Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-17
I1OIUNE==
HINTS

Matilda's commencement" or "Beulah's
| wedding" usually forbids the feray until. all
duties accomplished, the coast is clear for
self-indulgence. Mothers are proverbiaily
| unselfish and they seldom take their pleas
! uring until every member OF the family is
properly attended to. Occasionally this
self-abnegation is carried too far, even to
the detriment of the familys morals. We
have all known instances where perpetual
surrender on the part of the mother has
bred corresponding Indifference and neglect
on the part Of the family without their
realizing it. Amy old article Of dress is
good enough for mother. She don't care
much about going out, anyhow
There's no use asking her to go to the
picnic or take ride. She's used to staying
homer
Mother don't mind washing dishes or
peeling potatoes. and anything like that
stains my hands horribly II was going
to get my wife a new sewing machine or
fix sink in the kitchen this spring, but
she's used to going without, and / think
I'll take the money for that bay mare of
Jones that can pass anything on the road"
and SO ad infinitum.
If you always insist mother, on eating the
crusts and building the fires, and taking
the butt end of every household RESPONSE
bility, and wearing old clothes, you may
and the realization that you are to blame
in large measure for the engenderng and
fostering of selfish and unlovely traits on
the part of your family.
What girl wants to marry man who
Is habitually neglectful of his mother? Who
respects a husband and father who goes
Off to take his pleasuring by himself, who
buys all the newest labor-saving machinery
for his own use on the farm. and leaves his
wife to struggle along year in and year out
with a pump stiff and awkward that it
ought to be run by horse power narrow
doorsteps and steep cellar stairs that are
perpetual menace to life and lamb, heavy
iron pots and skillets, and a Sahara of a
back yard. in which she is forced to hang
out the wash, week after week. in the blaz-
ing sun?
DEAD, who properly entreated" could not
DE trained to make things as easy for his
wife as he will do for himself? Try it.
Few women care to have a man perpet-
ually in the kitchen. telling her how she
Ought to cook things. lifting up the COW
ers OF jars and kettles to see what is in
them, or messing up various and sundry
connections on her clean stove. But every
woman appreciates the strong helping hand
in an emergency, when the help" leaves
or the binding headache or wretched back
acne makes every step penance. Train
the children, boys as we'll as girls to be
helpful and handy. Let father take an
occasional turn at the household mill IL
the cogs get stiff and the bearings need
olling. Don't let the family get the idea
for moment that YOU are Sc welded to
the daily round of household tasks that
you are never willing to lay down the
broom and the dishclorh So shall you, too,
as well as father" ana the boys and girls
be enabled to live your own individual life
and when the longing comes.
Lie along the banks of brooks.
And watch the boughs swing"
without feeling that you are doing any
thing of which to be ashamed
And just here. a petition to have things
comfortable and pleasant around the back
door. Don't put all your energies into "trip
perles for the parlor guest chamber. II
you have to be in the kitchen a good share
OF the day, arrange to have it SHADY COM
Portable and convenient. Do as much OF
the work as you can rin the open air II
you nave not a broad shaded porch, or
oyerhanging tree, supply the deficiency
with an awning, with quick, growing cas-
tor beans, with morning giories or Madeira
vine. Have hammock at least a rock
ing chair close by the door, where you can
rest few moments while the kettle is
boiling or the irons are heating
There you can sit most comfortably while
you look over the greens for dinner shell
the peas, string the beans, pare the po-
tatoes or make ready the fruit for can
ming. 1t is no trouble at all to do these
things II you have a comfortable shaded
| seat and can in the meantime be enjoying
| the blue of the sky, the fragrance of the
| opbie bloSsoiHS, the play SlaQ0W, the
| song of robin or meadow lark. Couple the
| daily round of tasks with pleasant thoughts
| pleasant doors, pleasant sounds, pleasant
company and so shall pleasure Danish
the pain too often associated with house
| work done in the hardest, ugliest way.
Do you realize, for instance, that she'll
ing peas or hul1ing strawberries are the
| very poetry of labor? But don't sit down
to them in the stuffy kitchen by the hot
| stove still crowned with sticky spiders
| froWsy Kettles and ashy hearths. These
| things ought never SO to be, anyhow. The
| ashes should all be taken up when the fire
| is made in the morning and the hearth
| brushed off. AS soon as the breakfast por-
| ridge is dished fill the kettle with water
| that 1t may be soaking. Do the same with
| the frying pans. Be sure there is plenty
| of water heating ready for the dishes. Then
! as soon as breakfast is finished wash up
| the dishes, wipe the stove off with some of
| the soapy dish water, sweep up your floor
and there is your kitchen deck cleared for
| action. If you are now ready to shell your
| peas get pan or pail for the pods and a
| clean basin for the peas. Don't for a mo-
| ment think of Smelling the peas in your lap
! or into the dish where the unshelled peas
already are This means added labor in
| cleaning them from dust and fragments of
! pod If shelled directly into a clean basin
they need no washing, which robs them to
| some extent of their Juice and sweetness.
Don't throw your pods on the floor, for
| that means an extra bending of the back
| to brush them up again. While Smelling
| the peas, which is purely mechanical OPP
Grafton, one can talk, can even read page
| or two In some opened book or paper laid
| on chair near by, or memorize some IA
vorite poem or passage that one might not
otherwise find time for
The same methods should be followed in
hulling berries, pittfng cherries or stem
ming currants. Have clean pans for the
prepared fruit and separate dishes for the
| refuse. To save the aprons and dresses
| from stain, spread newspaper over the
| lap and If the sleeves do not roll up, pro-
tect them with cuffs of any soft paper
| twisted round and fastened with a safety
pin. Learn to save yourself work, if you
would tighten labor.
Many of the up-to-date bakers and cater
| ers now keep In stock birthday cakes can
dies and all complete. These are made Of
paper boxes in wedge-shaped pieces, fitted
together to make a loaf about as large
round as an ordinary pin. Each little seq
| ment has a lid which opens, and on the in
side is simple gift with appropriate print
ed verse. On the top OF each. segment is a
tiny candle holder, rosebud in shape, with
a candle in it. while the edges Of the Leaf
| are adorned with pieceasef red tissue paper