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4 Ella Wheeler Wilcox Tffy LETTER TO A BRIDE Eume Is the Ante-Room to Heaven and Should Be Patterned on That Plan ELEPHANT POWER AND THE PLOW ME By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. NUMBER IV. T o a Younf? Bride: Your letter, full of happiness and homey ness. was a delight to read. H is good to know you are so deep- interested 1n your home; and that miii have started your married life with such an Ideal Instead of wasting ,:, e first year in a hotel or boarding house, or on the dangerous Bohemian style of living, so often popular with your.g married women. Home Is my Idea of the ante-room in heaven, and should be patterned on that plan. You say your home is liny, hut that is air the better for a beginning. There Is so much to think about n home making, and if you learn to have perfect details and to keep per fect order In a small home, it will be come a simple matter for you to carry out the same system when your abode enlarges. Make Your House Pretty. You are so pleasing to look upon that it will be like a Jewel in a box, if you make your little house pretty in every department. I know you have great taste in col ors. and that, everywhere your cur tains and rugs and walls and dra peries will be beautiful in tone, and there will be no clashing or glaring colors. - And I can imagine the happiness of your husband when he comes home and sees you tastefully garbed, wait ing him in your pretty room. Remember the need of a man toy a room all his own. Arrange such space for him even at the sacrifice of some usuries you might enjoy otherwise. An English woman writing about American homes justly criticised mem for this very lack; and the cor- 1-t standing lac* in the heart of the ;:Y. who did not realize the fact that . v man on earth wanted a room which was all his own—one into which rn other person entered unless in ns a guest; one where he could sc 'tiilte undisturbed and be alone if o mood for solitude or a quiet smoke seized him. Don't Pester Him. Ami be sure if such a mood seize ,,ur man, to leave him to its enjoy ment: and do not imagine he has cp..sed to love you. because he may like to read his paper there or smoke ; s cigar or take a nap. maybe, alette bv himself. 1 hope your little domain lias a pleasant kitchen and maid’s room. If this part of the house has been neglected by the architect, try to brighten it as much as possible in vour treatment of it. For when you think of the important part a good domestic plays In a home, it should seem an important thing to give her as much comfort and convenience as possible, and to give her pretty and attractive things to please her eye ar.d train her taste to an understano- rig of beauty. , , If your husband belongs to a rlub make the hours of his going and com- ing as pleasant as he was accustomed to find them when a bachelor. Be fore he married you, quite possibly i he gave up many club evenings to be with you; but now that he lias you ! all the time, it is quite natural he i should want to be with his men i friends occasionally. Don’t Play the Martyr. Bo not play the martyr or act the role of the neglected wife. It would be well if you joined a club of your own, and if you are musical it would be wise to arrange a little evening of music at home the night he goes to his club or lodge. Nothing keeps a man more inter ested in a woman than the knowledge thal she can interest herself, and that she can call about her an agree able circle instead of sitting at home moping. Take up some study early in your married life. Your husband is a wide-awake man j and in touch with the outer world, and you must keep abreast of the ! times. Learn a new language or pursue . some line of reading—natural history would be excellent—for when your babies come (as I hope they will) all you learn in this matter will be of inestimable value to them. The mother who can begin in the small years of her boy’s life to tell him the beautiful and interesting things about bird and insect and animal life will never find him want- 1 ing to be a killer of dumb things. Such a mother was startled recent ly by having her little boy say. ‘‘Mother, 1 want to go hunting birds.” Then he added, “Please buy me a camera: I want to hunt with a camera; and take pictures of my lit tle friends myself. Keep Yourself Beautiful. Watch yourself after the honey moon wanes, to see that yon do not grow careless in regard to your per sonal appearance. Some brides fade with the wedding finery; and lose all interest in ap- : pearing attractive because they feel they have attained their goal; they \ are married: and settled; and there ia nothing else to work for. But to win is oftUmes easier than to keep what we win. Keep your house beautiful and keep yourself beautiful. Be the most amiable, the most sensible, the most agreeable, the best groomed, the pjost loyal and the most loving woman it will be possible for your husband to find anywhere. And make your home the most at tractive place he can' find. Then if he wanders into forbidden paths or does not live up to his ! vows, it will be because he is not worthy of any woman's faith. But a vast number of men who go wrong are really driven by the thoughtless, indolent, careless, or disagreeable wife. Be the very best thing on earth, and one of the rarest, a really admir able, lovable wife, and homemaker. And all other things shall be added thereunto. I 1^3 ra I -V: c & * Jkf ill a •*» * *it v-W* 5? AY ■ A-V 1 <*• :: iW , ■ / jSSosfiN. trxoro © tyf Uftoijtviroop 4 woot> ~] 'Us |j| jm z&m. V' '1 *&£ 0%0&W ; v • Medicine Time of the Year r HIS is the medicine time of the year,” remarked the young woman who had come to call, e are I don’t know how many dif- assortments of medicine in our in as many different places, pa keeps his medicine in the bath J keep the baby’s in the nursery. :eep his behind the mirror in the Jane keeps hers in a vegetable on the buffet. The maid keeps in the basement. Dick keeps his out in the garage, did keep the baby’s medicine in ewing machine at first, but the s accumulated so fast that I had i more room for them, e used to have t-wo small bottles, she has six large ones, it papa has the worst assortment! ie is allowed to meddle with his s, yet he is forever roaring about one disturbing them and chang- lem around and tasting them, lere are a few toothbrushes in the chest with his beverages, and he s they are kept there merely to us an excuse to meddle with his >us medicine. He says if we are areful there will be a mixup that esult in his being poisoned. iere used to be a small bottle of polish in ihe very top of his med- repository, and papa got up in the , rather sleepy, and took a dose for liis cough. Thinking it tasted r funny, he turned on the light, i he saw „it \was shoe polish he had he threw the polish and every thing else that wasn’t his own medi cine out of the window ‘‘Bob complains of the dust that gets on his medicine bottle, but as back of the mirror is the only safe pi Ace for it, he has no alternative. ‘‘The maid thinks it hard that she has to go down into the basement to get her tonic. And poor Dick! He has to be constantly on the alert that he does not drink machine oil or turpen tine or something. He vows that he took turpentine for a week, and thought his tonic was tasting rather mild, for it generally tasted like ground-up fire works. Then he discovered that it was only turpentine that he had been taking. “I don’t know whether papa’s are the worst doses or not, but he makes the worst faces. My! I wouldn't look at him again when he is in the act of taking his tonic for worlds! He wouldn’t let any one see him take a dose of his latest tonic, anyway. It would be just like seeing a hanging, he says. Bo he goes into the bath room and shuts and bolts the door. After a time we hear a sputter and a yell, such as you would expect from some one suddenly im mersed in ice water. Then he comes out still making faces and looking very sad and iniured.” T HE two pictures above illus trate how plowing is done in India and how an Eng lish farmer made use of an ele phant to prepare his lands. In the upper picture may be < seen the primitive plow- of India and seated upon the .neck of the beast the driver. Behind the plow is another native who guides it. In the low r er picture the Eng lishman is shown guiding a mod ern plow—ma’de in the Tnited States’ by the way. He also does the driving by word of mouth. This Englishman declares that: he ha<» secured better plowing in less time with one elephant than 1m could have done in the same time with three or four farm horses. On the Bad Habit of Apologizing r oo Much Ey VIRGINIA TERHUNE VAN DE WATER Cutting. The (II WOULD box your ears," said a I young lady to her stutfid and tire some admirer, "if”— “If what?” he asked anxiously. "If." she repeated, "I could get a box large enough for the purpose." -ts > T HE apology has become a nui sance. This may sound brutal, but it is true. Not the humble apology which the wrongdoer makes to the person he has wronged-. That is dignified and to be respected. But the needless apology with which we are all familiar has become a nui sance. "I don't like to take a meal in Mrs. Blank's house,” said a woman the other day, "for she apologizes for everything she sets before • one. It is, T am afraid there is too much salt in this souji.’ or, ‘Oh, dear, this meat is tough! I am so sorry!' or. ■My dear, this is a very plain din ner. I hope you will pardon me for having such a simple meal to-night.' And al! the time everything is as nice as it can be, and the only things I can not excuse* are her ex cuses. Let Them Think! A woman who does not apologize except when courtesy and common sense demand it gave a dinner on the evening of the day that a new cook had been installed in her kitchen. To her secret dismay the strawberries—the first of the sea son—were brought to the table heaped in the center of a platter 1 plentifully garnished with parsley. “What did you say?” asked the friend to' whom the hostess men tioned-the incident the following day. ‘‘Say? Nothing! T had a right to garnish my strawberries with any thing I chose. I let *my guests sup pose Hhat ' it was an innovation—a new thing in decorations—if they thought anything at all about it. I certainly did not call attention to my cook’s J mistake.” She was a wise woman. The habit of apology, if persisted in, affects one's self-confidence, for one at last assumes a deprecatory attitude about herself and- her possessions. She fears that she ‘‘doesn’t look just right”, when she. goes . abroad; she feels that her own home is not as handsome as her neighbor’s house, and intimates as much; she at last gets to the point when she is con tent with nothing that belongs to her. And alLthe w’hile her long-suf fering friends pat iier—figuratively speaking—on the back and try to reassure her. “Do not apologize." advised a wise man, ‘‘unless you have been guilty of actual wrongdoing. It lowers your self-respect.” Not long ago I heard a woman say of a piece of work into which she had put her best efforts: There! That is done as well as o Are 7 Out of 8 Married Couples Unhappy)! Dorothy Dix Says if So Many Yearned to Break the Bond of Matrimony, I hey Would Do It. By DOROTHY DIX. A UK seven out of eight married couples unhappy? A man out In Oklahoma, who las turn lecturing upon (he subject of tho relations of the sexes, declares that I they are. In this pessimistic sizing up of the domestic situation undoubtedly he look into consideration the family spat, ! which in the majority of households is as much a. part of the matutinal meal as the coffee and the rolls. In fact, generally speaking, it may be as serted that no breakfast table is com- i pleto without one. Likewise he could not have failed to | notice that there is apparently no topic ( under the sun, from politics to pie, upon which a hysband and wife Can i not get up a heated argument at a mo* j merit’s notice, and that the only thing upon which they t an agree is to dls agree , He has heard rows between the loneses oier the size of the grocery bill, or whetlu r the baby’s hair should be cut or not, or the steak being tough, , that would seem to lead straight to the divorce mill. He has heard Mrs. Jones, in the heat of anger, say things to ’V. Jones that were past all forgiving: and he has listened while Mr. .lores retorted with insult'- that called for some able-bodied male relative of Mrs. Jones to fall ; upon him and beat him to a pulp. Has Heard Spats Over Money. IP* observes that when Mrs. Jones asks her lord and master for the -nec- •jssary money to run the house upon, it is the signal for a storm of crimina tion. complaints, sneers and gibes upon ■ her extravagance and bad management to burst, and that Mrs. Jones dams the ! deluge by a series of counter charges and recriminations about the money a ; man warten upon his cigars and drinks and treating deadbeat friends, and eat ing expensive lunches, while Ills poor wife slaves her life away trying to make : one dollar do the work of two. Undoubtedly, likewise—for these things are not done privately, more’s the pit} the lecturer has been person ally called upon to referee one of these domestic mix-ups, and mentally called the fight a draw when the wife retired sobbing to her corner, moaning out that she was “go-go-going ba-a-aek ho-ho- liomo to mo-mo-mothor," and tbe man jabbed on his hat and barged the front • door behind hun ami hastened to the nearest saloon for spirituous consola , tion and refreshment. Any dispassionate observer, noting these facts, must conclude that the ma- , joriiy of husbands and wives are about as congenial as the Kilkenny cats, and that their -one ardent desire in life muss be to break the fetters that bind DOROTHY DIX together two natures that act on each other as fire and tow. That is the logic * of the situation; but, fortunately, there is no logit; in love. You can not judge by what you je, for the veils of affection lie deep down in the human soul; they are not ■on the surface for every casual passerby to cast In a line and plummet and measure their depth. The family scrap is bad taste, bad ■manner#, bad ethics, if you like; but it is n*> sort of a sign that the couple tjjat indulge in it are not devoted to each other. On the contrary, it is doubtful ff any other man and womd’n have as great a perennial fascination for each other as do those whose na ture* constantly repulse and attract, and who can neither get along with nor without each other./ Life for them never settles down into the commonplace. It is a perpetual se ries of skirmishes, in which now one is victorious, now the other; but the fight isj always worth the price of ad mission. and matrimony becomes a sort cf bushwhacking warfare, which may not be the ideal of the holy state, but is undeniably thrilling. Dr. Holmes once said that the reason that families broke up and scattered to the four corners of the world was to keep the Browns from being Browned into the asylums, and tlie Smiths from being Smithed into tHe grave. In the same way, It is evident that the family spat was devised by nature to break the awful monotony of domestic life, and keep husbands and wives from The Headwaitress By HANK taking the coffee pot and the ca knife to each other when they e<J longer endure hearing each other’] the same remark f bout the Ban jects every day. Tf they couldn’t,^ rel. they must inevitably fight: an ell Is said, hard words break no bone#. That married couples really enjoy a tiff is amply proven by the fact that they deliberately do things that bring It on. They introduce topics that are IJlje the waving of a red flag before a mad bull when they might Just as well keep quiet. Why are men and women who are t«£t Itself in dealing with others, apparently brutal- in their relationship with efifch other? Simply and solely because .tty)}' ’ • Ike the rumpus they create. they.e£4?* v ~ the verbal duet, and they couldn'^-J^e without the fillip of the make-up. Nor do husbands and wives take dkeh other’s saying seriously. Mrs. J<mes 1 isn’t crushed and mortified to , about Mr. Jones’ remarks about meaei^q: every time she asks him for a penny^r#** one W’ould think she would be, OF would not* go to him a second time,, SUje )T would force some financial arrangement that would save her feelings and I pride. - - Little Meant; Easily Forgiven. For she knows that Jones i» really-* . ! generous fellow, that he wants his fam ily to have the very things he ■ u "roofs such a pother about their having, efvfot | his attitude of being held up and by his wife is simply the fun ■ | for his work—his w r ay of bragging afld' i calling attention to the luxuries in he indulges his wife and children. He simply loves to have her caas and „ ! ask him for money. That’s the Lga® j he doesn't make her-an allowance? j Furthermore, husbands and wiVf* give and forget the hard words each j «ays in moments of anger, because mar- rled life goes so much deeper than any speech. It is not the quick outburst of temper : that a man remembers, but the Io~aalt|fi i the faith, the unswerving devotiomHiat^ j his wife has given him, the days shp^has I bent over the cooking stove for him, Hie smiles she wore when things were dark and hard, the vigils she lias kept by his ' sickbed. It is not the swear word a man Hhfrti out, or his growling over his dinner, th*! a woman treasures and broods over *ii. , | memory; but the. way he has toiled for her. the tenderness he has shown her, the protecting arm that she sees him in terposing between her and the world; It Is this that makes the marriage tie , the most elastic but the strongest^ bond in the world, and you can neve*^Dti-;' vince me. for one, that seven mirajpf eight people yearn to break it. Else they would do it. ** *!p!j 1 u Mr I <an do it. It may not bp as excel lent as somebody else could have made it, but I know it is as good a thing as 1 am capable of at present. So [ offer no apologies for it." Was that not the sane and honest stand to lake, and was il not more pleasant tn her hearers than to haye her deprecate that she had done “so poorly?” When one has performed any task to the best of one's ability, there is no reason why one should not acknowledge the truth. If one is at heart and in effort sincere, he need not lie ashamed. After all. nothing is really contemptible except affectation and sham. Yes, of Course, Wliy? An attitude of self-appreciation is entirely compatible with true mod esty. A man need not be conceited to be aware that he has done well. A great artist was exhibiting a' painting he had just completed. “That is a beautiful picture!” ex claimed a friend to him. “I know it, and I love it,” was the painter’s naive rejoinder. ‘‘What a pretty dress that is you have on!” said one woman to an other. “Yes, that is why I bought it,” the wearer replied, smilingly. “i think myself that it is very pretty.”* Of course she did. If not, why purchase it? wants to bet me five lars that you're married,” (he Headwaitress to tho Steady Customer. •Why?” he asked. ‘‘Well, she says her brother is a phiz ology student—” “A what?” queried the Steady Cus tomer. “Why, he's a face < Xpert,” explained the U^adwaitress, ‘‘a sort of parlor lly- ccp like Ibis feller Shy lock Holmes. Me can look at anybody’s phiz and tell you ail about thorn. That’s wlfy they call is phizology.” “What is there alsout my face that makes Marie think I’m married?” asked the Steady Customer. “You’ll have to ask Marie,’’ replied ?he Headwaitress. ‘‘I figured you were single because the bottom button on your overcoat hasn't b<*en with you for two weeks, and I’m willing to bet on my buttonologv against all uf her phiz ology. 1 donn believe in that kind of stuff anyway. Now you take that lull, dark, mysterious-looking guy that comes in here with you sometimes. I figured him to be a man with a qwful past, a sort ot gea-but-I-could-tefl-soine- ter rible- things-if-1-wanted-to. bloke. When I first saw him I was wining to bet he’d call for black coffee and Sinkers in a hoarse voice.” “And what did he do?” asked the Steady Customer. “He asked me for a bow l of milk and crackers In the softest voice 1 ever heard,” answered the Headwaitress, "ar.d ended up with apologizing because he asked for a second glass of water. (Jee, if all the blokes that came in here was as polite as your friend I’d hand ’em water enough to flood Dayton all over again if they asked for it.” “Nevertheless, there is something In studying faces,” said the Steady Cus tomer, “When I chose to Bit at you ta ble, Louise, I figured from your face that you were an attentive, fun-loving girl, whose natural charms, would go a great way to aid digestion.” "You don't need no digestion-aider.” said the Headwaitress-; “what you need is a license, a collar and a chain, for I never seen anybody get away with saq- sages and mashed potatoes like you do.” “Marie,” said the Steady Customer to the cashier as he was paying his check, "what is there about my face that made you bet Louise I was married?” “A serious expression,” answ’ered Marie. “You are a very observing girl,” said the Steady Customer. BACKACHE A SYMPTOM Of More Serious Illness Ap proaching. Mrs. Ben der’s Case. Backache is a symptom of orgfchic weakness or derangement. Jf 'ychi have backache don’t neglect it?. 1 TPS get permanent relief you must reitrh the root of the trouble. Read Mrs. Bender’s experience. *' St. James, Mo.—“About a year irregular, By H ex Jones POOR little chicken looked gloomy and glum, Instead of all fluffy and flip. And feebly R eLoeped. “Oh, this world's*on the burn, For the poor little thing had the pip, The pip-ip-ip-ip. The poor litt!e thing had the pip. The sun was as bright as a new-minted dime, But that drooping wee chick wouldn’t skip; It was having tho mournfulest possible time. For the poor little thing had the pip, The pip-ip-ip-ip. The poor little thing had the pip. So don’t think the world is a I’smal old place, if mayhap you have loosened y our grip: The sun’s shining still; get a smile on your face, And never give in to the pip. The pip-ip-ip-ip. No. never give in to the pip. had cramps every month. heiidRtffcfc and con t,- backache. I, took Lydia E. Pifet- 1 h a m's Vegetable Compound used the Sana tive Wash, girrff I am relieved ttf all my troubles tfrifl am in pert health. I j recommend medicine my friends^’ you may this testimonial for t*ie benem^ofi other suffering women.”—Mias A mm ‘ Bender, St. James, Missouri. Another Case. Dixon. Iowa.—“I have “ AfLlfi ing Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound for some time and4HH^ done me much good. My back trou-^ bled me very much. It seemed weak.a I had much pain and 1 wa& not asM regular as I should have been. The® Compound has cured these trouBLfcs^ and I recommend it to all my frieStH’’”' —Mrs. Bertha Dierksen, Box 10*JJ Dixon, Iowa. * If you have the slightest doubt that Lydia E. PinkharrYs Vegetable Com pound will help you. write to Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Co. (copfiden tial), Lynn, Mass., for advice. Yourj letter will be opened, read and an swered by a woman, and held strict confidence. •n-f? •a# WILL PUBLISH A BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY AMERICAN TO-MORROW With Photographs of all the Opera Singers, names of boxholders, goTnns of Tt>o- men Tr>ho Tnill attend the performances, and all other neTps about the perform ances that no other news paper Will give ORDER YOUR ♦ ♦ ♦ # ♦ ♦ * # SUNDAY AMERICAN I