Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 February 1911 — Page 2

SNE hundred and seventynine years ago on the 22d of February the "Father" of our country first saw the light of day, and 111 years ago on the 14th of, last December he looked his last on the land which he had made a free and independent IfMlSpcsn country. Since then the na-

tion each year has marked the date of his birth In various ways, first by holdlip; religious ceremoBiea TT the churches throogtiQat the land at which the pastors, many of whom had fought under the great commander or had known him in private life, talked feelingly about the big heart and the broad soul of the .-departed hero; then as the years rolled along and those who kndw Washington had joined him in the silence the day was marked by a fireat flying of bunting and waring of flags and playing of bands and parading of soldiers. Still later the day was held as a national holiday on which the hanks were closed and the schools gave entertainments at which patriotic songs were sung, .fiery speeches madet and the great deeds of our first president recounted in dramatic manner; now {he day is still a national holiday, \ but the schools are closed and churches, charitable organisations, clubs and individuals make the occasion an excuse for giving colonial teas, Washington birthday parties, hatchet suppers or revolutionary plays. The shop windows are full of hatchets, miniature cherry trees, .cocked hats, and cherries, .*eal, candied and for decorative purposes. All this display and fun and frolic makes the thinker wbnder how George Washington kept the day, and the investigator who takes the pains to look into the matter will find that from 1745 to the date of his death, February 22. a day of importance not only to Washington but to his friends and all those who did him service. When Washington was 13 years old he wrote for his own use 110 maxims of civility and good behavior and added one resolution which read: “Resolved, that on the 22nd day of February, the day on which I was given the gift of consciousness, I will each year, do some good deed or deeds, as many as come within my power, to show my gratitude for the life given me for a little space.” From 1745 until the date of his death Washington never broke the resolution made on his thirteenth birthday. On this first anniversary of which there is any record he tramped fourteen miles, seven there and seven home again, to the house of an aged woman who had been kind to his mother during an illness, carrying a large package of provisions and remaining for several hours to stack her woodpile and build her fire. *’ Later in the day he drove two cows nearly two miles to the farm from which they bad escaped and, finding the farmer laid up with rheumatism, set to work to mend the pasture fence, and so keep the cows at home. He returned at night to a good supper, and the evening was passed in merriment No doubt young George slept the' sleep of the righteous that night for his resolution was working splendidly. Several years later he wrote to a school chum early on the morning of the 22d of February: “This day I enter upon a new epoch—the year stretches before me—for what? Only he who benefits his fellow-man has the right to enjoy the glories of life. I shall endeavor to commence my new year clear from debt in this respect.” There is no record how the day was marked in 1848, but judging from the tone of the letter his life was fuller by several good deeds. "Some Personal Remembrances of Washington,” tells how, on February 22, 1751, be hired some half dozen sleighs, rented a hall, and gave all the young people of Mount Vernon, where he was then visiting his brother, Capt- Lawrence Washington, a fine afternoon and evening frolic, with a big “spread” to crown the event To his “party" were invited not the young bloods of Washington's own class, bnt these less favored, and it is recorded that although they stood about in shyness at first, it did not take George many minutes to set the fun going. It was on the following year that Washington made Ida only ocean voy-

WASHINGTON'S WAY

(DEQJMSMTGn) m ME ODfIDQKKB (MKMXMD

age—to the Barbadoes —and that he enlisted in the Seven Years war. He spent hie twenty-second birthday amid warlike scenes at Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburg, where he commanded a regiment against the French. On the eve of that birthday Washington gave a bountiful supper to all the men of his regiment, and gave a good-sized sum of money to one of the men to be sent home to the wife and little ones whom the soldier had left in almost destitute circumstances. There are many lapses of the records of Washington’s birthdays and how he spent them, but in 1765 he writes to a friend: "I am growing old apace, Alfred (he was only 23 then) and today I turn another year. So far I have When true to my resolution, made when 1 was 13, afid I want you to help me to keep It unbroken this year.- Will you be so kind as to give the inclosure to Welmont Hardy of your willage with my kindest remembrances?’’

There Is no record of what the “lnclosure” was, but we are led to believe that it brought comfort to both the sender and recipient. On January 6, 1759, at the age of 27, Washington married Martha Custis. and for the time being all the austerity of the young patriot was sunk In the tenderness of the lover. He marked his birthday that year,by distributing gifts lavishly among his slaves and by ordering that a certain poor widow near the Washington es tate should be served with two quarts of milk and three eggs dally, free of charge, as long as she lived, the bill, of course, to be met by Washington. For a time after his marriage, Washington withdrew from public life and set about cultivating his acres. It was on the 22d of February, not many years after he had turned benedict, that he and Mrs. Washington were sleighing and making unusually merry In honor of the day. As the hour neared noon, both George and Martha discovered that they were “monstrous hungry,” and that they were miles away from Inn or tavern. Pulling up in front of c. little cottage, George made bold to ask the little lady who appeared at the door in answer to his rapping, for a “bite and sup” to stay their pangs. The stranger proved hospitable, and after showing them the way to a tiny barn, where there w r as feed for the horse, she spread the cloth in the kitchen and invited her guests to partake of her simple fare. .

May Dare to Be Shabby

Carelessness in Clothes Gives Impression That Wearer Is Wealthy, Says Woman Who Knows. ‘•There are two ways of Impressing people,” said a woman who had knocked about the world a good deal. “You can be very smart or you can be directly shabby. For a woman of small means I recommend the second way, and I can speak with some authority, since I have followed my theory for a long time. "Before I adopted It myself I watched it In operation. I know an old lady of some means, but not rich, who lived In a good hotel. Everybody received more or less consideration from the management, but this old lady was the mogul of the place. “She paid no more for her rooms than the others, and she spent less In the dining room, and I was at a loss to account for the fact that she commanded instant and implicit obedience, even in the most exacting requests, until one day, when the hotel clerk, having seen me In conversation with her. said casually: * *’ ’You know she’s awfully rich.’ “So one day I told her of this, and asked how * the rumor of her great wealth ever started. She laughed. " ‘lt’s my clothes, my dear,’ she said. “ ‘As you know I am interested In so many things that I have not much money left over for clothes. Two gowns at a time are all I can afford, and going out so little 1 wear them for at least a year or tiro. “ They cannot Imagine a woman economizing in clothes, and they Interpret my lack of vanity an to the carelessness a woman known to be rich has for details. I’d love to hava

She had been cutting carpet rags when Interrupted by her unexpected guests, and Washington had soon drawn from her the fact that she and her husband, who was then off in the village with the horse, delivering some strips of floor covering, kept the wolf from the door by sewing carpet rags and weaving. The young aristocrat whispered a few “ words to his lady and she laughingly nodded consent Washington then snatched a huge apron which he saw hanging on the door, and, tying it around the laughing Martha, handed her a pair of scissors and told her to commence. He begged the protesting dame, their little silver-haired hostess, to get him a pair of shears, and Soon the three were cutting and sewing carpet rags right merrily. The pair remained at the cottage until dusk, leaving behind them a great basketful of gay carpet balls and a substantial evidence of well wishes. As the Washingtons drove away* home, George expressed himself well pleased with the way in which he had Bpent his birthday. Just one more record we have of how the general kept the resolution made on his thirteenth birthday. It was in the year 1778, while at Valley Forge, that Washington marked February 22 with a deed of kindness which Indeed made one man grateful that the general had been given the“gift of life for a little space.” A young sentry was sent to him under the charge of having been found asleep at his post. He was scarcely more than a boy, 111-clad and half-starved, and even though he was badly frightened his eyelids were heavy with sleep. The great general questioned him kindly, found that he had given his last ration to a suffering comrade and relieved a sick man of sentry duty. Instead of reprimanding the boy, Washington spread a blanket, told him to lie down and get an hour’s sleep. When he awoke it was past noon, and the general had laid the table. He was ordered to partake of the “birthday” feast of cheese, some stale bread and good hot coffee, or what passed for that beverage. The next day the boy was sent to the hospital with a fever, and he never saw battle after that. Although this is the last record that can be found of how Washington kept his birthday, undoubtedly later anniversaries were marked by deeds of kindness equal to those of his early years.

clothes If I felt I could •'fford them, at least I would have llkec. them once, but now. that I find the consideration bestowed on my eccentric shabbiness I am not'sure that the change would not be for the worse. “ ‘I have the best table in the dining room. The other day some people who must spend twice as much as I do had a table near me, and annoyed me by their talking and laughing. I complained, and their table was changed. • * “ ’lf they should object they would have to leave, for the management Is not going to offend a woman of millions like myself. I was thinking of getting a new bonnet this year, but as it might lower my social position I shall probably continue to wear the one I bought eight years ago.’ “This is a scheme that works in any number of directions. I personally ccnnot afford to dress as well as most of the women I know, so I make a point of dressing less well even than I can afford. They all know 1 could do a bit better than 1 do.”—Philadelphia Public Ledger.

Unappreciated.

“Are you going to compose any valentine poetry this year?” “No,” replied the sentimental youth. ”1 put In two weeks writing original poetry last year, and the girl merely said it was economical homemade stuff.”

Hard Task at That.

Sunday School Teacher—How many wives had Adam 7 Llttla Girl—One; and he couldn't clothe that one.—Brooklyn Life.

CARE OF HOUSE PLANT

PROPER WATERING THE MOST 1 IMPORTANT DUTY. „ ______ Water Should Be of Same Temperature as Room and Not Admlnistered Haphazard—How to Spray the Foliage. Watering is by far the most Important duty In taking care of the indoor garden. Sickly plants, In six cases out of ten, are the result of being watered just whenever the owner happens to think of It. A good percentage of the remainder are caused by an excess of water. Too much is as bad as too little. When over-wa-tered the roots are unable to absorb all the moisture. This causes the soil to become soaked, thus excluding the air. Then the earth becomes sour, the roots decay, and the leaves of the plant turn yellow and fall off. When under-watered, the roots dry up with similar results. All potted plants should be watched. Rub a pinch of the soli between the fingers. If it crumbles up without caking, then you know It Is time to administer water; if it cakes, then there is still enough moisture unabsorbed. The water should be of the same temperature as the room in which the plants are kept and should be clear. People who pour the hot water left the bottom of the tea kettle on their flowers must not be surprised if the roots are scalded to death. The plant should be allowed to stand and drain for some time. Then the excess in the saucer or Jardiniere must be emptied out. When the flowers are in window boxes, by the way, holes should be drilled in the bottoms of the boxes in order to allow the excess moisture to drain off. Syringing is also Important. All plants should be so treated except those whose leaves are covered with hairs. The value of syringing is that it helps to keep the foliage clean, the breathing pores of the plants open and the leaves and stems free from Insects. On warm days this syringing should be done outside, putting the plants where they can get the sun while taking their bath. It is better not to us? a nozzle, but place the thumb over the opening of the hose and spray ttye water so that it may fall on the leaves like rain. In cold weather this should be done in the bathroom. Plants with large and tough leaves, such as palms and rubber plants, need to be sponged from time to time. Do this lightly and don’t rub the leaves.

Dressed Meat.

A cheap, nourishing, delicious, and easily digested meat for luncheon or tea is made by boiling a “shankbone” of veal, one of beef, and one of mutton together until the meat will fall from thd bone. Carefully remove all bone and gristle, chop fine, or put through meat cuttier. Season to taste,, sage and savory may be added If desired. Place half the mixture in a bread tin, have ready five or six hard boiled eggs, cut each end from them so they can be placed close, end for end, In a row on the meat in the center of tin. Then add the balance Qf the medt, press closely, and set away” until firm. Slice in half inch slices with a sharp knife so that each piece will have a slice of egg In the center, garnish with parsley. This never falls to be an attractive dish and once 'made well is in constant demand. The stock can be used for soup.

Currant Bread.

One quart of bread flour, two hands or a half a cup of sugar (more sugar if you would like it sweeter), tablespoon of lard, one-half yeast cake dissolved in lukewarm water and one and a half cups of well washed curranta Mix flour, sugar and salt well together, then make a hole in middle of flour and add the water as you would mix white bread, then add yeast, mix good, then the currants, then fold In the rest of the flour and mold as you do your bread. Mix it exactly like the white bread for stiffness. Some" people Ilk? to add the currants when they are molding it for the baking, but it isn't as good as putting them in when you first mix It. Let rise all night

Cheese Potatoes,

Boil eight medium-sized potatoes until they are cooked through, peel and mash them in a saucepan. Add a piece of butter the size of an egg and half a cupful of bread crumbs which have been previously soaked In milk. Make a paste of the potatoes with two tablespoonfuls of hot milk, the yolks ol two eggs, and the whites beaten to a stiff froth. Season with salt, pepper and a dash of nutmeg. Mix well together and pile high in a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake in a hot oven until browned on top.

Cold Tapioca Pudding.

Put on© cupful of tapioca Into a saucepan, add two cupfuls of water aad soak over night. In the morning add two pints of milk stirred gently, aad boll about SO minutes; then add the beaten yolks of four eggs, one eupful of sugar, one tablespoonful of butter, and allow to boll for a few minutes longer; flaror with a teaspoonful of orange extract, and pour Into a pudding dish. Beat up the whites of the eggs sttlfly then gradually beat the pudding with this meringue. Serve cold.

CLEANING ORIENTAL RUGS

How, Spots Can Be Removed and the Rich Colors of the Fabric , ' Brought Out. After oriental rugs have been dust cleaned at home by any of the new and excellent electric cleaners, the housekeeper finds the rugs truly dustloss, but not clean looking. If there are grease spots or any other spots on the carpet they remain as before. The province of the machine is to remove every particle of dust and it fulfills this mission, but the good housekeeper is not content to see spots of any kind remaining on her rags. This can be remedied and the rich colors brought out by the following simple method. Leake the rug on the floor where it belongs. Remove everything from on top of it. Take naptha soap and make a lather in luke warm water. Take an old Turkish towel, dip it in the suds, wring out and rub the rug vigorously, being careful not to rub against the nap of the rug. You will see the dirt of the rug coming off on the towel, but not a bit of the polor. Dip in again, washing off dirt of the towel and continue to rub until the towel remains clean. Whenever the suds look dark change the water and prepare fresh suds. When the entire carpet is rubbed, take luke warm water, dip in your towel, wring out, and go over the entire surface so that no sign of the suds is left. Then leave the rug undisturbed until thoroughly dry. It Is surprising how the rug lights up! The natural tints of oriental material are brought out and the conscious feeling that the rug is clean from a sanitary point of view is a satisfaction. The fringe of tire rug should not be rubbed, as it is too delicate, but can be cleaned easily by sitting on a footstool with a basin on the lap and dipping into the suds a handful of fringe at a time, wringing out tight when clean. Avoid wetting the rug as far as possible while cleaning the fringe. Thiß process finished, spread the fringe out straight on the floor until thoroughly dry. The fringe should be cleaned first.

HOW TO MAKE POTATO BAGS

Delectable Dish That is Prepared With Grated Potatoes and Chopped Salt Pork. Grate five or six large potatoes. Add three tablespoonfuls of milk, four tablespoonfuls of flour, and three-fourths cup raisins. _ Have ready one-half pound salt pork; cut up in pieces about the size of a lima bean; also a kettle of boiling water and two small bags; salt bags do very well. Wet the bags in cold water, then put into them, first a thin layer of the potato dough, then about six or seven pieces of the salt pork, which .press down a little into the dough. Half fill the bags in this way, finishing with a layer of the dough. The bags must not be more than half full, as space must be allowed for the dough to swell. Tie the tops of the bags securely and put them into the boiling water and cook two hours. Care must be taken that the bogs do not stick to the bottom of the kettle. At the end of this time remove the bag from the water and allow them to cool slightly, then strip from the loaf. Cut the loaf in thin slices and fry brown. This makes a delicious breakfast dish. The recipe just as It is makes enough for seven or eight persons.

To Have Hot Water.

Place the socket of a wall bracket lamp just high enough above a table so that the top of a hand lamp chimney will be flvq or six inches below it. Make an arm of round wire or small piping long enough to extend out over the lamp and to this hang a picture hook on which hang a small teakettle or pail. In this enough water for the needs of the night can be kept hot without boiling, and will be ready at an instant’s notice. As a lamp is a necessity in a house where there is a youngster, the cost of this device will be nothing, for the blase of a small burner will provide sufficient heat The lamp chimney should not be nearer than two inches to the bottom of the kettle.

Witch Yeast

Boil three medium-sized potatoes in one quart of water. When tender pour water (boiling) over a handful of flour, stir in teaspoonful of salt, a handful of sugar and the potatoes well beaten; add one pine cold water. Add one-half cake of well-soaked yeast Let rise in warm' place until foamy, then save a teacupful, after stirring well, for next baking, using instead of the yeast. Mix as for any bread, adding one handful each of salt and sugar to flour. If yeast should be acid when wanted add one-half teaspoonful of soda and beat foamy. This yeast can be kept for weeks.

Wheat Muffins.

Two tablespoons sugar, one tablespoon butter (heaping), one egg, threequarters cup sweet milk 4generous), one and one-half cups flour, a pinch of salt two teaspoons baking powder. This recipe just makes 12 muffins. Bake in a real warm oven.

Corn Bread.

When making con bread by any recipe, If one large \xx>ked potato hot or cold, is rubbed through a very flue sieve into the batter. It greatly improves It, making It light and feathery.

Is Life Worth j Living?

By REV. F. M. HUBBELL

Pertor of ChWdi May Till*» N. D.

TEXT—My soul Is weary of life.—Job X, ft At one time Job, with a large happy family, had lived jfn comfort surrounded by flocks and herds and great abundance. But calamity after calamity fell upon him. The Sabeans carried off his oxen; the lightning fell upon his sheep; the Chaldeans took away hij camels; a storm buried his sons under a fallen building; he himself was smitten from head to foot with loathsome sores. And Job began to wish that he was dead —perhaps he even thought of committing suicide. But calamity stricken Job is only one of a vast multitude who, crushed to earth by the relentless weight of adversity, have eked out a miserable existence, while perhaps the mind has been crowded with thoughts of selfdestruction. We are moved therefore to aßk, with Job of old I 'and with the poor wretch, the tragical ending of whose life is noted in last night’s paper. Now one’s answer to this question depends, not so much upon the experiences, painful and pleasurable, through which he passes, as upon the significance which he attaches to those experiences. This is conclusively shown from the fact that from no quarter are the answers uniform. Out of conditions one bewails existence while another rejoices in it From the fires of persecution there comes tfock to our question, now a positive negative, now as possible an affirmative, and again a mere question point Such different estimates of life grow out of a man’s fundamental beliefs —they seem often to depend absolutely upon his experiences —the experiences often affect the beliefs; but a man’s philosophy of life la the determining factor. One man declares there is no God; another believes in the Christ revelation of God —and they reach different conclusions as to whether life is worth living. Take the first man who denies the existence, of a personal God. Then, for him, there’s no conscious, intelligent volitional cause for his existence. His own mental add heart powers are simply unique products of such materials and forces as food, water, light, air, heat and electricity. He is but a creature of circumstances, developed from a material thing—call it a protoplasmic germ—into a sentient being that hungers and thirsts, suffers physical pain, writhes in mental agony. Moral responsibility is excluded; there’s no moral source for it—no higher moral to be held responsible to. Ti.en there’s no obligation resting upon the strong to regard the weak; the midnight ruffian is as innocent as the babe he murders, groveling millions must suffer to no purpose, for no directing God means no directing purpose. To endure for a time is of no avail, for immortality has no mean. The soul is but a figment of the imagination; Imagination is but a bubble oozing out of brain tissue; human love merely the effervescence which passes off from chemical reaction. The bald pessimlnism of Von Hartman and Schopenhauer 1b a widely accepted doctrine of life today. Von Hartman finds no purpose in history; progress simply increases ffian’s consciousness of the vanity of life. Schopenhauer says: “To live is to desire, to desire is to Want, to want is to suffer; hence, to live is to suffer.

But the average man cannot escape the conviction that God lives and reigns. What answer, then, does the man make who knows only the stern, relentless God discoverable from nature? This man admits a controlling pnrpose. The apparent invariableness of natural law seems Bhut out the possibility of special Providence. Though his whole nature cries out to God in prayer, he has ho assurance of being heard. And he feels the burden of sin with no hope of mercy. Conscience cries out his guilt; swift panalties falling when physical law is violated suggest dire consequences for the violation of moral law.

To square himself with an angry God he mutilates his body, consigns his children to the flames, expects to become an Ixyon bound to a revolving wheel, a Tantalus with an insatiable thirst. To drown the voice Of conscience he plunges into dissipation or throws himself into the turmoil of Grade, and yet conscience speaks. 'He tries to fulfill its behests, but the man, tempted in all points like as he, yet without compass or rudder. he struggles in turbulent waters to enter x harbor of safety. And that harbor' may be the very vortex of a whirlpool, for he knows not his own destiny. To this man who knows not Jesus Christ, it is a real queetlon whether lifer’ be worth living. Job never doubted the existence of God, but he knew him not as a father, and in the hour of calamity he cursed the day of his birth. To the Christian man, however, there can be only an affirmative anew er to our question. Qod Is Christ revealed to him; and he is borne irresistibly onward through all circumstances, murmuring: ‘All things work together for good,; ’Not a sparrow falleth,’ ‘Whom the. Lord loveth he chastcneth,' ‘Adversity yleldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness,' 'Surely he' hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.* ,