The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 18, 1917, Page 10

Dear Margaret: I was very glad when Mrs. Wise spoke out in the Leader a few weeks ago about the stuff that the women are expected to read nowadays, and said, “The women don't read it.” I should hope not. I had occasion to look through about 30 farm papers last week, and the woman's page was uni- formly the weakest part of the whole paper. 3 Recipes and dress patterns! And more recipes and dress patterns! Not a word to indicate that women had any.. interests except the lonesome individ- ual interests of cooking food, coloring old clothes, and making new clothes! Not a word to Indicate that they had any work or pleasure. except the work or pleasure of the solitary kitchen or sewing. TRey all take for granted that women have no instincts for organiza- tion, “A woman’s place is in her home.” Oh, yes. And a hotel proprietors’ place is in his hotel; a banker’s place is in his bank; a printer's place is in his shop; a dentist’s place is in his office behind his chair; a merchant’s place is in his store.” OTHERS CO-OPERATE WHY NOT WOMEN? But last winter I noticed that the hotel proprietors left their hotels and descended in a bunch upon the legis- lature to beg for the passage of a law making it a crime for a hotel guest to overdraw his banking account.. The bankers left their banks to hang around the lobbies seeking votes against the “Morris Plan” banks. The printers Jeft their shops while they came to ask for an eight-hour day; the dentists left aching teeth’ while they worked for a their joint welfare. naturally asks the question, Are kitchen interests women’s only interests? Should women be discriminated against in their efforts to do something more than household chores? This second letter to a farm woman from her sister in the city is short but full of something to think about. She sees men of all kinds leaving their business to co-operate for She sees the farmers organized in the Non- partisan league to take their noses off the grindstone, and she ‘“Why shouldn’t women have a chance to take their noses off the grindstone too%’’ seems to have some ideas. There will be more of her letters. ‘“Alice”’ better licensing system; the merchants left their stores to attend the hearings on the trading stamp bills. Each one left his individual place of business to get along by itself for a day or two while he pulled with all the others in the same business elsewhere for something that would benefit them all. Q The men are learning the secret of doing their work efficiently. They are learning to organize. Even the farmers are finding out that there are a lot more things to do about farming than simply keeping their noses on the grindstone. They are tired of simply plowing up ground to put in seed to grow crops to be cut and hauled off with a *“good-by, forevermore.” They have decided to spend a little less time digging and a little more time planning with their neighbors as to the best and cheapest way to get that crop to the real consumer. FARMER HAS “ARRIVED” HOW ABOUT HIS WIFE? The farmer has “arrived”. He had his own representatives at the legisla- ture in North Dakota last year, and if Yams for E very— Table Last spring the sweet potatc grow- ers nailed the flag to the plow and de- termined to offer the country their answer to the food problem—something cheap, filling and fattening. For every six hills planted before, the farmers added an extra hill for the folks who had never learned to eat a sugary yam, and then cultivated with stch care that the yield is nearly 30 per cent above the b-year average. The South is now saying, “Here are 82,200,000 bushels, how many yams are you good for?” But some sections of the country are not getting their share. During August and September about - half the shipment went to the Atlantic seaboard, about one-fourth to the lake region, and only a small per cent west of the Mississippi. Here is a chance to do not only “your bit” but your level best by the sweet potato grower, and to start a movement for a wider distribution of this bumper crop. Exhibit windows, the cooking and serving of sweet pota- toes at demonstration centers, and restaurant and hotel co-operation will put the yam on the bill-of-fare, and take care of this great crop of near- perishables. Here are a few simple suggestions for using sweet potatoes: Sliced sweet potatoes with meat. Boil potatoes, peel, and slice. Place these around the roast fifteen minutes before removing the meat from the roaster. Baste the potatoes with the gravy sev- eral times. Place roast on platter and surround with potatoes and-gravy, Sweet potato trifles, Take four boil- ed sweet potatoes, one cup of milk, one teaspoon sugar, one-half teaspoon cin- namon, juice of one lemon. Boil the potatoes and press through a ricer or colander. Mix thoroughly with other ingredients. Form the mixture in diamond shapes on a baking sheet and brown under the blazer or in a hot- oven. Serve with chicken or turkey. Crustless Pies Lighten your labor by omitting the crust from the pie. Every woman run- ning a farm kitchen has more work than she can do at this season of the year. Serve the fruit, fresh or stewed, and save the time spent on pastry, also the flour.and shortening necessary to make it. If the American pie is sacri- ficed to the American spirit, American health will be improved. It is a very simple matter to- omit pastry in preparing for custard pies and convert the filling into a pudding. Custard, potato, or pumpkin filling will make just as good a dessert if prepared in the usual way, baked in a baking dish without crust, and served with Just a suggestion of tart preserves or Jelly. Sometimes when you feel that you Just must have pie, try this plan. Cook your fruit for filling and season as usual. Place in pile plate without bot- tom crust, Cover the top with thin slices of bread, sprinkled with brown gugar, and set in a hot stove to toast and candy over, Serve hot. This is really a delightful dessert and liked by grown-ups as well as children, Omitting pie crust is one of the ways the food administration suggests for getting at that 25 per cent reduction in the consumption of wheat flour. U. 8. rova Admin- istration Shield of Service, PLEDGE CARD FOR UNITED STATES FOOD ADMINISTRATION % To the Food Administrator: I am glad to join you in the service of food conservation for our nation and I hereby accept membership in the United States Food Administration, pledging my- self to carry out the directions and advice of the Food Administrator in my home, insofar as my circumstances permit. the signs are not misleading, he is go- ing to have them in the legislatures of a lot of other states next year. How about his wife? Why, she is just wak- ing up to the fact that she HAS any interests which need looking after. For a long time she has been disdainful as the men have been, towards the type of woman who frequents our legislative halls. “Oh they are fashionable women with nothing better to do. They had better be at home darning their hus- band’s socks”, is the general comment. Until the Nonpartisan league ap- peared; the farmers acted much like the working women—they left politics to the leisure classes. More than half the people of the state of Wisconsin, for example, are farmers, and yet there was just one lone farmer in the senate in 1917, to uphold the interests and dig- nity of the farmers against all the bankers and lawyers and real estate men and merchants, ‘Well, the farmers have taken the bit in their teeth and decided to get to- gether. - How long, 1 wonder, will it take their wives to do the same? Hav- ing worked off some more of my feel- ings, I feel better. Good night. ALICE. ~ Now That the Farmer “Has Arrived” Must His Wife Always Stay in the Kitchen? in her = “war is approved by the Here is a city woman costume,” that Food Administration—but most farm women will have to continue wearing their regular calicoes. Women Good Workers Official reports of the work of women in England that have just reached the United States show how much a mat- ter of course these war time activities of women have become, One report . tells of the establishment of rest rooms for women who work in the fields in various part of England. The rooms are being supplied with newspapers, magazines and writing material, and are places where women can bring their food and obtain a cup of tea at <cost. Stockings, shoes and skirts are kept in stock, so that women workers drenched by the rain in the Canadian No recipe has been more popular than the one for Canadian war cake. Many people like this plain cake better than the cakes that call for butter, eggs and milk, : 2 cups.of brown sugar 2 cups of hot water 4 tablespoons of lard 1 teaspoon of salt 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamen 1 teaspoonful of ground cloves U..S. Food Admin- istration Shield of . Service. Na.me. Street AU e e lsiola hatatoratoinlalores's e aTaraihrie L o L o State..........,..................... ; There are no fees or dues to be paid. Setccecrecsatcenrosnieneresceoseevisecotaetaccenveetisesesenaseneseesnssass The Food Administration wishes to have &3S members all of those actually handling food in the home. Anyone may have the Home Card of Instruction, but only those signing pledges are entitled to Membership Window Card, which will be delivered upon receipt of the signed pledge. © as your pledge. You can fill this out, cllp it and sent It to the Food Adminlstration at WasMnéton PAGE TEN fields, can dry their ‘clothes in com- fort. One report says that ‘most of the women workers are giving satisfaction. “It would be absurd to pretend that every woman who has volunteered to take up the work on ' the farm has proved satisfactory,” reads the offi- cial statement, “but most of them are giving satisfaction even though they may not be quite as efficlent as the men whose places they are doing their best to fill.” It is reported that the women who are working as hay balers are especi- ally efficient. War-Cake 1 cup of raising Boil all these ingredients for five mirrutes after they begin bubbling. ‘When cold add three cups of flour, and two teaspoons of soda dissolved in one teaspoon of hot water. Bake in two Joaves in slow oven an hour and a quarter. AL TULIPS Tulips are one of the earliest flowers in the spring. The tulip. bulbs are planted in the fall, after light freezes have checked vegetation. Plant two or three inches deep in well drained soil, and when the surface soil begins to freeze, cover with a mulch of straw or manure, which should be removed in the spring as soon as freezing weather is‘over. Tulips are hardy in North Dakota and make a very pretty flower for early spring. : : S S e CAN SPRING CHICKEN _ A good way to have spring, chicken at any time of the year is to can. them, After cleaning and preparing spring frys, season and fry as though prepar- . Ang for serving directly on the table, Fry until the meat is 'about three- fourths done, then pack at once into hot jars, pour liquid from the griddle over the chicken, partially “seal, then place jars on a rack in a vessel with enough water to cover jar one inch and boil for 114 hours, then seal the cans tight. Be sure to use good new rub- bers. A good rubber should regain its shape after being stretched and should stand bending without breaking.—Agr, Ex. Dept, N. D. Agr. College. e e 4