The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 15, 1917, Page 11

S ( 2 e TR d N ¥oxeuwsia A Successful Northwest Children’s Home The story of the North Dakota Children’s home, 804 Tenth street south, Fargo, is an interesting one and one that tells well the big heartedness and generosity of the agricultural peo- ple. This home was organized the winter of 1890-91 and later incorporat- ed as the " North Dakota Children’s Home society and finally federated with the national society. Colonel Morton and wife donated the site and the Ladies’ Auxiliary solicited the funds for the building. A farm near the., Missouri river and the present site and buildings are all the property the home has. Physicians donated services for a while, but this proved very unsatis- factory, so now a doctor is on regular salary who spends from two to four hours every day looking after the children there.’ The one big purpose of the home is to make it a real home in order to get entirely away from the idea of an in-- stitution; consequently the capacity of the home is limited. When once inside one feels\as though he were visiting a. home in which there was a large fam- ily. An average of from 190 to 200 children are taken care of every year and homes have been provided for 1596 children since its organization. Mr. Hall, who has been superintendent for 15 years, has placed 1200 children per- sonally. Many may be surprised to learn that the school children of the state through the annual children’s of- fering, donate one fifth of the amount of the anntial fund supporting the home. This shows how the people rally to the help of these little ones and are so generously helping the Home to be a real home for them. FATHER'S DESERTION ACCOUNTS FOR MANY Children of many nationalities are represented here, there having been 17 so far. The Home and the Catholic Orphanage take care of practically all the North Dakota homeless children. This Home is non-sectarian and is sup- ported by voluntary donations. The juvenile court and the orphan- age work in harmony with the Home and very frequently the juvenile court has a child there to be cared for until its case is settled. I recently visited the home and found Mr. and Mrs. Hall to be the very quintessence of sociability with a readi- ness to tell me all about the work which they are doing so successfully. Be it to the everlasting shame of the fathers that 40 per cent of the children at the Home are those whose fathers deserted them, letting the mothers struggle on as best they can. In all too many cases the battle was too much and the discouraged mother: did the last thing she knew—signed a quit Ketchups— What About Them? - Generally speaking the microscopic examination of preserved and canned goods reveals the true quality of such products. Occasionally partially decomposed and dirty tomato pulp is used as the basis for the low priced Kketchups found on the market. Unscrupulous _ dealers have no difficulty deceiving the retailer or consumer about the true condition of such products because they are able to cover it up by the ad- dition of plenty of spices, vinegar, etc. Such ketchup, when placed under the microscope, shows an abundance of minute organisms which' spoil food. These organisms are the common molds, yeast and bacteria. For the purpose of discovering them, their kind and number, the microscope is used. Careful examination will also reveal the dirt and the poor condition of the gruit cells found in ketchups made from a poor grade of tomato pulp. If the fruit is dirty the living organisms are usually found on the skin in large numbers. Simply washing thoroughly is all that is necessary to remove these and prevent any further contamination of any other fruit which has been cut or pulped. Using diseased or moldy fruit greatly increases spoilage for the mold and un- gound parts are infested with countless numbers of organisms which de- cay very rapidly. these minute forms and prevent further decay if the fruit is protected from further contamination. However, the microscope reveals the fact that wholly or partially decayed pulp was used, consequently the molds in fruit prod- ucts ars an index to the cleanliness and care used in the various steps of can- ning. These indicators of filth and de- .cay are found only in negligible quan- tities in home canned goods and care- fully packed factory goods. ‘Naturally the question arises as to what should be considered the maxi- Preserving will kill - mum number of organisms permiss- able in marketable products. No fixed limit can be set to govern all classes of preserved food, because of the varie- ty of these products now on the market. It yet remains to fix distinct standards for each that will not harm the careful packer and yet rigid enough to assure the consumer a food which is wholesome. Definite standards for tomato ketch- ups have been proposed and quite gen- erally accepted. These standards are based upon the results of careful inves- tigation of just what makes a clean and wholesome ketchup. In a list of 25 brands of ketchup.five were recent- ly classed as “debris,” 8 clean and 12 fair, by the food laboratory at the North Dakota. Agricultural college. ST. VALENTINE In our country St. Valentine’s day is observed February 14, so here is a little story about him. $St. Valentine, one of the early martyred saints, is but little known. He is said to have cured the blind daughter of one Asterius. Emperor Claudius tried to win Asterius back to paganism, but the cure of his blind daughter by St. Valentine made him a thorough convert to Christianity. For this St. Valentine was imprisoned, tortured and finally beheaded. It is impossible to trace any connection be- tween his story and the celebration afterwards known as his day. Probably this may have been a survival of the ancient Roman festival of the Luper- calia, which was celebrated in February. It was customary to put the names of the women in a box and the men drew them out by chance. The first printed valentine was in 1667, but because postage and paper were so expensive, they were not popu- lar until a later date. Many pretty customs have prevailed in different countries, many believing St. Valentine to be a god of love and beneficence. As postage became cheaper valentines “Papa” Hall of the Children’s home at Fargo and some of his young charges. claim deed, as it were, to give her child over to someone else. When the Home takes a child to place it for adoption in cases of desertion, notices are published in the papers and if the father does not appear to give cause why he shall not support his family, the case goes by default and the child is then in full charge of the home, pro- viding the mother is unable to support it. So far there is no record of a de- serting father making any sort of a defense. I was taken all over the Home and saw the two day nurses taking care of nine infants, who are weighed twice every week. A night nurse looks after them during the night. There are about 60 children, ranging in age from 16 years to babies of a few months. From the little tot who can barely lisp a word to the oldest, Mr. and Mrs. Hall are “Papa” and ‘Mama Hall” You could not for a moment think you were in an institution, for the children have acceSs to every room in the house, and yet are orderly and good. ‘When asked about.punishment and rules, I was told rules were mnot in vogue, and excepting an occasional spanking, to be deprived of their desert (not a meal mind you), was the height of disgrace. A pleasant feature of the dining room was the honor table, where Papa and Mama Hall sat, and to be sent to the other dining room is a calamity indeed. The smaller dining room is used for a sort -of play and reading room during the day. 3 The Kkitchen is splendidly equipped with a large electric paring machine and an electric kneading machine, which can be used for several other things by putting on different attach- ments. The laundry is all that modern equipment can make it. Many of the practical things of the kitchen and laundry are gifts of a body of men who do not let their right hand know what the left is doing, but nevertheless do things. The sterilizing room is particularly interesting, showing the bottle of milk and bottle also for each babe; likewise the operating room where minor opera- tions are performed. These rooms are in white enamel and immaculately neat. The girls’ bed rooms give all evidence of comfort and several little girlies with their dollies were happily playing around in childish glee. In the boys’ rooms were a couple of boys busily engaged in fixing a sparker or some electrical contrivance to make a toy run. The laundry work is so heavy that there is no let up any time and the neat clean clothes show that nothing is spared to keep these little folks look=- ing very well indeed. An effort is made to make all the work in every depart- ment as light as possible on Sunday in order that all may have a chance to observe the Sabbath. Volumes could be written about the pathetic life stories of these little ones who through no fault of their own are helpless and dependent. The mothers whose hearts are aching and breaking over their little ones may well cheer up when her child is put in a place where food and clothes are plentiful and a chance to get into something better is good. The keynote of success with children is real love for them, and Mr. and Mrs. Hall deserve many encomiums from grateful mothers and the public in general, for our children are worth saving. For the Boys and Girls—Stories of Words “Alphabet” is made from the first two letters in Greek “Alpha” and “Beta.” ‘“Angel” is a Greek word meaning ‘“messenger.” It now almost means a “messenger from God.” Apos- tle has nearly the same meaning. “Bible” just means “book” or “the book.” We have narrowed it down to mean the one volume, “The Bible.” “Biscuit” means “twice cooked,” be- cause these little cakes were originally baked twice, but up-to-date methods have done away with this. “Boudoir,” a lady’s private room, really means “a place to sulk in,” from the French bouder, to pout, to be sulky. “Camera” means “a room” and is the same as ‘‘chamber.” Its use in photography is quite new. ‘“Candidate” is an interesting word. In elections at Rome the competitors had to present themselves in the Forum dressed in white. The Latin word for “white” was ‘“‘candidus” and those seeking elec- tion were ‘“candidatl.” “Curfew” is taken from two French words, ‘“cou- vrir,” to cover, and “feu,” fire. The old way of spelling it was ‘“covrefeu.” “Diamond” is the same as “ada- mant.” The first “a” of “adamant” was dropped and as time passed by the were more numerous. Unfortunately comic valentines have crept in and caused many a neighborhood quarrel and destroyed the beauty of the original custom. I once saw a collec- tion of valentines of seven generations. Many were so old and worn that but little of the original could be seen, but they were exquisitely beautiful in pen sketches. These dainty little missives told a lovely story to those of long ago. At a later date much of the beauty and simplicity of .the valentines were changed to one ef nearly grotesque proportions and mawkish gentiment. This collection filled two trunks and was very Iinteresting. ELEVEN word underwent some changes. ‘“Ada- mant” means something which can not be broken or tamed and ‘‘diamond” is really the same. “Dynamite” is a Greek word for power. Encyclopedia is ‘“the circle of hu- man knowledge.” or to be exact, “circu- lar instruction.” ‘“Etiquette” is a French word meaning “a label,” such as we put on trunks, etc., when traveling. In time it came to mean all the little courtesies that are the stamp or label of good society. “Gas” is the best known example of a word really made up to express a new discovery. It was invented by a Dutch chemist about 300 years ago and he possibly had in mind the Dutch “gheest,” ‘“spirit,” which is very much like our English word “ghost.” “Good-by” is a group of words which is short for “God be with you,” and much like the French “adieu,” ‘“to God.” “Gossip” is a word that has come down in the world. Originally it was “god- sib,” which meant “related to God,” and first used by a godfather. Grammar is from the Greek “gramma,” meaning a letter which in turn comes from “ghapro,” “I write.” Gymnasium is from the Greek “gynos,” naked, be- cause in the olden days the athletes - stripped before performing. Hiccup is often spelled hiccough, but this is not right. It has nothing to do with “cough,” but is a word formed from the sounds people make when, they have hiccups. Homage is from the Latin homo, “a man.” If we pay homage to a person, we really mean that we are his “man,” or servant. It first meant the service due from a- knight to his lord. “Insect” means “cut into.” By look- ing carefully at any insect, you will see its body seems to be cut into. “Journal” should really be spelled diurnal, coming from the Latin dies, “ a day.” It has now come to mean a paper that comes out “daily.” Jour is the French for “day.”