HQ 734 H29 PLAIN TALKS YOUNG HOME Makers WITH ву F.Me CREADY HARRIS (HOPE LEDYARD) 02 HO PRESENTED TO THE GENERAL·LIBRARY OF THE · VNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN:BY: PROFESSOR GEORGE · HEMPL 1 H 734 29 PLAIN TALKS WITH YOUNG HOME MAKERS BY rances Mas F. McCREADY HARRIS (HOPE LEDYARD) AUTHOR OF THE GIRLS AT QUINNEMONT," SCENES AND STORIES,” “BIBLE TALKS ABOUT BIBLE PICTURES," ETC. » BIBLE MUNIN PAR CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED 104-106 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK HQ 734 .H29 COPYRIGHT, 1889, By O. M. DUNHAM. OB) All rights reserved. Press W. L. Mershon & Co., Rahway, N. J. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I . 6 II 17 27 35 40 46 I. CHOOSING A HOME, II. FURNISHING THE HOME, III. THE BED-ROOM, IV. BREAKFAST, DINNER, AND TEA, V. THE FIRST-BORN, VI. BABY'S EDUCATION, VII. HABITS AND AILMENTS, VIII. HOLY SECRETS, IX. HINTS TO MOTHERS, X. FIRST LESSONS IN READING, XI. MENDING AND MAKING, XII. SICKNESS, XIII. OBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENTS, XIV. GIVING CHILDREN PLEASURE, XV. FRESH AIR IN WINTER, XVI. A MOTHER'S RECEIPT BOOK, XVII. NEIGHBORS, XVIII. MISTRESS AND MAID, XIX. A MOTHER'S WAGES, XX. A LAST WORD, iii 55 64 70 72 76 87 94 97 IOI . 107 III 114 149870 INTRODUCTION. I SEND my little book with many misgivings. If I could have had more space I would have helped mothers more. Then again, I am anx- ious to reach the poorer mothers, yet I know that there is help in these pages for mothers who are not poor as to money, and hope such will not turn away from the book thinking it is not for them. As National Superintendent of Mothers' Meet- ings for the W.C.T.U., I have had the members of the Union in my mind while writing, and hope every member will find help within these pages. I hope philanthropic women will use the book to distribute among very poor women, for my experience as a City Missionary has, I trust, taught me how to speak practically to such mothers. Lastly, the book is true-every illustration is drawn from real life, and its chief value in my own eyes is that in many chapters I have the record of years gone by, when the boys, who are almost men, were about my knee and in my arms. F. M'CREADY HARRIS (Hope Ledyard). PLAIN TALKS WITH YOUNG HOME MAKERS. CHAPTER I. CHOOSING A HOME. “Are they going to board or keep house ? " is usually the first question we ask when we hear that a couple have married. As with almost every question, something favorable can be said on both sides. If means are limited, it is gener- ally better to board for a few months at least, and then set up housekeeping together ; but re- solve to have a home, if it be only two rooms, as soon as possible. There may be a case here and there where a girl does better to live with her mother, or her husband's people, for a year or two, yet these exceptions but prove the rule. You, will find, no matter how long you have been engaged, or how well you think you know one another, that as husband and wife you see one another in quite a new and different light. It I Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. is a very clear, strong light, bringing out every little imperfection ; the only salve to cure these imperfections is that old-fashioned salve of love, which suffereth long and is kind. Now you are more likely to keep well supplied with this salve if you two are living by yourselves, than if you are with others. Any little misunderstanding is sooner set right, any little disagreement more quickly adjusted. Agreed, then, that we want a home. How shall we choose it? Most of us must expect to rent, not buy, and many of us must pay a very moderate rent. Let us decide what we must have—the very poorest of us. A sunny living- room, and at least one bed-room with window opening on the street or yard; for in case of any sickness such a room is an absolute necessity. Better climb an extra flight of stairs and have good air in your home. Remember too that the upper stories will be more easily warmed. If you take rooms at a distance from your hus- band's work you must add his car-fares to the rent. Let us look well at our surroundings, for a tired man should not be tempted by a liquor store at his very door, if we can avoid it. See that the plumbing of the house is in order. I find that very many tenants do not know that the law can compel the landlord to keep his house in decent order. Not only will the Board of Health compel him to keep water-closet and sinks in running order, but the areas and back Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 3 yard must be cleaned out at least twice a year. If a place is disgracefully dirty and out of order, drop a postal to the Board of Health and the matter will be attended to, without the landlord hearing your name. Knowing this, even if you are not going to rent rooms in a building, take interest enough to have the place cleansed—this is one of the ways in which we can prove our love for our neighbor. In choosing rooms, let us remember it is bet- ter to pay a little more rent for clearer space and better ventilation than to pay for drugs and doc- toring. In all our large cities there are blocks of tenements put up by public-spirited men, or associations. These are in no way a charity-I find so many working-people think they are, and therefore will not live in them. They are good business investments, and the rules and regula- tions are made in the interests of the tenants. The rent may seem a little higher, but at the end of the year you receive a premium, or inter- est on the money you have paid, which reduces the year's rent. These buildings are built by most experienced men, every law of health is studied, you have such privacy as you can not get in a smaller tenement ; there are baths, pleasant play-room, reading-room and play- grounds. Be on the watch for an opportunity to get in such a building ; you may not get on the floor you wish at first, but, once in, you can be better suited in time, and I am sure 4 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. that you will lose all prejudice against these tenements. Still, many of us must content ourselves with a floor, or even half a floor, in some ordinary house. Do not be anxious for “ modern im- provements." It is safer, for our general health, that there should be no plumbing in our living- rooms; yet if, on the other hand, you have such conveniences, do not be nervous as to sewer gas, etc., only take proper precautions. At least once a week rinse every waste-pipe with a strong solution of washing soda and boiling water ; now and then pour a little household ammonia down, and once a month dissolve some copperas in an old vessel and pour it in sink and water closet, flushing well with water. Before we speak of furnishing, let us consider the subject of cleaning. It is so much easier to clean rooms thoroughly before the furniture is brought in. Examine all the cracks in the paper. A whitewashed wall is far more wholesome than one that is papered ; so, if the paper is in bad condition, off with it. “But,” you say, But," you say," there are two or three papers underneath." So much more do you need to take all off. Wet the walls thoroughly and the paper will strip off easily. But, at whatever trouble, take every bit of the old paper off. Then wash the walls down with a strong solution of alum and borax. It is not very hard work to paper the room afresh. Be. fore you begin that, scrub every particle of paint Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 5 thoroughly. There is nothing better than good yellow soap and borax for paint ; sapolio can be used when there are bad stains, but the paint comes off too. Have you ever tried to paint your own wood-work? Many a woman has done it, and the room will be far more sweet and wholesome for a coat of paint. Get your hus- band to whitewash the ceiling (washing it first with strong soda-water) and closets, and, last of all, paper the walls. In choosing papers, remember that a small pattern will match with much less waste than a large one. Avoid green papers, as they are often poisonous. To find how much paper you need, measure around the room, multiply the feet by twelve, and divide by the number of inches in the width of the paper : this gives you the num- ber of breadths; then find the height of the room in feet, measuring from the cornice to the base- board and allowing for the matching of the pat- tern ; multiply this by the number of breadths and divide by thirty-six ; now deduct for doors and windows. It is well to have half a roll left to mend with. Before you put the paper on, fill all the cracks with plaster of paris and allow time to dry. Then melt eight ounces of dissolved glue in a pailful of hot water, and apply this to every part of the walls with a whitewash brush, taking great care that you wet every part, especially at the top and bottom. Now cut the blank strip from the left side of your wall-paper, and cut it 6 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. in lengths. Now for your paste. For a room which will require eight or nine pieces of paper, four pounds of flour, or eight cups, will be suffic- ient. This should be beaten to a stiff batter with clear cold water. Put half of this in a pail and pour in boiling water, stirring briskly as you pour. The batter will swell, and as soon as the color changes to a yellow tinge stop adding the water. The quantity of batter given will fill two pails. Now lay your paper, face downward, on a table or board, and apply the paste with a whitewash brush, as quickly as possible. Then place in position on the wall and press it quickly on with a damp cloth, beginning at the top. It is well to cut your papers a little longer than necessary, so that they can be cut off neatly at the base-board after they have been put on, as the wall is not al- ways quite plumb. Then cut out the border, paste it on, and the work is finished. And now with rooms cleaned, papered, white- washed, and painted, we are ready for the fur- niture, which we shall consider in our next chapter. CHAPTER II. FURNISHING THE HOME. Having the home ready, what about the fur- nishing ? If we have plenty of space, furnishing is Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 7 a comparatively easy matter ; but if we must “live close," we must study just how to place everything. I shall in this chapter plan for those who make one room the kitchen and par- lor—a room which, if neatly kept, is most invit- ing and cheering. Let us resolve that we will not buy on the “ installment plan.” You pay double, often treble, for your furniture when paying by in- stallments. No, turn and twist and do without, putting your “installments” each week in a box, and then you can do twice as much with your money. Remember in covering your floors that close-fitting carpets gather dust which finds its way to your lungs, often causing serious ill- ness. My own choice would be to stain the floor, and then put a square of carpet that could be taken up at least once a month. Large double tacks will hold this square in place. You can buy stain about as cheaply as you can mix it. You need not paint the floor, but dip a woolen cloth in the stain and rub it on. Begin at one corner and work out to the door. After the stain is quite dry, rub the floor very thoroughly with a soft cloth wet with equal parts linseed oil and turpentine. This mixture can be used also on your furniture, but must be well rubbed in. In buying your furniture, do not despise auc- tion-rooms. Many an article can be bought at second-hand for less than one-half the price of 8 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. new, and a little paint, varnish, and home-up. holstering will do wonders. Take the coverings carefully off an old lounge, noticing how they were put on; cut your new covers by them, and, though you may have to work hard, you will be well repaid for your efforts. Get a good stove, for no workman can work with poor tools, and the stove will be your largest, most important tool. During the sum- mer months an oil stove is a great comfort; but if you can not afford one you can make a very good substitute. Be sure that your stove is quite cold in the first place: then place in the grate a pan of unsifted cold ashes, wetting well with kerosene oil. When you need a fire throw a match in and cover instantly ; you can cook a breakfast or a supper by this fire, and your room will soon cool off. This can also be used in a round cylinder stove to heat up a parlor or a bed-room, where you do not wish to keep a fire all the time. It is a good thing to have your sink shut in by doors with shelves above for the dishes in daily use. Screw hooks on the under side of these shelves and you have double the room, hanging your tins, cups, etc. If you want to learn how to make the most of a little space, visit one of the large steamers and take a look at the steward's pantry. Bags of all sizes and shapes are a great comfort when one has not much room. Take a strong piece of ticking or linen, nearly the size of your closet door; in this Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 9 stitch "pockets,"-large ones for muslin, flan- nels, papers; smaller ones along the bottom for shoes; one at the top for twine, another for the whisk-broom, and two long ones in the center for umbrella and parasol. Such a bag saves many a moment that was spent in “hunting round." Have door-mats inside as well as outside your door, and do not despair if your husband does not remember to use them at first. He will soon find how it rests him to put on his slippers, and little by little will take pride in his tidy, pretty home. Only remember a home must be a place of free- dom. Don't jump up and straighten a chair the moment John leaves it, or put his papers in the closet before he has half read them. A little boy once said, “ My house is full of nots,"—too many nots make an uncomfortable home. But husbands can be gently led ; have a basin of water ready for John when he comes in ; look so tidy yourself that he feels he must “fix up” a little to sit at the same table with you. But to return to our furnishing. An oil-cloth cover will keep your table clean, and even if you can afford a cloth one also, it is as well to have the oil-cloth underneath, as it will save your table. Do not feel that a sofa or lounge is an ab- solute necessity, but, on the other hand, make sure of a good refrigerator. This will soon save you enough to pay for itself. For several months in the year a box fastened outside the window will 10 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 9 serve as a kind of safe, and will save buying ice. Lamps are so cheap that you can well afford a good large burner. Keep the burner clean, wash out and dry the wick once a fortnight, and polish the chimney with newspaper. with newspaper. A bright light at night will make a plain room cheerful, while a dim light makes the finest house look dreary. “ But are we to have no ornaments ? you ask. Yes, a home needs pretty things, but too many knick-knacks only catch dust, and after a little time look dingy and untidy. The most beautiful ornament a living-room can have is a stand of well-kept plants ; but, if you can not attend to them faithfully, better keep none, for sickly, neglected plants are as disgraceful as dirty tables. A very little money with ten min- utes of care each day will keep your window full of green leaves if not of flowers, and, as I said, nothing is handsomer. Each one has her own idea as to window. curtains, only remember to let all the sunshine you can into the room ; better a faded carpet than a sickly woman, and no woman can be well and strong whose room is not thoroughly washed out by fresh air, and cleansed by sunlight. God gives us an ever-varying picture in the clouds above our heads ; let us have that picture, if pos- sible, before our eyes in our homes. As to the walls, many of the "tea pictures "are well worth framing, and your husband can make a shabby old frame, fresh and pretty. First sand-paper Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. II all the paint off the frame, then coat it with glue, and scatter rice thickly on the warm glue. When this is dry, paint it with liquid gold, and you have a very showy, pretty frame. One friend of mine has made a pretty frame by covering heavy card- board with a pretty cretonne. But do not be in haste as to ornaments; one gathers them as the years go by. CHAPTER III. THE BED-ROOM. REMEMBER that one-third of your life is spent in bed, therefore get a good one at the start. Heavy wadded “comfortables" are not healthy ; if you cannot afford blankets there is more warmth in a quilt made with newspapers than in comfort- ables. A screen is a great comfort and will be of use both in the bed-room and sitting-room. This screen secures privacy for bathing, etc., so in the leisure of your first housekeeping-days make one for yourself. You may get a torn or faded screen, which you can re-cover for little or nothing, at some store, or else buy a strong clothes-horse, shirr some bright chintz from the top to the bottom of each leaf, and you have a very inexpensive screen which you can set up in any part of the room where you need a little privacy. One friend uses such a screen at her I 2 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. wash-tubs, and can pull down her sleeves and tie on a fresh apron before coming from behind it if a visitor chances in. Does this sound - too fussy.” My dear friend, there is no place where pretty looks and nice ways pay so well as in your own home. Certainly after one man has chosen you to be his wife, you should care most for the impression you make on him, and that impression is made day by day in the little things. Don't save up your pretty things for “company, but make company of your husband. Pretty cups and saucers, odd plates and fancy dishes, are almost as cheap as the plainer ones, and if you are to be dish-washer you will enjoy the care of pretty things. In flats or tenements we must be watching against uninvited company in the joints of our beds and cracks of the walls. Oil of cedar is, I think, the best preventive; you put it in every crack and joint with a feather. Twice a year it is well to give your bedsteads a thin coat of varnish, while insect powder is good to use from March till November at least three times a week. Many people do not seem to understand that insect powder loses its strength by exposure to the air. Keep it tightly corked. Take care to air your bedding and mattress every day, sunning the mattress at least once a week. To do this you may have to seem rather disorderly if your sunny windows are in the liv- ing-room, but it is the surest way to keep well Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 13 and strong. Remember you weigh a pound less each morning than you did when you went to bed, and that pound has gone off in perspira- tion in the bed-clothes; you can easily under- stand that you want that clothing aired. Fresh air is needed at night as well as during the day, yet many do not have it because they are afraid of a draught. The very best ventila- tor that I know of is so cheap and so easily made that the poorest family can have fresh air if only there is a window. Get a piece of wood an inch or so thick, three inches wide, and exactly as long as your window is broad. Raise the sash and place the slip of wood upon the sill of the window ; then draw the sash closely down upon the slip of wood. If the wood is well fitted no draught will be felt, while the bad air will flow out and fresh air flow in between the upper and lower sashes. If windows opposite each other are fitted with these boards most excellent ven- tilation is obtained. The board can be painted to match the woodwork and will not be noticed. It is well to cover the edges with listing, and then no possible draught can be felt. I hope you do not burn a lamp at night. Per- haps you say, “ I always turn it down.” That is still worse. Never turn a lamp down—never! A lamp actually poisons the air, and whenever lamps are burned fresh air should be constantly brought into the room, but a lowered lamp is really dangerous. Remember then that a light 14 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. uses up the best air of the room, and never, ex- cept in times of sickness, burn one at night. If it must be done, burn a small lamp at its full height, not a large lamp turned down. I sup- pose you have noticed how dust gathers under a bed ? For this reason it is very foolish to car- pet a bedroom. Two or three pieces of carpet, neatly bound, are so much better, with a stained floor, or even plain white boards. If you have no closet in which to hang your clothes, put up a shelf and hang a curtain in front of it. Have a bag for soiled clothes—it will save “picking up” on the wash-day. I am sorry to think any one has to use a dark bed-room. It can not be as whole- some as one with a window in it. Do not be contented as long as you use such a room, but save, and hope, and work, for a better place. Even a window opening into the hall is better than none, though the hall is almost al- ways full of bad air. But, if you must for a time use a dark bed-room, keep it spotlessly clean; never leave a vessel with anything impure in it in that room. Remember there is no es- cape for the bad air, and you breathe it, so keep out all foul air that you can. Do not take the lamp in--enough light can be given from the outer room. Whitewash it at least once in three months, and, as I said before, take the bedclothes out often and sun and air them. One simple way of purifying the air is to place a pitcher or pail Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 15 of fresh cold water (the colder the better) in the room at night. This water must not be used for drinking—it absorbs all the impurities and should be thrown out. Where the room is occupied all day as well as at night the water should be re- newed frequently. Does this seem troublesome ? A little daily trouble will save you sickness and loss of time, perhaps a life-long sorrow. God means us to be refreshed by sleep; if we are not, let us try to find why His purpose is not ful- filled. ? Is it too late to make a suggestion for a lounge? It will do in bed-room or living-room. Have a strong pine box made, six feet long by two and a half wide, with good strong casters fastened on the bottom. This should have a solid cover fastened on by hinges. The box must not be high, as a mattress is laid on it. Now tack a deep ruffle all around the box, or, if the back does not show, round three sides. Make a cover of the same material as this ruffle (chintz or cre- tonne) for the mattress. You can buy a mattress or make one of nice straw. I think it best to fit the cover over the mattress and tuft it. This keeps it in better shape. A frill should hang over the sides of the box, about a finger and a half deep. Make two or three square pillows covered with the chintz, and you have a very comfortable lounge, which can be used as a bed, and in which all of the best clothes can be laid without mussing ! Try this, and if you are half 16 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. as pleased at the result as I was, you will be well repaid. Smaller boxes made and cushioned in the same way make good window-seats, where the children can keep their toys, or your store of sheets and table-cloths can be kept in them. In one place in your bed-room keep those remedies which you have found helpful in case of accident. Shall I tell you what I think you should have ? In the two top pockets of your closet-bag should be old linen and pieces of flan- nel, with a little soft white cord. On the closet- shelf, a bottle of witch-hazel, another of arnica, spirits of camphor, and a box of Dalley's Salve. When there are children keep several two ounce bottles filled respectively with sweet spirits of nitre, paregoric, and hive syrup, and in a box or drawer keep chlorate of potash, court plaster, a wad of cotton, and some sticking-plaster. In cases of fever a teaspoonful of sweet spirits of nitre in a glass of water, taken in small sips every hour, is excellent. Hive syrup is given in case of croup. Many a “ forlorn feeling" or cold is warded off by touching the tongue with camphor, many a bruise is made painless by bathing with witch-hazel; a teaspoonful from the saine bottle added to a little water will cure severe cramps, while the salve takes the fire out of burns, eases the children's chilblains, cures a neighbor's run- round, comforts John's corns,-in short, is some- thing I, for one, can never be without. I do not mention Jamaica ginger among these Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 17 medicines. I wish I could persuade every one who reads this book never to touch the stuff again. The taking of Jamaica ginger is becom- ing a habit among Americans, almost as danger- ous as the opium habit. It has so much alcohol in it that it is really more intoxicating than the same amount of ordinary liquor, and, as the ef- fect is warming and stimulating, hundreds of people become slaves to the Jamaica ginger habit, before they suspect any danger. In sum- mer a safe remedy to have on hand for all trou- bles that ginger is used for, is the Sun Cholera Mixture, which can be bought at any reliable druggist. CHAPTER IV. BREAKFAST, DINNER, AND TEA. And now let us talk of the meals-what we shall eat, and how we shall cook and serve the food. Let us not think cooking of little conse- quence—it is of the greatest consequence. There are hundreds of men who go to the liquor saloon day after day who would never have gone there but for poor cooking. I do not mean that your husband, if he drinks, has been driven to it by this, for I know many wives, who cook carefully and with understanding, who still have intem- perate husbands, but not ten per cent. of the 18 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. men who drink do so because they relish liquor. Men are too often led to drink by their surround- ings. The man who knows there is a wholesome, savory meal awaiting him, in a clean, sweet- smelling house, is not strongly tempted to linger at a saloon. Then again some kinds of food in- crease the appetite for stimulants, others take that appetite away. Now I know that many who will read this book are better cooks, and do far more on a small income, than I ; but again other readers have never been taught to cook they were in factories or shops till they married and have just“ got along somehow "; such will, I trust, gain help from this chapter. In the first place, I want you to try the few receipts I give you. 66 We never eat stews,' "“ None of us like oil,” Our people can't bear soups "'; but try this stew; it may be quite different from any you have ever made. Make at least one salad, telling your husband how wholesome it is—he may ask for a second help. The reason so few people like stews or hash or soup, is because so very few people know how to cook these things, while most people can fry, or boil, or roast-after a fashion ! There are a few rules in cooking which, if known and followed, will ensure good meals. I. All meats and vegetables require great heat at first. There is a substance called albu- men in both meats and vegetables which, like the white of an egg, hardens if exposed to great Don't say, > Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 19 heat. By hardening this albumen you shut in the juices of the meat and vegetabies. After the albumen on the outside of the meat has been cooked you should have gentle heat, or else the meat will be hard and tough. Now, remember- ing this rule, you will put your roast into a very hot oven for five minutes, and then cool the oven so that it cooks more gently. This is done by opening the door frequently to “baste” the joint. If you were boiling meat, you would plunge your leg of mutton or slightly corned beef into boiling water, and after a few minutes push the pot to the side and let it simmer. Very salt meat may be put on in cold water and brought to a boil, as the salt keeps the juices in, but remember that no meat should be kept at the boiling point. But how about frying? We must remember the rule and have our pan very hot; the fat must smoke before you put in your meat, so that by quickly cooking the outside you shut in the juices. So with vegetables; you will have the water bubbling before you put in your cabbage, beets, or potatoes, and then you will keep it boiling briskly as they do not toughen. Do you know that the very best part of potatoes is just under the skin? And don't you dislike peeling potatoes ? I wonder more people do not wash their potatoes thoroughly and merely cut a par- ing all round them; leave them in cold water an hour and then boil, and when cooked the skins 20 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. will almost fall off. Be careful not to cover potatoes when you drain the water from them; lay a clean towel or napkin over them, to soak up any moisture, and your potatoes will be like balls of flour. In mashing potatoes keep them on the stove, beat well with a fork, and add a little warın milk and butter. Cold milk makes potatoes gray and waxy. There is another rule very easy to remember- all vegetables are improved by lying in salted water, especially the roots, such as potatoes, carrots, turnips, etc. Carrots are a particularly wholesome vegeta- ble, yet few people use them. Try cooking them in this way. Scrape and slice, letting them lie in cold water an hour, then put in boiling water, and boil till tender (always allow a tablespoonful of salt to a quart of water with vegetables) and meanwhile prepare a sauce; take half a pint of milk or milk and water, one tablespoonful of butter, one heaping tablespoon of flour, and quarter of a teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Heat the milk (not boil); put the butter in small saucepan and stir till it melts and bubbles. Be careful not to brown it. Add the dry flour to the butter and stir quickly till well mixed. Pour on one-third of the milk. Let it boil up, and stir well as it thickens. Tip the saucepan to keep from sticking. Add another third of the milk and stir till all is thickened and smooth, then add the rest of the milk, stir well, and add Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 21 pepper and salt. This is a good sauce for fish or vegetables. It is delicious with maccaroni, and there is no more healthful dish than macca- roni baked with cheese. Boil a half-pound of maccaroni in boiling water till tender, drain and put in a buttered pudding-dish in layers with grated cheese between. When your dish is full pour over all this white sauce and cover weli with grated cheese and a little butter, then bake till brown, I hope you often use “pot roast." The meat is only nine cents a pound, and is more nourish- ing than the more expensive cuts, and when well cooked is quite as tender. Fry some onions in your pot, in very hot fat. hot fat. Then put in your meat, turning it about till it is brown all over. Now add enough hot water to half cover it, and a good tablespoonful of vinegar (this tenders it), and set the pot where the meat will simmer, not boil. It should cook very gently and take nearly half an hour to the pound. When nearly done take it out of the pot and brown it in the oven, put- ting dripping in the pan and dredging your meat well with flour. Dish up your meat in a hot platter, add flour to your dripping till you have a smooth paste, brown it, and then add by de- grees some of the liquor the meat was cooked in, season and serve with the meat. Any liquor that is left will make gravy for the next day, or serve as stock for soup or stew. I wish more peo- ple who have little money would use stews instead 22 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. of buying steak—which is the most expensive part of the animal. Try this way of stewing beef. Cut up two pounds of beef into pieces an inch long, put them in a saucepan, and barely cover with hot water and a teaspoonful of vine- gar; stew gently (not boil) for two hours and a half, adding toward the last a little sweet mar- joram or savory, chopped onion, and parsley. Just at the last add a teaspoonful of sauce or catsup, and a tablespoonful of browned flour wet up with cold water. Boil up for one minute, and serve with boiled rice. If you prefer mutton stew, fry two pounds of mutton (best part of the neck) in hot drippings, first cutting meat into pieces ; add one onion chopped fine and brown it with the meat. Put in stew-pan and add as much boiling water as you wish for gravy, and let this simmer while you prepare one turnip and one carrot; cut these in small pieces and boil in boiling water for ten minutes. Now add to the mutton, and let all simmer half an hour or until vegetables are tender. Put the meat in center of hot platter, the vegetables around it, and pour the gravy over all. If the gravy is not thick enough thicken as for beef stew. Now to cook your rice. Have plenty of boiling water in a sauce- pan; wash the rice in two or three waters, scrub- bing it well between your hands—this makes it white; then rain it gently into the boiling water, and let it boil steadily for about twenty minutes, Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 23 or until the kernels are tender; pour it through a colander, and set the colander over boiling water till you serve. The water for rice should be salted. Do not always cook the same dishes ; the family need a change of diet, even hough the food is not quite so nourishing, if it is appetizing it is better to change. For instance, turnips have very little nourishment, but they make one relish the potatoes. Try 'a dish of baked tur- nips; they taste very much like oysters. Cut six large white turnips in thin slices and put them in boiling salted water to cook until tender ; put a layer in a deep dish, salt and pepper them, then a layer of cracker crumbs, moisten with white sauce, then more turnips, crumbs, and sauce till the dish is full. Bake till brown. You can find plenty of recipes for puddings, etc., but I will give you two stand-bys. Don't waste time making desserts. Fruit is far more wholesome and costs no mciu. Stewed prunes or baked apples with milk make a nice dessert. To make a good, nice pudding, take a scant half cup of well-washed rice, half a cup of sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt, one quart of milk and grated nutmeg. Soak the rice for half an hour in the milk, bake nearly two hours in a slow oven, stirring it two or three times. At the last let it brown. The other is a lemon pudding. Two eggs, two lemons, one quart of boilng water, six tablespoonfuls of sugar, three of cornstarch. 24 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. Serve very Dissolve cornstarch in a little cold water ; put it in the boiling water with grated rind of one lemon. Beat the yolks, add sugar and juice of both lemons, and stir into boiling mixture. When thick pour into a pudding-dish. Make a mer- ingue of the whites of eggs and four tablespoons of granulated sugar, spread over the pudding, and brown in the top of the oven. cold. I have often stood. by and watched women market, wishing I could tell them the economical way of doing it. For instance, you can buy so much more cheaply if you buy a quantity. You can get the fourth to sixth ribs of beef at a shilling a pound in winter. Now, have the thin end of the ribs cut off, leaving the large round part. Tell the butcher to corn the end piece. and you have the best part to roast. There will not be one particle of waste in this part ; you can have it hot, then cold, then make a râgout, and if there is any left have a potato pie for breakfast. The piece that has been corned will be ready by Thursday. Put it in boiling water and then draw the pot to the side of the stove, where it must simmer very gently till the bones will slip out ; press the meat between two plates and serve cold with pickles, mashed potatoes and turnips, and cabbage boiled in the liquor of the meat. To make quite a delicate dish of cabbage boil it in clear water, drain, and pour a white sauce over it. Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 25 But to return to our marketing. We should never buy chops by the pound—they are so ex- pensive, while the whole quarter is quite cheap. The leg or shoulder will keep a fortnight in winter, or nearly a week in summer if you wrap it in a towel dipped in vinegar and hang it up. If you buy a quarter you can have some chops one day, an Irish stew another, and a roast a third. The flank of beef is cheap and very nutritious and can be so cooked as to taste very much like roast duck. Take two lbs. of the flank; wipe this and rub inside with salt and pepper. Stuff and roll and tie it up tightly. Put it in a saucepan, cover with boiling water, and stew gently till ten- der. Take it out, dredge with salt, pepper, and flour, and bake a half-hour, or until brown. Use the water in the kettle for basting if needed. Put small pieces of beef fat or salt pork on the rack under the meat when baking. Make a gravy as you do for pot-roast. Now for the râgout of cold beef. Take 12 pound of cold rare roast beef cut in small pieces, add one half saltspoon each of salt and pepper, one of celery salt, one teaspoon each of chopped onion and parsley, one saltspoon each of thyme and marjoram. Mix all together well and put in a frying-pan in a gravy made of the beef drip- pings. When thoroughly heated serve on a hot platter with a wall of mashed potato round it. I hope you know the value of oatmeal, hominy 26 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. and cracked wheat ? These are so important, especially with children, as they give them the lime the children need to form bone. For this reason "entire wheat” bread is better than that made of fine flour; graham bread too is excellent. It is not necessary that children should have meat more than once a day. Let the father have his bite nicely prepared, but let the children eat porridge, with a generous lot of bread and butter and apple-sauce, and other stewed fruit. Give children nothing between meals unless they are hungry enough to eat dry bread. I hope you make your own bread ? During the summer, if you have but few rooms, you can send it to the baker's to be baked, but in winter try to bake your own—no baker's bread is half as nutritious as good home-made. Here is a reliable recipe and one easy to use, because you can put the dough at once in the pans in the morning. About quart of lukewarm water, 2 qts. flour, 1 large tablespoon of salt, i cup of liquid yeast, or } cake of compressed. Sift the flour into the bread bowl and take out one cupful to use in kneading. Then add salt and yeast (if compressed, dissolved in f cup of lukewarm water). Mix thoroughly. Dredge board with flour and turn dough in it. Knead from 20 to 30 minutes. Put it back in the bowl, cover closely, and set out of any draught. It will rise in eight or nine hours. When light mold into Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 27 loaves, place in pans to rise for one hour, and bake. Take more pains to have good bread than to make cake. Mix your bread with half milk, and if you have any cold rice boil it very soft and put in the bread dough. Your boys will eat it as fast as cake, and they need it. But this chapter must come to an end. I am sure if you do all I have proposed your table will be in- viting, and you will often consult good cook- books and learn new dishes. CHAPTER V. THE FIRST-BORN. But we must go back to our plans for the young married people. Settled in a home of their own, be it large or small, let us suppose that before long there is a hope of a third one coming to share that home. Hope ? Yes, in- deed-never fear or dread the coming of your child. Why marry unless you desire children ? Was not marriage instituted by God for the sake of the family? “ But," you say, “I am afraid of all the pain ; I do not know anything about the matter, and people always pity those who are having children.” My friend, read your Bible and see how God regards this subject. Children are spoken of 28 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. again and again as a blessing, as a gift from God, God has promised to“ gently lead those that are with young,” and tells us that a woman, as soon as her hour of trial is over, « remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.' But it is not right that children should be born hap-hazard, by mere chance. Why is it that one child in a family is bright and happy, strong and even-tempered, while another is gloomy and unhappy, weakly and cross? The mother has taken the same care of both-why are they so different ? We can never answer positively, but probably the one child was con- ceived when both parents were well and vigorous and his coming was welcomed, while the other was, as women sometimes say, “ a mistake,” the mother was sick before his birth and dreaded the burden of another child. Remember, your child's health and character depends most of all upon your health and character at the time of conception. With most women conception takes place a day or two before menstruation or dur- ing the ten days after. Talk freely with your husband as to this matter ; decide together as to whether you are both in such health that your child would have a fair chance. But above all do not bear children for a drunken man. Let your husband understand very clearly that if he will drink and make a beast of himself, you will not share his bed when he is in that condition. Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 29 Yet do not shrink from child-bearing, for though much pain and weariness come with it, it is a healthful, natural process, bringing added responsibilities, it is true, but far more joy, greater incentives to high and holy living. I have said it is healthful; women who have children every three to five years, seldom have the tumors and cancers so many suffer from who will not bear children. I want to be sure I am understood on this subject, for I know that because they do not understand these matters rich and poor alike are suffering. It is a wicked, awful thing to destroy life; and from the moment of conception there is life. I have been told again and again, “ there is no sin in bringing things right during the first three months.” My friend, there is sin—the sin of murder. A lady called on a physician—a woman-ask- ing her to give her something to destroy that which had begun to be formed. The doctor said : “I will give you something to kill your little daughter ” (a child of three). The mother started up in anger. “ You need not be so angry, if you will kill one of your children, it must be the one you have before you." No, if the child is coming, try to welcome it. It is thought that the reason suicide is so fear- fully on the increase is because so many children are marked with a hatred for life by their own mothers. Surely you will not mark your child > 30 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. in this way? But, on the other hand, insist in at least the treatment. given to the higher animals; try to lead your husband to see he owes you some consideration in these matters, but remem- ber above, beyond all, is God's will. If you love Him all things shall work together for your good. Now let us suppose your little one is expected, and you ask me to tell you just what to do. Do not let your secret be known to any but your nearest and dearest, for at least a few months. Go on pretty much as usual. If If you have been an active, hard worker, such work will not hurt you ; it will do you good. Only you should avoid any unusual work or strain; anything in which you have to do much with your arms lifted, such as whitewashing, papering, hanging curtains, etc. Eat what agrees with you, only now, more than ever, eat regularly. If you find yourself hungry oftener than before, take an extra meal, such as a bowl of oatmeal and milk at five in the afternoon, and something just be- fore sleeping. Avoid all conversation, amuse- ments, or books which might excite you. Be careful to take a walk every day in the open air, and as often as possible look at beautiful pict- ures-look in at the art stores, not at the dry- goods windows. There are pictures of sweet childish faces to be bought for a dime, or some are given away as advertisements; pin such a one where your eye will often fall on it. Keep your- Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 31 self pure, both in body and soul, bathe frequently, and during the last three months rub yourself frequently with sweet oil. Never, if you can possibly help it, listen to a low joke or a mean story. Think often of your little one, and make resolutions as to how you shall train your child. Be careful that the inside of your body is cleans- ed as well as the outside. Do not neglect attend- ing to this at least twice a day. If you find your habits are sluggish, take a little sulphur and cream tartar-equal parts—at night. Two large capsules filled with this powder, or a quarter of a teaspoonful in a little water will probably keep all right. Some prefer to use a teaspoonful of liquorice powder, but do not use strong cathartic pills—they are not safe. If you are troubled with “morning sickness,” have a bit of crust or toast by your bedside and munch it before you rise. After swallowing this lie still for five minutes, and if you then feel ill deliberately bring matters to a crisis by putting your finger far down your throat ; then lie down for a few minutes, bathe your face and hands in cold water with a little vinegar in it, and as soon as possible get a cup of hot tea. If sickness re- curs through the day, ten drops of Horsford's Acid Phosphate in a tablespoonful of cold water every half-hour will relieve it. Rest when you are tired. Now, don't smile and say I know nothing about it-I do know just how busy you are ; how, if this is your 32 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. third child instead of your first, the other children hang about you. I know too that I know too that your husband may be out of work, and you feel as if you must earn a little something. Still, I say, rest a little. And I mean rest—not just stop working and go on worrying ; that won't rest you. But lay all your cares upon God and leave them there." He never failed one woman who did that, and He will not fail you. If you like reading, take up a short story and read for a half-hour; if you can sleep, drop off into a doze. You can work far better when you get up again. Do not be afraid of “ marks" and fancies- these are old women's notions. A good, strong no to a foolish notion will not hurt you or your child ; but if what you crave is good for you, get it if you can, and if you can't, don't think it makes any difference—for it does not. Try and, avoid unpleasant sights, but if something comes before you suddenly, place your hands on your hips. Í fully believe this too is an old woman's notion, but as it is quite easy to carry out, I tell you of it. I think it is as well to put off making more than one entire suit until about the sixth month. By that time you are not so active, and it seems to make your little one so real to be at work on the cunning bits of clothing. Do not wish and long for beautiful baby-ciothes. I believe many a girl has her love for dress given her by a fool- ish mother, who schemed to buy such “lovely' Plàin Talks with Young Home Makers. 33 embroideries and “exquisite "flannels before the child's birth. No, think much and pray much as to your child's character and disposition. Confess your own failings and ask the Lord not to visit them upon your child. Rule Rule your tem- per, govern your tongue. As to the outfit, I will first mention necessary articles. A nice, strong card-board box, about twenty inches by fifteen, maks a very good baby- basket. In this put a pair of scissors, a small bottle of sweet oil, a little finely powdered starch in one box, a little borax in another, two or three yards of white sewing-silk wound on a card ; one yard and a half of unbleached muslin, half a dozen squares of old table linen, a flannel band about half a yard long and a finger and a half wide, some pieces of old linen scorched, a flannel barrows," flannel skirt with a muslin band, two linen shirts, and two night slips. This box should be all ready by the seventh month. It is as well to lay a short night-gown in it for yourself, and a square of rubber sheet- ing. Besides these you should have at least three dozen diapers, made of loose canton flan- nel (they are better than linen) four more night slips, which will do quite well for day during the first six weeks, one more barrows, or, as some call them, “pinning blankets,” and one more flannel skirt. White skirts and dresses are not necessary until the child is six weeks old, though many mothers will be able to prepare a 34 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. half-dozen pretty slips and three or four white skirts. Do not make the dresses long; they may be pretty, but they are very heavy and troublesome for the baby, who will soon want to get acquainted with his toes. Three or four worsted socks with quite long legs to them will be needed, and a square of nice flannel to serve as a shawl; canton flannel will answer for an every-day shawl, if you happen to have it. Now if you have time and money there are many other pretty things you can make ; for in- stance, a light little quilt of cheesecloth with wool wadding between, knotted together with bits of pink or blue worsted. A couple of little double gowns will be of great use. Make one quite small, the other a little larger. If the child is born in the winter these should be made of flannel ; make the lining and inside up separ- ately, and then lay them together, wrong sides facing each other ; in this way both sides are “right side." For summer wear, use delaine or pretty chintz. Do not have a cradle, for rocking is not good for a child. For the first two or three months nothing is better than a nice clothes-basket, with a pillow laid in it. Put a piece of rubber cloth on the pillow and over that a muslin case ; on this put sheets and blankets just as for a bed. From the first, accustom baby to lie on this bed, with his mouth uncovered. This bed is so light it can be carried from place to place. It is safe -- Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 35 if on the floor or can be put on the table, and after baby is done with it, you have the basket ! CHAPTER VI. BABY'S EDUCATION. presses it ! AND now the time of your delivery draweth near. How beautifully and truly the Bible ex- Toward the last we are indeed bur- dened, but let us remember the joy that will be ours, and do not allow any foolish fears to find room in our hearts. Remember that most women go through this trial successfully. Try to find a neat, strong, good-tempered woman to be with you; for, no matter how much one wishes to economize, a woman ought to have at least two weeks of thorough rest at such times. A doctor is not necessary, though it is well to have one engaged, especially in first cases, but a nurse who thoroughly understands her business is quite sufficient. Now and then it happens that the time of trial comes so suddenly that no one is near. There is no reason for alarm. Your child can be born, and no assistance be given you for several hours, without serious harm. Impress upon your nurse that the child is to have no sugar and water, molasses or such stuff 36 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. given it. If it will nurse, well and good ; if not, it is just as well. The child's bowels should be thoroughly moved before it is given anything but the breast, which at the time of birth does not contain milk, but a purgative liquid. Remember that your baby will begin to form habits from the first day of its life, and see to it that each habit formed is good. Feed or nurse it regularly. A child under three months should be fed at intervals of one and a half hours, then two or even three hours may pass between the meals, and at six months the child need only be nursed once in four hours. During the first months baby will often sleep for hours. I need not say, do not wake him. “ But don't you nurse a baby when it cries ?” Certainly not. A child cries more often from a full stomach than an empty one. You will find it lightens your labors to never let your baby associate crying with feeding. Talk to him, turn him about, see that he is dry and comfort- able, and then, if it is time, nurse him. Remem- ber your child is just like yourself. Would not you cry long and steadily if by that means you could get what you wanted ? Now a baby enjoys nursing, even when it is not hungry, and soon learns to cry until it gets the thing it covets. Take the habit of going to sleep. Almost every baby would rather be rocked to sleep than laid down awake ; but you will not have the time to give to that always, so it is much better to accus- Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 37 tom the child to go to sleep in his bed. Be sure he is comfortable, and then insist on his lying still. You can teach a little six-weeks-old baby far more easily than a child who can pull him- self up and threaten to fall out. Keep out of sight when the baby is crying from mere willful- ness-the little one soon finds out no one is listening, and stops. All this will seem to take more time. You sit down in the next room, and perhaps fairly cry yourself, you are so weak and nervous. But such time is not lost ; in a few weeks you have a good, obedient, happy child, and the very self-control and habit of obedience so early formed may save that child's life. "If that baby had not learned to mind, he would have died long ago," said the doctor in attend- ance on a baby sick with marasmus. see, for his sake as well as your own, you should " let not your soul spare for his crying." You can accustom your little one to regular hours for everything. If you have to cook your own breakfast, it is best to wait till that is over before washing and dressing the baby ; but at some regular hour each morning give the little one his bath. Get everything at hand before you begin. Have the box or basket with well- aired clothes, nursery pins, fresh napkins, etc., Let the tub or large basin be half filled with tepid, not warm, water. Do not put any soap in this water, but, having on a flannel apron, or an old shawl on your lap, strip the So you 66 beside you. 38 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. baby ; then, keeping it covered with the flannel, rub a little castilę soap on your hands, and lather his head, under the arms, his hands and private parts. This is all the soap needed- more irritates the skin. Now, holding the child in both hands, put him gently in the bath-do not be afraid of a little crying. Support his back with one hand, and with the other raise his head and shoulders. Do not let him be more than a minute or two in the water, and then, rolling him in the flannel, dry him thoroughly with a soft towel. Next rub his back and stomach, put on fresh clothing-I mean nothing he has worn during the night-hang his night clothes, band, etc., where the fresh air can go through them, nurse the little one, and lay him down to sleep. I should have said do not feed the child before bathing—better let him cry a little, it will not hurt him. You can soon train your little one to very regular habits as to his bowels. My own nurse always taught the baby during the first months such habits that a soiled napkin was a rare accident. Do you say you have not time? It is only a few mo- ments now and then, instead of two or three hours over a wash-tub, besides escaping such dis- agreeable work. A baby can be taught to attend to this duty as he lies in your lap before the bath, a small bowl or thick paper being used. A child should have at least one “stool” a day, two or even three are not too much, If Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 39 But if you constipated, a little paper twisted up, dipped in oil or vaseline used as an injection, will often make all right. Do not give medicine if you can help it, but never let twenty-four hours pass with- out a movement of the bowels. By all means nurse your baby if you can-it will be a comfort to both yourself and the child, but try to be calm and, if possible, rested when you take the child to your bosom. If you are angry, wait a little and ask God to quiet you ; if you are hot and weary, bathe your face and hands and rest, if only for one minute, before you take your baby—so much depends on these first six months ! But if can not nurse your baby do be careful of the bottle. Keep two, that one may always be fresh. Rinse thoroughly, and leave bottle and nipple soaking in clean water with a little borax in it. If the bowels are loose, try a little rice boiled to a jelly in plenty of water, slightly salted. Strain this through cheese-cloth, and sweeten slightly. I once fed an eight-months-old baby on the water which ran off boiled rice, when it was turned into a colander. Put this to the same quantity of milk and sweeten. The baby came to the house looking ready to die, and in a month was fat and hearty. You can often regulate the bowels of a bottle baby by changing from brown (to loosen) to white sugar. In the city it is safest to use con- densed milk, bought fresh—not canned-dilut- 40 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. ing it with twelve parts water at first, and making it a little richer at the end of three months. Try to take your baby out at least once a day, but if this is not possible, then wrap up baby and yourself, and let out-doors in, by throwing open the doors and windows for a half-hour while you move about briskly. Remember your child is like a plant-both must have air and sunlight, or they will be sickly. Take care to air the baby's bed. If possible have a night bed and a day one. This will not be necessary after the first six months, and during that time, if you use a clothes-basket for a crib, you can easily use two pillows, airing each in turn. CHAPTER VII. HABITS AND AILMENTS. “My baby began to walk at nine months." " Mine cut her first tooth at five months.' “Oh, I'm just crazy to get my little one on his feet.” How often we hear such remarks, the foolish mothers not knowing that it is generally a good sign when a child is a little backward. Your baby will be gone soon enough-don't be impa- tient, but enjoy every moment of his babyhood. Do not set your child on its feet, but wait until Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 41 he pulls himself up; it is better that the child should not walk until over a year old, and even eighteen months is none too late. Do not object to the child creeping—it is health and strength to your baby. Make "creepers " for him. Take a yard of gingham and gather into a band at each end. Button one band over his dress under his armpits and the other under all his skirts. If this slips off, put little shoulder-straps on the outside band. But remember that long before a child walks or talks he is taking lessons from the people about him. Never speak in a way you would not like your little one to imitate, for he is listen- ing-taking notes you can never erase—long before he can talk. Speak sternly to the baby, and see how his little lip will go up! Then laugh with him and coax him—see how quickly the smiles come back ! And never forget that day by day your child is learning—not only to talk--but how to talk, whether gently and quietly or crossly and loudly. I often wonder that poor people use so few “feeders ” or aprons with children. To be sure they require washing, but they save even a shabby dress, and then they help to form tidy habits. My rule is never to feed a child without fastening on some protection, and after my children are three or four years of age, they run for a bib or napkin before eating, as a matter of Wash hands and face after each meai, course. 42 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. and at three years old your child will not move from the table till face and hands are made clean. We must remember that we are not only washing, dressing and feeding our children, but we are forming habits—let us try, even though at some pains, to form good habits. Take the habit of order ; a wise mother will never leave her baby's things about, and as soon as the child can toddle around he “helps mamma” put away his toys, etc. Let him have his own box where his toys are kept, and make him put them there each evening. One word about toys. Try to give things that are not easily broken—a worsted ball, a rubber doll, a string of empty spools, can all be kept for months, and so they do not encourage the boy's bump of destructiveness. But, on the other hand, do let the children have toys—make home pleasant to them. Better have the room littered and keep your children near you. Old boxes are of great use to amuse children. Little girls can make a doll's house out of a large one, while in the summer a pretty house can be made out of a card-board box, pasting dried moss on it. Set this on a shingle, and have a little gravel path leading up to the door. On one side have a bit of looking-glass for a pond and put branches of evergreens for trees. Stand a few animals from the Noah's ark about, and you have a toy that will keep little girls happy fot weeks. A tin box is splendid for the baby Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 43 if baby Put some beans or pebbles inside, fasten the cover on, and cover the box with bright-colored flannel. This makes a good rattle, and if a string be tied to it, it can be drawn on the floor or hung from the chandelier and swung is too young to walk. You can make a very pretty rug that will amuse the children by taking two thicknesses of dark-colored cotton-flannel as a foundation ; then cut shapes of animals out of flannels or cloths of different colors, and buttonhole them on the foundation. Line this with bed-ticking and finish with a fringe of bright worsted. It is a good plan to keep some of the chil. dren's toys out of sight, only letting them use one or two at a time; in this way you keep something fresh. A box of blocks of all sizes and shapes is the best toy a child can have. Your husband can get a board sawed up and sandpaper them smooth himself. Yet even these had better be hidden away once in a while, till some dreary rainy day, with shouts of delight, , the children drag their old friends out of their hiding-place. But we have not finished our talk as to the care of our baby. “When shall he begin to eat ?” asks one. “How long must Baby take a nap in the forenoon?” asks another, while one anxious mother whispers that she has heard children may get into habits that may injure their health-to what can this refer? 44 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. The coming of teeth shows that baby is ready for something stronger than milk, but not for anything that happens to be for dinner. At six or nine months old he can suck a piece of rare beef, biting at it as he pleases; he can have “panada”; that is, stale bread with boiling water poured on it; the water is drained off, milk poured over the bread, and sugar and nutmeg added. A baked (not boiled) potato agrees with some little ones, though a sweet potato is better than the ordi- nary Irish one. Oatmeal, milk-toast, scrambled egg, a raw egg well beaten, with milk sugar and nutmeg ; baked and boiled custard and rice pudding are all good and wholesome. Do not give a little child under eighteen months old raw fruit. Baked apples or stewed prunes are good, or the juice of an orange ; a very fresh, ripe peach is safe, but a stale or unripe one may cause death within thirty six hours. Do not give your children tea or coffee —they are both too exciting; but cocoa or chocolate is very nourishing. If your baby is in pain or seems ailing, some one is sure to recommend “drops" or gin. Do not give a thing of this kind. It never does good, and often sows the seeds of intemperance. Lay hot cloths on the bowels when in pain. If the attacks are frequent, keep a little bag of salt, which can be heated and laid upon the stomach. A spice poultice is very soothing to a child. You take a teaspoonful of as many different Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 45 ground spices as you can get, and put them in a flannel bag. Moisten the spices with alcohol and apply. I have strapped such a poultice on an ailing two-year-old, and the child ran about all day without a grumble. Now as to naps. A child is happier and healthier to take a nap in the day up to six years of age, but-some children won't do it ! Try to accustom your child to lie down in a darkened room for a half-hour, even if he lies awake. Give him his doll or horse to put to sleep, the quiet will do him a world of good. In warm weather bathe the little hot face and hands, slip off shoes and stockings, and give the little one a cool drink. Let me say a word about ice-water. Iced water is a delicious and wholesome drink, but not ice-water. If your child is delicate let some water boil hard, pour it into a bowl to cool, and then bottle and lay on ice. This is the only safe water to drink if the bowels are out of order. It really is not so much trouble to prepare, and may save you doctor's bills. Whether your child sleep by day or not, let him be put to bed at a regular hour at night, and remember that the best hours for sleep are the ones before midnight. Most children should be in bed by half-past seven up to seven years of age. Unless a child is peculiarly nervous and sickly you can accustom him to sleep through all or- dinary noises; let the talking, etc., go on as usual. 46 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. CHAPTER VIII. HOLY SECRETS. But now I come to the question as to evil habits. We mothers should know of such evil that we may guard our children. Both boys and girls, but especially boys, may contract habits, while still little children, which will injure them for life. Watch against their hands reaching down to those parts of their bodies which they should not touch. One mother always gave her little ones something to hold—a doll, a favorite toy--when going to sleep, to guard against this habit. In visiting from house to house, I have found little ones of two or three years old, seated quietly on the stairs, their hands busied in a way their mothers little suspected ; remem- bering this, keep the children near you, But if you detect any bad habit in your child, do not slap him or speak angrily to him. If you do, you simply frighten and bewilder the little one and tempt him to hide his wrong-doing hereafter. Correct him firmly, but kindly, tell- ing him such actions will make him very ill. Examine his clothes to be sure that nothing is rubbing against and irritating his body. Or again he may be suffering from worms, which creep from one part to another, causing great discomfort. Teach him to come to you if any irritation troubles him ; if he complains, no Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 47 matter what you have on hand, attend to him. Wash with castile soap, dry thoroughly, and powder with fuller's earth or fine starch. If after this care the habit can not be cured, go to a doctor—there is sometimes some slight malfor- mation which can be easily removed. Let us resolve never to allow our children to speak lightly or disrespectfully of any part of that body which God tells us is the temple of the Holy Ghost. I hope you will forgive me if I beg you not to do so yourself. Too many jest about subjects which are not impure, but only private ; too many whisper, or make allusions, before children which are better understood, or I should say mis-understood, than the elders suspect. Let us try to deserve and gain our children's full confidence, remembering we will never keep a child's confidence if we lie or pre. varicate to him. Children are open and frank at first, but after they find they have been put off with a lie, or a half-truth, they either go else- where, or hide their questions in their hearts. “ But,” says a mother, “there are some mat- ters children ought not to know, and if they ask questions we must tell them some sort of story. For instance, when my baby was born, my girl of eight asked me how babies came. I told her, the nurse brought ours in a basket. It would never do to tell her the truth." Would it not ? Years ago I thought just as Own 48 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. you do, my friend, but, thank God, I think so no longer. I believe God's truth is far purer and safer than any lie we can frame. I believe that if a child is old enough to question, she is old enough to be answered. Not always fully an- swered, but truthfully. Let me tell you just how one mother talked to her own little girl of seven on this subject. Little Blossom is an only girl, and her mother has been able to watch her most carefully all her life ; being the youngest child, she had not thought very much of babies, except to often wish that “God would give us one. But one day she came to her mother and said coaxingly : “ Mamma, how do babies come ?” Her mother was startled and said : “Blossom, you are not old enough to understand about that. Don't talk to any one else about it, and by and by, when you are older, mamma will tell you all about it." Still the mother did not feel at ease. If her child were questioning on the subject, could she, would she stop until satisfied ? The next night, while putting her little girl to bed, as she stripped - the little shoulders and . waist, my friend said, “ Blossom, what is this part of you?” “ This is my trunk, Mamma, and these are my limbs, and this is my head,” touching the differ- ent parts as she spoke. “ Your trunk ! What is a trunk for, Blos- som?” Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 49 “A trunk's to pack things in, Mamma-least you're packing our trunk to go to Kentucky.” “Well, now climb up on my lap and I'll tell you how God has packed this trunk of yours." In a moment the little girl was nestled close, her blue eyes fixed on the face she loved so well, her ears attentive to that voice that had never yet misled a child. “ Blossom, you know Mamma is packing our trunk for a journey ; we are putting in all we'll need for Kentucky—". “ And Michigan, Mamma. Don't you remem- ber 'bout the warm things for Michigan, and the bathing-suits? There won't be any bathing in Kentucky, but there will be in Michigan, so you put the bathing-suits in.” “Yes, I'm glad you remember, for that will help you understand how the Heavenly Father has packed your trunk. You are on a journey- a long journey—it is called the journey of life. You began this journey the day you were born, and you will reach the end of it the day you die. Your Heavenly Father has packed this trunk for you, and he has put all that you will need for the whole journey. Some of the things you can't use at all the first part of the journey. Suppose we tossed about the Michigan things, when we get to Kentucky, and spoiled them?" “Oh, Mamma, we wouldn't ! It would be real naughty! Our nice warm things and the new bathing-suits! Oh, no! You put them 'way at 50 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. the bottom, and we won't 'sturb them till we get to Michigan." Yes, Blossom, and it is just that way with this trunk of yours, or with Rob's or any trunk. There are some things in each of our trunks that we do not need, and should not use, till we get a long way on the journey. Now tell me all you know about what is packed in your trunk. Lis- ten, there seems to be a clock in it, it goes tick, tick, tick.” “That's my heart ! God set that going and He has the key.” Now, dear, a long breath, so! What do you fill with air ? My lungs, and oh, I know something—there's my stomach.” The mother explained about the liver, kidneys and bowels, and then said, “ And, Blossom, there is a little bag inside your trunk, that Heavenly Father has placed there, because it may be, when you are a grown woman, he may give you a dear little baby; and in that bag, right under your heart, the baby would grow. The little arms tightened, the eyes opened wider, and Blossom whispered in happy, solemn tones “ Isn't He good ?” Yes, dear. That is where the baby comes. No one understands just how but God, but the baby comes from a seed, just as the flowers do. The mother knows by a little flutter under her heart, that baby is there, and gets ready for her Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 51 darling. Then by and by, God makes a road for baby out into the world, and then-what does Mamma do ?" The golden head was bowed on mamma's shoulder, and a whisper came, “Oh, Mamma loves the baby.” “Now, darling," said the mother, as after a few words of prayer, in which Blossom had said, “I thank you, dear Father, for putting all those things in my trunk. I'll try to take good care of them,”—“Now, darling, all mothers do not talk to their little girls as I have to you, and these are holy things that we do not speak of to every one. Do not talk about them to any one else ; come to mamina if you want to speak of them.” “I will, Mamma, but Josie talks awful about about things. 'Taint nice like you say, but it's— 'taint nice, Mamma. Josie” was a dear little girl of nine who looked as innocent as a baby! Oh, how thank. ful my friend was that she had told her little girl - will you not be truthful and faithful ? Will you not take care that these holy truths are taught your child in a holy way? But perhaps it is a boy you have to deal with, and you do not know “just how to begin." This same friend has three boys. The eldest was nearly fourteen before this subject had been spoken of. He had been warned as to any bad habits, had been taught to value the wonderful 52 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. Xer mechanism God had given him to take care of ; but, being a reserved boy, nothing more had been said. The family lived on a farm at the time, and this boy began, for the first time in his life, to be a little restive under his mother's disci- pline. A boy of sixteen was employed about the place. One morning, just before family prayers, the arrival of a little calf was announced, and the mother caught a look passing between the two boys. My boy is learning things in a wrong way,” she thought ; and quickly came the prompting, “ Teach him the truth yourself." It seemed very hard, but-it was a duty, it must be done—that was enough. As the chil- dren rose from prayers she asked Will to remain. “Will,” she said, “ have you never wondered why it is that mothers have such love for their children? Though a father may leave or turn off a child, it is next to impossible that a mother should." “I know," said the boy uneasily, “I know mothers love the most. Yes, mothers love the most, dear,” she said, drawing the boy close to her side ; “let me tell you why I love you so dearly. Because, Will, for nine months you lay here, under my heart; you were part of me. How I prayed for you, and longed to see you ! And at last God gave you to me—from my very self !” The boy's face was hidden on his mother's shoulder-both were in tears—" I'll never give Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 53 you another cross word, mother—I'll be a good boy”—and he has kept his word. The boy, later, confessed that there had been impure, un- clean conversation between him and the hired boy, and as his younger brothers grew up he would come to his mother and say : “ I think you'd better speak to Robert about such and such a thing," watching lest his brothers should be sullied by impure companionship. “But boys want to know so much." Yes, and ought to know so much. My friend told me that later on, shortly after her talk with Blossom, the boys, in boy-fashion, were teasing the little sister with the fact that she was only a girl.” “Well," said the child, “ if . I am, I can have a baby, and you can't.” Rob turned on his heel and said no more ; but at night, when his mother went up to have a little bed-time talk with her boy, she found him in a rebellious mood. “I don't care,” he burst out, “ God's real mean, that's all about it. I think men ought to have some share in having children. I love children-I want mine to be a part of me." As that mother told her boy how God had given him his share in the birth of a child-told him the wonderful facts as to the precious seed God gives the man, how pure and sacred those truths became! Again and again has that boy gone to his mother to understand more and more as to his physical being, and she has ever en couraged his desire for information. Having 54 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. explained to the boy that our children inherit our tastes, that what we do well they will prob- ably excel in, she noticed that his school report had improved very decidedly. Before this, his marks in arithmetic were always low, but now they were steadily rising. “ How is it you do so much better in arithmetic ?" she asked, “ have you a new teacher ?" No,” said the boy, “but I don't want my children to be stupid in arithmetic, so I pitched in. And, Mother, if I can take lessons in draw- ing, I'll see if I can't cultivate some artistic talent.” This same boy said to his mother, “If boys only knew how much depends on their purity and strength and manliness, they wouldn't do the things they do. But nobody talks to them, and so they whisper and talk mean among thein- selves. When I've asked you about anything, Mother, and you tell me, that's the end of it- I'm satisfied. So, my dear friend, let us talk freely and hon- estly with the boys and girls. Some of them care very little about the facts we have been consid- ering-then we need not awaken curiosity ; but, where questioning has begun, let us be true and honest with our answers--no truth is impure. Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 55 CHAPTER IX. HINTS TO MOTHERS. WHEN Robbie wishes to coax me, if I am busy, he dances round me singing, “ Hints to mothers, hints to mothers.” It set me thinking, and now for weeks I have been proving the truth of this name the child has given himself. Our children are constantly giving us hints, indications, point- ings in the right direction. Your husband would say to you, “ I think, my dear, you make a mis- take in speaking so sharply to the children,” but he is not at hand or does not notice, and so, in a very different way, the child gives the hint. Yesterday you were nervous and irritable, and, tired of the noise the children were making, you exclaimed, “ Stop that at once !” You know the tone, do you not ? To-day comes the “hint" that kinder tones would have been wiser. Baby is doing something that the older child does not approve, and at once your tone and manner of the previous day are, reproduced, perhaps im- proved upon. Oh, that we might take such hints to heart ! Another hint comes when, at every opportu- nity, your eldest boy runs off to a neighbor's house, or, worse yet, to the companionship of boys you can not approve of. Do not blame the boy, but take the hint. At any cost, change the at- mosphere of your home, that your boys may be 56 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. happier in it. Better play tag and marbles your- self (and I assure you it is useful exercise) and let the rooms go undusted, or the sewing get behind, than let your boy feel constrained, un- easy, or even uninterested in your presence. I know over-anxiety is not good ; but this one thing we surely ought to watch carefully, that our children not only love us, but delight in us ; that their faces brighten as soon as “mother "comes, and though we may be rather poorer house- keepers, and may have to neglect the outside world to do this, it will pay. I have been thinking carefully of ways of making home brighter for the children. One secret is, to insist, as soon as they are old enough, on a diligent performance of stated tasks, these being so suited to their strength as to act as tonics for their appetite for play. Then give them plenty of pleasant work-different from their regular duties. Teach boys as well as girls to sew, and give them pretty cardboard and worsteds to make Christmas gifts with. Buy a small “bracket-saw," and with a little practice the older ones can make winders, brackets, puzzle pictures, and a variety of things. Then let there be a settled hour in the day when you belong to them; when you do what they want, be it singing or story-telling, or a game of romps or acting a charade, or making a kite. I think the best time to give them is from five to six in the afternoon, because every mother finds Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 57 that that is the weary time with children, and to keep them from a habit of weariness, is a great secret of a happy life with them. This requires some self-denial, but after a while you will enjoy it thoroughly. Do not say you can not do this because you must “get dinner” yourself. You can talk and play as you work, and the children will help along to have a few moments on your lap. Or again, you may have to omit some of your fashionable calls, but in ten years' time only your few real friends will care whether you have called, while these children will then be grown to bright, sunshiny men and women, with pleasant memories of home, and above all of mother ; while, if you will not spare the time to play with or amuse them, they may turn out pretty well, I admit, but it will be through no special help from you, and any memories they will have of pleasures will be with no thought of mother in them. Honestly, how many grown people would like to live their childish days over again ? And how many remember their mother as the chief joy and comfort of those days ? We all agree there is no one like a mother, but many, many of God's children are, in the highest, truest sense, motherless from their early child- hood. Another way we can gain hints for our guid- ance as mothers, is from memory. Look back to your own childish days, and whatever you remember most pleasantly repeat in your chil- 58 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. dren's lives fourfold, and shun with equal care whatever hurt you then. I have a friend who sometimes takes me for a drive, and the best part, to me, is the greeting she receives on our return. How the children run to meet her! And never, though she often has some little remembrance or trifle for them, is the cry, “What have you brought ?” It is delight enough that mamma has come. I once asked her, How is it that your children delight so in your coming ? “I can hardly explain, she said, “but I know that I have never forgotten my mother's return when she had been out shopping or driving. She was always tired to death, and an older sister would ‘shoo' us away and lock the sitting-room door, that we should not bother mother.' I remem- ber how angry and hurt I used to feel, and at last how little I cared to watch for her return when she was out; and I determined, from the day my first baby lay in my arms, that my chil- dren should always enjoy my entrance into the house; that, no matter how tired I might feel, I would first greet my children and pet my little That is the only explanation I can give you of the delight when I drive up." It was enough; she has taken a hint from her memory. Have you none like it ? There is one hint I have gained from my own experience which, if you are a very “capable woman, you may not think of. I was the ones. Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 59 youngest--fond of books, music, and such things rather than housework and sewing. We had a dear elder sister who had a faculty for cutting and fitting, preparing work, etc. ; so this faculty was well exercised. I was thought to be per- fectly trained for my work in life when I could make what had been prepared for me, and do anything about the house I was directed to do. But mothers must remember that the two or three girls that work so pleasantly together, are not always to have each other's help. Each one should be trained to stand alone; the one that has no decided taste for cutting and fitting should be the most encouraged to “try, try again.” Remember the hands that do the work most easily in youth are not always the best hands to do it. Let the children take turn and turn about with every household duty, and then you will not see your younger daughter, when a grown married woman, stand helplessly before a piece of goods, saying, “You see I always did the finishing, and Mary cut everything out.” We should discriminate with children between tastes which must be cultivated, and those which, if not very decided, had better be let alone. Who ever insists on a boy learning music unless he has such a talent for it that he craves the lessons ? So it ought to be with girls; but, on the other hand, every boy is taught from his early boyhood the studies and duties which will fit him for the trade or profession he has chosen. 60 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. Now, on this side of the Atlantic, we may safely say all girls need to be fitted to be housekeepers, whether they have a decided taste for it or not. They should be thoroughly trained to rule a household, as well as in the actual doing of the work. Let accomplishments go, unless they push their way into a girl's education by the real talent she has ; but if your means are such that you can afford to perfect your daughter but in one, choose carefully-do not always hit upon music. Perhaps she can draw, or better yet, perhaps she has a real talent for elocution. This last is least cultivated, but is really the accomplishment that is the most useful in the home circle. Mother Goose read by a good elocutionist is quite a different affair to the youngsters from Mother Goose singsonged by Bridget, or, permit me to say, by mother herself. So, if your girl has a talent for reading aloud, and delights in the poetry afternoon "at school, let her have good instruction, and at less cost than to teach her to murder the music you can hear so well rendered at our many cheap concerts, you will enable her to give pleasure to the home circle. CHAPTER X. FIRST LESSONS IN READING. Many a young mother who delights in her baby-boy or girl, fairly dreads the time when Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 61 anxious grandparents begin to ask, “ Does Jack read yet ?” She has tried again and again to get the little fellow interested, but b, a, ba, is stupid work, and both mother and child are worn out with the effort to master it. The plan I fol- low, and would suggest, is not original, being spoken of in Dr. Guthrie's Life, but many may meet these lines who will never see that book. Buy a copy of the Book of Proverbs in very clear type (price from ten to fifteen cents accord- ing to binding) give it to your little five-year- old-indeed one of mine, not four, has his—as his own book. Show him his name clearly printed on the fly-leaf. Now take the child's slate and say, “ Darling, if you will study with mamma every morning for three or four days then you shall begin to read this book; it is full of verses which you can easily remember, and I will teach you a nice game with some of the verses." If I can judge by my own boy, he is wide-awake and anxious for his first lesson ; but it will be advisable for you to have something else to do, as the talk has been enough just now. When next you sit down call the boy and print on the slate the word, dog. I advise small let- ters used at once. “Willie, that is the name of something that takes care of the house while we are asleep." Now my boy promptly said, “God !” Rather taken aback, I explain, “Oh no, an animal.” “Dog," he answers quickly. 62 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. Yes, that is just dog. Now, do you want me to write a dog or the dog?" You let him choose, and then say, “Now watch me, Willie, and see if I write the same word “Dgo." Why, Mamma, that's not it." “ Take the pencil and show me the difference.' In this way he will soon learn that word though he has never been bothered by an alphabet. Now, if he is still interested, tell him to call his pet pure mongrel," and while he is gone print “ The dog is in the room." “Now, Willie, where is the dog." He answers, “In the room." “I have written just what you said." After transposing these words a few times Willie has had lesson enough. Keep up these slate lessons for three or four days till Willie is accustomed to reading print. Don't be afraid of long words, for the child will especially enjoy and remember such ; but be sure he understands On the fifth or sixth day you can let him bring out his own Book of Proverbs and open it at, say, the fifteenth chapter. Willie's delight is pleasant to behold, as you point to the first word and he « reads it alone." Point carefully and let him repeat, “soft an- swer.' It will not take more than a minute, and then you can ply your needle as you explain each word. "Do you know anything soft, Willie ?" He suggests baby's cheek or a pillow. every word. " A.” Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 63 way here. “ Yes ; but when baby is asleep how do you play? Yes, you speak softly, and when little brother calls you, you must answer softly. Give him a 'soft answer.' But, Willie, did you ever hear of a boy giving another boy a real scolding ? Suppose (Willie dearly loves to suppose) that a little boy named Freddie had broken his brother Dan's slate. How would Dan feel ? " “ Mad. And wouldn't he scold ! Well, you know what I think about scold- ing ; but if Freddie wants to make him ashamed of being so angry, what had he better do ?” " Tell his mother?” "Perhaps ; but Solomon tells Freddie another He says, “ A soft answer (a kind an- swer—'I'm sorry I broke your slate, Dan, and I'll ask Papa to get you another ') ‘turneth away wrath,' or anger. Dan's anger was all turned away from Freddie when he answered him so softly : but I have heard a little boy, when his brother was angry, answer him crossly, and oh, perhaps you will hardly believe it, Willie, before their mamma could get to them, they had struck one another. Now Solomon knew all about that, for he had been a little boy, and he had had little boys, and besides, you know, God had taught him ; so he says—but grievous words '—words that grieve, that hurt the one you are talking to—'stir up anger.' Now you know when the water in that deep mud-puddle by the gate was left quite still it looked rather 64 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. clear ; but what did you and Tommy do this morning ?” “ Stirred it all up with a stick, and made" “Yes, that's what I wanted you to understand: you stirred it. Now your heart is all still and pleasant, but if Baby should tear this new book your heart would get stirred up, and then cross words would only stir your anger more. Now read it again, for you know what it means. Let him read it carefully, forward and back- ward several times, and perhaps toward even- ing—for the first lesson should always be in the morning when the child is fresh--he will be de- lighted to show Papa or some friend how many of the words, pointed out at random, he knows. I sympathize with the despair depicted on a friend's face, when, telling me that her mother- in-law had been spending a week with her, she added : “She says that Edith ought to begin grammar and geography, and that it is a shame Fanny does not read better. She says all I need is system. Now your children seem to learn very easily, and yet are so much out of doors and look so healthy. Do tell me how you man- age. Do you have system and this baby?” taking my little toddler in her arms as she spoke. “ As to system, I think there is a great deal of misunderstanding between older and younger housekeepers on this subject. You see, your husband's mother had, about thirty years ago, Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 65 four children, the eldest eight or nine, and the youngest a baby. Now, do you think she re- members distinctly the many hindrances and jars she felt, as the wheels of her housekeeping rolled on ? Not a bit of it ; the past twenty- five years (for by the time the youngest was five years old the others were at school) have been so systematic, and everything has gone so by line, that the first twelve or fifteen years seem to have been like them. I wish some of these troublesome mothers-in-law would say to them- selves, “When I was a young mother, I spoke as a young mother, I understood and thought as a young mother, and not with the wisdom and experience of sixty ; so my daughter-in-law is as I was then and not as I am now.' “ I think we should try to have system about certain things. Resolve to rise early, have meals at the exact hour every day, never omit the semi-weekly bathing of all the children and the daily bath for the baby. It is an excellent plan to have certain days for sweeping, cleaning, etc., but if one's husband and children are to love home best of all, and our friends are to look upon our house as a place where they are sure of a welcome, which is what I think St. Paul means when he tells us to be given to hospi- tality,' we must be willing to turn aside cheer- fully from our plans. I think young mothers in limited circumstances should aim to be syste- matic, but at the same time not be discouraged 66 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. see no because they can not have the order and quiet of the homes where no little ones are continually turning things upside down. “ About the geography and grammar, I special difficulty in the way, since you say Edith is growing really fond of reading.' “Yes, indeed, and your last plan of my getting two copies of a Sunday-school paper, and letting her read while I dust or do my work, keeping my paper near me, works admirably.” "Then you can easily teach her the mere out- lines of grammar and geography at odd times; but, as you say, you can not be systematic about these studies, and for Edith's sake it is well that you can not be—she might be so tired of lessons in a month as to make her sullen and stupid for the rest of her school days; but give her one day a talk about grammar; another time intro- duce some names of countries and cities into your story, and she will enjoy a little talk about geography. Let these lessons be regarded as pleasures.” “Will not the child get very desultory habits ?” “You know I can only judge as far as I have gone. My way of avoiding that, is to give each child a simple daily duty which must be done. I think it is a mistake to feed a child's mind unless it is hungry. My doctor tells me if a child has no appetite-better not urge him to eat, nature will take care of itself; and so I find with these early studies. The only trouble is Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 67 that by this training they get such an appetite that I sometimes fairly dread to take up my sewing—the time when they are allowed to study.' “Will you think me very troublesome if I ask how you would begin the grammar lessons ? Certainly not. I should just watch for the first slip the boy makes. For instance, he often says ‘he don't. I should say, 'Bad grammar, Willie.' “Now, my boy never hears a new word with- out asking the meaning of it, so he would say, "What's grammar?' “If you learn grammar, you learn how to speak correctly, to say he doesn't.'” Please, tell me some more, Mamma,' says Will, much interested. “It is a very nice study, if only you get over the first of it, as with reading. You remember that was a little tiresome at first. Now I will give you just one thing to remember to-day ; that our talk is made up of parts, just like an orange, and each part has a name. This little sentence, “Willie's big whip,” has three parts; I will tell you their names, and we will find some more parts like them. " Willie's”—what are 666 you?' W I'm an animal (we happen to have been talking of the three kingdoms)—I'm a boy, I'm a soul and a body!' “Very good, but your name is a noun, for the 68 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 3 name of any person, place, or thing is a noun. Let us find some other nouns in the room. “If Willie has not quite seized the idea, I must go over it carefully, and soon he finds picture, chair, table, flowers, to be nouns, and he would be sure to notice that whip was a noun, so I have only to say, “What kind of a whip?' 'Big.' ". So that part tells whether it is big or little ; describes it as you do anything you see. We call that part of the sentence an adjective. Now let us fit some adjectives to our nouns-picture, what adjective ?' “Pretty.' ««Yes ;' and so I have taught my first gram- mar lesson with very little trouble.” “ Thank you ; it seems very easy as you tell it. But your children are always about you ; it must tire you very much !” “Yes, there, I own, I bring much work on myself; but when I remember that in a few years these boys will be out in the world, and I can not have them around me, I feel that every moment is precious, and pray to be forgiven for my own impatience and weariness.” But perhaps some one reads this who has had no advantages herself, and has, besides, no time to spend each day with her children. You say : “I can not possibly teach my children-what is my part ? Send your children to school as early as pos- Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 69 sible, and insist on a regular attendance. A Kindergarten is the best school for little ones, and each year there are more of these delightful classes opened. Every large city has two or three free Kindergartens, while many of the public schools use the games and occupations. Once having placed your child in school do not allow him to remain at home for any trivial excuse. Many a woman complains bitterly that her grown son or daughter loses place after place, when she herself is to blame in not having insisted on his faithful attendance to school duties. A busy mother is tempted to keep her eldest child at home because Baby is fretful, or it is a specially busy week; but when you have once entered your child at school act as if, for those hours, that child was not yours, and you will find you can keep the boy or girl steadily at their studies. Unless a child is remarkably fond of study, constant interruptions will make him lose all interest in his lessons. A very bright boy said to me: “If I never stay away I never want to, but let anything keep me out of school one day, and I want a holiday the next." If you are poor and must work, leave your little ones at a Day Nursery rather than sacrifice your elder child. All the more, because you are poor, watch jealously over the school hours ; your children can not hope to have a great many years of schooling. Take an interest in your 70 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. children's books; get them to read aloud to you; call on the teacher and show her you appre- ciate what she is doing for your children. In all these ways you help educate your child, even if you have no time or ability to do all that mothers who have more leisure and advantages can do. CHAPTER XI. MENDING AND MAKING. The most womanly accomplishment we can acquire is the art of mending-darning, patching and the like. But not all have been taught, and after marriage it is hard to learn. Those who have leisure can help and benefit their less pros- perous sisters by teaching them mending and darning, and many a woman who cannot attend classes would be glad if a lady would teach her in her own home. I can not tell you how to mend in this chapter, but resolve that from this day you will take a stitch the moment it is needed. Train your children to feel ashamed if a button is off; a boy or girl of eight years old can be taught to sew on buttons very well. If you have a few pieces of a dress left, sew them to the under side of the skirt-belt, then when a patch on the elbow is needed no time is lost in looking for the pieces, Plain Talks with Young Home Iakers. 71 you make Fasten scissors and button-hook to long pieces of tape and hang them up. Have a pincushion hanging on the wall and always keep two needles threaded with black and white cotton on it. Straight pinafores with long sleeves will keep one stuff dress clean the whole winter, while boys are quite willing to wear aprons if them like butcher's aprons with separate sleeves. Insist on an apron even if the dress is old, be- cause you are forming habits of neatness for your children. In buying, choose what will wear well, not what is fashionable. An all-wool dress will wear to the last thread, while a cheap satin or silk only looks nicely while it is quite new, and after- wards is positively nasty. As most mothers ex- pect to “make over ” their clothes for the chil- dren, it is well to buy stuff that is suitable. Remember if you dress your little one in silk and plush at ten, she is not going to be contented in cloth at fifteen. It is really a disadvantage to a child to be handsomely dressed; let us spend money first on the flannels, etc., for a child must be warm in winter to thrive. Flannel nightgowns are, after the first expense, as cheap as muslin; if the per- son is kept clean, the flannels need only be shaken and aired, washing once a month. Three . night waists and drawers will be plenty for two children, by a little management. In purchasing, try to buy just after the season: 72 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. winter clothes in February, summer in August. Make the sleeves of children's dresses double, and if a girl is growing fast turn in a couple of inches at the arm-hole. Try to give a certain time to sewing with your children. After dark in winter the boys and girls will enjoy gathering around a bright light to learn pretty stitches. Boys lose none of their manliness by learning to do “outline work,” or crochet, and once having wielded a needle, they can easily do any necessary mending in later life. Let the children read aloud while mother mends, play proverbs or some other game that does not require the fingers—manage to keep them with you, to share their pursuits. Talk as little as possible about dress; long consultations before the children train them to consider dress a matter of great importance. Teach boys and girls to dress for the evening meal. The dressing may only consist in taking off jacket or dress, brushing the hair, washing and putting the same things on, but it is by these little ways that we teach our children true re- finement. CHAPTER XII. SICKNESS. PLENTY of fresh air and sunlight, cleanliness in our homes and our bodies (inside as well as Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 73 out), with a quiet confidence that God will make all things work together for good, will keep away a great deal of sickness. But there are the usual diseases of children-croup, measles, colds, slight fevers—what shall we do for these ? First, as to croup; the child is often suffering from indigestion. If he is very croupy, give him a teaspoonful of syrup of ipecac; if he has only a croupy cough moisten a teaspoonful of sugar with eight or ten drops of the ipecac and give it him from four o'clock till he sleeps, at intervals of one hour. Do not house him; clothe him warmly and send him out between twelve and three every bright day, but never later. Measles can often be cared for without a doctor. Keep the patient warm, give plenty of warm drinks, especially lemonade, and rub the body once a day with sweet oil. Do not let the patient use his eyes or have a bright light shine directly upon him, and be very careful as to going out, as the danger lies in any relapse. Mumps are more serious with boys than with girls; keep warm and be careful to have the bowels move freely. The child needs soft food; nice soups, milk toast, farina and cornstarch blanc mange, soft-boiled eggs, jelly made with gelatine, and lemons are all good. For all these slight troubles very little medi- cine is needed. I wish more poor people used Humphrey's Specifics; they are so gentle in their effects that there is no danger in trying them, 74 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. while there is a great danger in the wholesale use of strong cathartics and the like. Look carefully at the plumbing; remember the Health Officer is always willing to come to examine the building, and you have a right to a clean, wholesome home. But now a few words as to serious illness. In many cases the patient stands a far better chance if treated at the hospital. They can be more promptly treated in case of sudden change of symptoms, and there are not the constant dis- turbances of home life. The charge, when one considers doctor's bills, a trained nurse, etc., is not exorbitant, while there are always special arrangements for those who can pay but little or nothing. Over and over again have I known of cases where hospital nursing saved the patient. Take one instance: a young girl had a badly swollen hand. The doctor called it inflammatory rheumatism; she was not willing to go to the hospital, but three weeks later, being no better, she consented. She proved to have a disease of the finger-joint, which if neglected a few days longer would have made amputation necessary, and was on the verge of hasty consumption. She spent two months in the hospital, and went out quite well. Yet we do not want to send our dear ones away if we can possibly care for them. Give the patient the airiest bedroom you have. Take up the carpet, using a loose piece which can be Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 75 rolled up and carried out to be cleansed. Keep a pan of fresh water under the bed. Do not whisper in a sick room nor stand just out of sight of the patient. Try and be as natural as possible; a sick person resents any forced gayety, while too much pity weakens. Make the tray of food as inviting as possible, and only offer a little at a time, thus provoking an appetite. As soon as the tray has served its purpose remove it ; so, also, with medicine tumblers, etc.—do not keep them in sight. If flowers are sent, take them away at night, and be careful to renew the water in the vase each morning. Do not talk over symptoms before the patient, nor take up the doctor's time with your notions as to the disease. Give him the facts, and he can tell what to do. Ask the doctor if the patient can see visitors, and if he forbids it, never hesitate to turn callers away. Be careful, if visitors do come, to watch your patient. Few people know how to visit in a sick room. Let there be no anecdotes of sick- ness. Cull every witty saying, every bright anec- dote and take it to a convalescent as you would a beautiful flower. If there is no hope of recovery, do not deceive the patient, but let one who knows and loves the Father tell His child that word has come that he is needed. A beautiful text or Scripture roll hung in plain sight has often proved a « Silent Comforter at such times. Never forget that not only while there is life there is hope, but now “abideth ... hope." > 76 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. If you employ a trained nurse remember she needs time for sleep and exercise, and, having employed her, give her your confidence and obey her rules. A convalescent child is a trying patient. Do not give them too many good things at once. One toy or book at a time, the others out of sight, is a good rule. If the child grows fretful, a good rubbing from head to foot will often induce sleep, and the child will wake refreshed and content. Remember it is no kindness to the child to allow it to be selfish and disobedient because it is ill. Have very few rules, but when you say “must,” stand firm ; do not scold, only be quietly persistent. Let medicines be taken at once, not dallied with. Whenever it is possible change the patient from the bed to an armchair, if it be only long enough to beat and air the bed. And, having done all in your power, rest in the Lord. He makes no mistakes. He hears and answers our prayers as well when He denies as when He gives. CHAPTER XIII. OBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENTS. In theory we all agree to teach obedience, but practically very few succeed. Does not the mistake lie in demanding too much ? Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 77 Here are two mothers living in the country with little children of four to ten years old. The first says, as she sees the tiny apples swelling into tempting size on the trees, “Now, mind, if you eat green apples I shall whip you," you," or, worse still, “ If I catch you eating green apples. The other mother, upon her boys' showing her the first green apple, says, “Isn't that nice ? Don't you wish it were ripe? You must wait, oh, such a long time before you can eat any; but pretty soon, when they are a little bigger, if you bring all you can pick up to me, I'll make you some apple-sauce, and we'll have a tea- party. Then as soon as the apples are ripe, you shall have all you want, if you don't make yourself sick eating green apples.” Notice, this mother did not decidedly forbid eating apples, nor make any threat. I don't know whether each little mortal that enters this world inherits a special weakness in the line of the temptation which assailed our first parents, but my experience is that forbidden fruit is just the fruit children long for ; and no matter how sour or bitter it is, it tastes good, and, strange to say, often does not make them sick. Now, mother number one will ask, “ Have you eaten any apples ?” Georgie, who has a whipping in prospect if he speaks the truth, and has not, as yet, learned to fear God more than a whipping, answers, “No, ma'am," and really I can't wonder at his course. It takes a good deal of courage 78 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. at six or ten years of age to walk right up to a whipping—when it comes accidentally, as it were, any child bears it, but-how would you act in Georgie's place ? Mother number two has apples in her mind when she tells her night-cap stories. How “Jimmy and Johnny" suffer from unripe fruit ! How “ Frank ” wants to eat it, but, as he has made up his mind to be a Christian, asks God to keep him from disobeying his mother ! These have some effect, but about the middle of July mother sees that Willie's appetite is failing mysteri- ously—perhaps he is restless at night, or, worst of all, Willie has a decided “pain." “Now, Willie, God is punishing you for eat- ing green apples. You knew mamma did not wish you to do it, and now you must take dis- agreeable medicine. I hope you have learned not to eat unripe fruit." Now and then a mother happens to have a stray duckling in her brood that can eat green apples and not get sick. The child eats them slyly and learns to lie! I see no way out of it but by being careful not to put greater bur- dens on our children than they can bear. Take another instance. Some mothers strictly forbid sliding down banisters. I do not. In the first place, have not as many children been injured falling down steps as off banisters? Then I know that a strong, healthy boy will do it ; and in the city where there are no trees to climb, Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 79 brooks to wade in, or gates to ride, I don't see how the boy can help it-or girl either, for that matter. If you forbid them, in nine cases out of ten you teach them to deceive. Better coax them not to, out of love and pity for you, who can not help feeling nervous, thus appealing to their chivalry; or, when you find all other amusements fail, spread your pillows and blankets in the city, and let them have a “grand slide.” Any trouble, any wear and tear of clothes and furniture, is better than risking our child being pushed to a lie. But suppose, with all your thought and care, you have a child that seems inclined to deceive, as some children will, what's to be done? Take pains to have perfect love and confidence be- tween you and your child. Willie tells a very “big" story. I know it to be terribly exagger- ated. I do not mortify the child by looking in- credulous, and almost forcing him to reiterate his exaggerations; but at night, when the little ones are in bed, and we have our own “petting time” together, I say, “ Now, Willie, I want you to think a long time before you answer what I'm going to ask. I care more for you to tell me the truth than for anything else ; and, darling, you mustn't be ashamed to tell mamma, because she knows you were talking fast, and didn't think. Now-one, two, three! Did you really see the fish curled up asleep in the brook to-day ?" Willie looks a little mortified, but, as mamma is 80 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. smiling, he gains courage to say 'No.' Then follows a little talk, and the next day, as Willie begins relating another thrilling adventure, mamma catches his eye, and has the pleasure of hearing a qualifying " at least,” and can see by Willie's carefulness that he is “trying." In this connection, let me say that children with vivid imaginations should be allowed to “tell stories ” and “make believe," as an outlet for their fancies. Many a child is treated as un- truthful, who really sees things through magni- fying glasses because of his imaginative facul- ties. Each child must be treated differently, but with each we must have the same aim--to teach them to hate deceit, to come to their mother as to their dearest, most intimate friend, and so her Friend will soon become theirs. Parents too often take sides against their children before others, and that estranges children. If you know your child to be in fault, wait till you are alone to let him see that you know it--it is not time lost. Yet, in spite of H. H. and many people of leis- ure, I think busy mothers must whip their chil- dren at times. I hope you have read of the lit- tle boy who would not say the letter G, and whose lovely, patient mamma spent two days alone with him, helping him to conquer himself. I do not doubt the truth of the tale, but what would that mother have done, if she had two oi Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 81 three younger children requiring her constant attention ; if Bridget had suddenly taken a week's holiday, and still the boy's obstinate fit had to be met and conquered ? Each mother must judge for herself what mode of punishment is best suited to her child. Some way or another it must be taught obedience. Would that I could distinctly sound this truth in every young mother's ears ! I entered a rail-car the other day with my baby, and took a seat behind a young mother, who was evidently proud of her baby boy. As I expected, the little men, though neither could speak a word, made friends at once, while we mothers compared notes as to our manner of bringing up” the babies. 6 I don't know what I shall do with him in a few years, for even now he throws himself on the floor and screams for anything he wants. Why do you not tell him he must not scream?” 6 But he wouldn't mind me." “Then whip him." How horrified she looked ! Yes," I continued, “I whip my little children who can not understand reasoning and have not a burning sense of shame when whipped ; but after a child is five years old, if properly trained, he will very seldom need a whipping, and indeed should never get one without having it clearly explained to him why it is administered. Í promise you, if you do not punish that stout lit- 82 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 9 tle fellow within six months, that when he is six or eight years old, you or his father will whip him in anger, and only harden him." We talked a while, and then both sat think- ing, when suddenly her baby seized her veil and tore it. “ Naughty baby !” she said. Now he was not naughty; he was just "baby"; and we mothers, for our own sakes, to keep us from a bad habit, if for nothing else, should never say “naughty to a child, unless he is naughty. A little child will often have wilful fits just when we are busiest. We must make two rules about this. First, let what will go to the wall, I must take a few moments with my child alone when I punish him ; and second, I shall, God helping me, never punish him in anger ; better let him go unpunished. See how this works. Biddy has decamped ; you have settled the sitting-room and left the three to play together. Willie, as the oldest, is reminded to be gentle with Robbie, and to watch over Baby. Your dishes are washed, and you are in the midst of bread-mixing, when you hear a scuffle, screams, and Willie rushes out. “ Mamma, Robbie hit me !” “ Willie catched cold and spitted at me." “I only sneezed, Mamma, and you said Rob- bie mustn't hit me." Your hands are in the dough, safe from deal- ing sudden punishment, even if you felt vexed, Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 83 which one can hardly be, as the little rogue, watching your face, steals in ; but because Rob- bie has happened to make you smile at his de- scription of a sneeze, you must not forget he has disobeyed. He is told to sit alone while Willie rolls a little dough to bake for himself, but at a hint from you he promises it to Robbie. That young man, however, pouts and mutters rebellious words to himself. “Robbie, if you strike Willie or throw anything at him to-day, I shall whip you and put you to bed-remember." The day wears on, and you have forgotten the threatened punishment ; every moment is busy, when just as you are about to prepare some dainty for tea, Willie comes again—"Robbie is throwing sticks, Mamma ! You are provoked. Why can not your chil- dren play an hour or two in peace? Why does Willie tell tales ? Take a moment to yourself, then give up the nice dish for tea, and take Rob- bie upstairs, alone. The little fellow is pretty sober and ready to cry if he finds it a wise move. “Robbie, sit on Mamma's lap-so. What did I tell you I should do if you threw sticks ?" “Whip me.” Anything else ? What did I say you must do?” “Go to bed." “ Yes; now, darling, mother loves you very much, and she wants to help you to grow up a 84 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. good man. Do you want to be a good, brave, strong man?” (Better say more than good--lit- tle boys often rebel at mere goodness.) 66 Yes.” * Very well, I am going to help you to be good by whipping you because you did wrong ; so that you will not forget so soon again ; and then you must lie still in bed till supper time.” You whip him—not very hard, to be sure ; but it is the fact that mamma does it that is the pun- ishment; and then you give him a good pet- ting Some people think that, when they have pun- ished a child, they must keep it up and hide their love till the child has had his cry out. I think we should try to copy our heavenly Father's treat- ment of us, in our dealings with our children. When He punishes us, can we not creep close to Him for comfort to bear the wound ? So you pet the little a moment, talk a little about how David, perhaps, threw sticks at his brother (Robbie wishes he had a giant as a mark !) and was punished, how Jesse forgave him, and God forgave him too. “Now, Rob- bie, if you want God to forgive you, you can ask him ; and then you can show him you are really sorry and mean to be a good boy, by lying still, because that will help you to remember.' He is ready to ask forgiveness, so you say a word or two of simple prayer with him, and put him to bed. It has taken altogether twenty minutes to one Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 85 punish him in this way; and you have made an impression on Robbie's mind. He lies still, only asking for a book to hold, singing his songs and hymns, and telling Satan he “shan't throw any more sticks for him." If Willie were the offender he would be sent to sit alone upstairs, and, busy as you are, let your mind be with your boy. Think of the days when you were “locked up.” How clearly the children's voices came in at the open window; how fresh everything looked out-doors ; and oh, how dreary that cosey little room—which, when you were good, was your delight-seemed that summer afternoon ! Do you remember, as your mother locked the door, your anger at not being trusted ? Your rebellious heart brought the hot, angry tears ; but as the quiet of the room made itself felt, you hushed your sobs, and began to think. Soon gentler tears came, and with a blind seeking for relief, you knelt and said, “ Our Father," and resolved to be very quiet and good till mother came. But she was busy, and the time stretched on; and as at length her step sounded along the hall, your face grew sullen, partly from sheer weariness, and partly from foolish shame at your punishment. “ Are you sorry, Miss ?" is asked through the closed door, and your heart hardens. are sorry you may go downstairs." You were very tired! So you muttered, “ I'm “ If you 86 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. sorry,” and rushed down, away from them all with your doll or cat to whom to tell your woes. Your mother called you “hard," and you cried a little as you repeated, “ Our Father " that night, and wondered if you could ever be a real little Christian, like the child in your last Sunday- school book. Oh, if you were only a minister's little girl! Yes, think of these days now, as Willie sits alone upstairs, and calculate your time nicely ; remember that half an hour is a long time to a child, and with a prayer to your heavenly Father go to your son. “ Willie, darling, I know you feel sorry for what you did. You forgot for a little while, didn't you ? Mother forgets too sometimes ; but we both can tell God how sorry we are.” “But you are not put in a room, all alone." “ The only difference is, I have to punish my- self about little things. You see big people can't have mothers to remind them and punish them. You are like that little peach-tree Papa was propping up with a strong post. Now is the time to make you, like the little tree, grow straight ; but we can't change big trees.” “ You prune them.” ” I think Mamma has learned a lesson as well as Willie. Never ask a child if he is sorry—what is the use ? If he is, his conduct will show ; but al- ways show how sorry you are. My My boy always 5 " Yes. Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 87 says, when I am forced to punish him, “ Aren't you sorry, Mamma?” and often we cry toge- ther over the hasty temper Mamma can trace so clearly back to herself. As a last word—when you have forgiven a child, let that be the end of it. We give our children such mistaken notions of God by wishing them to keep on being sorry for a fault. CHAPTER XIV. GIVING CHILDREN PLEASURE. It is so very easy to give children pleasure that sometimes I fear we are satisfied to do it by chance, in a hap-hazard way, not understand- ing the full importance of giving our children every simple pleasure we can devise. People whose children have died often speak of the regret they feel at the thought of some- thing they might have done for them, but do we realize that, in one sense, our children are dead to us in a few short years, though they may live out their three-score years and ten ! The child with you this year, will never be yours again to win and impress. Let us see how differently the same thing can be done for a child, warming and cheering it, or leaving it with no special memory of the deed. Take the matter of sleeping-rooms. Here are 88 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. your trash.' two mothers living next door to one another; each has a boy of seven or eight years old, and, in the general rearranging of rooms in the spring, each mother decides that her boy shall sleep alone. Tom has a comfortable bed, in a good-sized room ; the bureau is full of clothes not in use ; he finds it locked, and is told to come to mother if he wants any change of clothing. He asks for a looking-glass, and the request is considered in the light of a good joke, as he can't pretend to “do” his own hair. his own hair. “You're only to sleep in that room,” says his mother, “and mind you don't litter it up with any of Harry's mother is house-cleaning, and he com- plains bitterly of the time it takes, as he has to “mind mind ” baby, and mamma is too tired to romp and tell stories, but on the last day of the cleaning Harry gets his reward for the help he has been in many little ways to mamma. Harry, darling, you are getting such a big boy, and are really such a good boy too, that mamma is going to give you a little room for your very own. “For me to sleep in ?" Yes, dear, and play in sometimes ; and where you can kneel down quite alone, and ask God to bless you and those you love ; and it may be, if you should forget and be naughty, that you would have to sit there alone a long time—but we'll hope that won't happen. Come and see your own little bed-room. Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 89 It is a little hall-room. The walls are merely whitewashed, and the window low and smail, but mamma has managed a pretty little curtain out of one of the baby's long dresses, the cot-bed has a white spread; a small bureau-washstand, containing Harry's clothes, with everything duly arranged for him to wash his own face and hands, and a chair, comprise the furniture. Harry sees a pretty photograph of two little children playing about their mother's knee, a bright chromo of a bunch of flowers tacked up against the wall (what cares he that it is a “tea. picture” as the children call them), and above the washstand, on a level with the proud little boy's face, hangs a small looking-glass, while over it he reads easily the large card, “Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another." The child is delighted. He has grown men- tally since he entered the door ; his heart is softened to listen to the few earnest words mamma says about his duties, and he tries to follow each word of the simple prayer she offers up that God will be pleased to be with her little boy. Do you not see the difference between these two mothers ? There was no expense about the fitting up of Harry's room, but his mother watches for every opportunity to give her boy a pleasure. How often we withhold a word of praise from 90 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers, a child, when, if it were blame that it merited, we should be sure to deal out full measure. There is no such pleasure in life, for young or old, as the reception of merited praise, and we should be very careful to give it when it has been earned. Your little girl has been very naughty, and has been punished through the day. At night you remind her of her conduct and tell her to ask God's forgiveness. Quite right; but the next day she is a very good girl indeed ; take care that you teach her to thank God for keeping her good all day. I remember when a rare day of goodness oc- curred in my childish life, I was always bewil- dered as to my prayers, and really felt happier when I had been naughty and could feel the blessed sense of being forgiven. So let us teach our children to thank God for the goodness He has enabled them to show forth, as well as ask His pardon for their sins. Teach a little child of three to say, “Forgive me if I have been naughty,” and you will find he will soon know what days to say, " for being so naughty." Do not think I have wandered from my subject, for if we teach our children to look to God for power to be kept free from sin we have given them the highest pleasure. Next, as to simple home amusements ; to make home “the dearest spot on earth," there must be thought and care taken as to the fun Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 91 and frolic, as well as to sterner matters. Let each child have his own bottle of mucilage and a book in which he can paste pictures, his own particular shelf or box where his treasures are kept. Let children make a litter, only make them clear it up. Yet even as to the clearing up, use tact. A little boy had been cutting out pictures for an hour or more, and tired of it. “Get your horse and wagon and play these bits of paper are wood, and you are bringing me a load,” said mamma. “ Draw it over to that. corner by the fire and put them into the kind- ling-box; play that's the woodshed.” The lit- fellow had a new game and at the same time the room was tidied. Do not think you are wasting time in teaching a girl or boy to crochet. Yes, a boy-boys enjoy making pretty things with bright worsted, doing outline embroidery, and the like. Encourage the use of tools with boy and girl, by paying them for odd jobs of carpentering. But besides the daily pleasures, we should make much of high days and holidays. Yester- day was Willie's birthday; he was just seven For a week past he has asked me every hour or two: “ Have you the candles, mamma ? And oh, mamma, will you romp with as yourself? You romp so splendidly !” The candles-little colored ones were in the house and mamma promised to romp. Five or six little friends, with the Dutch children up the years old. 92 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. road, were invited. These Dutch children were in a special manner Willie's company. “ They don't have birthdays, mamma, though neither do Charlie and Annie, but the Schussels don't have anything! I'll tell them to wash clean, and can't you dress 'em up ?” “Would you like, as part of your birthday treat, to give the two boys some clothes ? " “Wouldn't I! I'll give my ulster !” That was a wonderful offer, for Willie's ulster was his great delight. I told him he had better keep the new ulster, as I had some clothes to alter for them.” “All right, you fix it ; and see if you can't rig up Gretchen, too. She isn't very nice.” That was certainly putting it mildly. Gret- chen and the boys are neat, though, for the birthday party. I had told the mothers that this was not a children's party, but an old- fashioned time, so the children came promptly at three o'clock, dressed in good, stout clothes, that would stand “tag,” and “ blind man's buff, and « puss in a corner.” All but one ; she, poor child, looked “lovely,” in a Swiss muslin and pink sash; her hair had been curled for the · occasion, and she hardly dared move lest the curls should “come out.” I was not surprised, after the children had been ten minutes in the barn, to see my little niece leading the prettily dressed child to me. “Please, Auntie, let Anna put on one of my Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 93 of us. calicoes. She can't have any fun like the rest So the dress was changed, the curls braided, and back ran the girls, happy and free because their dress did not require thought. At five o'clock, tea was announced. I wish some fashionable mothers could have seen the table. There were mottoes and oranges, and cakes, but on each plate was a bowl of good, rich milk, and care was taken that plenty of bread and milk was eaten before the “goodies were touched. The little girl of the curls evi- dently missed her hot biscuit and waffles. Supper lasted an hour, and then came the games. We romped and danced till even the boys were willing to sit down for a while. Then came reading; one and another recited pieces, we sang, and last of all, talked, and—every one of those children confided to me that they wished they could keep their birthday ! Mothers, look back! Do you remember the day that little wonderful bundle was laid on your pillow, and you, weak and tired, fell asleep with your arm around it, and a prayer in your heart for wisdom to take the child and nurse it for God? Do you remember how you looked forward on that first birthday to the future birth- days ? to the time when he could walk, could read, could go to college, could care for you in your old age? Now, as the years of that little life are passing, recall, on the birthday, your first resolutions, your first hopes, and make it a 94 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. holy day for yourself, a holiday for your child. Make him glad, at least one day in the year, that he has been born. One word as to National holidays. Remem- ber how few resting-spells the bread-winners of the family get, and try to make every hour of the day pleasant. Deliberately put cares and vexations aside. Train the children to consider Father's pleasure through the day. If you are your own cook, try and arrange a dinner that can be half prepared the day before, that you may give yourself to your husband. If he in- clines to go to the theater, don't frown upon him, but go with him if possible. If you can not, and you dread the company he may get in, instead of begging him not to go, have another plan, and coax him to go your way. A father will often enjoy quite simple games with his children you can once start him at it. Battledore and shuttlecock is great fun for young and old, and when played with windows open is a most health- giving sport. if CHAPTER XV. FRESH AIR IN WINTER. How many mothers wish, for the children's sake, there were no winter ! . " “My children are all the time catching colds," said a young mother Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 95 to me, "yet I never let them go out; and they have so many feverish turns. There is no time like the summer for children." I do not agree with you. My children have a good time out-doors in winter as well as in summer. To be sure, there are no flowers to hunt for, but there are icicles; and it is such fun to sweep the path! As for baby, I think she has a betier time than in the summer, for then she had such an Eve-like hankering after forbidden fruit, while now she sits in her box- sled and queens it right royally over the boys. Then as to fevers and sickness; the trouble is, people starve their children through the winter. Thomas Fuller says, “ Air is a dish one feeds on every minute, and therefore it needs be good "; but most mothers never think of that. They set a furnace going in the cellar, or a base-burner in the room, and keep the room at eighty degrees. Perhaps once a week the windows are thrown open; but some mothers will not allow even that. The children are starving for fresh air. Once a day every sitting-room should be thoroughly aired, the temperature lowered by the fresh out- side air. Do not say you can not do this because you have no warm room to send the children to. Put on the children's wraps just as if they were going out-doors, and then, opening doors and windows, start the young ones playing tag. If you join in yourself it may save you a doctor's bill. YoŲ will find the few minutes thus taken 96 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. are fully made up to you by the brighter tone among the little people. Now as to sending children out-doors. You say your little two-year-old has not been out all winter. No matter, if you are careful you can gradually toughen the child. In the first place, hang a thermometer in a central part of the room, and see that it does not get above 70°. Then, not earlier than ten or later than two, wrap up your little one. Take care that his feet are warm and well protected. If the child can not walk firmly and is to be in a sled, be sure there are warm shawls under and over, and only let him be out for twenty minutes or half an hour; but a child that can run about can stay out longer, only be sure he is moving all the time. The moment he comes in, off with his wraps. Don't do as a mother I know of, who, at my earnest solicitation, wrapped up her little girl and took her for a walk. She called with the child to see a friend, let the young one sit in all her wraps for fifteen minutes in a warm room, and then took her home. “She knew the child would catch cold by going out,” and it did, only it was the going in that gave it the cold. Feel Tommy's feet, and if they are cold rub them between your hands. “ Oh, I have no time to do all that,” do you say? Now I have timed myself in dressing my little one, arctics, worsted overdrawers, and all, and it takes just Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 97 Do you five minutes. Five or ten minutes a day to help your child grow hearty and strong ! begrudge that ? But I know that all mothers do not live where they can send their little ones out alone. Even if it takes a whole hour of your time, and breaks right into your sewing, I beg you to do it. Neglect anything else rather than your chil- dren's health ; and remember, even though your child may not seem sickly, no child can be as strong who is debarred exercise in the fresh air as he would be if he had it. Get in the habit of airing your house. If you are to sit down to lunch or dinner, air the sitting-room while you are all out of it ; if you run out to market, lower the window while you are gone; in short, cultivate an appetite for one of the dainties of life-fresh, sweet air. CHAPTER XVI. A MOTHER'S RECEIPT BOOK. I HAVE been looking through Grandma Hope's receipt-book to-day. It is no “ Complete House- fe," with infallible receipts, which generally turn out too expensive for our means, but this is Grandma's own book, written by herself ; each receipt has been proved and tested, 98 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. You can see, as you turn the pages, the change from the young wife's pretty, careful writing, to the busy matron's hasty notes. A page is torn. “ Ah yes," the old lady says, as I glance at it, “my little Ida tore that. She was just beginning to sicken-the darling! It was a Friday, and, as I had so much baking on hand and she fretted for the book, I let her have it, and before I knew it she tore it. Well, I love that torn page now- the darling died the next week.” The dear old lady sits and dreams of little Ida, who is still her baby, kept for her by the Lord, while the others have grown to men and women. Why, here are several" pages full of 'cures for asthma.'" “Yes, my Tom suffered so with that, I just tried everything I heard of." " Did these all relieve him ?” “ Sometimes one did, and sometimes another was better. You have to keep trying fresh things with asthma." If only the old lady had kept a mother's re- ceipt-book, I thought, as she made that answer, what a treasure it would be to her and to her children! Tom had a terrible temper, I've heard, as well as the asthma, but his mother could always control him, and at last, better yet, taught him to control himself. Ah, if she had just made little notes, now and then, of her man- agement of him, how it would help Tom's wife now, who wants to conquer little Tom, but has Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 99 not any method of government with him. Then, how often children teach us a real lesson, by a word or even a look of surprise! It flashes across us like an inspiration, but, unless we are careful, it is unheeded ; before we sleep we ought to write such lessons down. For instance, a mother writes : “ To-day I was driving with little Robbie, and, having an odd penny, let the child get a stick of candy; but, knowing that, if he spoke of it at home, his brother would feel hurt that he had none, I said, “Don't tell Willie.' The little one looked up astonished. “Can't I save him a piece ?” he said. How wrong I was, teaching my boy to be selfish! I had better risk any little disappointment, than ever again say, "Don't tell.'” Do you see? That incident written out will make an impression that might otherwise have been lost. A mother told me of her little boy's laziness and inattention, in his presence, the other day ; the little fellow's face flushed, and, too proud to cry, he hurried out of sight. I was intimate enough with the mother to say a word of sorrow that she had hurt her boy's feel- ings. The mother acknowledged her error at once, but said, “I thought it would spur him on by shaming him.” Ah, better never rouse a child, than by such means ! We had an earn- est talk about the matter, and if the mother had noted, ever so briefly, her mistake and the les- son she had learned, it might have been of great 100 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. use to her ; but, as it is, I know the impression faded from her mind. How often have I asked one and another, who have brought up a large family of sons and daughters, “ How did you manage your chil- dren?" and not often have I really learned any thing by the reply; but if a receipt book, such as I refer to, had been kept, it would be so de- lightful to be answered, “ I'll read you little bits from my experience when my children were young-perhaps it will help you?". Another thing. The generality of women have no idea of the real pleasure there is in keep- ing some record of their children's sayings, which would naturally find their way into your book of records of your methods with them. You will come to love your quiet hour, when the little ones are in bed ; you will jot down Harry's bright speeches, and years after, when Harry is a man, he will laugh to read of his ex- clamation : “Never heard of Samson! Why he was a sort of Jew Goliath with a jaw-bone for a spear ! Or, if your darling is taken from you, and the noisy, merry laughter, instead of deepening into manhood's tones, is suddenly hushed, never to be heard again, though you strain your ears to listen in the silence, what comfort your book will give you ! My dear young mother, I write what I know, for 'I have tried this, and I know it is a great rest in a busy life to write down what you have taught your children, or they have taught you. A Plain Talks with Young Home Makers.101 CHAPTER XVII. NEIGHBORS. » SUPPOSE we talk in this chapter about our neighbors and entertaining them. The nearer our neighbors are, the more difficult it is to “get along” with them. For this reason a small house is so much better than a flat, and, natur- ally, a tenement house is the most difficult of all. We are to “live peaceably with all men, but remember that “as much as lieth in you" is added-impossibilities are not expected. Do not be in too much of a hurry to know your neighbors, if you live in flat or tenement. We wives have no right to any intimate friend except our own husbands, and for that reason it is best to be cautious as to making new friends. We will be more likely to get on ” with the people in the house, if we are not too intimate with them. We want to be kind and neighbor- ly, but let us consider carefully before we run in to borrow anything—can not we do without, or buy it from the store? Let us remember that in many cases the truest kindness is to let our neighbors alone. Let us resolve to speak ill of no one, and whenever a neighbor's charac- ter is spoken against, let us try to “put a patch on" by some word of praise. Another reason why we had better not be intimate with those under the same roof is, there is great danger of 66 102 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. losing time in useless chat. If a neighbor will run in during the busy time of the day, do not stop your work ; there is no apology needed ; one who lives so near can call at a more conve- nient time, and your faithfulness to duty may rouse her to go and do likewise. An hour lost in the morning is never found through the day. On the other hand, a true friend has a claim upon our time and is worth sacrifices. Besides, if we do not take care we shall not be “ given to hospitality ”-one soon begins to think “it's not worth the trouble.” It is good for a man to have his friends drop in at his own house, so we will honor our husband's guests. Yet the husband himself shall be the most honored guest. Let us try to entertain him, keeping our eyes and ears open for little bits of news as to public events. There are excellent concerts and entertainments given by different churches which we can attend at very little cost; there are bright games, and, best of all, there is reading aloud. Did you ever try reading a dime novel aloud ? Almost any one is ashamed to do so—it sounds so very foolish. I know one woman who persuaded her hus- band to never “treat” any one outside his own home. The price of two or three glasses of beer was spent in coffee or chocolate and home-made cakes, and not only did this wise woman's hus- band learn to enjoy little suppers in his own Plain Talks with Young Home Makers.103 home, far more than a treat at a saloon, but many of his friends began the same custom. How about keeping friends over night ? Do you think it is right when you have to turn your own children out of bed to do it ? No doubt some who read these talks will think it waste of time to discuss this question, but I hope my little book is going into very crowded homes, and I know that in such homes children are often made very uncomfortable to make room for a big man and woman, who might much better go back to their own homes. But how about the boys' and girls' company ? The golden rule in every family should be, “ Put yourself in his place.” Following this rule, we will try to think how Joe or Mary feel about the matter. At their age they want fun and like to meet their friends—they will do it, now where shall it be? Manage to give them a room at home. It need not be a handsome room, nor will it be best to have it for the young people's exclusive use, but let us make it neat and inviting. Let us be part of the attraction ourselves by“ dressing for tea," if it is only taking off our dress to wash and smooth our hair and putting it on again. One trouble is that with many families there is but one sitting-room, and there are children of all ages. Just here the screen will be of use. Let the younger children understand that the evening is the grown people's rest and play time, 104 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. and let them study and play in one corner, shut off by the sheltering screen. Then again, there are games in which all ages can join-dominoes, “Authors,” “ Parchesi,” a romp with bean-bags, hide the handkerchief, etc. It is far pleasanter to spend part of the evening playing such games than to sit stiffly entertaining; and the young people will become more sociable and be able to judge of one another's characters and disposi- tions better, if they meet among the members of the family." Let us never allow our children to joke their older brother or sister as to any friendship they may have formed. Love is too sacred a matter to be spoken of slightly, and friendship may last a lifetime with no thought of marriage on either side. When your girl makes a new acquaintance, insist on knowing him or her. If the acquain- tance be a girl, find out as to her home, for it may not be such as your daughter should visit ; this is sometimes the case even when the friend may be good and lovable. Invite such a girl to your home, and let your daughter enjoy sharing her brightness and pleasant surroundings with the one whose life is in shadow. Nowadays there are, in almost all our towns and cities, Girls' Friendly Societies, or Working- girls' Clubs, which we should encourage our girls to join. They meet those who are anxious to improve ; there are generally a few leading women in such societies who influence the girls Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 105 too, if for good, and in one or other of whom our girl will confide, going to her with her doubts and perplexities, perhaps, when she might not come to her mother-we may be sure such a friend will not forget to counsel our girl to come to us. But the great good, it seems to me, of such so- cieties is, that they show our girls that it is pos- sible to have pleasant times, and be interested in matters not connected with young men. Then, you have many children your older ones must go out without you, and such a society will fill up one or two evenings of every week in a pure, wholesome way. Now just a word or two for those of us who have a parlor apart from the sitting-room. Did you ever notice how much alike parlors are ? Let us try to have our room show our tastes and aims. Better have a faded carpet and shabby furniture, and one or two really fine etchings or engravings with fresh magazines on the table, than fine carpets and furniture with bare walls and cheap prints. If you keep but one servant, do not buy knick-knacks, such as china figures, fancy vases, etc, and have tidies and pillows for use-not show. Here is a picture of a parlor I spent many a happy evening in some years ago ; it may prove suggestive. The floor was stained and had an ingrain square of carpet covering within two feet of the wall. The darns were done so neatly that they did not show! A large low box had a 106 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. mattress laid upon it and was covered with cre- tonne, with square pillows to match, set up as a back. There were four or five odd cane-seated chairs, a wicker rocker for each of the children, an extra sewing-chair for company, a lounging chair with two slip covers (so as to insure a fresh look) for“ John.” The table was always fur- nished with a good weekly paper and one or two magazines; a stand of flowers stood in the bow window, a piano at one end. The only “bric-a- brac" were two large vases on each side of the mantel clock ; but on one side hung a large en- graving of mountain scenery, over the mantel was another, while a set of book-shelves was called the family bank, for each month the savings were spent in some much-coveted book. The doors of this room were always decorated by good engravings, or colored plates from the art magazines, and were an endless source of conversation with the children. I remember a picture of a dog standing on a deserted pier, looking eagerly after a ship sailing away into the distance. How the whole family talked of dogs for a week or two! Then of ships—the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner was read in connection with that picture! We went sailing, in fancy, to arctic seas and islands of the main. Does this picture sound inviting ? Friends, there was not. a bit of plush, a lace tidy, a banner or portière to be seen ! Plain Talks with Young Home Makers.107 CHAPTER XVIII. MISTRESS AND MAID. Why is it that in many households where the work is done neatly and thoroughly the appear- ance of the maid of all work is a disgrace to the family? Why is it that servants to whom we pay fair wages go about our houses in soiled, ragged clothes, spending all their money on their“ best things "? Is this entirely the girl's fault ? I think not. Surely blame rests upon the mistress as well as the maid. Ladies seem to accept this state of things as inevitable, and submit to it. But is it not quite as injurious to the servant as to the employer ? Indeed, are not the conse- quences more serious in her case ? I read, “We must all appear before the judg- ment seat of Christ," and as we are to be judged for our deeds here, surely we must answer for the use we have made of our advantages. Now we know how much personal cleanliness has to do with health, we know the moral influence of neat, tidy dressing, we know the terrible pitfalls into which many girls stumble through extrava- gance in dress. Ought we not to help our weaker and ignorant sisters ? As no mother is truly loving and unselfish who does not insist on what she knows is best for her child, so no mistress is doing her duty to her nearest neighbor, unless she insists on her servant obeying the laws 108 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 22 of health, and guards her from temptations to sin. Now this is not impractical ; there are mis- tresses that do this. Only use tact in doing. I find it is quite a new idea to an Irish servant to talk over our side of the question. “You must wear neat, whole clothing, or strangers will naturally think I cannot pay you any wages, said a lady to a servant who tried her patience by wearing ragged clothes. “I never thought of that," was the answer ; “troth, it's thrue enough.” “ Buy yourself two calico dresses this month, and I will add a nice apron," was the in- ducement offered as this girl's wages were handed her. On her first Thursday out this girl was starting forth with quite a fine exterior, but though it was wet underfoot and her shoes were thin, she had no rubbers. The mistress insisted on rubbers being bought, explaining to the girl the obligation one owes to an employer to keep in health--quite a new aspect of affairs to Bridget. In the evening when Bridget came home, she found the dishes washed and her mis- tress waiting to have a little talk with her. After asking where she had been, whether she had seen a certain pretty shop window, etc., the lady spoke of sudden accidents when one is out, and the necessity of being so clean and tidy that any misplacement of dress would not shame one. Kind inquiries were made as to Bridget's under- clothing, and it was taken for granted that month Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 109 by month the girl would supply her lack. This mistress insists on the servant bathing every Friday night, the bath-tub being scoured on Sat- urday. In houses where there is but one bath- tub, this is a much better arrangement than to let the servant use the wash-tubs in the kitchen. You cannot be sure she does bathe in that case. A present of a sweeping-cap aids a girl in keep- ing her hair tidy, and I would advise every one to make a strong tea of larkspur seed and have the servant wash her hair thoroughly once a month. This can be given as a tonic, but it is the only sure way of ridding the hair of insects. People who visit among the poor will find this simple wash “ handy to have in the house." There are no more extravagant people than Irish servants, simply because they know no better. Bridget will throw aside a nice woolen dress because it is soiled, and buy a ready-made slinpsy affair instead ; but at your suggestion she would rip the woolen dress, have it dyed and re-made, and have a good dress for less money. It is the same as regards bonnets and shoes- show them by experience how to economize, and they will benefit by your lessons even if they are not grateful. And, after all, is there not a great deal to be said on the servant's side? They come out here with utterly false ideas of what they are to meet. Many of them actually throw away every thing they bring, expecting to pick up better 110 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. things at once ! When I remonstrate and say, “Now write home and tell the truth to the girls there,” Bridget says, “I wouldn't tell them how I have to work for annything." Then Bridget is surrounded by foolish, igno- rant friends, who do their best to make her dis- contented, and not one mistress in fifty takes any real interest in her. Understand me, most mistresses are kind, they are just, they are good to a girl if she is ill; but oh, friends, think what a real interest means. It means putting yourself in her place ; it means making allowances again and again ; it means shielding her from evil because of your own womanhood; it means the patient reiteration and explanation as given to children. Do we have that toward our servants? True they leave us, but that is not the last we shall see of them if we believe the Word of God. Suppose every one of my readers should firmly insist on her servant supplying herself with neat wearing apparel throughout; would not allow Bridget to go out unless properly protected against the weather ; would insist on her eating her meals regularly, and taking time to them (which a solitary girl seldom does), and would try to help her buy her clothing judiciously-would not some servants be the better for it, and would not we, if doing all this in His Name, be the happier ? Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. Ini CHAPTER XIX. A MOTHER'S WAGES. THERE was once a woman who came in haste- a young girl had called her—to receive, from a king's daughter, a child. There was very little said ; the poor woman thought only of the little baby, of his hunger and need of care, but she was to be rewarded for what she was willing to give freely. “ Take this child and nurse it for me," said the king's daughter, “and I will give thee thy wages." At first, perhaps, the mother (for we know she was the child's own mother) thought very little of the promised wages. It was enough to have the baby, to fondle it and care for it ; but in time she found the promised reward for the care of this child was very acceptable. Then came the day when her care was no longer needed, and he went home to be the king's son. Surely this history has a deep spiritual lesson for us mothers. We have children given us to bring up, and we are promised a reward for our work. As the children grow out of their sweet baby ways-grow into troublesome blessings- into boys and girls that must be taught every- thing, and then must have much that they have learned from others unlearned, how we look for- ward for the reward! Some friend, seeing how 112 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. tired we are with the constant drain upon our patience and strength, says, “ No matter ; when they are grown up they will amply repay you for all your trouble. It is with us as with the mother of Moses ; we are earning our wages ; but do you think that poor woman received nothing till she came with her big hearty boy to give him up ? No, indeed, I am sure that she received daily wages. So with us ; let us not look forward into the future for our reward, but take it now. Your little ones are folded snugly in bed, and as you start to go away one of them pleads for mamma to stay a little while. There is your reward if you will but take it. Sit a little while and sing and talk with the children ; your lot in life will seem so much pleasanter, as you hear their lov- ing words of thanks for the few minutes' chat. You earn wages of trust each day from your chil- dren, if you are faithful. The very need of so much teaching brings its reward in the children's tender love and admiration for the teacher. I often think, when I see mothers looking so much for the reward that is to come in the future, and feeling that for the present time the children are but a burden, how like it is to a young girl I heard of, who received a stated sum each month and when she was thirty years old she was to re- ceive the whole of her money. Month by month she drew her stipend, but, with the great sum that she was some time to have in her mind, it never Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. 113 her cry seemed worth caring for. “I shall have some- thing worth talking of by-and-by,” she would say. Well, the time came, and she found that she received but fifty dollars—it was all that was left! Then she thought of her steady income, a little at a time, but coming again and again, and regretted that she had not enjoyed it more. “How much comfort I might have taken !” was . So it is with many mothers. They are con- stantly saving and pinching and planning for the future, and will not enjoy the little rewards that each day offers to them. You talk of what a companion Mary will be to you when she grows up-make a companion of her now. Show her what you care for most ; read aloud from your favorite books to her ; that you have to explain a little will be all the better for your own under- standing of your favorite author. Love her play- mates and take a pride in her doll's clothes. Take your little son as your prop ; let him think he supports you, even though you are all the while holding him up ; it will make a man of him, and keep you young and sweet. If your six- year-old boy admires some particular dress of yours, wear it to gratify him, put the dandelions in your hair, which he gathers, and take a real interest in his tops and marbles. Your boy will reward you not only in years to come, but from day to day. Perhaps you will hear him say to some little friend : “I don't believe your mamma 114 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. would stop her work to put another pocket in your jacket, but mine did !” That triumphant, proud tone is reward enough, I warrant, for the half- hour of sewing. But there is one more thought about this story of Moses that we can profit by. When the time came to give her child back, she gave it up cheer- fully ; she knew it was for the child's advantage. We do not doubt that the mother was lonely enough, but she had never forgotten for whom it was she was nursing the child ; the very wages, coming day by day, reminded her of that. And so with us. Let us not forget that we have the care of children who will be adopted in a royal household, and if they are summoned to the palace, let us remember how much our loss is their gain. Let us never lose sight of the fact that we are bringing up the children for the Lord, and, as the sweet rewards of our care and toil come day by day, let us keep our eyes fixed on the home to which our children are to go sooner or later. Thank God, the end will be so different from what it was with poor unselfish Jochebed, for we shall follow our children to the palace, and see and share their joy. CHAPTER XX. A LAST WORD. It must always come—this last word! We women are said to lengthen it wonderfully, yet Plain Talks with Young Home Makers.115 we do at last shut the book or close the door, and turn back to our common task. But the book or friend has changed us more or less. I hope this little book will work changes in many homes. I hope mothers will be more watchful, more thoughtful, after reading it. I trust that the reading will suggest much that could not be treated in so small a book. There is one matter that yet remains to be spoken of—let us teach our children the joy of benevolence. If Tom has outgrown his over- coat, don't wrap it up and take it over to Mrs. B. or Widow Jones, but let Tom choose who shall have it, and give it himself. Do not let us wait till we are rich, or even “better off, but just where we are and as we are, train our chil- dren to share what they have with others. I plead for this because I see more and more that a selfish life is a starved life; and yet it is so easy to become selfish ; children are not conscious they are starving, morally, because appetite dies, or rather another takes its place—the appetite for indulgence, for pleasure, for ease. The girls, as they come to womanhood, especially if they attain to motherhood, may, after all, learn the joy of service, but few men learn this late in life. And, after all, my last word will not be my own word, for I wish to close with the most beau- tiful thoughts on motherhood that I have yet found ; the lines are by the gifted physician and lecturer, Mrs. Mary A. Allen, M.D. 116 Plain Talks with Young Home Makers. The fair young earth hushed all her sounds of life, As evening gathered in the western sky, And calmed the sportive wind, that she might hear The world's first mother's first fond lullaby. A rapture such as mothers share with God, By sweet melodious cadences expressed : "My child, part of my very heart in human form, My living thought, plucked from my throbbing breast.” How good was God to give such balm divine To sinning Eve, bereft of Paradise, To grant her, mourning over Eden lost, To find new Edens in her baby's eyes. And every mother crooning o'er her child, Catches the same sweet rapture from the skies, And though shut out of earthly Edens, finds In mother-love a sinless Paradise. What height of bliss but measures depth of woe, The mother-joy is matched by mother-pain ; Eve's gentle heart bled o'er her sinning child, And Mary wept for hers who had no stain. Mothers alone drink sorrow's deepest dregs. Did God need sympathy, that he should deign To give to woman, through her mother-love, Some comprehension of His love and pain ? Mothers alone climb joy's most rapturous heights, Here too they touch the heart of Love Divine. O Father, God, how very good Thou art, To give us joys that else were only Thine. A partnership with God is motherhood; What strength, what purity, what self-control, What love, what wisdom, should belong to her Who helps God fashion an immortal soul ! THE END. “THE YOUNG IDEA99 ” OR Common School Culture. BY CAROLINE B. LE ROW, Compiler of “English as She is Taught," etc. Boards, flexible, new style, 50 cents. Extra Cloth, Gilt Top, etc., $1.00. "A sound and sensible little treatise on common school education, by a writer thoroughly farniliar with the sub- ject."-N. V. Sun. 'Warranted to drive away the blues.”—Albany Argus. “Every teacher and school director should read it."- Yale Courant. "One of the best ways to work reform."-Cleveland Leader. *One of the brightest and most amusing of educational arguments,"-Cin, Commercial Gazette. “The lady who has with much labor compiled this little book has done a genuine service to the cause of educational reform."--Science. “This book beats any jest-book 'all hollow.'. The absur- dities of these extracts are so delicious that one cannot help laughing at them until his sides are sore ; and yet they are as sad as they are funny.”- The N. Y. Examiner. CASSELL & COMPANY LIMITED 104-106 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK UNLIMITED FUN! MARK TWAIN SAYS: “ It is a darling literary curiosity." ENGLISH AS SHE IS TAUGHT. Genuine answers to Examination Questions in our Public Schools. Collected by one who has had many years' experience. For glaring absurdities, for humorous errors, for the great possibilities of the English language, see this book. Cloth, Giit Top, Uncut Edges, Boards, Flexible, (new style), Prico, $1.00 - Price, .50 FROM TOPICS OF THE TIME" IN APRIL "CENTURY." 6 Nothing could be more amusing thân the unconscious humor of English as She is Taught' yet where is the thoughtful reader whose laughter is not followed by something like dismay? Here are examination papers taken from many schools, evolved from many brains ; yet are they so like character that all might be the work of one puzzled school-boy struggling with matters too deep for him." “A side-splitting compilation."-Pall Mall Gazette, London. “More to laugh over than any book of its size ever published.”-Boston Times. CASSELL & COMPANY LIMITED 104 & 106 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK JOHN BULL, JR., OR French as She is Traduced. By MAX O’RELL, AUTHOR OF JONATHAN AND HIS CONTINENT. With a Preface by GEORGE C. EGGLESTON. Boards, flexible; price, 50 cents. $1.00. Cloth, gilt top, unique, “There is not a page in this delightful little volume that does not sparkle.”—Phila. Press. "One expects Max O’Rell to be distinctively funny, He is regarded as a French Mark Twain.”—The Beacon. “ The whole theory of education is to be extracted from these humorous sketches."-Baltimore American. "A volume which is bubbling over with brightness, and is pervaded with wholesome common sense.”-N, Y. Com. Advertiser. "May be placed among those favored volumes whose interest is not exhausted by one perusal, but which may be taken up again with a renewal of the entertainment afforded by the first reading.”—Boston Gazette. CASSELL & COMPANY, & COMPANY, LIMITED 104-106 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK JONATHAN -AND- HIS CONTINENT. RAMBLES THROUGH AMERICAN SOCIETY. BY MAX O’RELL Author of " John Bull and His Island," " John Bull, Jr." etc., AND JACK ALLYN, Translated by Madame PAUL BLOUËT. In One Elegant 12mo Volume. Price, $1.50. Max O'Rell in this volume of impressions of America and the Americans gives us the brightest and best work he has yet done. While often severe, he is always kind. He makes a number of state- ments, however, that are going to call forth contradictions in various quarters, and are likely to stir up some strong criticisms. Altogether, the book is very lively reading, and will, unquestionably, excite the interest of every American citizen who wants to know what a keen- eyed, intelligent, and witty Frenchman has to say of him and of his country. CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED 104-106 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK F had in 34 - Pres. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 3 9015 01286 4966 DO NOT REMOVE OR MUTILATE CARD Try. 「.