Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1918-06-26

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Barton, Thursday, June 9Th, 1879
One of our most pleasant memories
is the bread that mother used to
make. Did anything ever smell half
so delicious to a hungry child as the
Odor of newly baked bread? Who
can describe those large, fine grain
ed, white, crusty loaves made some
times seven and ten at a single bak-
ing. We think of them with longing,
for they are truly thing of the past.
The bread we eat today cannot be
compared with them; it is quite as
nutritious, but it has not the fine
texture, the delicious fragrance, or
| the pure Whiteness of the Old-time
bread made from all wheat flour.
We are accustomed to regard wheat
as more or less Indispensable article
of diet. 1t isn't. 1t is a luxury, and
absolutely nothing else. There is no
reason why we should insist upon
having the most luxurious grain at
this time, when is is our only trans
portable grain and our soldiers need
special foods which we alone can pro-
vide. There are three reasons why
we should send wheat to the Allies:
1st, 1t is a highly nutritious food
and very compact; End, The Allies
are used to eating wheat and it is
hardly fair to ask them to change
their eating habits when they have
everything else to endure, and 3rd,
Corn meal does not keep well enough
in sending it across and those coun-
tries do not have the mills for grind
ing the whole corn. We have all had
to decide whether we will serve the
Allies, who need wheat the most, or
whether we will serve ourselves who
need it not at all, and we have made
our decision. We must fight shoulder
to shoulder, each doing that part in
| this great war which will bring a
victory that will make wars forever a
thing of the past.
How is it that such matters as
| food values and diet are in any way
connected with wartime food prob
| lens? People have to eat in war
time as we'll as in peace. Just be-
cause the country is at war mans
bodily needs are surely no different.
Bread he must have. Bread bullets
are as necessary as lead bullets. We
must keep our strength, poise and ca
pacity for work at the maximum. AS
a nation we must have our bodily
health to prove that democracy must
and shall prevail.
Although willing, we who are at
home are still somewhat conscious
of the sacrifice of our familiar food
and sometimes grumble over the
bread which is set before US. To be
sure, it is different from that to
which we are accustomed, but the diff
ference in the times explains that.
Let us think how our forefathers did,
Their staple food was corn. If this
crop failed they had nothing upon
which to fall back. When the corn
was ripe it was hung in sacks on
either side of a horses back and the
farmer rode off to have it ground,
sometimes going a distance of thirty
or forty miles, returning with the
coarse, crude product, none too clean.
Why should we hesitate now to use
the fine, clean, graduated meal which
we can get with so little inconveni-
ence? Our people have lived before
this on corn. For three years the
southern states lived and made gal
liant fight with no wheat. For periods
of four and five years at stretch no
wheat was known to the people of
England.
1t is for us, cheerfully, to eat the
war bread of whatever substitute it
may be made: hominy, cornmeals,
corn flour, barley flour, rolled oats,
oatmeal, rice, rice flour, buckwheat,
flour and rye, so much Of which is
being wasted in the making of
liquors. Let US indeed remember that
we are obtaining greater variety of
foods than ever before.
But the process of substitution
goes even farther; just as we have
= had to substitute these cereals in the
bread we eat, we are having to use
substitutes in the life we live. Just
as we use other materials in our wal
bread, we have to become accustom-
ed to changes in every phase of oul
manner of living. There is a spirit.
ual war bread as we'll as a material
The flour is the chief ingredient tc
determine the character of the bread
and the life of the nation depends up.
on the spirit of the people. 1t is not
appearance alone that counts. Though
not so pleasing to the senses, these
substitutes have more nutrltive
value than the white flour which lost
much in the refining process. So ou1
life in the old days had become toe
refined to give full value. We de.
manded as essentials too many things
which are mere trifes. Now ou1
standard of living has changed. W.
forget the little meaner things OF LIE
in view of the great task before us
This spirit shows itself in the readi
ness with which the American people
accept the admonition of the foot
administration, the daylight savings
bill and others.
The milk of human kindness is jus
as necessary in bread of the spiri
as the milk in the bread of our dali!
: food. Human nature demands sym
pathy. Someone has said that he
! who cannot feel for others has never
lived. There has never been a tim,
when sympathy was needed more
e than now. So let US strive to give o:
!, it generously to those whose live
l are Swallowed by sorrow and anxiety
: The lard of the figurative bread i.
f the lubricant which makes our dali!
$ life easy and smooth. 1t is still uset
I tn q pertain extent But we are no