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CALLED.
By Margaret A. Richard.
I stand at the window, dearest,
I stand at the window, and call,
Though words by my lips are not spoken,
And silence is over all.
I stand at the window, dearest,
And eagerly wait for you;
I pray you to heed my calling,
And come, if you love me true.
I stand at the window, dearest,
I stand at the window, and call,
While over the earth her mantle,
Bejeweled, the night lets fall.
I stand at the window, dearest,
I know you will come to me—
Will come o’er the highest mountain —
Will come o’er the widest sea.
I stand at the window, dearest,
I stand at the window, and call;
Oh, what of the miles intervening?—
The spirit of love conquers all!
I stand at the window, dearest,
And here will I stand, until
You hasten to me through the darkness
To say that you love me still.
I stand at the window, dearest —
And 10, you, too, are here!
You whisper sweet words that thrill me—
Your soft touch stirs my hair.
I stand at the window, dearest,
And although I cannot see
Your face or your form, yet your presence
Is joy beyond price to me.
n
CHAT.
Geraldine, no doubt your flowers were glad to be
“parlor company” during that three days “dry blow.”
I had some narcissus blooming in a sunny south
ern rook and the wind (of which we had a taste)
worsted them more than the cold had done. Every
stalk was prostrate. Recently, I have heard from
a friend some charming things about her winter
cacti-garden. She says a cactus collection is by far
the most compensating of any; also that the cactus
is more easily grown, requires less care and is
freer from insects and blight than other flowers.
The cactus family is numerous, there being two hun
dred varieties. The prettiest and best known are
the rose cactus, and the crab claw —with their
leaves waxen, rose colored flowers, then the lovely
coral cactus, yellow and the brilliant red, the ele
gant roseus superbus, the fragrant, magnificent
Wrayi, with yellow and brown flowers eight inches
across, the —but I cannot begin to name the varie
ties in my friend’s winter garden. Several are
!in bloojmi all the time. She says her special pet
is the little Mamillaria Pusilia —“no bigger than a
walnut,” with fine, hair like spines, small, dainty
flowers and red pods. She has several cacti of
the strange, fascinating cereus variety—that bloom
at night and fill the house with fragrance. The
buds are a joy for days before their final night
blooming. Some are snowy white, but others a
lovely shell pink. The cactus requires a sandy soil,
good drainage and very moderate watering.
Mary Pettus Thomas, poet, author and teacher,
sends a jolly bit of pedagogue experience, which
our teacher and pupil readers will enjoy. It is sur
prising to see what funny mistakes the “sweet
(prospective) girl graduates” make sometimes, but
their brother students are quite as apt to trip, often
in simple matters.
Julia Coman Tait brings the Napoleon debate to a
friendly termination. It was the power of the man
to organize and to control men, to shape their im
pulses and acts to his will, which made him the
marvel he was and always will be. But the twenti
eth century hero will not have hands stained with
blood. Even in the old days of hate, revenge and
conquest King David, poet and warrior, could not
accept the latest honor offered him because he had
been “a man of blood.”
Margaret Richard, dear “Maid Margaret,” sends a
lovely poem, for her Household friends to enjoy.
She has been quite ill lately, this sweetest caged
song bird, and for a time she was silent, but no
sooner is there a gleam of health and sunshine
than she greets it with a burst of thankful song.
Friends, when you wish tn give a book as a pres
THE HOUSEHOLD
A Department of Expression For Those Who Teel and Think.
The Golden Age for February 6, 1908.
ent to daughter, friend or sweetheart, remember
that one of the noblest and purest stories every
written is Margaret Richard’s “Virginia Vaughn,”
a poem novel published by Richard Badger, of
Boston.
Agnes and Margaret Kelly, I am glad to publish
your interesting and practical talks about domestic
matters and vegetable and flower growing as means
of making the always welcome helps to small in
comes, known as pin money. I hope many of you
will be impressed with the suggestions of Agnes as
to exchanging ideas and experiences about the home
and all pertaining to it. In this connection, I would
like to hear from our Annice, who, although a true
poet and accomplished in many lines, is most wise in
all sweet, house making ways, a successful gardener,
flower grower and raiser of turkeys, chickens, ducks,
etc. A recent picture of her shows her dainty' little
figure surrounded by her numerous and varied feathi
ered family.
I must tell you that in her pathetic poem, “What
Cure for Such Sorrow?” published recently in The
Golden Age, Mary Ligon Miller did not have refer
ence to herself. So realistic was her treatment of the
touching incident that I was impressed with the be
lief that she herself was the bereaved mother as
were several sympathizing readers who wrote to
Mrs. Miller. I am glad to know that it was not our
dear poet who suffered the loss of her child and the
self reproach of having been unconsciously neglect
ful in a single instance. M. E. B.
With ®ur Correspondents
SOME SUGGESTIONS TO HOUSE KEEPERS.
Do you have the ironing to do yourself? Many of
us put out washing but do the ironing at home to
save expense and also rough treatment to nice? waists
and underwear. I sprinkle clothes with warm wa
ter, as they will iron better and more easily than if
cold water is used. I sprinkle with the same rubber
sprayer I use on my window plants. The clothes will
iron much more quickly and smoothly. In launder
ing black stockings I turn them inside out before
putting in the tub with the other clothes, then lint
does not stick to them. I do not iron towels, bed
linen, or knit underwear, just fold them smoothly.
For taking out tea and coffee stains I use glycerine,
well rubbed in. Some time ago I saw a recipe for a
cement to mend holes in cooking vessels and also to
mend lamps and crockery. I have tried it with suc
cess. It is this: Take gelatine five spoonfuls, some
fluid acid or strong vinegar or lemon juice one spoon,
ful and chromate of lime one spoonful; mix and let
stand for a day. Cover broken edges with this; press
lightly and put in the sun. The parts will strongly
adhere and boiling water will have no effect upon
the mended place. I raise chickens and never have
diseases or mites among them. I think this is due to
keeping the poultry house constantly cleaned out and
white washed inside with the lime wash in which I
put bluestone. Also I give the chickens buttermilk
every now and then and put a few drops of turpen
tine in their drinking water. I dry a great deal
of fruit —pears, apples and peaches—and to keep out
gnats which are always on hand when fruit is being
dried, I make frames by tacking laths together and
stretching thin cheese cloth or muslin over them
to form the top, then tack thick brown paper on the
under side, leaving one end open through which to
put the cut up fruit, when putting it out in the sun.
This keeps out gnats and flies. Last fall, having oc
casion to wash some pillows and a feather bed tick,
I got rid of the lint by basting the ticks up on the
right side before washing them.
MARGARET TERRELL KELLY.
■e
THE “DRY BLOW” IN A PRAIRIE TOWN.
“Never mind the weather so the wind doesn’t
blow” is an old saying that came often into my mind
last week. The wind did blow for days and with
such violence that everything not securely nailed and
fastened was carried up into the air and whirled off
nobody knows whither. Yard fences, the roofs of
small houses, telephone poles, loose shingles, all
joined the general whirl. The birds hid themselves,
chickens stayed in their houses, doors and windows
rattled day and night. The wind’s velocity was forty
miles an hour. It was not a cold wind or a regular
sand storm, though everything was covered with
sand. Few persons were seen out. If you opened
a door a gust of wind took away your breath. I often
stood at a window to watch the debris flying in the
air. Once a whole newspaper went up like a kite,
higher land higher, until it was lost to sight. For
aught I know it is still somewhere up in the air.
I had heard of these dry wind blows, but I never wit
nessed anything to equal this. No residence was
blown away, but for days every one was uneasy. Sleep
with me was out of the question. I lay and listened
to the ceaseless voice of the wind. It is a great relief
now, to lie down and sleep with no sense of dread.
We have had but little cold weather thus far. The
salamanders persisted in ruining my flower pits, so
I brought all my plants in doors, and put
them in one large room in which there is a
fire in cold weather. They are beautiful. Jack Frost
did not get to kiss them to death as he did the lux
uriant vines that grew on the several porches. True,
our coldest months, February and March, are yet to
come, and I may yet lose some of my plants, but
I’ll not cross bridges until I come to them.
I wish here to thank my Household friends for
remembering me at Christmas. In all, I received for
ty cards and other cheering remembrances. It was
encouraging to know that so many thought of their
invalid friend and some of them so far away. “Grand
pa and the missus” remembered me with such lovely
cards, photographed by themselves. I wish to ac
knowledge my indebtedness to all these friends and
convey to them messages of love and “fond recollec
tion.” I wish space could be given me to tell Ten
nesseean about the trained robins, I once saw per
forming. I am sure those birds were as well in
structed and as active as the educated fleas he told
us about, besides being lovely to look at. By the
way, I believe those same wonderful performing fleas
were at our state fair last fall. I wish all of you a
happy and prosperous new year. GERALDINE.
•e
GLEANINGS FROM “DO-THE-GIRLS” HALL.
Intermediate examinations were over. A half dozen
teachers were assembled in the faculty room compar
ing notes.
“ ‘What’s the good of studying Latin? No denomina
tions use that language now,’ ” the Latinist reported
as said by one of her girls.
The Grammarian quoted thus from some of her
pupils: “ ‘A noun is in the nominative case when it is
inflicted.’ ‘Concrete nouns refer to nothing in par
ticular.’ ‘Diction is a word that has arrived from the
dictionary.’ ”
“Hear! Hear!” said another:
‘ ‘Aesthetics is the sense which we could easily do
without.’ ‘Gravity is the thing that attracts all the
five senses.’ ‘A barometer is a glass tube that con
tains Mercury, Mars, Venus, Juniper and Saturn.’
Now, that is the limit!”
“Oh, no! Just listen to this!” was heard from a
teacher of Bible history: “ ‘Adam wasn’t happy with
out a heap o’ meat (helpmeet), so out of his backbone
God formed a woman named Eave. She ate one ap
ple and Adam ate two; then, they made themselves
clothes out of pear leaves.’ ‘Noah had three sons,
Ram, Ham and Japan.’ ‘Abraham’s people were all
idols.’ ‘Esaw was a hairy man, Jacob was a slick
one.’ ‘When Jacob was dying he asked for some
thing to eat, and they gave him a pot of cabbage.’
‘Joseph’s father gave him a coat of many collars.’
‘Samson was so strong that once he lifted up a big
house and held it for a long time on one finger.’
‘Elisha was a very ungodly character.’ That last
made me groan aloud. It’s horrible to think that by
one, whom I have taught, there should be made an
effort to besmirch the unblemished reputation which
poor Elisha has borne through all the centuries.”
“I did work hard with my class,” sighed the pro
fessor of history, “but such statements as these starhp
me a hopeless failure as a teacher: ‘At the battle of
Bunker Hill, the Britishers moved quickly up the
slope, until a sheet of flame from the American guns
tore the red flannel shirts from their backs.’ ‘The
Crusades were a very religious people who did not
konker; and when they found they couldn’t hold on,
then they fell through.’ ‘The Huguenots went from
Carthage, a big city in Athens. They lived in Greece
and belonged to the lower classes.’ ‘Romulus and
Remus were the sons of the God of Mars and the
Virgin Mary. They were brought up in a ditch and
fed by a fox. When they got big, they found out the
Virgin wasn’t their mother and then they left her.’
How Is It possible to conceive such absurdities?
