Evening Star Newspaper, June 15, 1895, Page 17

Se THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 1895—TWENTY PAGES. 17 FOR THELITTLE ONES The Kindly Provision Made to Give City Children an Outing, AWAY FROM THE ALLEYS AND COURTS Homes Established Near This City and the Plans of Work. EVERYBODY CAN HELP URING THE LONG summer months when the great city is bak- ing with heat,and the alleys and courts are thronged with we and sickly children, poor little tots who never see the coun- try, and, arnong other ills, are deprived of even nature’s free gift of pure air, it happens sometimes that charitably clined people give a thought to the suif: ings of those around them and desire to help them. It is the purpose of this story to explain to people of this mind the opportunities | open to them to do good and bring health and happiness to dwarfed young lives of the teeming courts and alleys by merely puiting out a little money. A sick child in @ crowded tenement or a sun-baked court wasting away its little life from the inabil- ity of its parents to give it relief or even proper food is a sight that would proba’ touch the heart of the average person to sympathy. If such sights do not come within your purview, you are none the less certain that they exist. If you see them and feel for the child and yet pass on your aying, “Ah, well, I cannot send it you are evading the issue. You can at least make one of a number whose united efforts will help that child and many others. After reading this story is no excuse for you. rity has Jed the machinery for carrying on the ; it is organized and ready for busi- ness now. It only takes coin to start the machinery going. Put in your mite, and thig machinery will do the rest. It will find the sick child, remove it to one of sev- eral country homes, give it pure food, fresh alr, medical attention, pat it to bed and watch over it while it sleeps, bathe it and dress it, and, finaily, return to its city home renewed in heal th the memory of an experience such as its young life has bly never known before. this will not cost you a moment's + or care after you have put up that ney. The price of three cigars, of ed drinks, of soda water for a bevy will keep a child for one day, and maintain that machinery in order to save other little lives. There are three organizations in Wash- ington now equipped for doing work of this kind. The first project of this nature to be undertaken in this city was launched about twelve years ago through the efforts of a rumber of young ladies. The first year they took care of dren. Today the char- ity is incorporated under the name of the Children’s Country Home, and is ready to take care of forty children at a time throughout the summer, commencing June 15, giving each child about two weeks’ stay at the home, thus accommodating over 300 ehildren during the season. The Children's Country Home ts still un- der the management of ladies, many of the original members being trustees of the Property now. The organization is abso- Iutely non-sectarian. The home owns the Children’s Country Home. -y which it occupies, at the corner of 1 branch and G t roads, and has completed an addition to the building h will accommodate ten more children. + home is an ideal place for children, the $ and surrounding country furnish- the requirements for yacation fun. little ones are well fed, carefuliy Watched and housed in a manner luxurious t of them. The dormitories are large, ted rooms, the beds spotless and a 'S play room is provided for use on rainy days. It is usual to give each set of children a trent of some kind, and this ordinarily takes the form of a picnic in the woods. Birthdays are celebrated and are made the oceasion for general rejoicing, as some good angel in the city never fails to hear of it and send a birthday cake. ‘The Officers. ‘The oficers of the home are as follows: President, Miss Kate L. Roy; vice presi- dent, Miss Caroliffe Simpson; secretary, Miss Frederica Rodge' treasurer, Mr. F. ‘Vv. Robinson. ‘Trustees—Miss Elizabeth Bryan, Miss Margaret Cassels, Miss Kate Chand! Miss Victoria Emory, Miss Nan- nie Eestman, Miss Josephine Hockaday, Miss Hunt, Miss Margaret T. McPherson, Parker, Miss Kate L. Roy, Miss Frei a Rodgers, ss Emily Storrow, Mi ‘oline Simpson, Miss Lila M. Town- send, Ss Mary L. Wilkes, Miss Marian West, Miss Louisa Wainwright, Mrs. E. E. Whiting. Mr. F. V. Robinson. The children are selected through the ef- forts of Miss Nannie Gordon of 231 12th street southwest, who visits each case re- Ported and thoroughly investigates its worthiness. People who know of sick and destitute children having no other means of getting a summer trip can communi- cate with Miss Gordon, who will investi- gate and make a report ‘The home ts supported by voluntary con- tributions entirely. The recent add the dormitory, enabling the placin more children, has increased the expenses of the institution, and charitably inclined People are invited to make donations. Another Country Home. \" Visitors to Atlantic City while strolling along the board w ic have their attention of modest frame i: altoxether form an ad- mirable institution, known as the Seaside Home. Every summer hundreds of sick Uittie ones, whose parents are too poor to give them necessary treatment,are brought which to the aside Home and strengthened invigorated by the s. These children come hia, and t nds for their sup- ntributed ely by the citizens t cit Anothe will sho below the institution ef similar character y be opened at Co’ on the Poto: > Bell Home’ nstrucied, S rapidly ago Prof. A. M le Hell of th nated two acres of land at Colo: for a e for a t children, worn ovt mothe ing sk fr The under ees and this the Kin of Christian women immediately procuring means to make the be obtained from cuch an insti evailab! known as “The Cleriy contain six rooms, ard a surround It on all be finished and ready for eccupancy, It hoped, on the 20th of June. The Eell He ‘The ether building, w crs promiso to Wave ready by July 1, ¥ be known as ‘The Hell Home.” It contain two long dormitories on the first and second floors, with offices and ma- trons’ rooms, and the roof will be so built as to provide a large space for an airing spot for the little inmates. A porch, ten feet wide, will surround this building. Water will be provided from an artesian well, which has just been sunk. *e The institution is located about three squares from the Potomac and its grounds run back to woods, which are now being transformed into_a park, and which reach to the shores of Monroe bay. In the latter water, near the beach, a bathing crib is be- ing erected where the children can be taken into the water without danger. Mrs. W. G. Davenport of Anacostia will be the man- of the institution, and in conve th a Star reporter she told tou incidents about several little children whoze parents have already heen gladdened by the offer to give their little ones rest and air down the river during the coming hot weather, “We will be able toaccommodate twenty five children ot one time this summer, said Mrs.Davenport, “and seven children are waiting now for the buildings to be com- pleted, so they may be taken there. The applications are coming in so rapidly that it may be necessary for us to rent a cot- tage at Colonial Heach until the Bell Home is nished. We have already arranged the system to he foliowed at the home. The rising hour will be 7:30 a. m., and breal fast be from 8 to 9. 11 o'clock wiil be the bathing hour, when every one, chil- dren and grown folks as well, will be ex- pected to go in the water. Dinner will be at 12:30, and the afternoon will be given up to playtime for the little ones, under the supervision of careful nurses. ave five or six children that none will be ne- glected?. Stpper will be eaten at 6.30, and from § o'clock to bedtime, at 9 o'clock, the children will be entertained with stories inging and general amusements. Gencrous Contributions. “Each nurse will under her care, s and “We have received many substantial evl- dences cf the interest that is being taken in the Bell Home. Lumber was contributed for the buildings by several lumber mer- chants, and the Great Falls and Kennebec ice companies have been very kind. We received a letter, inclosing a check, from Mrs. M. J. Franklin of New York, the founder of the order of the Daughters of the King. She is very il at her home, but Was so much irterested that she got her husband io write for her. “It is our intention te take little children who do not thrive during the heated term in the city for a two weeks’ outing or long- er, if necessary. Of course, no charge is to be made for these. Mothers who are worn out and weary may also come and en- Joy the benefits of the home, and if able to do so will be required to pay a small sum for their board, and it-is also proposed to receive, at smail cost, hard-working young girls, who cannot afford an- outing other- wise. The furnishing of the home will be somewhat of am item, but we are in hopes that persoag having household furniture for Vwe turned them a: which thes ve-ne further use will send it to us at Colonial Beach, and thus aid the cause in a way that will be greatly appre- ciated.” The Christian Endeavor Home. One of the most interesting charities of this description is the new enterprise being undertaken this year by the Junior Chris- tian Endeavor Union. This is a charity for children by children. The union is com- posed of the junior societies of Christian Endeavor from the different churches of the city, and includes members of all de- nominations. ‘The union proposes to provide eighty sick or destitute children with a two weeks’ cuting during the summer. They will be cared for in groups of ten at a time, the first consignment being already there. ‘The summer home will be maintained until October 1. The expense of maintaining the home will be defrayed by popular subscrip- tion from the Junior Christian Endeavor societies, 2nd young people will furnish the bulk of the money. Arrangements have been made with the Rev. Mr. Steele, who lives near Falls Church, Va., to take care of the children. He and his wife will board them and give them general attention, but a superin- tendent of one of the societies making up the union will accompany each lot of chil- dren and remain with that group of ten during their stay at the home. The superintendents will be charged with the duty of selecting the little ones who are to be under their care, and by this means worthy cases only will be given the bene- fits of the charity. It is likely that sick children from the orphan asylums and from the Children’s Hospital will make up a large proportion of the guests of the union during the summer. The lot that went out June 3, and is now being cared for at the home, includes several convalescents from the hospital and asylums. Only Worthy Cases. The superintendents will be expected, of course, to select cases outside of the char- itable institutions, and each one will make careful inquiry among the poor people of his or her neighborhood for worthy cases. It is designed to take only those children who are sickly, in need of fresh air and wholesome diet, and who could not obtain these things without aid. The superin- tendents are sfid to be enthusiastic upon the scheme for the summer's work. To one who is charitably inclined and derives pleasure from doing good to the little ones exceptional opportunities will be offered by this scheme to derive satisfaction in pro- viding the means of happiness and health for those children, and of seeing daily the results of their efforts in behalf of a noble charity. ‘The home of Rev. Mr. Steele, near Falls Church, where the little ones are to find health and pleasure,is surrounded by shady grounds, and the neighboring country is attractive and holds out many aliurements for all kinds of country pleasures. There is good water on the premises, and this alone will be a luxury to many of the chil- eod bread, plenty of miik, and and fruit in proper quantities. ere Will be nothing for the little ones to do but eat, play, sieep and get well. Two of this kind of program will do s for a sick child, and it will only Prompt Co-Operation. ‘When it was decided by the union to un- dertake this most commendable charity, it was found necessary to get some cots and bed clothing. Appeais were made to sev- eral merchants and the furnishings were promptly forthcoming. One firm provided half of the requisite supply, and the’ bal- ance was quickly and cheerfully given. ‘h little tot will have its own bed, with linen and the comforts ef a home many of them are not accustomed to ofticers of the union are Rev. Mr. esident; Mrs. M. Ross Fishburn, Miss Di Randoiph, re- M. V. Fenwick, and Mr. J. B. utions expect to be ity this season. acity may be stretched, but it will pits, or who plays juvenile parts met a leading man in the Strand. The leading 1 Geep black, Thero was a wide band of crape on his hat, and he had di icd the patent Jeather shoes an that spoke of £ “What's the ma d the lead- d hiz sympathy. 1@ ASK wt: 12 cried. “My boy, CARE OF BABIES They Need a Great Deal During the Hot Weather Season. SENCRA SARA GIVES SOME ADVICE The Nurse Should Be Looked After as Well as the Baby. ABOUT THE PROPER FOOD —— Written Exclusively for The Evering Star. * NE CAN'T HELP O feeling sorry for the an babies and little chil- dren this blistering weather. Their Jot isn’t clover carpeted at any time, despite the common senti- ment that childhood is the happiest per- iod of one’s life, but it seems to me that in hot weather they have more than their share of discomfort. People seem to think that a child, being small, has less sensitive feelings than a grown person, and put slights upon it that are direct insults and would be resented as such if the child were cld enough to as- sert its dignity in a more forceful manner. Especially are babies in long clothes the victims of ignorance and deliberate care- lessress. All they can do to resent ill- treatment is to wail, and that only makes them more objectionable, so they are hus- tled out of sight and hearing, sometimes in the charge of children who are not old enough to know how to care for them, and very often a vicious nurse girl is left to exercise her cruelty on them. It is so strange to begin with that mothers are willing and even eager to put their help- less little ones in the czre of girls who are so ignorant, so uncultured, so unpre- possessing altogether that they cannot be permitted to associate with the older mem- bers of the family who are beyond contami- nation, yet are left to work at their will upon the little creatures who are in the formative period, with minds as plastic as putty, ready to absorb precept and example just as a sponge does water, and ail in it that may be unclean. Not long since I dined h some friends, and it became necessary at the table to correct the son of the house for eatirg with his fingers. His father reprimanded the little fellow, who, on being tolc to eat with his fork, responded flippantly, “fingers was made before forks.”” His horrified mother—for they are gently bred people—asked him where he had heard such a remark, and where he had been permitted to eat with his fingers, only to learn that the “jewel” of a girl who kept the children so carefully out of her sight and was such a comfort to her mistress was in the habit of eating with her fingers and had made the historic remark for the benefit of her small charges, who had ob- jected at first to her dipping indiscrimi- nately into the dishes. An Ignorant Nurse. Further investigation proved that while she was fond of and kind to the children the nurse was superstitious and had filled their heads with a lot of superstitious non- serse which had made them afraid of their own shadows, and that she had table man- ners about as refined as a cannibal’s. There was a “nurse wanted” advertise- ment In the papers the next day, but the damage was done, and it took months to undo it. Meantime, the children did al- most daily penance, and often got severely punished for doing as the “jewel of a girl” had taught them to. When the nurse is actually vicious it sometimes takes years to eradicate the evil she teaches the chil- dren in her care. = Passing along through Lafayette Park one day last week, I heard a baby crying most pitifuily, and in one of the by-walks I found it strapped down in its handsome carriage, the sun pouring down In its face, and not a soul near who seemed to have charge of it. Its heated little face was dis- torted with suffering which would have wrung the heart ‘of its rich mamma if she could have seen it. On exarhination, I found that lis skirt band had been put around it so tight that it was torturing its tender flesh, and, to add to its misery, had got eee into a double fold across its stom- ach! Just as I got the band straightened and clothes loosened, and the baby had stopped yelling, she nurse appeared from another by-walk, where she had been talking to her ‘young man,” and indignantly remarked, as she took the quieted child from my arms, that “‘some folks’ imperdence was past believin’, that it was! and whipped the carriage off in the direction of the Ar- lington. If that baby died that night fron congestion of the brain, or in spasms, doubtless its loving mother covered its white face with tears and surrounded its body with blossoms, wondering why Provi- dence had been so unkind to her, when, in fact, Providence was kind to the child in taking it away from parents who were so careless of its tender life, and the mother w in one sense, responsible for the little ene’s death. “Be Careful of the Children. Watch the sleep and diet and clothing of your little ones. Thoughtful care just now may save you‘much anxiety and a doctor’s bill a little later. If you nurse your baby be very careful of your own diet, that you do not convey indigestion to it in that way. If it uses the bottle, scald the bottle, nipple and tubes every time the bottle is freshly filled. A fruitful source of stomach and bowel trouble is found in foul milk bottles. Never give a baby in its first year a mouthful of any kind of meat or vegetable food. If it does not like milk, or milk does Not agree with it, feed it on pulped oat- meal, or something of that character, and confine it to that. Don't feed a baby fresh fruit in hot weather. It may agree with the child, but, more than Ifkely, it will make it ill, When the baby frets unac- countably, give it a spoonful or two of pure, cold water. Now, don’t fill it up on ice water, because that isn’t any better for the baby than it is for you. Keep a baby scrupulously clean in hot weather, but don’t bathe all the life out of it. A baby is much more sensitive to cold than an adult, and should always be washed in water that is at least of blood temperature. It will not hurt to have it warmer. Use soap sparingly, and always of the best quality. Once a day, and in the morning, is the best time for the regular bath. If the day is very warm and the baby perspires freely, dip a soft, large cloth in water softened with a pinch of bo- rax, and rub the baby gently all over half a dozen times a day, and then dry it with a soft linen towel. Never use any harsh towels on a baby’s tender flesh. It is questicned whether tight bands are ever necessary after a month or two, and certainly it is cruelty to keep them on a baby during hot weather, for the pressure and perspiration almost blister the flesh in an hour cr two. A thin, fine woolen shirt that cannot irritate the flesh is an excellent preventive of bowel complaints and sudden colds in warm weather, but If they fret the baby, simply pin a square of fine flan- nel to the outside of its little shirt, so that it will come well down over the chest and stomach. Don’t smother a baby up in a lot of long heavy clothes in hot weather. The weight on its legs is enough to retard its growth and warp its soft bones. For Prickly Heat. One soft old flannel skirt and a loose slip, high necked, and long loose sleeves is quite enough. Never put a napkin on it a second time till it has been rinsed out in clear, cold water. A small basin for that special purpose would save you a lot of trouble in many ways. The instant the napkin is taken off drop it in the basin of water, rub and wring out and hang it in the sun to dry. Half the number will answer if you are careful to do this, and the comfort to the child is almost inestima- ble. Yer chafing and prickly heat, neither of which ought to appear on a well-cared-for baby, wheat flour browned in a pan over the stove is the common homely remedy. Make it almost a russet brown and dredge the child from head to foot with it, cr wherever the heat 1s out, first rubbing the child with a danm @loth. Violet powder is quite as good atd <does not soil the slips so much, but it dosts more. Taleum pow- der is best of ail ‘and has the merit of cheapness. Pulvérized starch is also good, but has no medicinal properties. If the baby is fat, it will chafe much worse, and especially under the chin. Keep a lot of fine thin old swiss or lawn pieces as big as a handkerchief im ‘the baby basket, and put one under the baby’s chin as soon as the other gets damp. In that way you save the child a greht deal of discomfort. Have regular hours for putting the baby to sleep and never fail to get it to sleep at those hours, Put it in a dark room where it can have absolute Quiet. Even though a baby may sleep through noise it does not get the rest that it would from a quiet pap. Let your balsy have all the exercise possible. Do not have its clothes so fine and so loaded down with needle work that it pains you to see the finery getting soiled by contact with the floor. If the child must suffer the martyrdom of such cloth- ing, let it be when it is cn dress parade. When at home put its lightest clothing on it and put on a big quilt on the floor and let its legs and feet have full swing by throwing its skirts back. That is the way a child has of crowing healthy and vigor- ous. If you keep it strapped in its high chair or in its carriage its muscles are bound to get flabby and soft, and you will soon complain that the baby is slow to walk, slow to sit alone, and when it be- gins ‘to get on its feet, you will find that its bones are so soft from disuse that they bend under the weight on them and the child grows bowlegged. Look After the Nurse. When you send the child out in its car- riage, be sure that its pillows are clean and dry, and that it is comfortably placed with its clothes all straight. Give strict orders that the nurse is not to let the child lie with the sun in its face, for that is a fruitful source of weak eyes and sore lids. Instruct your nurse that the baby is not to have a mouthful of candy, fruit, or any other trash while she has it out, and see that your orders are obeyed. It may save your child an attack of colic or worse. It is a common custem for ignorant maids and irresponsible colored nurses to mect their male friends when out with their lit- tle charges, and to purchase quiet for a talk in the park, will willingly spend a penny or two for the vile concoction sold as candy, or for stale cakes and other stuff, on which & child will gorge itself, with almost ter- rifying results sometimes, when the weath- er is very hot, and many a fit of convul- sions can be’ traced te such a source. Instruct her also to take the baby from the carriage two or three times during the morning out, and rest it while she turns the pillows so that it may have a cool pil- low to go to sleep on. That is a good plan to follow if the child sleeps restlessly at any time. Change the pillow to the cooler side and shake it up, and shift the child’s pesition slightly, thereby adding another hour to its nap. A child can scarcely sleep too much in summer time. Never permit anybody, for any purpose whatever, to waken the baby. It is sure to make it cross. Never {irritate a child in hot weather by trying to make it show off. It is injudicious at any time, and makes your children vain end forward, but it is especially injurious to excite the child’s brain or warm its blood by urging it against its will to display its small accomplishments. The whole aim of your life should be to keep the child cool, calm and unruffled, provided with wholesome food to be eaten at regular hours, and cleanly;iclad. If you accom- plish that, you will bring your children through the summer’s heat without the as- sistance of the family physician. A prominent physician said net long ago that half the illness. among children was due to the carelesariess of those who had them in charge. ‘Insuftivient clothing, or, on the other hand; too much, and very often a matter af: foolish pride in both cases; overeating atithe table; permitting a child to make a meal off of one thing be- cause it liked its=thus overloading the stomach; letting awehild play in the Hot sun, or in muddy water, just to get rid of its importunities fora time; giving a child of high nervous itemperament doses of sieeping drops, tor get away from it peaceably for an evening's amusement; per- mitting a child toxbe teased into a passion for some peculiarity, often resulting in convulsions—all thse; things, he said, were calculated to-increase hid business and de- plete the census at a rapid rate during the heated season. : He was partgcularly harsh in his restric- tions on moth¢rs who turned their children over to ignor\nt nurses for hours ‘these hot days, never going any ‘deeper into the cause for the nervous wailing and flushed faces of their returning little ones than the nurse’s explanation that “the child just fretted the whole time.” Children do not fret without reason. They are either un- comfortable from some cause that can be remedied, or they are not well, and in either case a remedy should be found at orce. Nine chances in ten, it will be found that the nurse has simply bullied her small charges into 2 fever. SENORA SARA. —_.___ TO SEE THE HIND SIGHTS. John Brown’s Advice as Remembered by Paymaster General Stanton. ‘My campaigning began way back in 7,” said Brigadier General Stanton, pay- master general of the army, to a writer for The Star. “It was out in Kansas with old John Brown. This was in the border war. Old John Brown was a slender, angu- lar man, probably over six feet tall, and had much of the physical make-up of the typical Yankee. He was a man of serious mind, very religious, and knew the Bible almost by heart. I recollect the last con- versation I had with Brown. I was noth- ing but a boy at the time; about eighteen years old. It was the night after the fight at Lawrence, Kan “We had been fighting all day with the pro-slavery people. It was a bright moon- light night, and Brown and I slept under the same blanket. Our bed chamber was the open air. Brown had spread his blanket in the warm sand, right at the foot of Massachusetts street, which is the main street of Lawrence. Uptil we went to sleep Brown kept up a constant talk with me. Brown told me, and I’ve sometimes Icoked on it as almost prophecy, all about the war that was coming. ““‘Siavery and freedom will never mix,’ said Brown. ‘The country can’t be half slave and half free. There wiil be a great deal of bloodshed. There's a struggle com- ing, the biggest one the world has seen. It will last years and rivers of blood will flow. You will see it, but I probably will not. I expect the slaves will be freed, and am as sure of it I am that we are wrapped in our blanKets here, but I don’t expect to live to see it myself.’ “Brown was a very quiet man in his manner, and while naturally a soldier, knew nothing of military affairs by any education he had received. He was abso- lutely brave, and, in fact, a sort of Ameri- can Cromwell. He made a speech on one occasion to the peoplé cf a town in Kansas, just_before they went into a fight with a band of border ruffians, who were about to attack them. Brown was well educated, but his speech wag homely and plain, and entirely practical. L.recollect one thing he said, which was really a valuable piece of military advice. It would be good informa- tion for any army>to get just before it went into a fight. |, ““*And when you shoot,’ said Brown, in is quiet, practical tone, to the listening crowd, ‘be sure that,you see the hind sights to your rifle. It is absolutely essential, and there is no use shooting until you do. if everybody who hag shct at me had seen the hind sights of ais gun I would be as full of holes as a colander.’” —~ Mushrooms in Europe. From St. Nicholas, = As an article of fogd mushrooms are be- coming more widely ‘and favorably known each year. Immense quantities are grown for market in caves near Paris, some of the beds being seven miles long. One grower has twenty-one miles of mushrooms grow- ing at Mery. In Italy the truffie-beds are go valuable that they ate guarded as care- fully as are game preserves in England. But the poachers, quite equal to the neces- sity, train their dogs to go among the beds, dig up those mushrooms of marketable value, and bring them out to the edge, Where they are waiting to receive them. Mushrooms bring in a revenue of £4,000 a year to Rome, and M. Roques calls the despised toadstools the “manna of the poor. Mr. Julius Palmer, our own authority on mushrooms, _say “Were the poorer classes of Russia, Germany, Italy or France to see our forests during the au- tumn rains they would feast on the rich food there going to waste. For this harvest requires no seedtime and asks for no peas- ant’s toil. At the same time the value of mushroom diet ranks second to meat alone. America is one of the richest countries in mushroom food.” BOTHER OF IT ALL Pauline Pry Discusses the Burden of Modern Life. A RETURN 10 PRIMITIVE CONDITIONS The Food and Clothes Problem Re- duced to Simple Terms. ABORIGINAL REVIVAL I HAVE SOMETHING to tell you which is perfectly dreadful or perfectly lovely, just as you look at it. Either way it is «lto- gether inevitable. We are in for a revival of the abor- igines. That may not startle you first told. You may not know exactly what the ab- origines are, and you may say, “Oh, bother revivals of any sort! Haven't we just had one of Napoleon, and who cared that didn’t want to?” But there’s the rub, and the difference between what has been and is to be in the line of revivals. To revive Napoleon or any individual is, I grant you, but to add a figure to the spectacle of life which concerns us only as fancy dictates, but to revive the abor- igines is to dig into the past and bring in- to existence everything possible of a stage of human development which means a fad that is going to revolutionize the conditions of life in general so that you'll be obliged to join in whether you like it or not. Confidentiatly, I inform you right here, I'm scared about it, for my prophetic vision sees not far distant the day when I’ll have to abandon the reputation of an advanced mind, or go to living on roots and wearing what Eve did, if, indeed, I may happily stop short of suicide in carrying the re- vival to a consistent end. Good-Bye to Civilization.’ That is the truth. The so-called benefits and pleasures of civilization are about to take an awful slump. The day is at hand when to say of one “the is civilized” will be a reproach to his aim in life, and an assertion cf his lack of culture. Already, to keep up with the procession as it is moving in my vicinity, I have had to turn the children cut barefooted, put Trilby slippers and very little else on my- self, and tegin living as nearly like the Swiss family Robinson as the incon- veniences of an effete civilization will per- mit. But this is merely to strike the gait ‘of the movement to come, and you really ought to know the pace some other people are traveling. It was early in April that one woman I know broke down and cried in the midst of the sixth course of a dinner she was giving, and when she could get the better of her emotions said she might just as well declare right there and then that from that time on she meant to live nearer to nature. One Meal a Day. She would have only one meal a day in her house, end that should be exclusively of nuts and fruits. She said that a com- munity of 100 families up in Beston are living that way, and, of course, after that we all dropped our knives and forks and replied ‘‘No, thank you,” to everything till the nuts came on, which we cracked val- iantly with our teeth and picked out with our fingers. Meanwhile, the lady’s idea friend took up the subject. ° it is absolutely essential in this plan.of living near to nature to have an idea friend. He said that half a pound of dates and a pint of milk are quite enough for a meal for anybody. He is mistaken on this point, however. In my modest way I claim to be somebody, at least with reference to victuals that are eaten, and after trying one day to live on a half pound of dates and a pint of milk I understood perfectly the origin and devel- opment of cannibalism. To be sure, my impatience may have entered into the mat- ter. “Heaven is not gained by a single Foun we mount the ladder round by round.” Possibly if I had been humbie enough to begin with three-quarters of a pound of dates and a pint and a half of milk the first day, I might have done bet- ter the second day, and finally.have drop- ped down to a normal capacity for food. Relative to capacity for food, the idea friend said the way to find out your ca- pacity is to eat as little as you think you can keep alive on till the next meal, and if you don’t keep alive, or fail in any degree to do so, you need to eat’a trifle more next time. On the other hand, if you more than come just short of dying, you may know you have eaten too much, and you want to lop off a date or two from your rations. It is not to be deduced from this that dates and milk are the only things per- mitted by nature ard fin de siecle aborig- ines. Any sort of fruit and nut goes. One man I know, intimidated by his progressive wife, has reached a stage of development where for breakfast he eats a mixture of oatmeal and English walnuts. This is miore unique than up to the standard of aboriginal dietary excellence, because ce- reals are proscribed, and the evil of having to do any measure cf cooking is sought to be overcome. You,can see right here what the effect of this aboriginal fad is going to be on the laboring classes—farmers, millers, middlemen. Everybody engaged in the pro- duction of every kind of starchy food must go out of the business, as well as every- body dependent on the consumption of ani- mal food, and there'll be no cooks. This last sounds almost too goods to be true, I know, but, believe me, the half has not yet been told. Ever the Dress Problem. ‘There will be no dressmakers, either. A revived aboriginal lady physician as- sured me the other day that all we really need to wear is a flannel band protecting the digestive region from sudden chills. As the aim of the new dietary endeavors is to eat only such food as needs the least digesting, I can readily foresee an advance where no digestive region will exist and all real necessity for wearing so much as the flannel band will have disappeared. I know a woman now who sails for Eu- rope next week with two children, and all the clothes she is taking she will put in a box so small she can carry it en her back in case of fire or difficulty with foreign methods of transporting luggage. This woman is another leader in the re- vival of the truly aboriginal. She is cut- ting loose from a handsomely equipped home and her husband, and without a servant to her heels, taking.two babies, one four, the other two years old, to the other side, where, on the Belgium coast, she means to make the experiment of peas ant life and bring back to civilization when she returns a systematic plan of the primitive man and his paradise, free from the toils of modern inventions. Her babies’ dainty outfits are all to be left behind, and for fine linen and purple she has substi- tuted blue jean. After the hot season they will go to Paris, to the Latin quarter, where is now another woman I know who is seeking in the liberty of this section of Paris the knowledge and the courage to return next fall and cast off the burden of the service of mammon. Her great, handsome home in the West End she means to abandon then and put in practice the life she now is learning. She Has Broken Loose. This life includes an apartment of three rooms for herself, mother and two sons, which is barren of any furnishing not strictly utilitarian in character. Here she cooks her own meals—she hasn't caught up with the fruit-and-nuts pilgrims yet, though she has hroken locse in all else from that hydra-headed god of modern civilization, “keeping up appearances.” Have you ever stopped to reckon what would be left of you if you were to do the same thing—drop appearances and be no mere than you are and do no more than from within you are impelicd to do? When you come to think about it, don’t you feel creeping over you a desire to risk the coa- sequences and give the matter a trial? I do. I am tired of being civilized—yca, mere, I'm ,tired.of being civil, I'm tired of smiling on people I want to scratch, tired of using.a whole let of things I don't need and wouldn't have if everybody else didn’t do the same, and tired, very tired, of seem- ing to know anything when the end of all knowiedge-is-to know that we know noth- ing at all. . Still, true as this is, I can’t see that the ival of the aborigines is going to help atters™ The woman I know who is going back as far as Noah, and has fit up 2 house boat to live in on the canal this sum- mer, she will be just as far from nature, it seems to me, as I shall be in a conventiona seaside hotel. What is nature, anyho Is it the same for men as for animals? T- be true to nature, does that mean to for- sake the fruits of human intelligence for a return to the sphere of instinct? When we have gone from our brownstone-front house, with hot and cold water all through, to live in tents and take a bath only as we happen upon a river; when we have substi- tuted raw victuals for cooked gnes, and reduced our capacity for food to the mini- mum, what then? To what will our reason be directed, and how shall our extensive leisure be occupied? A Strange, New Era. Can it be that we are about entering on a strange, new era of human development, and all this revolt against the burden of our intrieate civilization is unconscious preparation, ordered by some all-seeing providence beyond our ken? Is the struc- ture of our egotism, that has builded itself larger and larger in the achievements of the individual, the family and the state— is this structure to topple over, fall, and the bubble of finite greatness, blown to the utmost, about to collapse, do you think? May not another of the cataclysms vaguely defined in history and mystically fore- shadowed in the philosophy of seers, be upon us, ad all our pessimism, our ennui that strips life of its illusions, robs nature of its activities, and inclines us all more or less to revert to the habits of the primitive nan, is this not perhaps a stripping off of cur garments, a making ready for some desperate race we have speedily to run in the world’s history—who can teM? Nobody. if Yet aa idea that this is so haunts the mind of PAULINE PRY. —_—.__ EARLY TRUCK FOR MARKET. Raising Spring Vegetables in Sandy Soils Along the Senshore. Many luxuries are commonly to be had nowadays which even the rich were not able to procure a generation ago. This re- mark applies particularly to eatables Spring vegetables, for example, may now be enjoyed during more than half the year. People are no longer content to have them in the season when they mature in their own immediate locality. The,same is true of fruits. Until within a few years tomatoes were not expected in the market of this city un- til the local érop ripened in July. During the winter and spring canned tomatoes were extersively and almost exclusively used. Now, however, the Florida croy of fresh tomatoes begins to arrive here early in January, juicy and luscious, only twenty-six to thirty-six hours being re- quired for transportation. These early tomatoes sell readily for 50 to 75 cents a dozen at the same time that Florida oranges are bringing 15 to #0 cents a dozen, and while canned tomatoes are selling for 10 to 15 cents a three-pound can. This is followed by successive crops from Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia and Mary- land. The season for fresh tomatoes in this market thus extends over fully nine months of the year. The same is true of other vegetables. There is a great and in- creasing demand for this early: garden truck, which. is put on the market now in better condition and at lower cost than ever before. In old times, says Milton Whitney, in the forthcoming year book of the Department of Agriculture, fruits and vegetables, gen- erally, were grown in gardens and as part of the regular farm crops, as well as in market gardens within a few miles of the Jarger towns and cities. In recent years, however, the raising of such products for early markets has developed into a dis- tinct and special branch of agriculture, be- ing greatly aided hy improved transporta- tion facilities. Incidentally, certain regions previously supposed to be worthless for farming purposes have been brought under very profitable cultivation—most notably a narrow strip of light and sandy soil ex- tending along the Atlantic shore for a dis- tance of about 1,500 miles from Massachu- setts to Florida, bordering the coast, bays and rivers. This land a few years ago was hardly worth $1 an acre; at present it is valued at $100 to $500 an acre. This strip is the great truck-producing area of the eastern United States, yielding vast quantities of early spring vegetables every year. The season advances north- ward aicng it at the rate of about thirteen miles a day. Of course, the lands near a railroad are worth several times as much as similar tracts two or three miles away, on account of the difficulty and expense cf transporting the tender and bulky crop and the damage done in handling and haul- ing. Lands near water are much more valuable, not only by reason of better fa- cilities for transportation, but also because the vegetables grown upon them do not suffer nearly so much from frost. Crops a quarter of a mile inland may be destroyed by frost, while those adjacent to the water are not affected. The total area devoted to truck farming in the United States in 1889, exclusive of market gardens, was 534,440 acres. Of this Gl per cent was lo- cated along the Atlantic seaboard. To produce this truck an intense system of cultivation is practiced, and the expense of making the crop is very great. The necessary working capital for a small farm of this kind is reckoned at from $6,000 to $20,000. The risks are as great and the enterprises as heavy as in ordinary commercial or industrial lines. Gompeti- tion is so sharp and the margin of profit has become So small, that there is a ten- dency among the larger planters to form combinations, which make it more and more difficult. for small truckers to suc- ceed. The truckers’ associations have great power and infivence. Three or four of the large planters around Norfolk, by putting. their potato crops suddenly upon the New York market, can depress the price to such a small margin of profit that the minor dealers cannot afford to sell. The price of potatoes in New York has been known to fall $1 a barrel in the course of a day. It is-stated that the difference of a cent 2 barrel on spinach in the freight rates from Norfolk to New York reduces se price below the actual cost of produc- tion. —_——.__ PROPER HAIR CUTTING. Tlic Dutics of ¢ Barber Set Forth by an Expert Craftsman. The intelligent barber looked pityingly at a young man who had just gotten a shave in the next chair, and was taking his departure through the door. “Leok at that gentlemen’s head,” he re- marked with indignant emphasis. “ivery bump in the back and every scar he ever got there in his boyhood is as plain as the nose on your face. The trouble is that he had his hair cut by some barber who doesn’t know his business. “There are dead loads of barbers,” con- tinued the speaker, whacking his razor on the strep, “who sing ‘Johnny, git your hair eut short,’ and don’t know anything e! in their trade. They cut away at a man’s hair as long as the comb'll take hold, a don’t stop till there isn't any more hair to cut. A barber should never cut a cus- tomer’s hair short unless he’s ordered to do so. Hair should never be cut so as to disfigure a person. A barber should be something of an artist. He should feel a customer’s head and find out if it has any pronounced bumps, and the hair should be raised to see if any sears are concealed. If either of these biemishes exist the hair should be cut so as to hide them as far as possible. The razor should never be used, except sparingly, on the neck. The hair should be graduated gently from the crown and shaded on the neck with care ard patience. It makes me tired to sce the work of some so-called barbers. Next!’ ~—_—_—.__. In 4h “French” Restaurznt. From London Pusth, Jones—“Oh—er—garsong, regardez eecee— er—apportez-voo le—la—” Waiter—“Beg pardon, sir. I don’t know ¥rench!” . Jones—"Then, for goodness’ sake, send me somebody who does!’ From Life. “This hasn't a sign of a clam in it,” the guest who had ordered clam “It's a swindle; that’s wh “Excuse me, slr,” res who is too good for that busine we only undertake to serve a chowd: an aquariunn’ FOR GARDEN PARTIES. Some Suggestions for Those Who At- tend Such Funetions. At a garden party one may wear a great many things that would almost seem out of j&eeping with one’s age elsewhere. For in- stance, thin fabrics to be worn over silk of brilliant hue is one of the fancies. The out- side fabric may be covered with bouqucts of flowers in natural colors, and the under slip will 60 harmonize with this as to en- hence the rich coloring in the blossoms. Qvantities of lace are introduced, and thcugh the good taste of the style must aiways be questioned, artificial flowers are made available for catching up rufiles and holding down choux of lace. The approved garden party hat fs always bread as to brim, and generally very much trimmed with quantities of lace and flowers galore. Its effect should always be light and Of course the parasol is quite a feature, and it must harmonize with the gcwn in every particular. If the frock is of ‘Dresden silk, for instance, and be it known Dresden silk makes a beautiful gar- den party gown, the parasol should have seme Dresden designs on its white silk cover, eliher painted, embroidered or Woven, and then you can cover_it all up with a silk tulle or tissue, and Stick two or three bunches of flowers on it, and a bew or two of ribbon, and then you will have the approved garden party parasol. A frock is of cream-tinted India silk, and has a bodice of closely shirred silk mull. About the throat, tops of the sleeves and foot are full hings of pinked si with tiny blue forget-me-nots scattered through it. The wide hat has flowers and ribbon to harmonize. The parasol is of blue silk, with a full cover of silk tissue, and lace and forget-me-nots to decorate it. If the gown is very light, the shoes may be white, with white hose clocked and em- broidered over the instep with silk. Other- wise light russct shoes and hose, or black is the proper caper. . a SOME FASHIO: OTES. The Latest Suggestions That Dame Fashion Eas Formulated. Sleeves have not collapsed much yet, but they are falling lower and lower every day, and will slide off over the hands in another season unless all signs fail. When the sweltering July suns begin to get in their work, the way the stiff, thick linings will get jerked out will be the death knell of the overgrown sleeve. While sleeves retain their inflation, capes will stay right by them. For a light airy nothing two capes of ivery gauffre silk with lining of yellow India silk and neck garniture of lace and rosettes will be very dressy Brown linen outing suits will be most popular this season, but without reason, for brown linen, and its twin sister, grass cloth, muss like tissue paper. Without doubt they ure the hottest materials ever invented for warm weather wear, because the air cannot , get through them, and, when mussed, they look untidy; then, unless carefully made, they are ruined in washing, because they so easily stretch awry, and the’ odor of the brown linen is most objeetionable. If one could don a linen gown and stand on a pivot to be admired till ready to take it off, then linen might be tolerated. Never- theless it will be Worn extensively all the season. The natural color will be braided and trimmed with white in fancy designs, or in plain bands. They look deceptively cool. Dressing for the neck is dropping, till it almost assumes decollete in front. Pretty frills of lace-trimmed silk’atid tissue have taken the place of the feather boa, and long wide «nds of the same make a dainty addition. When these are thrown about the neck the gown may be tyrned in mod- estly in front, for-the fuliness covers it up, yet leaves the wearer cool. Common Sense Ought to teach a woman how much of the low neck will be admissible for day- light, and comfort demands that the throat-choking collar come down several begs. Strike a nappy medium and you will have 4t about right. The artistic hat for summer is white. It should be soft straw that looks as though the wind might dent it, and have rosettes and choux of soft, thin material. The pop- ular shape will be the sailor, lower in the crown than usval, ‘and slightly turned up in the back, or at the side, just lifted enough from a straight line to admit of a blossom or two in a nest of lace. Clover heads are favorites, and mignonette as well. Sometimes a single long-stemmed rose rises, tower-like, from the center of @ rosette placed on each side of the front. The broad white hat will be popular for garden parties, smothered in lace and planted with whole beds of various kinds of Mowers. The fanciful little dark sailor, generally biack, looks best when trimmed with a wreath of Parma violets alternating with pink resebuds in close-set clusters. An odd conception is a row of the small wild sunflowers, with clusters of pink sgeraniums between. ——— ‘The Reign of Spangies. “Glitter, glitter, glitter, does the butters fly of fashion,” says & French authority. “Iridescent spangles, embroidery of gold and silver, spangled lace, everything in jgact with a brilliant, many-toned effect is the thing just now.” This passion of glit- ter leads to the loading down of the sum- mer silks and muslins, even, with bands of beaded and bespangled embroidery, often in incongruous effect, but “the style” must be supported, though it makes one look like a dowdy. For instance, fashion decrees that the evening bodice should look as though it was ready to drop from the shoulders. In some of the decollete gowns the suggestion is positively alarming, and there is nothing to shield the upper por- n of the arm, and nothing to hold the bodice on but a slender strap of velvet or ribbon, which seems about to break eny minute and cause a catastrophe. Imagine at kind of a gown on the average woman, who has to call science and the patent office to her aid in building up for a tailor- made gown, and you can guess the figuro she would cut-—or the lack of it in the at- tempt to keep up with that style. ———— The Stylish Colors. Black and white in combination is quite the rage again, and it makes no difference what materials you select; anything, from calico to crepon, goes. A remarkable illus- tration of the black and white fad subjoin- ed to the “checke fever is found in a black brilliantine skirt made with a deeply laid pleat back and front and godeted sides, and a blouse bodice of black and white plaid silk, with white embroidered ta black, simulating a yoke, The hat is of white grass straw mixed, and w gauze bows. Another sample of a black and white {s foungl in a ful! godeted skirt of fine biack mohair, which is uniin- ed, and trimmed with a band of white bril- Nantine. The full overhanging biouse has a bre! like sailor collar of the white, and the lower part of tWe sleeves, which have the approved drcoping puffs,’ ts also the white. The collar departs from the long in vogue and has white poiats ag back over a plain black band. —— A New Use for Marines, 8 Weekly. Miss Inland (io old salt, who fs showing the party over the flagship)— are all thoze soldiers-on board ship for?" Bo'sun’s Mute—“Thim? Oh, thim’s the marines, mum. MMi. Inlanc- "t ask @o many foolish! gvestions, Mar! on, Everybody known those gentlemen are eraployed by the goy- ernment tor the sailors to toll stcries to,”