New Britain herald., 1917-09-13

ming as a method of preserving food
 has been too expensive for our fam lilies. Nearly all have garden stuff
 of some sort. but the cost of glass
 jars. breakage, spelling, lack of room
 to store in. and trouble of frequent
 m ovings have to be reckoned with.
 "In the spring when we urged all our families to plant a garden, we
 advised to t1se best of our ability not to plant too much green salad stuff, but to plan for the old stand-bys such as potatoes, turn1ps, and onions that need nothing but a box or bin, beans and peas that can be dried easily,
 cabbages to put down for kraut. pep
 pers that can be strung and dried. and so on. Tomotoes are the hardest to deal with, of any of the favorites,
 but we have seen them dried on
 trays in the sunshine and canned
 successfully in any sort of bottle. We have much to learn from the
 thrifty peasants who have been prac-
 ticing old world ways of preserving
 food for winter every year since their
 arrival. In many regions that our
 New Britain residents come from, not
 only are vegetables dried at home,
 but each town has is oven for drying the more succulent fruits such as plums and peaches, and everyone takes turn at tending the dryer dur ing the season. It stands to reason
 that once these people have a garden plot provided, they know how to deal frugally with it's products in way to give the rest of us pointers.
 The Silver Lining.
 During the summer neither agent
 nor visitor have been away, and 1t
 has been possible to accomplish a l great deal of solid summer work in behalf of our applicants. So many grim, harsh facts are conf1ded to us, and so much misery is unfolded day after day, that it has been 8 joy to arrange automobile rides once or twice a week for groups of tired
 mothers and less fortunate children.
 The expense per person has been very slight and the happiness brought
 was immeasurable. We take so much
 for granted that it is hard to realize
 that there are dozens of these moth
 CTS and children who have never
 stepped into an automobile except a
 very few, who have had forced ride
 in the patrol wagon. There were women who walked home in a daze,
 forgetting their bundles, in the joy of their invitation. There were chill dren who had never seen a COW so
 as to recognize it in the fields. There
 were some youngsters who stood at
 the front windows all morning for
 fear the machine would pass their
 house ahead of time and forget to
 come back. One group of four chill
 dren, washed within an inch of their
 lives and dressed immediately, wait
 ed hand in hand at the curb like a row of paper dolls. for an hour be-
 fore time. Another group of five youngsters stayed awake nearly all
 night in their excitement, and when 8 thunder shower came up "most of them bawled' as big sister aged ten, explained. One mother said it seemed like Paradise to ride past the wonder full flowers in Elizabeth Park. Ice cream cones were an important fea- ture, in the children's eyes, and no ride was complete without cone all around. Friends passed en route, were greeted. with great condescen- sion Not an object along the way escaped their bright eyes, from the state capitol which was put in the route to stimulate state pride, down to the very insects beside the road Would trolley ride have an- swered just as we'll? Indeed not!
 During the months of June, July and August 1917. there have been 789 applications for our services: 39 from public officials. 38 from private so-
 cieties. 253 from interested individ-
 uals, Is from other cities, from
 churches, from schools and the re-
 mainder from applicants themselves.
 F~ 3ye
 contact with. 82 were new to us
 There have been 437 applicants at
 our office and 246 consultants-a total of 6s3 visitors. We have had 19 hours of volunteer office help and 14 calls made for us by friendly vis- itors. There were 774 telephone calls worth recording, and All visits have been made by the workers in the homes of those we are befriending. Permanent work was secured for 4
 and temporary places for 22 people. 34 families have received help tenn porarily, and 19 more have been helped in emergencies. Institutional care was secured for 4. In the 82 new cases, wtdowhood, intemperance, non-support and assertion, illness or l vagrancy, seemed the main causes. There is no question of lack of en1 ployment. Any man that is half 8
 man can get good job these days and hold it as long as he will deign to work.
 $525.71 Spent for Relief.
 | For the 53 families who received material aid from our funds. $128.72 was expended from the treasurer's 8 | fund, $17.21 from the shoe fund, | 356.51 from the H. H. Club Babies l fund, and $25s.72 from Agents Spe- cial funds; $84.56 was organized from 1 outside sources without our paying ] the bills, making 8 total of $525.71 for relief through the Charity Or ganization in addition to personal 1 aarVice