Laura Ingalls Wilder on Career Women

"It makes our hearts thrill and our heads rise proudly to think that women were found capable and eager to do such important work in the crisis of war-time days (World War I). I think that never again will anyone have the courage to say that women could not run world affairs if necessary. Also, it is true that when men or women have advance, they do not go back. History does not retrace its steps.
But this too is certain. We must advance logically, in order, and all together if the ground gained is to be held. If what has hitherto been women's work in the world is simply left undone by them, there is no one else to take it up. If in their haste to do other, perhaps more showy things, their old and special work is neglected and only half done, there will be something seriously wrong with the world, for the commonplace home work of women is the very foundation upon which everything else rests.
So if we wish to go more into world affairs, to have the time to work at public work, we must arrange our old duties in some way so that it will be possible. We cannot leave things at loose ends, no good housemother can do that; and we have been good housekeepers so long that we have the habit of finishing our work up neatly.

A Blessed Easter

Although it seemed abnormally early (and was), I managed to finish matching dresses for the girls the day before Easter (though I did end up cheating and using t-shirts for the bodices of the last two). Here are a few photos of the fun. They look especially sweet with the gloves we ordered from Vision Forum!

This is a little late for "New Year's", but still very thought-provoking.
It is from the Mother's Magazine, January 1908.
(Images are coming!)
This is the month of the New Year.Far up at Tomsk, in the Northland world, where civilization is scant, and people battle with the elements to exist, the cry will ring out on the natal day:
"God be with you: peace to us all!
"The spirit back of that cry, given as it is at one of the outposts of the world, has been termed by Henry Drummond "the lower ledge."
In every home, in every school, church or field of other work, there exists alower ledge. For that matter, it is on this ledge that the riches, not only of material things, but spiritual ones, are found.
The Kimberley diamond mines are wonderfully rich. Gold flows in marvelous quantities from the fields of South Dakota and the ranges of Alaska and the Andes. The South Seas yield their treasures of pearls, and Indian waters those of coral.
But none of these material things are found on the surface of the earth. The depths must be uncovered to find them. The diver must sink himself in the waters a hundred or more feet, and the miner a thousand or more, to find the sparkling reward for industry. On the lower ledge, far below the ordinary surface of the earth or its waters, the gift for valiant effort is uncovered.
"And," wrote Dummond, "this being true of things that pertain to matter, it is also true of what belongs to the soul. Our keenest, truest feelings are not those on the surface, but those which develop in the depths through patience, suffering, self-denial, love of our fellow-men."
Let us, therefore, on the New Year Day, strike deep to the lower ledge of our our better nature, find there a jewel, and bestow it upon our neighbhor, that for him the natal time may be as full of hope as it is to us. Let us not give him the husk of the surface of ourselves, but the richness from the lower ledge of all our experiences with life and God. So shall we truly serve the one God."
Every new salute in the moving procession of the years, every passing of the old and coming of the New, leaves clearer the evidence that humanity is giving with the changes, greater thought to humanity.
"And the word 'humanity,'" wrote Drummond, "is not complex in its meaning. it is the child at your knee, the neighbor across the way, the servant at the table, the king on his throne, and the peasant at the plow. It is the church around the corner, the school on the hill top, the home whose eaves shade you, the community in which you live. Humanity is yourself and your touch with others."
A one-legged beggar, hobbling through the streets of London on a snowy New Year's night, accidentally stumbled against the great Disraeli, who, missing his cab, had started to make his destination on food. The beggar fell, but even as he did so, he cried out:
"I beg pardon, sir. 'Twas my fault--sure, I didn't mean to bump you.
"The statesman bent over him, helped him up, brushed the snow from his clothes, handed him some change, and, as he passed on, cried out:
"A Happy New Year!--it was not your fault."The beggar hobbled after him, caught up, put out a hand to his greatcoat, detained him, with the plea:
"Not for the change, sir, you gave me, but who'd wish me 'Happy New Year'?"
"A friend," answered Disraeli, and was gone.
In those two words he gave a jewel from the lower ledge to one who needed the kindly touch.When men of all degrees thus meet their fellow-men, and the cheer of the soul-deep word is given, we may well think of the little child, who, even in the joy of the festal day, is still stumbling. It is not quite yet certain of those feet whose true way is still more or less obscure. Some very early faiths are beginning to tremble. Some illusions, rose-colored, are changing to gray or black. The little one is groping, a hand not yet unfriendly seeking one that will be kind and firm.
Shall the child, the unformed citizen, a future worker, perhaps ruler among men, be denied a single one of the riches that lie on the deep, lower ledges of our own broad experiences? There is the playground beckoning it on one side, the school and church on the other, the coming duties to state and God, and at this moment the crisp air, the winter-spangled stars, filled with the carols of a New Year.
There is that, within the depths of our own natures, which may guide this child, month after month, through New Year after New Year, into the full fruition of a life of humane, helpful toil. Taking from the best of ourselves what we have to give, the child may join that to what it gains of its own effort, and so perfecting itself-find every New Year but a swift step forward to that moment when not hours, but the results of honest labor, mark the passing of eternity.
"Let us not," wrote Drummond, in the closing days of his earthly life, "forget what we have on the lower ledge for the child, to the honor and the glory of the kingdom of God."

Pretty Lingerie and natty Clothes Help to Make the Mother, and Not Harm Her

Here is yet another reminder to "put a little pretty in it"!

From Mother's Magazine, 1909

Madame Recamier once said: There may be an excuse for a foolish man, possibly, but for a foolish woman-never! That is why women who fail are never forgiven."

No point in my recent article on lingerie implied extraordinary expense on the part of any mother in making herself attractive; the poorest mother can follow those suggestions, and by the use of a little common sense--a quality innumerable mothers lack--benefit by the advice.

But it seems to be a foregone conclusion with thousands of mothers that if they are not dowdies their maternal characteristics are lost forever.

A philosopher of the past, having made a life study of women, declared his researches led to the conclusion that the knowledge of being well dressed gives a woman contentment. Not only did he say that "dress makes a difference," but that, so far as the majority of womankind is concerned, dress makes all the difference between success and failure--a sense of being properly clothed imparting a repose and confidence that inspires triumph or overcomes defeat.

I believe this. I have sold women pretty clothes and homely clothes too long not to know that the woman who buys pretty lingerie or outer clothing, even if it is inexpensive, has far the better spirits and mind than the woman who clings to "homely" things because they are cheap. They are not cheap, when all considerations are figured out.They cost more in humiliation and self-respect than even then wrong-thinking buyer can imagine.

An eminent nerve specialist has declared lately that "the wearing of becoming clothes is a mental stimulus to men and women alike." According to his theory a good suit of clothes acts as a tonic, and few people can do themselves justice unless they are well dressed. He argues that shabby, ill-fitting clothes are a constant source of worry which frets away one's energies and takes the keen edge off one's wits. In short, if one would scale the heights of victory, it is essential to have the support of good clothes.

There is a great truth of theory upon which tasteful dressing is based.; for what woman, if possessed in the smallest of the instinct of dress, does not recognize the shabby condition of mind and body that is the effect of being badly gowned, carelessly groomed and generally "down at the heel"?

The direct personal influence of dress upon its wearer is answerable for half the fretful discontent and ennui from which thousands of women suffer-a happy, optimistic outlook upon life being incompatible with the dowdy environment of ill-fitting clothes. The woman who delights in dainty things may well fret herself into a fever of discontent if forced to wear unbecoming clothes, but her whole outlook upon life is changed and brightened by the possession of tasteful gowns and dainty accessories. These tend not only to make her infinitely better-pleased with herself and the world, but to endow her with confidence, which inspires vivacity.

The great pity is that the effect of clothes upon one's temperament has not been more generally recognized long ago. Had the matter been more seriously considered, it would have so altered circumstances that instead of being persistently taught, from our youth up, that to be good we necessarily must be shabby and dowdy, we might all have been learning to be amiable, witty, charming, and self-confident.

I have never advocated expensive or extravagant dress. The women who over-dress are as miserable as those who do not know how to dress.

I do insist, however, that one may dress very well for little money, look neat and be attractive without having a bank account, and that the real reason why so many mothers do not do so is because they are grossly ignorant of what constitutes good taste and sane economy in dressing.

-Miss May Meehan

Handy Household Hints from the Early 1900s

Here are some tips that I've gleaned from various magazines; please use common sense, however, when working with volatile substances!

Save all stale bread to be made into puddings, toast, croutons for soups, or crumbs for rolling croquettes in. Take a little stake cake, slice thin, place in a dish and pour over it some stewed fruit, or a sauce made of vinegar and water, sweetened to taste, flavored with a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg, and thickened with one or two tablespoonfuls of corn starch, and one has a simple dessert which children, especially, are fond of.

In dressing small children one can utilize garments too badly worn for older people to wear, by making them into neat, serviceable apparel for the little ones. Make the best material into small garments, piece the good scraps into quilts, which may have lining of the same kind of material, while an old woolen or cotton blanket is used as interlining, and cut the small, worn pieces into bits to use for making rugs or carpets. After cutting over knit underwear to make smaller garments, take the larger scraps , lay flat, lap one edge over the other and stitch together, and you have a piece of goods that will do nicely for lining a comfort. Make the little one's stockings out of worn larger ones, and so on.

Furniture polish: to one part turpentine add three parts linseed-oil, shaking the bottle until thoroughly mixed. Apply with a woolen cloth, and do not use too much, or the last state of your furniture will be worse than the first. Put a little one the cloth and rub in thoroughly, then polish with a dry cloth until the oil is entirely absorbed.

To keep raisins from settling to the bottom of the pan, wash them in hot water before putting them into a cake .

Try turpentine in removing a corn, applying every night by means of a toothpick. The corn will come out easily in a very short time.

Chestnut-leaves, steeeped and applied to a burn, will be found very healing and soothing.

Take a piece of clean cloth, tie a spoonful or two of salt in it, and use as a pad to rub the griddle with when frying griddle-cakes. it saves butter and smoke, and the cakes will not burn if attened to.

Hydrogen peroxide on wicker is a great cleaner.

A piece of woolen cloth fastened around the arm of a sewing machine near the needle-bar is handy to stick pins and needles in, instead of throwing them on the table, and then losing time picking them up.

To prevent curtains from becoming soiled by blowing against the screens when the window is open, attach a safety-pin to the hem of curtain and catch it over a small brass hook, screwed to the side of the window at a convenient height.

Now, can you add any?