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< « S - > > >. p- me "enough they leave us. | About the House -- § THE SECRET OF TRUE MOTHER- LOVE. "My dear," said one woman to an- other, "I hear your son is going to be married. Your poor heart must be broken." The mother laughed. "I am not an object of pity," she said; "I am a sub- ject for congratulation." "What!" cried the first woman. "Do you mean to tell me that you are will- ing to give up your only child to an- other woman?" "Willing and glad," replied the mother, "for I want my son to be happy." "Children are ungrateful creatures," said the first woman, bitterly. "We; spend our lives toiling and sacrificing] for them, and as soon as they are big} I remember when your husband died, we wondered how you would get along. Well, you did, by working your fingers to the bone. . "You went without everything your- self, but your boy was always fed and clothed, and by hook or crook you put him through school. Now he forsakes you for a pretty girl. I say his duty Is to you. He has no right to marry as long as you live." "Nonsense," replied the mother. "I did my duty to my child, but am I a female Shylock to exact a pound of flesh in payment for having taken care of him while he was young and helpless? 1 "I know there are mothers who think that their children belong to them body and soul, and that they have a perfect right to exact any sac- rifice of them. I have known talented women who have been balked in their ambitions by tyrannical and exacting mothers, and I have seen pretty girls grow into faded old maids nursing neurotic mothers who would not em- ploy an attendant. "And I've known more than one whining old woman who kept a bach- elor son dancing attendance upon her, and who told you how it would have killed her for her son to marry; how she made him promise he would never leave her; how she broke off a love affair that he had in his youth, and how she knew he was so much hap- ST a BIST] rife, 'heed Ie Would havedheen nave been as particular about cooking him the things he wanted as she was. "Personally, I feel that I could do no more wicked thing than keep my son from, marrying. He is, to begin with, a born family man, the sort of man who could never be happy living in clubs, playing cards, and listening to men's gossip for a lifetime. He must have his own home, his own wife and children, and I would be worse than a fiend if I kept him from the sweetness of a wife's love and com- panionship, and the joy of feeling his baby's arms about his neck. "My son loves me. We are unusual- ly companionable. I am an old and experienced housekeeper. Doubtless I make him far more comfortable than his young wife will. But I am net foolish enough to think that my home is really home for him, or that a mother's love takes the place of a wife's love. "And so, while he is young and cap- able of loving and inspiring love, I de- gire to see him marry. Nothing brings out all that is best and strongest in a man as does having a wife and chil- dren dependent on him. Nothing spurs on a man's ambition so much as desir- ing to get the best for those he loves. I want my son to marry because I love my sex, and I want to present to some irl the best gift on earth--a good husband." WINTER BOUQUETS. Even though Mrs. Farmer neglected to plant her everlastings, or straw flowers, last spring, she need not have to go without her winter bouquet if she is willing to go to a little trouble. Whereas the city sister must go out and buy hers, the country woman may find material to make as attractive ones in the woods and hedgerows. One of the prettiest I ever saw was made of the common milkweed. After the pod has shed its seed, or is about to do so, the plant should be cut, tak- ing most of the stalk, which afterward may be discarded if found too long.: The plants should then be hung, heads downward, in a cool dark place to dry. When "the last rose of summer is faded and gone" bring them out to; the light, and with water colors paint the inside of the open pod. A delicate rose-pink blends beautifully with the soft gray of the pod, but other colors may be used to carry out any particu- lar color scheme. Combined with evergreen or, if that is not to be had, with artificial green, they make a bouquet fit to grace any part of the make the bouquet, may be dipped in a solution of good dye to make it any desired shade. Dry again and combine with green. The blossoms are small, borne in clusters, and if dyed blue re- semble the fringed gentian or wild 'aster of summer time. The cat-tail, which grows profusely in marshy places, is another good one. It must be cut before fully ripe to in- sure against its shedding, and d-ied according to the rule for the others. A coat of clear varnish or shellac is further guarantee against shedding and detracts nothing from its attrac- tiveness. Do not neglect to gather an armful of pussy willows or catkins next spring. Dried before they become too ripe, they will keep several seasons, if a mew supply is not to be had. A NEAT AND SERVICEABLE APRON. tie #0 01500 a9 LR NO «a |B © Bg rE Co} Q al < ol B{ *3 elo |9 of ,°l.® f (~ ok. 1s "R8re depreale ih facingaef Wnsh cretonne would be attractive, as would also crepe with trimming of a con- trasting color or with rick rack for a finish. - The Pattern is cut in 4 Sizes: Small, 34-36; Medium, 38-40; Large, 42-44; Extra Large, 46-48 inches bust meas- ure. A Medium size requires 41% yards of 36-inch material. Pattern mailed to any address on receipt of 15¢ in silver or stamps, hy the Wilson Publishing Co., 73 West Adelaide. St., Toronto. Allow two weeks for receipt of patterns. "THERE IS NO WORSE TEA." When Mary Antin was a_ little girl in Russia she was sent by her mother who kept a shop to deliver a package of tea to a customer. It was her first important errand--so we learn from her autobiography, which the Atlantic Monthly prints--and, like most chil- dren in such circumstances, she was filled with a sense of her dignity and importance. As it proved she was more dignified than diplomatic. It was, she writes, a good-sized ex- pedition for me to make alone, and I was not a littlé pleased with myself when I delivered my package of tea safe and intact into the hands of my customer. oh 3 But the oie, oll was not pleased at all. She sniffed and sniffed; she pinched the tea; she shook it all out on a table. "Na, take it back," she said in disgust "this is not the tea I always buy. It's a poorer quality." I knew that the woman was mis- taken. So I spoke up manfully. "Oh, no," I said; * this is the tea my mother always sends you. - There is no worse tea." Nothing in my life ever hurt me more than the woman's answer to my argument. She laughed; she simply laughed. But even before she had con- trolled herself sufficiently to talk I understood that I had spoken like a fool and hadSost for my mother a customer. HOLDERS FOR BIRTHDAY CANDLES. I am anxious to tell the readers of my recent discovery. , Perhaps some of you have made a similar one. Last Thursday was my little son, Jerry's, seventh birthday. To hold the family custom, he must have a birthday cake with candles. 'When I came to make the cake I found I had the candles but 'no candle holders. As the candles had to be lighted, the wax would run down and mingle with the frosting, and this would not do at all. Having some marshmallows in the house, I used these for holders, and they answered the purpose very well. With cake coloring I marked the face on each marshmallow, placing the candle ini" the mouth, much to the amusement of my little son.--Mus. F. W. ERIS UR Poets at Their Worst. It is said that even Homer descend- ed occasionally to plain prose in the middle of great poetry, and there is not a poet who has not followed his example. Tennyson came a cropper when he began a poem with the im- mortal line:-- "I stood on a tower in the wet." Wordsworth, although one of the greatest of English poets, wrote a lot of prosy stujt. He was responsible for many linesglike the following: "The Re follow with his hat in hand." BL Tog liy the prize for a bad line ter Scott, jlho wrote: "When. Mfrough voice cried, 'Shoot not, hoy! Ho, shoot not, Edward, 'tis a boy!" Thomas Campbell, who wrote such fine things as "Ye Mariners of Eng- land" and "The Battle of the Baltic," perpetrated an awful line on one oc- casion. Here is the full verse. The first two lines will pass: "One moment may with bliss repay Unnumbered years of pain; Such was the throb and the mutual sob Of the knight embracing Jane." This is almost as bad as James Thompson's historic line: "O Sophon- isba! Sophonisba, O!" or Browning's dreadful line: "Irks care the cropful bird." Building Up. : At the time of the armistice 100,000 Belgian houses had been destroyed or rendered uninhabitable. Of these, 71,- 383 have now been rebuilt and re- stored and made serviceable. --AND THE WORST IS YE T TO COME 3 CouNFY CAVRBooSE Jit] Fi, ALL YAGRANTS MUST BATHE AND BE THOR- QuGHLY DISIN- FECTED UPON 1 INCARCERATION IN THIS JAI. A ORDER. OF fi - ed CounTy = Rn i mee am TYE TY APO xi Sr ih Make the . Rinso liquid first Do not put Rinso direct from the package into the tub. Mix half a package of _ Rinso in a little cool water until it is like cseam. hen add two quarts of boiling water, and when the froth sub- sides, you will have aclean amber-coloured liquid. Add this liquid to the wash tub, until you get the big lasting Rinso suds. Then soak the clothes clean. « Rinso is as splendid for the regular family washing as is or Pr Fathi. Lever Brothers Limited Toronto Mineral That Works Miracles One of the results of the new cam- paign against cancer will be that we shall learn much more of the nature and possibilities of radium, the mys- terious mineral discovered twenty-five years ago by M. and Mme. Curie. Comparatively few people have seen radium, and possibly fewer still would recognize it-at sight. Radium is usual- ly kept in a special kind of glass tube, in which are fixed a tiny screen, a PET oo UL vevary domme ae al bal ing glass. The radium rests on the talc, and looks like a tiny yellow smear no bigger than an ordinary full- stop. A speck of radium this size may be worth anything up to $75,000. Seen in the dark a speck of radium glows flercely enough to be visible yards away, and it glows for years at the same intensity. Radium has been tested in liquid air, far below freezing point, and in super-heated furnaces, without in any way being .affected by these extremes of temperature. An- other littleknown fact is that it throws off enough heat to bring its own weight of water to boiling-point' every hour for two or three thousand years! One of the strangest chapters in the history of the miracle mineral, as rad- ium has been called, is the story of how it came to play its great part in the treatment of disease. The action of the mineral on the human tissues was quite unknown and unsuspected until one day Professor Becquerel, a famous French scientist, incautiously put a tube of radium in hig waistcoat pocket. _ Fourteen days afterwards he noticed on his skin a sort of rash, which quick- ly developed into inflammation of the affected part. Experiments were car- ried out, with the result that radium rays, of which there are several varie. ties, opened up a new. era in medical; practice. Many striking cures have been ef- fected. TUlcerous growths disappear before the rays, while such diseases as gout, rheumatism, neurasthenia, and affections of the joints are dis- persed with equal certainty. Radium rays transform weak body cells into strong, vigorous ones, which not only HE tha whole cong stitution to res > One question that is exercising the minds of scientists just now is wheth- er there will be a radium famine, Some of the most promising de- posits of radium-bearing ores hava lately given out, leading to a search, so far not very encouraging, in other parts of the world. Canada and South America, as well as Russia, Portugal, and Cuba, have been scoured for sup- plies, with a success far short of ex- pectations. Up to the time of M. and Mme. Curie's discovery, pitch-blende, the jet . black mineral in which radium i$ found, was regarded as being almost valueless. One mining company in the United Kingdom actually paid large sums to have the residue of its pitch-blend supplies, from which an- other mineral has bven extracted, carted away to the destructor. It was estimated that the firm in question lost nearly $100,000 in radium. In conversation with the writer, Sir William Bragg, of London University, stated that there are reasons for be- lieving that large deposits of radium- bearing ore exist deep in the earth in hitherto unexplored parts of the world, and that these supplies may soon be tapped. At present the price of rad- ium is roughly $1,000,000 an ounce. The World's Book-Shop. Have you ever wondered how many books there are in existence? On the average, two hundred thousand vol- umes are published each year through- out the world, and, as eight and a heif million books appeared last cen- tury, one can obtain a fairly good idea of the size of the world's book-shop. Adding together the number of vol- umes published in each century since printing was invented, the astonishing total of sixty millions is reached. The amount of energy, ¢ime, paper, and printer's ink which have gone to pro- duce all these books is incalculable. A great many of these publications are each worth more than five thous- | and pounds, and the total value of the! world' s book stocks must run into | many millions. Stacked together, they ! would form a fair-sized mountain, the | ascent of which would take several hours. . | | The three larges' libraries in the! world are the British Museum Libr- | ary, which has four million volumes; | the Bibliotheque Nationale, at Paris, | which has three millions; and the Lib-' rary of Congress, Washington, just half a million less. Thus, between | them alone, these three great institu-| with | dollars A iii : ili "Do you keep a scrapbook?" "No, my husband and I try to get along without fighting." 2, te Progress in Alaska. In twenty years the Alaskan Eski- mos have made great strides in the ways of civilization. They have churches and schoclg, many of them read and write, and owing to the rein- deer herds that the United States gov- ernment started for them most of them are prosperous. Deer meat in the north sells at the rate of seven for one hundred and sixty pounds, which is the weight of the br- inary carcass. The natives now ow tions pessess nine and a half million at least two thousand reindeer, wk books of all kinds. 5 | are under government super