call for three-fold wisdom ON the part of
cooks. teachers, and ministers; and every
one Of these may come short of the glory
of cooking, teaching and ministering the
right thing at the right time and in the
right place. Even if we raise varied crops.
or they are raised for us, our mothers may
make the grand mistake of trying to bring
up sturdy children on a starch diet. Ii
cannot be done. We will bolt all the bone
and muscle forming material out Of a grain
of wheat and throw it to the cows and to
the hogs. The whittier the loaf that our
proud mothers display the less Of staff
of life is it, and about as safe to lean on
steadily as a last years bean pole. The
writer one time dwelt for three months
where, with scarcely an exception, hog
hominy and coffee were offered for break
fast; hominy, coffee and hog for dinner,
and coffee, hog and hominy for supper.
The men were puny and unhealthy look
ING, complaining all the time, frequent
patrons of patent-medicines and steady
users of calomel. The women were white
and lifeless. Their glorious inheritance of
pure air and water, was nullified by bad
cooking and UNMARRIED diet
This column of Thoughts will be
read by many thousands of eountry-dwell-
ers in the various states The truth must
be pressed home upon their mothers that
the greatest buyers of quack remedies are
the country people, because through UNI
wise diet they often feel only tolerable.
You will find that the most obscure and
stubborn surgical and pathological eases
come from the country districts to the city.
In the Civil War the boys with greatest
powers of endurance were the city boys,
who, despite the fact of being cooped up
and in poor air, were, by reason of their
better and more liberal dietary, able to
develop more stamina than the favored
country boys. Why these unwise crea-
lures of privilege actually starve themselves
of hens eggs, and give away the solid
nourishment of these ovoids for the ficti
tious stimulation of coffee, tea and spices.
Is all this merely ridiculous or truly
serious? Emphatically. it is serious. Ill
nourished children can never live up to
their full possibilities A nation is merely
an aggregation of individuals An i'll |
nourished nation is in danger of failing at
the moment of supreme test. The uncon-
scious traitors to the best physical devel-
Opment of country are the cooks who,
having the wherewithal to feed well, I'M
Willingly starve those dependent on their
bounty.
But one must not dwell longer upon the |
Gospel of Good Food This column
shall be suggestive rather than exhaustive.
4 step higher in the scale is the region of
mind and here come into view new array
of potentialities for good or for ill, the
teachers. In some parts of Connecticut,
State that the writer feels thoroughly
familiar with on educational lines. teacher
in rural districts may be appointed for any
and every other reason except ability to
teach. The district visitor puts 81 vii
sons 'darter' in, because 81 owes him for
several cords of wood from winter afore
last. Erasmus Dow gets his 'darter'
in for term because the poor girl intends
TO get married ''come spring and she
wants money for ''fixins and sich. In
the meantime the poor children will pass
through three teachers hands in one year,
experiencing in turn severe method, easy
method and no method at ALL The con-
sequence is what? A State report of
recent years showed that many boys and
girls after 8 and 8 years of schooling could
neither spell, read, nor add the most sim
pie things.
This is absolutely and teetotally wrong.
The time is coming and now is when child
hood shall be recognised in the full as the
molding time of nations destinies The
hand of the ignoramus must be lifted from
the little one. This is day of specialist
ton. No fisherman can jump at once into
electrical fame A GARDINER might
tumble around Crookes tubes for ever and
never make Rontgen's discovery of ability
TO see that which we call invisible.
Neither should teacher be entrusted with
the care of the future of our country, for
that is what it amounts to, unless there has
been profound study given to the needs,
the oddities. the impulses, the epochs of
childhood
Take off your hat to the good and faithful
teacher She is the guardian angel of
the Republic. She takes the fedgling
right from the home-nest, full of pouts
and passions-an ungovernable little crea-
lure whose mother comedies that she sends
aim to school to get rid of ham This
gentle lady, with an iron hand beneath a
relyet glove, will take whole carload of
ncipient anarchists, every one of them
more than match for the
parents, and, at once put them in the way
II being useful and upright citizens.