Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 150, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 July 1918 — Page 3

Pretensions

By HELEN CLARK

(Copyright, 1918, by the McClure Newspfcper Syndicate.) “On your way home stop at Dobbs* —Set some flowers—orchids —something with a heart throb in ’em —ten dollars or so—the kind of thing you’d pick yourself for the girl you were in love with.” The first time Bowden Pain received instructions from old Mr. Clark, president of the large concern for which he was cashier, he felt a little like saying: “Who do you think lam? Your valet?” - But he found the task of selecting flowers at Dobbs* so diverting that the next time a similar order came to select the flowers that Mr. Clark wished to have sent to his wife as indication of his own personal thought and affection, he greeted the task with keen Interest, and put so much heart into the selection that old Mr. Clark felt the beneficial results in his good wife’s disposition for a week to come. At the end of the week he again requested Mr. Pain to order flowers “with a heart throb in ’em.” And Pain outdid himself by ordering a basket of pink roses and blue larkspur that actually caused the dry-eyed Mrs. Clark to melt into tears. It was on that night that Bowden first saw Martha Jenks. He was particularly disarmed, for following Mr. Clark’s instructions, he had put himself in the mood of the young man in love with someone. He was exposed in a most vulnerable point. He was not in love, but he was In a lover’s mood, and when Martha appeared and he heard that indefinably little swish and perceived the almost negligible scent of perfume that in his mind was associated with women of “real class” he promptly succumbed. • He heard her order six small bouquets of lilies of the valley suitable for favors at a luncheon the next day, and took particular pains to attend to her instructions as to where they should le sent.

“The Founders’ Club,” he heard her say, and besides being filled with admiration for the particular way in which she uttered these words, he was also aware of the fact that she was a member of an exclusive city society—for to be a member of the Founders’ Club one had not only to be a lineal descendant of one of the Colonial founders of the city, but one had to have considerable money to spend on club dues and otherwise to “keep up” with that organization. Bowden Pain had one thing in his favor at the outset of the pursuit of his ideal. He was a member of “the” Pain family, and although had he taken the trouble he might have learned that the original Hezekiah Pain was twice pilloried for breaking the Sabbath, and enjoyed no higher distinction in the community than that of road mender, still he was descended from a founder, and was eligible to the club. Never in his wildest dreams, however, had he thought of seeking membership. First, because of the expense that would entail; and second, because the young men and women who belonged to the organization were many rungs higher on the social ladder than he pretended to be. But the idea of belonging first entered his head shortly after he heard the charming Martha mention the name of the club as the address to which the flowers could be sent. And after the coincidence of meeting her a second time at Dobbs’ florist shop, he went home to figure out on paper about what the necessary expense of membership would be. The itemizing ran something as follows: “Initiation fee, S2OO. (Bowden believed this to be the sum. He would verify it the next day). AnnuaFdues $60.00 Tuxedo suit (for men’s night) .. 60.00 Swallowtail renovated 15.00 Evening clothes accessories.... 10.00 Black shoes 10.00 ■ Mu """

\ - $355.00 This was no sum to be thrown lightly away. In the veins of Bowden ran the true Yankee blood of the Pains, and even a part of his savings were not to be spent lightly on self-indulgence. He was saving, as he conveniently could, for the as yet indefinite home for an even less definite “family.” But why save for a “family,” Bowden reflected to himself, when the accomplishment of his ambitions along that line might possibly depend on the expenditure of part of the savings? But even after the second vision of Martha at Dobbs’ he might have let his dreams of belonging to the Founders’ club subside had he not met the charmer at the bank. He was depositing his small weekly savings, and she —fair spender that she was—was rather nonchalantly withdrawing a neat little roll of bills. Bowden saw no less than five tendollar bills, presumably her pin money for a week. The thought of financing a wife of such habits—for Bowden actually did think of her as a not impossible Mrs. Pain—was not the immediate problem. The immediate problem was financing membership in the Founders’ club. The idea of marrying a woman who could thus casually draw a large bank roll from the teller’s window had no special attraction for Bowden. His Yankee inheritance included the ambition to support bis own wife on his own earnings. Still, he did not let that trifle disturb bis peace'of mind, but went about it Jn

quite a calculating manner «.e next day to have his name proposed nt the Founders’ clr’ by a friend who belonged. Ne iess to say, no one opposed his admission. He was perfectly eligible, and unattached, good-looking bachelors were at a premium. Then began the really hard part of the membership—that of securing an introduction to Martha. Bowden attended every evening function at the club, and as many afternoon ones as he could manage to, without actually giving up his business career. The three hundred and fifty-five dollars that he had estimated would cover his expenses for the first year of course fell fartbelow the actuality. This did not include tickets to the various benefit entertainments held at the clubrooms, nor did it include meals and refreshments there, nor tips. And all the time that Bowden was spending his money there were no signs of Martha. , One day he dropped in the clubrooms on his way from his office —as a matter of fact to try to recover an umbrella he, had left there at the last evening entertainment It was dark in the entrance hall where the check boys sat, and it was not until he became accustomed to the subdued light that he recognized Martha sitting there. She was alone, and she was fingering the pages of a small note book. Bowden found it inoperative for him to take a seat on the other side of the hall to look over some notes in his own pocket. From time to time he looked up at Martha. She was the same delightful girl and there was the same air of perfect grooming about her. He would never have noticed the blemish in the grooming, had it not been for her quick effort to cover up the wrists of both her hands at the sable time. Then he saw that over each was fastened, and kept in place by a metal paper clip, a large sheet of copy paper, such as his own stenographer used to keep from getting office grime on a fresh blouse. Martha had removed her cuffs in haste, but Bowden caught the movement. Then the check boy, who was at the telephone, spoiled Martha’s little game of pretension. “Here’s a message for Mrs. Snodgrass’ secretary,” he said, and Martha had to take it. In her confusion at doing so she let fall the little notebook that she had been fingering. Bowden seized it, and on the absurd pretext of wishing to see to whom it belonged, he read the name of Martha Tussle. It was absurd that he did not restore it to her until she had left the clubhouse and he had followed her half a block down the street. “I have seen you before,” he said. And she did not deny that she had also noticed the coincidence of the frequent meeting. "And I thought you belonged to the Founders* club.” “I pretended I did,” she said, “that first day. I Wanted you to think I did, and now you’ll dislike me because I’ve posed to be something I was not.” “And I have been pretending, too,” he said. “I’ve been pretending that I could afford to belong to this club, when I couldn’t. I wanted to know you and I wanted you to think that I had as much money as the other men who belong.” “Then we’re both pretending,” she said. “But if we hadn’t pretended," he said, “we would never have met.” It seemed as they walked along in the spring dusk, that they had always known each other, and Bowden Pain was already feeling relief at the thought that his annual dues and other Incidentals would not have to be paid for next year. He also looked with more specific interest at the objective of his savings. He-took the girl beside him into his confidence. “And it is better —and more like the Pains—not to marry a womap with money. You knew from the first how it was to be?" And Martha’s low answer in the deepening dusk satisfied him.

FINDS HER PLAN WORKS WELL

Lucinda Has Saved Money Since Aban* donlng Her System of Buying Things on Impulse. • “There are so many things I want to buy,” said Lucinda, “and I am so pulslve. I see something that pleases" my fancy and straightway I buy it; only to find a little later that really I didn’t want it and that now I don’t care for it at all. “At least that Is the way I did do; but now Ido differently. Now when I see something that once I would have bought on sight I say to myself: *Do I really want that?’ and then I say to myself. ‘I will wait a week and see.’ “At first it was very hard for me to do this; but then I got myself under control and came to marage very well. "Often on the second or third day, when I have seen that thing still on sale, I have found that I no longer fancied it and then, of course, I was glad I hadn’t bought it; but **en sometimes when I found the thing gone, why, then naturally I Imagined I did want it; but on the whole I find this plan to work beautifully and now I stick to it faithfully, and certainly it has saved me from buying a whole lot of things 1 didn’t want; things such as I used to buy, that Brother Claude, in hie brusque way, called junk.”

No Rice for Face Powder.

Bice is a food, not a frivolity, according to wartime classification. Therefore the French government has prohibited the manufacture of face powder from rice. This Is the sad news flashed straight from Paris, that gay dty which has previously led the world in the matter of vanities, as it now leads in the matter of valor. This report declares also that the women of France are flicking away daily on their powder puffs some 100,000 so> diers’ rations of good rice

THE RENSSELAER DAJLY REPUBLICAN,

A Bird in the Hand

(Special Information Service, United States Department of Agriculture.) PRODUCING EGGS IN SUMMER

How Shade Can Be Provided for Summer Layers in the Absence of BackYard Trees.

SELL ALL EARLY MOULTING FOWLS

Requisites for Layers Are Shade, Clean Water, Fresh Air and Proper Food. UTILIZE CULL VEGETABLES Problem for Poultry Keeper is to Get Greatest Number of Eggs Possible —Unproductive Hens Should Be Sent to'Market. Now that the hatching season is pretty well over, the problem for the poultry keeper, particularly for the back-yard poultry keeper, is to get the greatest number of eggs possible from the number of hens kept during the summer. Hens that are not good layers should be marketed. Unless the hens have already been carried through one summer, which is perhaps not the best practice for the back-yard poultry keepers, there is necessarily some difficulty in determining which are the good summer layers. The fact that a hen has been a good spring layer does not prove that she will be a good summer layer. Of course, no hen should be sold while she continues to lay, but a hen that has become broody may, after a brief period, begin laying again and continue through the summer. The condition of the comb will Indicate some time in advance whether the hen will begin laying again. If she shows no Indication of preparing to lay, it would be wise to sell or eat her. The time of moulting is perhaps the safest indication. Hens that moult early are not good summer layers, and it is good practice to sell all hens that begin moulting in June or early July. Summer House Problem. The problem of summer housing is not much less a serious one than that of winter housing. The principal requirements are fresh air, access to both shade and sunlight, dryness and room. The matter of air properly comes first, and free circulation of air practically Insures dryness. Air and sunlight are nature’s best disinfectants and germicides. But hens are very susceptible to an excess of heat and it is equally necessary that they have plenty of shade.

The problem of a summer ration for the back-yard poultry keeper is much easier of solution than that of a winter ration. In most cases the necessary green feed can be supplied without buying anything. Beet, carrot and turnip tops, waste leaves from cabbage and lettuce, onion tops, potato parings, watermelon and cantaloupe rinds, together with the clippings of grass from the lawn, will supply in most cases all the green feed required by the back-yard flock. . Dry Feed Requirement Bread and cake crumbs, particularly if you can Induce your neighbor who keeps ho chickens to save hers for you, will go a long way toward supplying the dry-feed requirement. Meat scraps from the kitchen may be sufficient to meet the requirements for animal food, particularly if the hens' have even a little range in which they can scratch for bugs and worms. Such scraps are best run through a meat grinder and mixed with three parts cornmeal and one part wheat bran. This should be ted at noon or later. If any grain is necessary* it should be fed in the morning and should be scattered in litter sufficient to make the hens work for it Not more than a pint to ten hens should be fed in any case. Corn, either whole or cracked, and oats will be the most suitable grain feeds. If hens show a tendency to get too fat, the grain ration should be reduced, as excessively fat hens are never good layers. Some beef scrap should be fed If enough meat scraps from tables can not be procured to meet the requirements of the hens. Hens should have constant access to grit or stones small enough to be swallowed and to crushed oyster or dam shells. A matter of first importance is that the water supply be always plentiful

and clean. Laying hens require a great deal of water, and it should be fresh and clean. Do not place the water receptacle where litter can be scratched into it Wash it frequently enough to prevent the accumulation of green scum on the inner surface. Preferably, for summer, keep it outside the house and in the shade.

“DONT'S” FOR SUMMER

Don’t keep cocks through the summer. It is a waste of feed and a menace to good eggs. Don’t keep early moulting hens through the summer. They are certain to be poor layers and to consume feed for which you will get no returns. Don’t fail to provide the laying hens with plenty of clean water, plenty of fresh air and plenty of shade. Doii’t allow vegetable culls to be thrown- in the garbage can. Feed them to the flock and convert them into eggs. Don’t fail to put the chickens grown at home on the home table. Give the family the benefit of good eating and save easily transportable meats for the armies overseas. Don’t fail to preserve at least one case —30 dozen —of summerlaid eggs for horns use this winter, when egg prices will be high.

How to Candle Eggs.

If you are going to put away some summer-laid eggs for winter use—as, of course, you are, it being both a patriotic and a personal duty—you will need to exercise considerable care that only good eggs are put in the waterglass or limewater container. One bad egg is likely to destroy several others. By consistently gathering the eggs when they are fresh, most of the danger of storing bad eggs is avoided, but since it is necessary to hold the eggs until a sufficient number is accumulated to fill the container, and since some eggs are imperfect when they are laid, candling, where it can be done without too much trouble and delay might well be practiced. The United States department of agriculture has just issued a bulletin on “How to Candle Eggs.” The text is brief and direct and is illustrated with colored plates showing the way in which an egg should appear before the candle, 1 together with the various ways it should not appear. The bulletin was written by Dr. M. E. Pennington, chief of the food research laboratory, assisted by M. K. Jenkins, bacteriologist, and H. M. P. Betts, artist It should be of great use, not only to persons putting away eggs for home use, but as well, for all those who desire to establish or maintain a reputation for delivering eggs in perfect condition.

Only 1 Egg in 100 Damaged.

An eggshell is not quite the most fragile thing in the world —workers In laboratories know of a few things more fragile—but it is the most fragile thing with which the average Individual has to deal. To transport a hundred eggs a distance of 1,200 miles in a freight car and to have the shells of 99 of them perfectly intact at the end of the Journey Is something of an achievement. Yet the United States department of agriculture has done a little better than that In a series of tests covering a period of two years, In which the average haul was 14200 miles, the total damage, including “checks,” “dents” and “leakers,” was less than 1 per cent If shippers of eggs in carload or less than carload lots will study and apply the methods of the department of agriculture in packing and hauling eggs, a long step will be taken toward conserving the food supply.

Hens and the Home.

What do you do with the table scraps? Don’t let them go to waste. They make fine feed for fowls, and fowls make fine feed for you. Farmers’ Bulletin 889, “Back-Yard Poultry Keeping,” tells how. Free on request—U. 8. Department of Agriculture.

NEW SPRING HATS TO OFFSET GOWNS

New York.—The reformers who argue against the buying of hats as well as gowns are arguing against human nature. A woman may economize on any other part of her apparel, but the change of season sets her whole nature throbbing to get new head coverings, declares a prominent fashion authority. - -— ——- —- When the black of winter may be exchanged for the flowers of summer the tide of purchase sets in, and the current runs strong. Hats we must have. They may be part of new costumes, or they may be accessories to redeem and enliven old costumes, but we must have them. A good deal is said by the reformers these days which we wish could, be left unsaid. It is difficult to approach this matter without suggesting that many of us are not sincere and that our patriotism, fine and strong, as it may be, runs away with our tongues. One feels that it is well that there is no earthly war-time judge before whom we must all come, who puts our talk in one scale and actions in the other. Hat With Brim Replaces Turban. France and America have each seen the fitness of the brim that shades the eyes at a time when the sun pours straight down, instead of obliquely. The turban is, after all, the betweenseason hat. It is not entirely eliminated from the scheme of things, but it has yielded first place to the larger hat. The high crown, however, has not given way to the low crown. There are the new sailors which, with their high crowns and three-inch brims, threaten to overrun the continent like a swarm of locusts. These are both cheap and expensive, well draped and badly draped; they are in midnight blue, black, beige and red; they are made of rough straw, and although they are excessively smart, they have a hard, unyielding line. On the hard face they are ugly; in juxtaposition to a small, coquettish, frail face they are alluring. Mind you, the hard, stiff brim is not the only one. If it were, thousands of women would give up the struggle to be good looking, for the woman who realizes that a hat makes or mars her face is the one who knows how to dress. All the good-looking gowns in the world cannot affect the eyes, the nose and the skin. It is the hat and the neckwear which lift you to the pedestal of prettiness or throw you down into the ditch of ugliness. There are immense, sweeping brims in fashion which you may choose if your face needs softening and irregular lines. There is an ultra-smart hat which leads the way. It is made of pleated strawberry georgette crepe faced with black straw, with a wide band of straw encircling the crown. Wherever it

Biscuit and Black Hat for Afternoon. It Is Made of Straw and Georgette Crepe and Has an Evenly TurnedDown Brim. The Trimming at the Back Is Broad and High.

goes this hat is copied in various colors and worn in the afternoon. Those who feel that the brim must hide the forehead and nearly eclipse the eyes may still ding to the mushroom shape, which is permitted in the best sodety; and those who fed a thrill of happiness at the mere mention of English garden hats may go In for this particular type of picturesqueness with the realization that they are striking the absolutdy new note tn this summer’s fashion. It was Jeanne Lanvin who brought out the huge organdie hat with Its rose

on the brim, and since then the Ame* lean designers have tumbled over themselves in their effort to introduce chiffon and organdie hats made in pastel colors, combining old blue and deep pink. The rose and the long streamers which trim this type of hat suggest the garden party, sc let us hope that the average woman will realize that the hat cannot be worn on the street. The lace ruffle at the brim of the large hat is another fashion which has

Chinese Hat of Bright-Red Straw. It Is the Most Oddly Shaped Turban of the Spring. It Rises in a High Point at Center, Where It Is Finished With Tall Sprays of Aigrettes.

been revived from an older and more demure epoch. There was once a time when we wore black straw hats covered with lace, made of black tulle embroidered with peacock eyes, with a ruffle of the lace at the edge of the brim. Why doesn’t some milliner revive that especial fashion? Is the colored peacock lace impossible to get. Milliners Try to Outdo Dressmakers. Not being quite certain of the purchasing power of the public In regard to gowns and suits, the milliners saw their opportunity to throw a tidal wave of new and varied hats into the current of clothes. When one goes out to look for new spring hats one Is caught In this current and rushed along m a bewildering fashion. A day’s shopping does not always permit one to get an entirely good view of the various fashions, and It rarely allows one to choose with discretion and judgment However, here are some of the hats as they rush by, They are suited to each face, each purse and each social environment be It said to their credit There are linen hats In vivid colors, which have been substituted for the widely heralded gingham hats. Red linen with black satin ribbon, and green linen with black satin binding rise up against the others. There are wrapped turbans taken from the Orient and worn with capes. They are considered the exact type of head covering to go with a flowing body covering. They are made of satin; of the new satin straw, which is as supple as cloth; of obi crepe; of shantung, and sometimes of Chinese brocade. They are as complicated in their twistings as the headgear of the Cobbler of Cairo or that of a negro of the old South. Wheat May Be Worn, Not Eaten. Women In mass these days appear like a wheat field with the wind blowing over it. The tops of their hats show these stalks of forbidden grain, vari-colored, shredded, curled and dissevered. It Is no longer wheat colored. It goes into every dyepot that is managed by the American manufacturers, since we have begun to stand on our own feet in the dye business. The milliners have Invented a curious and complex 1 treatment of wheat after it comes from the dyepot In red, blue, yellow and green. They put it through some trick of magic in the back rooms, and It emerges as a first cousin to an aigrette or as a half-sis-ter to an ostrich feather. Along with the wheat go popples. The two rest together on one hat with an amiable grace. We have great qpen, scarlet poppies from Spain and England, and when they are not used with wheat they encircle black hats or yellow ones which have streamers of black velvet ribbon. (Copyright, 1918. by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.)

Attractive Ornamentation.

Black satin on,which large gold oak leaves are appllqued is a bit of sew-ing-room ornamentation that is seen pn some of the best gowns.