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FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE

What Kept the New Chimney Waiting

By Annie H. Donnell

A new chimney was going to be built on Grandpa's house, and the boys were in a state of high glee. They were always delighted when there was something going on, and this would be "something like," Wayne said.

"Mike's coming to mix the mortar, you know, and carry it up the ladder to the mason. He'll tell us stories nooningsMike's such fun!"

"Yes," echoed Casper, "I guess he is! You spell Mike's kind o' fun with a big F and a big U and a big N! I say, Wayne, let's go get his hod and play we're hodcarriers, with mud for mortar, you know come on!"

"Come on!" shouted Wayne; "it's leaning up against the barn. Mike left it there last Friday when he brought his things over."

On the way to the barn they saw Grandpa harnessing Old Molly to the big blue cart. That meant a beautiful, jolty ride down to the orchard, and the boys forgot all about playing hod-carrier. They climbed in and jolted away.

"Mike's coming to-morrow, you know, Grandpa, and the mason," said Casper, his voice quiver-quavering over the jolts. "Oh, goody!" cried Wayne. But dear old Grandpa shook his white head.

"Not to-morrow, boys; you'll have to wait a bit longer. I sent word to Mr. Keet and Mike last night that they needn't come for a few weeks longer; I'd decided to put the chimney off."

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"I'll show you why we must wait for the new chimney, when we get home, boys," he said, cheerily. "You'll agree with me, I know. It's a case of necessity."

"But I don't see what made you decide to, Grandpa," Wayne said, soberly. Grandpa's eyes twinkled under their shaggy brows.

"A little bird told me to," he said, and that was all they found out until they got home. Then the same little bird told them. Grandpa took them up into the attic, with a great air of mystery. The old chimney had been partly taken away-half-way down to the attic floor. Grandpa t ptoed up to it and lifted them, one at a time, to peer into it.

"Sh!" he whispered softly; "look sharp."

And there, on a little nest of mud, lined with thistledown and straws, that rested lightly on the projecting bricks, sat the little bird! She blinked her bright eyes at the kind faces peering down, as if to

say

"Oh, dear, no; I'm not afraid of you! Isn't this a beautiful nest? so exclusive and safe! There are four little speckly, freckly eggs under me. When I've hatched them and brought up my babies in the way well-educated little chimneyswallows should go, then you can build your chimney, you know."

So that was why Grandpa's new chimney had to wait.

By Foot in Mexico

We are so accustomed to railroads, trucks, horses, and steamboats to fetch and carry for us that we cease even to think how the things we wear or eat or use come to us.

In Mexico, a neighboring country, separated from us only by a river, men and women do the carrying. It is said that in the interior the people would suffer were it not for these human carriers. The men carry, for a mile or two at a time, loads weighing two hundred and fifty pounds; and some of the strongest can carry a load

weighing four hundred pounds for a mile. These men and women are called foot freighters" to distinguish them from mule teams that are also freighters." The "foot-freighters" often have cards outside their houses telling that the family for ten and sometimes more generations have been "cargadores."

Years ago, in the outlying country outside of the cities, houses were built that were regular stations where the foot-freighters met and exchanged loads. The heavy loads were supported on the back of the shoulders by straps over the forehead and around the shoulders.

The mail-carriers in New Mexico are able to travel in a sort of trot forty miles a day, and do not seem to tire.

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A traveler in Mexico standing at the door of his hotel saw a woman with a heavy load of charcoal strapped to her back, a jar of pulque-a Mexican drink on her head, while at her back were tucked comfortably her twin babies. The next was a man with a pile of chairs towering seven feet above his head. In the mountains, where the ore is mined, the foot-freighters have their hardest work, toiling up ladders with the heavy sacks of ore hanging from straps across their foreheads, while they pull themselves by their hands up the ladders. Coffee is carried to the coast from the plantations, the men singing as they trot along the roads. Everywhere the country is dependent on these "foot-freighters," who possibly look upon railroads as their most dreaded

enemy.

South American "Hevea "

In the region of the Amazon River, in South America, are enormous forests of rubber-trees called "hevea," the name given to the tree by a French botanist. The center of this great rubber industry is Para, Brazil. Over twenty-two thousand tons of rubber were shipped from this port last year, and sent over the world.

The collectors who go into these forests to gather the "milk" are provided by their employers each with a knife, an ax, several tin cups, a large gourd, or a big clay bowl. The knife is to cut away the underbrush in the forest to reach the rubber-tree, which resembles an ash somewhat, and flourishes best in the deep shade. The ax is to cut the bark and make gashes from which the sap flows into the tin cups. About seven are hung on each tree. The milk is collected in the gourd, which holds from five to seven hundred cups. The collector goes from tree to tree, sometimes tapping as many as one hundred and fifty in a day.

The nuts of certain palm-trees are supposed to be the best fuel for curing rubber. When these cannot be found, bark and twigs are used. Over the fire is placed a funnel somewhat like a water-jug, without bottom or handle; through this the smoke rises.

The collector has a broad-bladed paddle, which is made of wood. This he dips into the milk and holds it over the smoke. When this coat is cured, the paddle is dipped again into the milk to take on another coating. Over and over again this is done, until the cured rubber is of the required thickness on the paddle. To remove it, a cut is made through to the paddle and the rubber removed ready for packing. This is the method which makes the best rubber.

The name "rubber" was given to "hevea," or "caoutchouc," an Indian name for the tree, by an English artist who discovered that a gum imported from South America removed pencil-marks readily.

A Tragic Tale of Tea By Carolyn Wells The Beetle was blind, and the Bat was blinder,

And they went to take tea with the Scissors-grinder.

The Scissors-grinder had gone away
Across the river to spend the day,

But he'd tied his bell to the grapevine swing.

The Bat and the Beetle heard it ring,
And neither the Beetle nor Bat could see
Why no one offered them any tea.
So, polite and patient, they are waiting yet
For the cup of tea they expect to get.
-St. Nicholas.

The Home Club

Cooking in the Public Schools

The Department of Agriculture, in collecting and disseminating information on the use and preparation of foods, is doing the country and the cause of education great service. The Department has just issued Bulletin No. 56, devoted to the history and methods prevailing in the public schools of New York, by Louise E. Hogan. This bulletin contains an introduction by Professor A. C. True, who states that the object of the bulletin is to supply information to the rural schools. The term "cooking-school" implies learning how to put certain quantities of materials together to produce certain results. A glance at the plan of work presented for those schools reveals that the first step is to teach the student the nature of the material she is using. The subjects under the schedule of work include chemistry, botany, physics, biology, physiology, and hygiene. In addition to the tools associated with the idea of cooking are found the microscope, the testing-tube, and the thermometer. Chemical experiments are made with raw materials to extract the food product. The general culture inseparable from the method of conducting the work in New York will be a surprise to those who know the cookingschool of former years. The following is the list of books recommended for use in connection with the course in cookery:

Foods, by Edward Smith.

Chemistry of Cookery, by W. Matthieu Williams.

History of a Mouthful of Bread, by J. Macé, translated by Mrs. A. Gatty.

Remsen's Chemistry.

Laboratory Manual of General Chemistry, by Williams.

Vegetable World and Animal World, by Figuier.

Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany, by Campbell. (Boston, 1890.)

Principles of Hygiene, E. M. Hunt.
Spirit of Cookery (Thudichum).
Century Cook Book (Mary Ronald).
European and American Cuisine (Lemcke).
The Murray Collection of Cook Books.
Francatelli's Modern Cook Book.
Marion Harland's Books.

The Supervisor of Cookery, in answer to a question, replies that she believes that this work will bring about great changes

in the home life of the people. The lessons in economy in the use of materials will work a change that will mark the difference between comfort and poverty.

A Service Book

Various attempts have been made in this country to secure references for servants that have a real value. To-day, references, the greater portion of them, are merely indicative of the kindly disposition of the last mistress; too often a still stronger evidence of her lack of moral courage. Recently the German Housewives' Association of New York appealed to the Municipal Council to appoint a committee to look into the subject of domestic service, with a view to secure better conditions for maids and mistresses. The Municipal Assembly of New York lightens its arduous labors by jokes that do not always maintain its dignity. This resolution was by many classified under this head. Why? If some general law or usage could regulate the business side of domestic service, it would be a great gain in peace and happiness. For instance, in Germany every servant is compelled to own a "Service Book." This book must be made according to a certain legal description. The first page has the owner's name, birthplace, date of birth, and description of the owner. The lefthand pages must have five divisions. These record the number of situations, the kind of service, names of employers, their occupations and residence, the date of arrival and departure from each situation. The right-hand page records the certificate of the employer, and the reason for leaving the situation. This book must be shown to the police before the owner can enter into a new situation. Should the owner refuse to show the book to a wouldbe employer, there is a heavy penalty attached. Should the employer refuse to give a certificate of character to a servant about to leave his service, there is a peralty for such refusal.

While it is very doubtful whether there can ever be municipal regulation of domestic service in this country, the above plan is feasible where mistresses combine

to support an intelligence office or employment bureau for any kind of service. A duplicate record could be kept that would make exchange or substitution of extremely doubtful value. Such books would also be of value in recommending servants to service in certain families. Alas, it is true that servants are sometimes as sadly betrayed as mistresses. What is needed is some sort of standard for work and wages that will be moderately uniform. The Dienstbuch" or "Service Book" may be a step toward this end.

Would it not be possible for the municipal authorities to enact an ordinance that will at least offer the protection of the German law which makes the employer who recommends an incapable servant liable for any damage that servant may do?

Perhaps when in this country we establish as part of the public-school system a Domestic Science or Home Science High School, we may be able, because of a better understanding of the whole subject from the practical and economic standpoint, to pass municipal ordinances that will at least license the right kind of employment bureaus.

An Advance Step

It is interesting to note that, in an age when women are engaging in active public life, accepting public positions, and entering all professions, the questions affecting the home life are more prominent than ever before in the world's history. It is no longer accepted as a fact that being born a woman means being born a housekeeper. That woman, like the poet, has the elements within her which, if properly trained, will result in producing the perfectly managed home, is the close-ofthe-century thought. The responsibility of poor housekeeping is no longer thrown on the servants. Its difficulties may be increased, as its cost may be increased, by their faults, but the housekeeper now looks to herself for the remedies, is ashamed if the faults lie beyond her cure. All over the country there are springing up schools and classes for the training of housekeepers, many of them being estab

lished for the benefit of young girls who have just left school and college.

The first graduates of one of these schools in Worcester, Mass., have received their certificates. This proves that the holders have studied the chemical and nutritive qualities of foods, marketing, the chemistry of cleaning and cooking, laundry-work, and sanitation and hygiene. The Household Economic Association of New York will give especial attention to housekeepers' classes next year. The school in Syracuse, N. Y., is so well established as to be accepted as a standard.

The Philadelphia Housekeepers' Alliance is to establish at once a school for the training of domestic servants. The Woman's Educational and Industrial Union of Boston is to still further advance in its special lines of training mistresses and servants. The attempt to establish a State school for the training of girls in domestic service in New York has brought out the question as to whether a Domestic Science High School for Girls is not as legitimate as a commercial high school for boys. Why should not a girl have a choice as to what direction her education should take after she leaves the elementary schools? A committee of the Brooklyn Borough Board of Education have presented a resolution to that body urging the establishing of such a school. This is a step far in advance. It is urged that such a school will attract many girls who now leave school at fourteen; they would remain two and three years longer if the education they were acquiring had the promise in it of a direct financial return. Those who oppose it do so on the ground that it would be class education. Why so, any more than a commercial education provided by the authorities for the direct purpose of fitting boys for a special line of wage-earning?

Such opportunities of education for girls will yet be provided by the authorities. The kind of work such a school will exact will prove that the making and keeping of a home demands intellectual effort, and that for those who hire and those who sell labor, this kind of education will enrich the State, physically, financially, morally.

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N your experience with White Lead

have you ever been troubled with cracked, pulled or alligatored surfaces, or have you ever heard of such trouble in the use of White Lead?

Never; and these conditions were never known until the introduction of zinc white, "combination lead," and ready-mixed paints, the two last composed largely of zinc, barytes, whiting, etc., very little lead, if any.

-Mr. E. P. Edwards, in "Painters' Magazine.” Mr. Edwards is the senior member of the firm of Messrs. Edwards & King, Painters and Decorators, Elizabeth, N. J. By using National Lead Co.'s Pure White Lead Tinting Colors, any desired shade is readily obtained. Pamphlet giving valuable information and card showing samples of colors free; also folder showing picture of house painted in different designs or various styles or combinations of colors forwarded upon application to those intending to paint.

FREE

National Lead Co., 100 William St., New York.

The
Plymouth
Hymnal

The Editors have hoped to compile a hymnal that is
hitherto unequaled, and it is not to be denied that they
have succeeded, and that nobly.-THE INTERIOR.

The Plymouth
Hymnal

EDITED BY LYMAN ABBOTT

With the Co-operation of Herbert Vaughan Abbott and Chas. H. Morse

is eminently adapted for use in

Churches, Colleges, Schools, Social Meetings, and the Home

Rev. Theodore P. Prudden. West Newton, Mass.: "Both hymns and music get hold of people. The congregational singing has improved: While there is an abundance of old hymns and tunes, we find the new hymns are a most admirable expression of devout feeling, and the new music is attractive, easily earned. sung with enthusiasm, and united in by many who did not join in the old tunes."

Rev. B. S. Rideout, Norway, Me: "We have only words of the highest praise for it. It is a splendidly gotten up book in every way. The longer we use it the better we like it."

Professor George C. Gow, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.: "The Plymouth Hymnal was our choice out of several admirable books. Every tune is singable. It gives me pleasure to recommend the Plymouth Hymnal for college

use.

Professor Edward S. Parsons, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colo.: “... The use of its noble hymns and tunes will bring a new influence into our College worship, and so into the lives of our students in the present and the future. Such a book cannot be outgrown. We shall rather hope to grow up to it.""

Write to us for specimen pages. If you are a pastor, teacher, or choirmaster, we shall be glad to send a FREE (returnable) copy to you for examination.

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