The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 4, 1917, Page 13

v/ ‘part of the HAT will the present age be- queath to the next to take the place of knitting—knitting and spinning, and patchwork quilts and bear the brand of ‘women’s work? That was a good old era full of its quiet pleasures and hard work. As we look back upon it today it has the mel- lowness of a warm autumn afternoon that spreads its calm just before the violence of winter. It was tedious work no doubt for the small girls who trained their fingers early, and the mothers and grandmothers who work- ed on for long hours doing the things that the sweat shops and power sewing machines and department stores do for us today. But those who are left today to carry down the tradition in its purity seem to find deep satisfaction in doing those things. Indeed the few of these housekeepers of a bygone age who are yet active, still enjoy the labor that seems so dif- ficult for modern housekeepers. The knitting needles still click away busily like the grandfather clock against the wall, and the thick woolen socks (bet- ter than anything that comes from the department stores) the mufflers, mit- tens, and quilts still come to light oc- casionally to reflect the pride of the women who were home furnishers as well as home makers. Who has not visited at some house- hold where the ball of yarn stabbed through with two long needles is still household equipment? ‘Who does not know some grandmother or great aunt who last week or last month finished a patchwork quilt, a glowing fabric of intricate pattern and gay colors? The spinning wheel has been carried to the attic and soon the quilts and the knitting needles will be put away, and the handiwork of the gray-haired women will be brought forth only as heirlooms in the family, or perhaps at the county fairs where they have been old acquaintances to regular visitors for a generation. MANY CLUES BUT NO ANSWER Out of the multitude of activities and interests that fill full the hours of the women of today, what is there that will be passed down to the children of three score and 10 years hence as typi- cal of the women of the present? To find such a thing one has to scan the whole list of things that women and men can do and maybe go deeper than that. Women still keep house, but they do so much else that it is hardly worth while to look to house- keeping to find the counterpart of what the women did in the old days. Women now have organizations of all kinds—but so have men. Women are taking part in all kinds of industry, so that is hardly a novelty nowadays to hear of a woman mechanic, artisan or Jaborer. Women have gone at the busi- ness of politics with a steadfastness and determination like that of the old knitting and spinning days, and simi- larly they are “attending to their knit- ting” in this new sphere and are doing pretty well at it. One guesser recently (evidently one with a strain of protest in hisbmake- up) 8 sted that women will be run- n?lzg l:fege whole earth by 2007. Maybe they will, and if so what will the gen- eration of 2007 look back upon today, as the peculiar thing that the women of 1917 were doing? To 'a generation Pbossed by women what would seem the feminine peculiarity of today like the knitting and spinning of yesterday? What would the “old-fashioned” indi- widual of 2007 think of as belonging te #the good old days” of 1917? WILL IT BE STITCHING OR FASHIONS? It certainly will not be the needle work of today. There’s nothing in that to mark off this as an epoch different others. n'(fin’m hardly be the fashions of to- day, for from antiquity down to the last annual session of the United Order of Peculiar Dressmakers, there is gcarcely a fashion that the present generation has not favored from rolves to bloomers. But surely this modern age has something that it will be abls to boast What Will the Women of 2007 Prize Most From 19177 of in pensive backward glances of 2007 as that which was most typical of woman and her station in 1917. So here’s another guess: It will be the patience and good humor of the women themselves—patience with the men who stand around in their way blocking the big things the women would do, like big awkward boys who get under foot in the kitchen—good humor with these queer masculine be- ings that they can’t catch the drift of things and get out of the way. By 2007 the term “women’s rights” will have passed out of mind. When readers encounter it they will have to look it up in the encyclopedia to see what it means, as they have to look up Shay’s Rebellion nowadays. The leg- islative lobbyist who wants to make an appeal for his special interest, will have to carry a satchel full of bon-bon This crochet work el;nbodying the national League motto was done by Mrs. E. A. Meyer of 229 Eighth street west, Kalispell, Mont., wife of a League organizer. Two Savory Breads Making Corn Palatable Saves Wheat and Gives Good Food ‘When there is so much corn and not enough wheat, it is worth while to learn to eat cornbread. The success of this venture depends on the kind of cornbread the American woman serves. She may make her dinner cornbread plain or make it with eggs, but if she wants to create a cornbread appetite in her family, she should make it of fresh unbolted meal and make it crisp and golden brown. Here are two favorite dinner breads: HOW TO MAKE CORN PONES 2 cups white meal 2 cups buttermilk 14 teaspoonful soda 1 teaspoonful salt 1 tablespoon melted fat Put the fat In.biscuit tin ‘or iron griddle on top of the stove. 'While it is heating, sift meal and add salt., Stir soda into the buttermilk, mixing thor- oughly. When frothing reaches its height, pour milk into meal and stir to- gether. Add the smoking hot fat. The mixture should be very stiff batter. If too thick, more milk or water may be - Risen Cornbread for Supper The spoon breads are equally good for supper and always make a substan- tial dish with. a meat stew. When company is coming or you want to surprise the family, try risen corn- bread for supper. It is not advisable to attempt it for breakfast because meal ferments so rapidly with yeast that the product is likely to be sour by morning. 3. cake compressed yeast 2 cups sweset milk, scalded and cooled § tadlespoons brown sugar $ tablaspoons lard added. Drop from spoon in small ob- long cakes in the hot pan. Leave the pan on top of the stove until the bread begins to rise, then cook in moderately hot oven. The crust of the cornbread should be thick, crisp, and golden brown. RECIPE FOR CORNMEAL STICKS 234 cups cornmeal 1% cup flour 1 teaspoon soda 1 teaspoon salt s I teaspoon baking powder legg ° . 2 cups buttermilk 1 eup sweet milk Bift the meal, flour and baking powder together, Add salt, stir soda into the buttermilk until thoroughly dissolved, and while milk is frothing vigorously, mix with meal and flour. Add sweet milk, Beat thoroughly and add well beaten egg. Have ready irons well greased and very hot. Pour mix- ture in at once and bake it in a quick oven until crisp brown. 234 cups white cornmeal 1 cup sifted flour 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs well beaten Dissolve yeast and sugar in luke- warm milk and add melted fat. Stir tn the cornmeal, flour, salt and add well beaten eggs. Beat thoroughly. Fill greased bowl two-thirds full. Set to rise in a warm place for about an hour, Be careful that it does not over rizse. It should be baked as soon as NBght. The baking will require from 20 to 30 minutes, according to thick- ness of pone. RPAGE THIRTEEN - bexes as well as cigars. The mdn who gets into trouble will have ‘a chance to present his’'case before a woman judge. ‘When the picketers of 2007 take a no- tion to stand around the White House holding up bright colored banners with sharp words on them, perhaps a woman president (an American ‘queen) within will be busy with state affairs, while the woman patrel marches them around the corner and lets them loose on promises to be good. A BACKWARD GLANCE FROM 2007 The grandmother of 2007 will then point to her girlhood days with pride and longing, as the days when women were carefree and contented and jolly, when they knew nothing of the worries of state, when they had no political debts to pay, when all they had to do was to mop, and shop, and get the meals and spank the children. In place of the placid picture of grandmother knitting, there will be a snapshot of mother helping to stack the bundles—a happy carefree exist- ence. In place of the spinning wheel by the fireplace there will be the cream separator in the corner. Things like these will seem so full of pleasure and calm satisfaction then. But the up-to-date women of three score and 10 years hence will think the most peculiar thing about this gener- ation was the patience and good nature of their grandmothers clamoring for things they wanted and not getting them. There will be no such difficul- ties then. The women will be running things and getting what they want, They will have no more need for pa- tience then than men do now. They can just be natural. How queer it will seem to look back and try to realize the spirit of the present—a good deal like trying to look back now and realize the spirit of the times when people saw witches in their neighbors. Or will the things that modern wo- men want pass away like a fad and leave nothing but a motto and a queer feeling of “Why did they want that anyhow ?"—just as “Fifty-four-forty or Fight” has become a mere byword? ‘We wonder now why our grandfathers wanted part of Canada so bad they though they would fight for it, but they did, and it was quite a tempest in & teapot in its day. Good guessers are scarce, but if any- one who thinks over this question wants to give an answer, and tell what seems most likely to survive the pres- ent as the thing most particularly be- longing to the woman of today, her station, or her work, no doubt others who are trying to guess, would be glad to hear about it. POTATOES SAVE WHEAT Americans, if they would think of the humble potato as a “breadstuff” rather than merely as a ‘“vegetable”, would find that they could spare much bread from their diet without inconvenience. The potato—1Irish or sweet—differg from almost all other common vege- tables in that it supplies important amounts of starch, and starch is the chief food element we get from bread. Green vegetables, with which pota- toes often are classed, supply little or no starch and energy, and are valuable in the diet principally for the mineral substances and acids they supply and for giving bulk to the diet. Potatoes, of course, supply valuable mineral sub- stances useful in the building up, re- pair, and regulation of the body, but they have won their great place in the diet of a large part of the world be- cause they supply starch which other- wise would have to be obtained from cereals. 2 The more potatoes you eat the less bread you need at the same meal. Five parts of potato are equal to one part of cereal in a mixed diet. Therefore, those who make potatoes an important dish safely can cut down the amount of light or hot bread, wheat mushes, or macaroni they eat at that meal, and yet supply their bodies with this im- portant food—star¢h. Wherever pota- toes are locally plentiful or relatively cheap, especially in the case of the early or summer crop which does not store well, housewives are urged to use ' them plentifully at all meals as a sub- stitute for wheat. e e ——————— P