LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, Cliap, --..lircopyright Ko. Shelf. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. c o "5) c vi 2 (U > n: 6 o o OC I c Q B o X o . ♦ . ^be IRew Century . . . Ibome 3Book a /iRentor for Ibome Xife in Bll Hts ipbase^; a Cbronicle ot tbe {progress ot Bmerlca anD tbe THaorlD ; a CompenDtum of tbe IRation's Greatest Cft^; anD a ©uiDe for tbe (3reat Brm^ of 1bome*3i3uilDer6 IWew l^or??: Baton «J^ /iRalns J900 Library of Confrrese Two Copies RcrEivFo FEB 16 1901 Copynghl .nlrjr SECOND COPY .% X V ^ i\ 'V Copyright by EATON & MAINS, 1900. preface T N the preparation of this book the one thought ever kept uppermost has been the desire to be helpful. The knowledge that the volume is to go into many thousands of the best Ameri- can homes has carried with it a feeling of re- sponsibility that has not lightened the labor, but has strengthened the purpose by its assurance of a greater opportunity to be of service. No effort at ornamental writing has been made. The temptation to stray from the linos, of a plain, practical setting forth of facts and ideas has been steadily resisted as inconsistent with the object of the work. If the pages of this book shall carry help and encouragement to any of the great army of home-builders for whom it is written, the anx- ious care and toil expended upon it will have had their ample reward. Unbey Page Happiness in the Home 11 Be Cheerful 12 Be Considerate 14 Be Courteous 15 Be Patient 16 Be Helpful 18 Be Truthful 19 Be Neat 20 Be Clean in Language. 20 Be Contented 21 Be Generous 22 Be Polite 23 Be Economical 24 Be Temperate 27 Study in the Home 31 Books in the Home — 34 Collecting a Library. . . 35 What and How to Read 36 Reading for Children. . 41 Enemies of Books 43 Newspapers 44 Conversation in the Home 46 " Talking Shop " at Home 47 How to Talk Well 48 Exercise in the Home 49 Early MorningExercise 49 Outdoor Exercise 50 GymnasiumsintheHome 52 Homemade Apparatus 53 Exercise for Girls 53 To Live a Century 55 Fresh Air in the Home 57 Breathing Properly 57 Airing the House 58 Let in Sunlight 58 Page Rest in the Home 60 Children in the Home 62 Let Them be Children. 63 Play in the Open Air. . 64 Helping in Household Duties 64 FaultsandPunishments 66 Rudenessof Speech and Manner 67 The Nursery in the Home 69 How to Furnish it . . . 70 Ventilation and Air ... 72 To Insure Refreshing Sleep 73 Nursery Medicine Chest 74 Amusements for the Little Ones 76 Simple Pleasures Best. 76 Playing and Learning.. 77 Suggestions for Amuse- ments. 78 Furnishing the Home. 80 Woman's Mission. . . , . 80 Art in the Home 81 What Furniture to Buy 82 Pictures and Bric-a-brac 85 Substitutes for Closets 86 Mechanics IN THE Home 87 Use of Ordinary Tools. 88 Homemade Furnish- ings 89 Furniture from Boxes and Barrels 92 Wood Carving for Boys 94 Building A Home 95 Start Right 95 5 Index rage Landscape and Envi- ronment 0() Standing by Plans 97 Danger in Novelties. . . i>8 Buikl to Last iH) Keeping in Repair 100 Interior Finish 101 In the Cellar 102 Bath and Toilet Rooms 103 "Hospital Room".... 105 Bedrooms 106 Plnmbing 107 Water Supply 108 Bi ii^i^iNG AND Loan As- sociations 110 Their Purpose and Ex- tent Ill Cooperation Their Foundation Principle 112 Method of Organization li:^ Paying for a House — 115 Dangers and Safe- guards 117 Dkess in tue Home 119 Selecting a "Wardrobe . 119 Dressing Becomingly.. 120 How to>ack Clothing. 122 PreparingfortheDress- maker 124 Sewing in the Home.. 125 An Art to be Cultivated 126 Requisites for Home Sewing 127 Stitches Illustrated 128 Buttonholes and But- tons 135 CROCnETlNGINTHBlIOME 139 How to Make Various Stitches 139 To Make a Circular Shawl 143 Knitting in tue Home 145 "Casting On" the Yarn 145 How to Knit 146 WashingKnittedGoods 149 Embroidery in tue Home 150 Fitness of Things 150 Page Best Colors to Use — 151 Tulle, Velvet, and Sa- brina Work 152 Plants and Flowers in TUE Home 155 Making a Window Gar- den 156 Best Plants and Soils.. 168 Outdoor Window Gar- dens 159 Beautifying City Yards 164 Watering Plants 165 Constructing a Green- house 167 To Make a Home Fern- ery 168 Making a Rockery 169 Outdoor Flower Beds.. 170 Care of Potted Plants.. 171 Growing Palms 172 Raising Rubber Plants. 173 Homemade Insecti- cides 174 Keeping Violets Fresh. 175 Obtaining Perfumes. . . 176 Birds in the Home 177 Best Varieties of Cana- ries 177 Educating the Canary. 178 Best Cages 178 Food for the Canary . . 180 Baths 181 Canary Diseases and Treatment 182 Getting Rid of Insects. 185 Mocking Birds 186 Parrots 187 Economic Value of Birds 188 Their Vast Aid to Farmers 189 Goldfish in the Home 191 How to Make an Aqua- rium 191 Care of Goldfish 192 Goldfish Diseases 193 Candy in the Home... 194 Candy as a Food 194 Index Page To Detect Impure Candy 190 MakingCandyatHome 197 Boiling the Sugar 198 Preparing Fondant. ... 199 Molasses Candy 201 Fudge 203 Chocolate Caramels. . . 204 Peanut Thin 200 Popcorn Balls 206 Popcorn Cakes 207 Sugared Popcorn ,, 207 Honey Popcorn 207 Cream Walnuts 208 Cream Dates 208 Stuffed Dates 208 Chocolate Cream Drops 208 Cream Candy 20(j Cocoanut Candy 209 Butter Scotch 210 Taffy 210 Turkish Delight 210 White Candy 211 Fig Candy 211 Fruit Glace 212 Ice Cream in the Home 213 Use and Care of the Freezer 213 Vanilla Ice Cream 214 Caramel Ice Cream. . . . 215 Peach or Banana Ice Cream 215 Lemon Ice Cream 215 Coffee Ice Cream 216 Creamless Ice Cream. . 216 Cream Ice 217 Lemon Sherbet 217 Lemon and Other Ices. 218 Mousse 218 Maple Mousse .' .' 218 Cooling Drinks in the Home 219 To Can Fruit Juices'. .* .* 219 Egg Lemonade 220 Pineapple Lemonade. . 22f) Raspberry Drink 220 Orangeade 221 Portable Lemonade,*.'.* 221 Page Pastimes in the Home 222 Their Place in Home Life 222 Benefit to Parents 223 Games for Exercises . . 224 Jenkins Up 225 "It" 227 Characteristics 227 Eyes and Nose 228 Mixed Flowers 229 Candle Hide and Seek. 229 (xymkhana Race 229 Memory 230 Five Senses 331 Egg Football 232 Candle Duel 233 Hunt the Penny 233 Geography 234 Hat Toss 234 Pictures and Poems. . . 235 Prince's Feather 236 Illness in the Home.. 238 When to Call the Doctor 238 Keeping a Medicine Chest 239 The Sick Room 239 Its Location, Air, and Furnishings 240 How to Change Bed Clothing 243 Isolation in Contagious Diseases 245 Disinfectants and Their Use 246 Food for the Sick 247 How to Serve It 248 Qualities of Foods 249 Water, Tea, and Coffee 250 Jellies and How to Make Them 250 Broths 251 Barley Water 251 Rice Milk 252 Flaxseed Tea 2.52 Oatmeal Gruel 252 Poultices 252 B pro RE THE Doctor C9>ISS ••::,,,, 255 Index Page Learn What to Do ... . 256 First Aid to the In- jured 256 Fainting 257 Burns and Scalds 258 Shock 259 Bruises 260 Cuts 260 Ragged Wounds 262 Severed Limbs 262 Broken Bones 262 Broken Leg or Arm — 263 Broken Forearm 265 Broken Collar Bone . . . 265 Broken Ribs 266 Broken Jaw 266 Broken Skull 266 Dislocation of Finger.. 266 Dislocated Jaw 267 Dislocated Shoulder. . . 267 Sprains 268 Choking 268 Obstructions in the Nose 270 Bodies in the Ear 270 Cinders in the Eye 270 Snake-bites 271 Dog-bites 272 Stings 273 Sunstroke 273 Frost-bite 274 Drowning 275 Suffocation 280 Concussion of theBraiu 281 Unconsciousness 281 Convulsions 282 Croup 283 Nosebleed 283 Poisons and Their An- tidotes 284 Treatment of Poisoned Persons 284 Learning Another Language 289 Studying Abroad 290 Studying at Home 291 "Short Aids." 292 Teaching ^ Cbjld. 295 Page Travel at Home and Abroad 296 Comfort in Traveling. , 296 Selection of Baggage . . 298 What to Carry 298 Women at Hotels 300 Chaperones for Stran- gers 300 Requisites for Going Abroad 301 Tips on Steamships 303 Where to Go 305 Purchase of Tickets. . . 306 To Make the Most of Travel 306 Farm, Village, andCity Life 308 Making Life Valuable. 309 How to Enjoy Farm Life 309 Reading and Travel ... 310 Intimacy in Village Life 311 Gossip and its Dan- gers 312 Avoiding Provincial- ism 313 Nervousness of City Life 314 Competition and Health 314 Need of Self-restraint. 315 Keeping Up Ambition. 317 Benefit of Observation. 318 Forming Friendships. . 318 Achievements of the Century 320 Electricity 321 Railways 321 Telegraph and Cables . 323 Telephone, Phono- graph, and Kineto- scope 324 Automobiles 325 Wireless Telegraphy . . 327 Liquid Air 329 Submarine Navigation 330 Navigation of the Air . 330 Achievements in Medi- cine and Surgery .... 331 8 Index Page Extension of Repub- lican Ideas 333 Arbitration 333 National Growth in THE Century 335 Increase of National Area 335 Growth of Population. 336 Admission of States. . . 337 TheLouisiana Purchase 338 Acquisition of Florida. 339 Texas 340 The Gadsden Purchase 341 Alaska 341 Annexation of Hawaii. 342 The Philippines ... 344 Porto Rico 344 Guam 344 Wake Island 347 Tutuila 348 National Wealth, Manufactures, and Products 349 The Nation's Greatest City 351 New York's Dimen- sions 351 Page Boroughs and General Government 352 Wealth and Expendi- tures 354 City Employees 355 Police, National Guard, and Firemen 356 Underground Railway. 357 Elevated and Surface Rapid Transit 358 Bridges 359 Driveways 361 Parks 362 Libraries 363 Water-supply System.. 364 Harbor and Water Front 365 Churches 366 Schools 366 Banks 367 Charities 368 Hotels and Clubs 369 Feeding the Multitudes 370 How to See New York in One Day 372 Trips for other Davs . . 381 Beginnings of Things. 384 Xi6t of 1IUu6tration0 Drawing-room, Haveraeyer Mansion, Frontispiece The Governor's Home, Albany, N. Y., Facing page 80 Cottages Erected on Cooperative Plan, Facing page 110 Bedroom, Residence Miss Helen Gould, New York. Facing page 160 Drawing-room, Residence Miss Helen Gould, New York. Facing page 176 Vanderbilt Residence, New York. Facing page 208 Main Hall, Astor Mansion, New York, Facing page 240 Bedroom, Havemeyer Mansion, New York. Facing page 272 10 THE NEW CENTURY HOME BOOK Ibappineee in tbe Ibome "THERE are fifteen million homes in the United States. There ought not to be one unhappy home. Every one of these millions of homes can be made happy and kept happy. Right living will do it. An earnest desire to make home happy, coupled with an earnest effort to carry out that desire, is as certain to help bring happiness into the home as day is to follow night. The very effort to give pleasure to those around us gives pleasure to ourselves. Nothing brings so sure and so great a reward as to try to make others happy. The family in which each member is striving to make his companions happy can never be other than happy. 11 The New Century Home Book No home can be ideal in which the true spirit of Christianity has no placd. Each member of the household must be animated with the ear- nest desire to be helpful, kind, considerate to all the loved ones in the family. Where there is true mutual affection, where each seeks to share the others' burdens, and thus lightens them, where all — husband, wife, father, mother, brothers, and sisters — are united in love and sympathy — that is where the ideal home is found. It matters not whether it be in a palace or a cottage, whether it be blessed with abun- dance or burdened with deep poverty, the home in which piety dwells is the real ideal American home. It is not a hard thing to do — to make one's home happy. Be Cheerful. Fortunate is the one who can see the bright side of things, the silver lining that belongs to every cloud. That the lining is there we all know. We can all see it if we will only look for it. If Ave do not have the happy faculty of seeing the bright side without look- 12 The New Century Home Book ing for it, we can cultivate it. If we try for only a little time to keep our eyes turned from the dark things of life, it will be found an easy habit to acquire. At the very least, we need not point out to others the dark side we see our- selves. If we choose to stay in the shadow our- selves, we need not withhold the sunshine from others. Cheerfulness is an essential element in the make-up of a happy home. There is no greater enemy of cheerfulness than sulking. Most of us have hours when we feel "out of sorts,'' when we can be neither cheerful nor even pleasant to those around us. When these hours come there is one safe rule to follow — we can keep away from others. When the cross mood comes over us we should shut ourselves up with it alone. Wliile we are under its baneful influence we should avoid every per- son for whom we care. We have no right to be cross and ill-tempered to others because we hap- pen to feel that way. A single petulant word spoken in an unfortunate moment may spoil the happiness of a whole family. Lock yourself in your own room and stay 13 The New Century Home Book there until you are sure you can meet your loved ones with smiles. It will be helpful to them and helpful to yourself. Be Considerate. No one would think of speaking harshly to a friend or a guest. Surely the members of our own families are entitled to as much consideration as our friends or guests. Yet how many times do we find fault in the home circle for little things that we would hard- ly notice elsewhere ! It is the little things that make or mar the home life. Kind words and gentle acts make the happy home. Sympathy ;, help, and comfort should not be withheld from one's companions until illness or trouble has overtaken them. Nothing is worse in the family circle than nagging. There will be no nagging where each one in the family is considerate of the feelings of others. Rough and hasty words have no place in the happy home. If we are considerate of those around us, no such words will be heard in our families. 14 The New Century Home Book Be Courteous. "Thank you" belongs as much to our parents and children as to total strangers. We would not think of accepting an act of kindness from a stranger without acknowledging it with thanks. Why should we neglect to be cour- teous to those who are kind to us at home? The wife, the husband, the child who brings us something we want, who does some little errand for us, who brings us a book, a glass of water, or a chair, should receive as grateful thanks as would be given to one not in the family. The value of courtesy extends far beyond the home circle. Children who have learned to be courteous by the example of parents at home grow up into courteous men and women, and by their courtesy help to make other men and women happy. Bring up your children to be courteous at home, and you add to the sum of happiness in the world. Let the children's training in courtesy begin in the nursery. The little one who is old enough to ask for favors is old enough to learn to say "Please" and "Thank you." 15 The New Century Home Book Be Patient. The hasty word or act has no place in a happy home. Just stop a moment before you scold or punish your child for some little act he ought not to have committed. In that mo- ment you may recall some excuse for the act that will make it less wrong and the punish- ment uncalled for. Be patient with the little ones. How can you expect them to know as much or do as much as their elders? When your child asks a question be patient enough to answer him. It is the child's right to be taught, and he can learn only by asking questions. Half the little annoyances of life will disap- pear if one is only patient under them. Almost all the other half will go the same way if one does not worry over them. Do not worry. There is no greater fallacy than the idea that "somebody has got to worry to keep the world going." Too many people have an idea that it is their duty to worry. They give a mistaken meaning to "worry." Looking out for the fu- ture is not "worrying," and "worrying" is not looking out for the future. 16 The New Centttry Home Book It is when all worr}^ has been put aside that one can best prepare for the future. The mind free from worry is in the best condition to make plans which are to lead to success. Fix in your mind the right definition of "worrying," and ask yourself if you ever knew of a case in which worrying was beneficial. Your answer is sure to be "No." "I have proven the proposition over and over in my own experience/' says Mary Boardman Page, "and I tell you it is wholly true, that worry was never intended to be a part of the mental structure of man. It is a vicious and unnatural habit into which we have fallen through generations of artificial thinking. So far from stimulating and helping us to action, it cheats us and robs us of strength. What friction is to the mechanical world, worry is to the mental machinery. It retards motion and lessens force, and as the most perfect machine is the one in which friction plays the least part, so the best-equipped and most successful men- tality is the one in which worry is most eliminated. (2) 17 The New Century Home Book "Nature never worries. If you would not worry, you have only to let Nature's law of not worry enter into you and have its way. Nature's law is stronger than any little law you have made for yourself. Not worry will drive out worry if you will only be still and let it. This attitude of mind is one that is well worth culti- vating. Trust yourself to it." Be Helpful. Each member of the family can do some- thing toward making home happy. Especially is this true of the young people. Too many boys and girls get the notion that their parents who provide the home must be the only ones to make it attractive. Every boy and every girl can be helpful at home. They can help father and mother in a host of little things, and they can help in the pleasures of home life. The boy or girl who finds the mother busily sew- ing for him or her can easily spend a half hour reading aloud from the mother's favorite book or paper. The daughter who has been taught to play on the piano can often smooth the 18 The New Century Home Book wrinkles out of her tired and careworn father's brow by playing for him his favorite pieces. Let every son and daughter give a moment's thought to what he or she can do to help brighten the home — and then do it. There can be no question of the result. Be Truthful. Let every member of your family learn that you are to be trusted. It is a painful thing when children are found questioning the things they are told by father or mother, but they learn to do so very quickly when parents get into the habit of deceiving them. There should be no secrets between husband and wife or parent and child. "Honesty is the best policy" in the home as well as in the business world. If you cannot answer truthfully the questions put to you in the home circle, do not answer at all. "A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong/' Alexander Pope wrote. "It is but saying in other words that he is wiser to-day than he was yesterday." 19 The New Ccntary Home Book Be Neat. It is hard to imagine a happy home that is neither neat nor clean. It is easy to be neat, and not hard to be clean. The humblest little home can be as neat and clean as the finest mansion in the world. Neatness and cleanliness in the home are sure to lead to neatness and cleanliness in the persons of all in the home. No home is attractive in which the wife and mother is careless in her personal appearance or slovenly in allowing dirt to accumulate in any room. The husband and father, too, should be careful of his personal appearance. Un- doubtedly he was so before his marriage. Sure- ly his wife is not less to be thought of than when she was his sweetheart. Dirt and untidiness have driven many a man away from what might otherwise have been a happy home. Be Clean in Language. Neither at home nor anywhere else should bad language be indulged in. Profanity has no place in the vocabulary of a gentleman. It is never heard in the happy home. Clean lan- 20 The New Century Home Book guage tends in itself to engender and preserve clean thoughts. Give no language to other thoughts, and they vrill soon die. Avoid slang. Not only is slang ill-bred, but its use tends to lower the moral tone of the whole family circle. If parents use slang, their children will use it. Slang words are noxious weeds in the garden of conversation. They must be rooted out, or they will overshadow and choke the flowers of good language. Be Contented. Make the most and the best of your sur- roundings. Grumbling does no good. Shun the habit as you would the plague. Do not grumble over your house. If there is anything wrong about it, change it. If you cannot change it, bear with it as best you can and stop complaining. Ignore it. To let an unpleasant thing alone minimizes its unpleasantness. If you never grumble at others, they will have less reason to grumble at you. Before you grumble stop and think whether the things you want to complain of can be bet- 21 The New Century Home Book tered. If they can, try and better them. If they cannot, it will do no good to grumble. If you feel like grumbling at your lot in life, look around you. See how many persons there are among 3^our own acquaintances for whose lot you would not care to exchange your own. Then stop grumbling. No home can be happy that shelters a grumbler. Do not be contented in the sense of never tr}^- ing to better your condition. A legitimate am- bition to get ahead in the world is an essential ingredient of real happiness. One must work to enjoy life, and the incentive for work is the de- sire to improve one's condition in life. True contentment does not interfere with advance- ment. Add to your blessings all you can, but meanwhile do not be discontented with those you have. Be Generous. Selfishness has no place in a happy home. Share the joys and the pleasures of your life with all the members of your family. What right have you to ask for care and attention if you are unwilling to return them? Espe- 22 The New Century Home Book cially should selfishness be guarded against where there are children in the household. Parents who set the example of selfishness can- not expect their children to grow into generous men and women. Teach your children to be generous in the everyday matters of life. Let the child be taught to share with those around him the things that give him most pleasure — but let him be taught by your example rather than by precept. Do not always insist upon having your own way. Even if you feel that your way is the best, it is wise to be generous sometimes and give way to others. Be Polite. Good manners have a great deal to do with happiness. They are almost an absolute neces- sity for success in business or professional life. It is a sad mistake to drop good manners at home. To be good-mannered is to consider the rights and comforts of others before one's own, and this is just the spirit that should be found in the home circle. Children should not 23 The New Century Home Book have to go away from home to learn to be polite. They should be taught by the constant example of father and mother. Horace Mann wrote long ago that manners easily and rapidly mature into morals. As childhood advances to manhood the transition from bad manners to bad morals is almost im- perceptible. It is an old and true saying that "the truest courtesy is the truest Christianity." Gentleness and consideration for others are at the foundation of good manners. In busi- ness and social life politeness is of vast im- portance. Good manners often count as much or more than ability in turning the scale toward promotion. It is of little use to possess kindly feelings if you cannot express them in a kindly way. Be Economical. Do not be niggardly or stingy — but live within your means. No home can be truly happy over which hangs the dark cloud of debt. No matter how small your income, noth- ing but the most absolute necessity should per- mit you to exceed it in your expenditures. 24 The New Century Home Book Only by keeping one's outgo less than one's in- come can one "get ahead" in this world. Do not leave all the economy to the wife and mother. Never fear but she will do her share of the saving. Watch your own personal ex- penses. If you find yourself indulging in pleas- ures or habits that are purely personal, and therefore purely selfish, cut them off and see what pleasure can be given to the whole family with the money thus saved. Why should the wife be forced to go with a shabby or out-of-date bonnet while the husband spends the price of a dozen bonnets for cigars? Avoid "accounts" in the stores. To hav^ credit in the retail stores is always a tempta- tion to use it. It is better to "pay as you go.'^ It is harder to pay for a thing after you have had it than when you buy it. Then, too, one does not realize how the bills are mounting up when one is simply having purchases put on the "charge account." It takes the monthly bill to show how thoughtlessly extravagant one has been. It is alwa3^s easier to save money when one buys for cash only. 25 The New Century Home Book "He that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing/' said poor Richard. Writing of his ideal of a perfect life, Eobert Louis Stevenson said : "To be honest, to be kind, to earn a little and to spend a little less; to make, on the whole, a family happier by his presence; to renounce when that shall be neces- sary and not to be embittered; to keep a few friends, but these without capitulation; above all, on the same grim conditions, to keep friends with himself — here is a task for all that a man has of fortitude or delicacy." " Neither a borrower nor a lender be ; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry," Shakespeare declares, and Smiles wrote : "Debt makes everything a temptation. It lowers a man in self-respect, places him at the mercy of his tradesmen and servants. He cannot call himself his own master, and it is difficult for him to be truthful." Shun extravagance, avoid ostentatious dis- play, repress the desire to outshine others, and you will find it less difficult to keep out of debt. 26 The New Century Home Book Be Temperate. To have a sound mind in a sound body one must be moderate in all things. Moderation is a necessity if one wishes for good health. Especially is temperance called for in eating. Physicians declare that many more persons die from overeating than from drinking too much strong liquors. Choose your food according to the season of the year, and avoid overeating at any time. Meat, both fat and lean, should be eaten more frequently in cold weather than in hot, but it should not be altogether given up in hot weather unless by the advice of your physician. The body requires plenty of sustenance to overcome the demands of the heated term upon the sys- tem. The character of the food rather than the quantity should be watched. Above all things, do not indulge in stimulat- ing drinks in hot weather. Beer, wine, and spirits should be rigidly tabooed. Alcohol is far too heating and stimulating to be safely used in hot weather. Sunstroke and other ills due to great heat find many more victims among per- 27 The New Century Home Book sons who indulge in drinks containing alcohol than among water drinkers. The benefit derived from food depends very much upon the condition of the body while eat- ing. If taken when one is moody or cross, digestion is much less perfect and much slower than when taken with a cheerful disposition and amid cheerful surroundings. Avoid eating rap- idly, and whenever possible avoid a silent meal. Doctors assert that one can often eat and digest well food taken when one is dining in pleasant and sociable company that would remain long undigested and perhaps cause annoying diseases if eaten alone or when one is in a depressed mood. Temperance in the use of drinking water is also a necessity of good health. The idea that one can get cool in hot weather by drinking large quantities of very cold water is a danger- ous fallacy. Moderation in the amount drank and in the temperature of the water is the safe rule. Nature has herself furnished the right temperature for drinking water in the running spring. 2S The New Century Home Book Water cooled by being placed in bottles on ice is preferable to water with ice in it. If you drink ordinary ice water, do not take it directly into the stomach. Take it in small sips and hold it a second in the mouth before swallowing it. You will find it will take less water to sat- isfy thirst and will do you more good. Moderation in the use of any kind of stimulant should be constantly followed. Nothing is more certain to undermine one's health and break one down prematurely than the use of stimu- lants when they are not needed and the over- working of the system under the false strength derived from them. The young man who fancies that he needs stimulants to do his work should go to his doc- tor before taking the stimulants. If he really needs the stimulant, he needs the attention of the physician. The young man who forgets moderation is inviting disease, premature de- cay, and impaired vigor at the very period of his life when he should be at his best in body and mind and doing his best work for himself and for humanity. 29 The New Century Home Book Nature's law is temperance. You cannot go amiss if you follow Nature's guidance. When work is to be resumed after a meal the food should be light and as digestible as pos- sible. Be sure to follow this rule in the case of school children. Do not let your children run from school to the table^ eat in a hurry, and then run back to their studies. This is done in far too many homes. It is the cause of much of the ill health among school children. Let at least ten minutes be spent in quiet resting and pleasant conversation before the meal is served. Then be careful about the food. Salads, rich cake, fried food, preserves, and rich pastries should be barred from the children's hasty luncheon, and from all meals when the eater is to resume work directly after eating. 30 The New Century Home Book Stubi? in tbe Ibome T^ HE family that does not employ a part of its evenings in study misses an opportunity for great pleasure and profit. Let each member of the family join in the study, and all will find it a pleasure rather than a task. Choose for study some subject in which all the family are interested. Procure some stand- ard work on the subject, and let one of the family read aloud from it for a half hour or longer. As the reading progresses, if any thought or question is suggested to any hearer, let it be mentioned at once. Suspend the read- ing and discuss the thought or question. If it is a question and no one can give the answer oifhand, search for it in cyclopedia or gazetteer or other authority. If not readily found, let some one be appointed to look it up later and report when the family gathers for the next evening of study. Eecent troubles in China suggested the Chi- 31 The New Century Home Book nese empire as a subject for study to a family that had adopted the home study idea. From the daily paper the father read aloud the prog- ress of events. Hardly a sentence failed to sug- gest a question. The mention of a river or city called for its location with the help of a geogra- phy and a gazetteer. The cyclopedia and bio- graphical dictionary were in frequent use to furnish information about statesmen, generals, and diplomats active in the conduct of affairs in the empire. A whole evening was given up to the Chinese Wall. Everybody in the family knew something about that wall, but when the questions were asked just when the wall was built, who built it, what was its length and height, just what territory did it inclose, and so on, none could give correct answers. China's civil and religious history, the story of her rulers, her methods of government, for- eign "spheres of influence," her wars and con- quests and defeats, her great statesmen, the .work of foreign missions in her territory, her ways of dealing with other nations — all these and numerous other topics came up and were 32 The New Ccntary Home Book thoroughly discussed in the family study circle, and a fund of valuable information was thus gained that was a constant source of pleasure to every member of the family. Other things being equal, the children of the family which adopts a home study hour will be apt to lead their classmates in school. In many ways the knowledge so pleasantly ac- quired at home will prove beneficial in their studies in school. In geography and history it will give them a distinct advantage, while the home study of current events will develop and strengthen the habit and power of re- search so useful in mastering their lessons in the schoolroom. (3) 33 The New Century Home Book ffioofea in tbe Ibome *'O00KS are waste paper/' George Washing- ton once wrote, "unless we spend in action the wisdom we get from them." Washington's epigram applies more to the reading of books than to the books one reads, but it is a capital thing to have in mind when buying books for your library. You cannot gain wisdom to spend in action from books that contain no wisdom. In scarcely any department of home life is it so difficult to give exactly the right advice as in the library. Individual tastes and individual needs differ so widely that books which would prove useful and instructive to one will often be worthless to another of equal intelligence. Only the most general suggestions can be given to an audience including every class of readers. It is far easier to tell what books not to put upon the library shelves than to provide a list for all who read. 34 The New Century Home Book Do not let the vast number of new books in every field of literature lead you to forget the old standards and the old authors. Nor need the quantity of new books embarrass you in se- lecting the volumes for your shelves, for the very briefest search will satisfy you that the percentage of really good and useful books in the great stream running from the publishers' presses is very small. At the same time, there have never been more good books, in good type, good paper, and good binding, and at such rea- sonable prices, as now. Assuming that you wish your library to be of a general character for all the family, rather than a collection of works upon some special subject, you should find room for history, poetry, biography, popular science, and fiction. Your library is deficient if it does not contain a good history of your own country. Let this be your first purchase in books of history. The histories of other countries can follow as your means permit. Buy your histories to read rather than for reference books. You need not be confined to dry and dull compilations of 35 The New Century Home Book unadorned facts and figures meant only for students. Such a work as Bancroft's History of the United States of America, or Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, equals any romance in the grip it takes upon the read- er's interest. Closely allied to history are biographies and autobiographies, which too many readers neg- lect. In no better way, as a rule, can you gain so complete a knowledge of the manners and customs of a given time as in reading the lives of men of prominence in that time. Authentic tales of travel and geographical research should not be forgotten. The stories of the men who have penetrated the frozen regions of the North, the jungles of the interior of Africa, and the forbidden countries of the East are as valuable as they are of thrilling in- terest to young and old alike. In poetry you should first seek the works of the best writers of your own country, and then the great masters of other countries at your will. Do not fall into the error of regarding poetry as unworthy the attention of men of practical, 36 The New Centuty Home Book everyday life. The most sublime sentiments that move mankind onward and upward have found their truest expressions in the words of the great poets. It is no waste of time to read Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe, Dante, and our own Whittier, Bryant, and Longfellow. Science, too, should find a place in your library. As with history, you need not fill your shelves with the learned, exhaustive — and ex- hausting — treatises of scholars writing for other scholars. There is scarcely a branch of science which does not now have its own literature in popular and attractive form, in which child and adult can learn of the world and its forces with^ out a thought of study such as one gets in the schoolroom. In the field of fiction you must be almost wholly your own guide. Earely do two persons think alike on all phases of the subject of novel reading. Those who would banish absolutely every book of fiction find their justification in the great flood of novels poured from the press in which there is not a thought worthy of preservation, in which false ideas of life are set 37 The New Century Home Book forth, in which the foundations of social law and order are attacked, and in which immoral- ity is inculcated and vice made dangerously at- tractive. Those who go to the other extreme and would have practically all knowledge con- veyed through the medium of novels can point to many romances which portray in the most pleasing way the history, manners, and customs of other times and places, wholesome ideas of life, the right way to live, and high ideals to be sought after, and which are read by many per- sons who would never read a history or an essay. In fiction, as in everything else, it is well to avoid extremes. In buying for your library the test of time is the safest guide. Following this guide, you will have such standard works as those of Scott, Dickens, Thackeray, Hawthorne, Cooper, and George Eliot, while your shelves will be almost bare of the latest novels of the day. The novel which is most talked about to- day may very likely be forgotten to-morrow. Any reader can recall books and authors "all the rage" a few years ago and now almost en- tirely forgotten. You need not cumber your 38 The New Century Home Book library with the writings of such. Wait a year or two and see what novels have stood the test of time. You will waste less money on trash, and your library will be much richer. You ought not to read the latest novel before you have read Dickens or Scott. A first-class cyclopedia and gazetteer should be in every library. Rightly used, they will benefit every member of the family. Perhaps one of their best uses is as reference books in reading the current news of the world. If you read of some important event in a foreign coun- try, or some complication between two nations or states, it will help you in many ways to turn to your gazetteer and learn the relative geo- graphical positions of the countries. The story of a storm or fire which devastates a city is bet- ter understood if you learn something about the place in your cyclopedia. When you read of men of prominence at home or abroad your knowledge will be of more value if you have learned just who and what they are from the cyclopedia. No library should be without a dictionary— 39 The New Century Home Book and it should be read. One of the most suc- cessful newspaper men in New York devotes fifteen minutes every day to reading the diction- ary. He began to do so for the purpose of add- ing to his vocabulary. He soon found it was helping him to a right use of words, to a wider knowledge of their exact meaning, and to a better understanding of the language. Instead of study, the reading became a pleasure. He regards his "dictionary quarter of an hour" as the most helpful time in each day's duties. In reading books you must depend largely upon your own judgment, but you can train your judgment to be right. Do not read books or papers which suggest thoughts you would not utter. Beware of books suggestive of evil, no matter by whom written or in what at- tractive form they may be clothed. If you find that a book is doing you no good, you have an excellent reason for dropping it. If you are gaining from it no information, no new idea, no additional knowledge on any sub- ject, to continue reading it is a waste of time. There is no lack of good books for all the time 40 The New Century Home Book you can devote to reading, no matter how great may be your leisure. You need not read worth- less books, even when reading solely for amuse- ment. Very many men and women are too busy to try to keep up with all the best books of the day, but they need not give up all knowledge of cur- rent literature. There are numerous periodicals published expressly for these busy people, in which the latest books are reviewed and their leading features quoted. Nearly all the daily and weekly newspapers also keep their readers in touch with the books of the day, so that those who cannot find time to look into the books for themselves can at least know their most valuable contents. If you cannot read the books, read about them. Do not give them entirely up. If there are children in your family, keep a watchful eye upon the books they read. Your own library should contain nothing you would not care to have fall into their hands, but you should know what books they are borrowing from their young friends, or what they are drawing from the circulating library, if there is 41 The New Century Home Book one in the place. A boy or girl under fifteen or sixteen is too young to make the best and wisest selection of books to read. There is so much good literature for the young that it is easy to furnish your children with the right kind of books, and thus from the beginning train them up to appreciate and en- joy only the best. If you keep a servant, have a bookshelf in the kitchen, and do not limit its contents to a cook- book and newspapers two or three days old. Your servant may not have as good taste in liter- ature as you have, but she will care as little for old news, and she will derive as little pleasure from perusing a cookbook. Provide her with good fiction ; not the penny dreadful sort, which should have no jolacc in any room in the house. Books of travel and adventure will probably be attractive to your servant. If she is neat and careful, you can safely give her permission to take books from your library. In too many cases the servant's evenings after her work is finished are the gloomiest hours in her day, be- cause she must sit alone in her room or the 42 The New Century Home Book kitchen. A good, entertaining book for such hours will make her happier and more con- tented and a better servant. Do not buy books that are too cheaply printed and put together. Paper should be good and binding substantial, and it is always better to have the type large enough and clear enough to be read without straining the eyes. Prices of books are now so moderate that you can afford to insist upon having good workmanship. Dust is a great enemy of books. Keep it from them as much as you can. See that books and shelves in your library are frequently cleaned. In addition to daily dustings, each book should be carefully wiped with a light, dry cloth at frequent intervals. The volumes are otherwise sure to get "grimy." Dirt works in between the leaves, it is difficult to handle them without leaving finger marks, and the beauty as well as cash value of the books is greatly injured. Dampness is another deadly enemy of books. It affects the binding, which it quickly loosens and destroys, while it discolors and disfigures the leaves. 43 The New Century Home Book Too great heat is also injurious to books. It warps and distorts their covers and tends to powder the paste used in their binding. Keep your books in dry air, but avoid excessive heat. How to read newspapers is a problem difficult to solve. The great modern daily contains so much that is good sandwiched in with so much that is undesirable that it is very hard to pick out only the good and leave the bad. The aver- age reader undoubtedly spends much time with his newspaper that could be spent in much more profitable reading. A newspaper article of three or four columns or more in length is rarely worth reading in full. Unless you have some direct personal in- terest in the subject of the article, it will be time wasted to read all the minute details which help to fill the columns. Why should you take time to read five thousand words about a murder in a city you have, perhaps, never seen, and the parties to which you never before heard of? Nine times out of ten the headlines and the first two hundred words of the story will tell you all you can possibly need to know. 44 The New Century Home Book Stories of suicides, scandals, and crimes of all degrees can be passed over with the assur- ance that you are missing nothing of the slight- est value. In every paper there will be a large number of short articles a mere glance at which will tell you that they have no interest for you, and these you need not read. In no sense is what has been said to be taken as a condemnation of the daily newspaper. On the contrary, every home should take such a journal. But it should be read with discrimina- tion, and not be permitted to take up so much time as to shut out better literature. 45 The New Century Home Book Convereation in tbe Ibome TN too many homes conversation is a lost art, or one that has never been known. Even- ings are spent in silent reading and meal hours in silent eating. Only when there is a visitor is any attempt made to keep up a conversation, and lack of practice makes this a task evident to the visitor and embarrassing to the whole family. Every household should cultivate the art of conversation. There is no better time for this than at meals. Bright conversation and laugh- ter at the dinner table is a hygienic blessing. It is a great aid to digestion. Food taken when one is discontented or irritated is hard to digest and often causes disorders. Let each member of the family "save up" something to say at the table which shall help to start a pleasant conver- sation. Let the conversation ball be once set going, and it can easily be kept rolling. Do not try to confine the topic to some one's particular 46 The New Century Home Book hobby. Give each one at table a chance to talk about the particular thing that interests him or her. All will thus be interested, and the mealtime will pass with surprising quickness. A great deal has been said about never "talk- ing shop" at home. It is a poor rule. It may not be wise or in good taste to discuss one's busi- ness affairs with friends or visitors at home, but it is generally a great mistake for the husband never to talk with his wife about his business. Surely the business which takes up the whole of his day ought to have some interest for the wife and family it supports. It is not necessary to go over all the petty details, but the wife should be his confidante in all his business affairs. Let the young husband begin by keeping his wife fully informed of the condition of his finances and make this his practice always. It is worse than a mistake to conceal from his wife the fact that business may have grown poor. It is sheer folly to keep the wife in ig- norance of a falling off in the husband's income and permit her to keep up a scale of household and personal expenditures adopted in days of 47 The New Century Home Book prosperity. Many a man has wrecked his for- tune in this way. His wife has known nothing of the depression in his business and has helped to carry him down when, had she had the confidence which was her due, her liouse- hold retrenchments and her sympathy and counsel might have tided her husband over his difficulties and saved him from failure. One's wife is always a safe partner. To talk well is an art. To some fortunate persons it comes as a natural gift. Most of us must cultivate it. Gossip and tittle-tattle do not belong to good talking. Avoid them. Be sparing of criticism of others in conversation. Especially beware of ill-natured criticism. The person whose cleverness in conversation draws friends around him never says anything that can wound the feelings of any of his hearers. Two rules are imperative in conver- sation: Look squarely into the face of the per- son you are addressing, and pay undivided at- tention to the person who is addressing you. 48 The New Century Home Book jEyerciee in tbe Ibome O IR JAMES SAWYER, an English scientist, recently prepared nineteen rules to be ob- served if one wished to live to be a centenarian. One of these rules was, "Take exercise before breakfast." x^nother was, "Take daily exercise in the open air." These rules are good for sum- mer and winter alike. Many people who are careful about taking proper exercise in winter seem to think it is not needed in summer. They are wrong. Often one's system needs the bene- fit of regular exercise more in hot weather than in the winter. Keep up exercise the year round, and so far as possible take it at regular hours. For the early morning exercise there are scores of methods, any one or all of which are good. It is an excellent plan on rising to stand for a moment in the open window — or, at least, where the air is fresh from out-of-doors — and begin the day by exercising the lungs. Draw in all- the air your lungs will hold, and then (4) 49 The New Century Home Book slowly exhale it. Repeat this fifteen or twenty times. It will give your lungs the kind of exer- cise they need to prevent pulmonary troubles, it will give your body an erect carriage, and it will give to your whole system the best tonic in Nature's laboratory — good air. Dumb-bells, Indian clubs, wands, a bedroom chair — any of these may be made useful in the morning exercise. If you have none of these, get your boy or girl to teach you the calisthenics learned in school and go through the motions. A "punching bag" affords capital exercise. Hang a football from the ceiling by a heavy, strong cord, and then stand off and hit it with your fists. Five minutes at the punching bag will give you an astonishing amount of the best kind of exercise, in which not a muscle of the body escapes its share. This form of exercise is particularly useful for women, but for them the punching bag should be a light ball, especially for beginners. For the daily outdoor exercise nothing is bet- ter than walking, but moderation is as desirable here as in everything else. One should not walk 50 The New Century Home Book too far or too fast. Avoid walking in the hot sun in summer. In the early morning or after sunset is the best time for walking in warm weather. Take your natural gait in walking. Notice the position of your body, especially the shoulders, when you fill your lungs with fresli air at the open window. Take the same atti- tude in walking. The bicycle, lawn tennis, croquet, golf, base- ball — these and other outdoor sports are good for exercise. But nothing really takes the place of walking for healthy exercise. It should be the hardest kind of a storm that prevents the daily walk. 51 The New Century Home Book (Bl^mnaeiume in tbe Ibome A HOME gymnasium is a most excellent thing for grown folk as well as children. Any room in the house or a small space in the barn may be used, but first be sure that it can be well ventilated. A gymnasium without con- stant fresh air is worse than none. If you can afford to spend a few dollars, it will be well to buy a little apparatus. There are numerous ex- ercising machines on the market, and few of them are without merit. With these machines come full directions how to set them up and use them. But do not give up the gymnasium for lack of money. You can easily set up apparatus which will give you a deal of helpful exercise. A ladder placed in an inclined position against the wall will afford means for a large number of movements to give the body strength and grace. Fasten a weight to the end of a piece of clothesline and run the line through a pulley screwed into the wall a little higher than 52 The New Century Home Book the head. Put up another line and weight about two feet from the first, and by standing with your back to the wall and pulling the weights up, with arms extended in different directions, you have an excellent apparatus for developing hands, arms, chest, and back. Horizontal bars are not difficult to set up, and more than five hundred beneficial move- ments can be performed upon them. The punching bag should have a prominent place in the gymnasium. A homemade rowing machine can be built with a little strong rope, a couple of floor pulleys, and a little ingenuity. Visit a gymnasium and look over the apparatus. A few minutes' observation will give you the best ideas of apparatus that you can build at home. Keep in mind that your girls need gym- nasium exercise as much as, or even more than, your boys. Boys always get more natural exer- cise than girls. They are out of doors more, and their sports are usually of a more vigorous kind. Surely women need sound bodies at least as much as men. Do not be afraid of having your girl a "tomboy." That is a bugaboo that 53 The New Century Home Book has been responsible for many a woman's ill health and feeble body. Girls cannot romp as much as boys, but they can enjoy the same exer- cise in the home gymnasium, and get the same benefit from it. Keep in mind, too, that adults need exercise of the gymnasium sort. A few minutes each day in the gymnasium will do wonders toward restoring the vitality of hard-working fathers and tired mothers. The need of regularity in exercise has already been spoken of. The best results follow a regular routine. The danger in the home gymnasium is the temptation to do too much. Children are nearly always eager for the gymnasium work, and they do not appreciate the value of moder- ation. Their elders often show a lack of wis- dom in the same direction. Carried to excess, exercise in the gymnasium is harmful rather than helpfuL See that your children do not spend too much time in the gymnasium or at one kind of exercise. It will do them no harm to keep at work until tired, but do not let them continue until exhausted. 54 The New Century Home Book To Live a Century. These are the rules laid down by Sir James Sawyer to insure a long life : 1. Sleep eight hours a day. 2. Sleep on the right side. 3. Keep your bedroom windows open all night, 4. Have a screen in front of the bedroom door. 5. Have your bed away from the wall. 6. Take every morning a bath with the water the tempera- ture of the body — not colder. 7. Take exercise before breakfast. 8. Eat little meat, and see that it is thoroughly cooked. 9. (For adults.) Do not drink milk. 10. Eat plenty of fat to feed the cells which destroy the germs of disease. 11. Avoid intoxicants, which destroy these cells. 12. Take daily exercise in the open air. 13. Keep no pet animals in your living rooms. They are likely to carry about the germs of disease. 14. Live as much as possible in the country. 15. Watch the three D's — drinking water, dampness, and drains. 16. Vary your occupations. 17. Take frequent short holidays. 18. Limit your ambition. 19. Keep your temper. These rules are easy to follow, and they are at least worth studying. Another physician gives this rule for attain- ing long life: "Make cleanliness your motto. Extend this to both the house and the grounds. Few women starve for food, but many do for fresh air. 55 The New Century Home Book Every woman if unable to take a daily walk should go out into the yard, or to the window if an invalid, and breathe deeply a hundred times ^ or more for exercise. "Throw away your corsets and never wear any tight clothing, and by all means sleep in a well-ventilated room. Beware of gluttony. If not hungry, confine the eating to fruit, and utilize the teeth instead of the stomach for chewing the food. Bathe often, and keep the blood pure. Exercise daily, and do a kind deed at every opportunity. The effect of exercise on the mind is always good ; the brain and nervous system are supplied with more blood, and the repair of waste is more complete." 56 The New Century Home Book ]fre6b air in tbe Ibomc I T is impossible to exaggerate the importance of fresh air to health and life. Without fresh air men and plants and animals must die. Stop and think just a moment of what fresh air means to you and yours — and then fill your lungs with it and fill your house with it. Breathe properly. Breathe through the nose. Take long, full draughts that fill the lungs to their utmost capacity. Do this until you have made it your habit. Then compare your phys- ical condition — and your mental condition, too — with what it was before you began the prac- tice. After that you will keep up the habit, and you will insist upon the others of your household doing the same. Health and strength will be better than ever before. Breathe through the nose under all circum- stances — running, walking, resting, or sleeping. Breathe slowly, and let the air escape from the lungs as slowly. 57 The New Century Home Book Keep your house filled with fresh air. Keep bedroom windows and doors open. If this makes too much of a draught over the bed, move the bed. If the bed cannot be moved, put a screen before the door or window, but leave the window open. Many a child has been made ill because its bed and bedroom were not sufficient- ly aired. Never make up the bed until the room has been thoroughly aired. Lower from the top the windows in your liv- ing rooms. Let in the air even if a little dust happens to come in with it. In summer a warm room in which the air is fresh is more com- fortable and much safer than a room cooled by excluding fresh air. Keep up the circulation in your rooms by keeping the windows open at top and bottom. Never be afraid of sunlight in the house. Every room that can be opened to the sun should be flooded with sunlight at least once each day. Sunlight is one of the best disin- fectants. Let it strike into the closets and dark corners if you can. Let the children's room have plenty of it. 58 The New Century Home Book Let every room in your house have an airing every day. The tightly closed parlor, opened only on Sunday, or when company comes, is a direct menace to the health of all the household. Do not be afraid of the sunlight on your carpet. Better a carpet faded a little sooner than faded cheeks and broken health of wife, mother, or child. Remember that your living rooms need fresh air in the evening, when lamp or gas is lighted, even more than in the daytime. A single ordinary gas jet will consume as much oxygen as a dozen or more persons in the room. A lighted lamp requires as much oxygen as sev- eral persons. Too many forget this, and shut out the fresh air when shades are drawn or blinds closed and the room lighted up, just at the time it is most needed. 59 The New Century Home Book 1Rc6t in tbc Ibome T^HE value of rest in the home life can hardly be overestimated. For mothers especially the benefits of rest are beyond computation. The constant strain of managing the daily af- fairs of a household is most wearing to mind and body. You cannot expect good health or ^ood temper if you are always tired. You can- not give your best service to your family if you are overtired. You cannot do justice to your- self if you keep your nerves constantly "on edge." It is human nature to be cross when one is tired. Rest, keep your temper, and avoid the sharp word that will give pain to those around you, and perhaps lead to disputes that will ruin the happiness of the whole family. Do not say you have no time to rest. You can make the time. No matter what your duties are, you can take a few minutes each afternoon for rest. Take ten minutes if you cannot get more. Take a full half hour if at 60 The New Century Home Book all possible. Spend your resting time in abso- lute rest — not in reading, writing, or some other mere change of occupation. If you can stop even thinking, so much the better. Always lie down during your resting time. Relax every muscle of the body and keep perfectly quiet. Perfect rest comes only with entire relaxation of mind and body. Look upon this daily rest as a duty — and live up to it. It will help to keep you young. It will keep the wrinkles from your face and the clear color in your eyes. It will make you hap- pier, and so make all around you happier. It will save doctor's bills. If you really cannot find a full half hour for rest, take ten minutes three times a day. Insist upon your rest as your right and your duty. 61 The New Century Home Book Cbilbrcn in tbe Ibome I N the children in our American homes lies the hoj^e of the American nation. The hoys and girls of to-day are to be the men and women of to-morrow. They are to be respon- sible for the America of to-morrow. What sort of citizens these children are to make, whether they are to lead the country on to good or evil, will be determined almost wholly by their home life. In the home the child takes in the ideas of life that are to govern his future. The standard of right and wrong learned at home will be his standard in after life. The influence of the child's home will follow him to the grave. His character is formed in the home circle. It is the parent's duty to society and the State to give his chil- dren good morals, good impulses, good training, and good health. Stereotyped rules for the government and training of all children alike cannot be laid 62 The New Century Home Book down. There is the same individuality in chil- dren, as in grown folk. Different temperaments and different dispositions require different treatment. The best judges of the needs of a child are its parents. But there are some gen- eral rules that may be followed with safety and profit. Let your children act and feel like children. Do not try to make them old before their time. Do not try to keep them always under repres- sion. It is the very refinement of cruelty to compel a child to be as quiet as an adult. Let your children laugh and shout and romp. The laughing and shouting and romping can easily be kept within bounds. You can teach them to be considerate of those around them without wholly suppressing their natural noisiness. Generosity is natural to children. The child who is told that a neighbor is ill and that loud noise may prevent his recovery will re- spond to the appeal to his generosity and sym- pathy and keep quiet much more readily than in response to a harsh command without an explanation. 63 The New Century Home Book Let your children play in the open air as much as possible. An hour of play outdoors is worth three hours in a close room. Go out once in a while and join in the children's sports. Parents who never take part in their children's amusements lose a vast deal of profitable pleas- ure and miss the opportunity of giving a great deal of pleasure to the little ones. Children love grown people who share their sports with them, and the love of a child is worth having. Let the little ones stay children as long as they will. Do not hurry happy, careless child- hood into manhood. Add to their pleasures all you can. Try to treat them so that when they are grown up they will look back to the days of their childhood as the happiest of their lives, and to their father and mother as their best friends and truest companions. Teach your children — boys as well as girls — to help in the duties of the household, but be careful not to make servants of them. Do not bring them up to look upon household work as drudgery. Give a child some little thing to do that "big folks'' do, and help him to do it the 64 The New Century Home Book right way, but be careful not to overtax his strength. When your boy has been running errands for half the household a dozen times in the day give him credit for it. Do not send him to bed with the accusation, wliich he knows to be false, that he has done nothing. The child is as sensitive to unmerited censure or the with- holding of deserved praise as his elder, and the wound is often more lasting and more unfor- tunate in its effects. Let your little girl help in caring for her younger sister or baby brother, but be careful not to put upon her the work that requires the strong arms of mother or nurse. The little girl compelled to lift and carry her heavy baby brother or sister may easily receive injuries from which she can never recover. Teach your children to share one another's toys and playthings without wrangling. If two want the same thing at the same time and each is unwilling to yield, take it away from both until one is ready to give up. They will soon learn to settle differences without quarreling, and each will be ready to yield to the other. (5) 65 The New Century Home Book When your child has committed a fault and has repented and asked for forgiveness, give it to him promptly. Do not deny him his good- night kiss and send him to bed feeling that ho has lost your love. His confession and plea for forgiveness should have its prompt reward. And then let the fault be forgotten. Never speak of it afterward. Never show a preference for one child over another. It is a fearful injustice to both — the one preferred as well as the one slighted. How can you be sure that the boy who seems to be a little "slower" than his brother will not grow into the stronger, better man? Are you sure that the girl who appears so much "brighter" than her sister will become the more useful woman ? Have a care how you speak of the faults of your children to others in their presence. It is a grievous mistake to mortify little ones in this way. It is not the way to encourage them to do better. Never punish a child when you are angry. You ought not to get angry ; but if you do, wait 66 The New Century Home Book until you have recovered your temper before inflicting punishment. An act that seems a serious offense when you are in anger may ap- pear only a trivial fault when you look at it calmly. It is fair to the child that his offense should be calmly considered before his punish- ment is fixed. Depend upon it that your child will know whether his punishment is admin- istered in anger or in sorrow, and he will meet your anger with anger, the value of the punish- ment will be lost, and the young heart will be hardened. Above all, never mistake an accident for a fault. Guard the speech of your children. Never permit rude words to pass unreproved. Cour- tesy is as important in children as in adults. The best way to prevent rudeness in speech and rudeness in manner in your children is to avoid it in your own conduct and language. Let the little ones understand that the injunction, "Honor thy father and thy mother," holds good now as when it was uttered, but do not make it hard for your children to obey it. Francis Quarles wrote in 1625 : 67 The New Century Home Book "So behave thyselfe among thy children that they may love and honor thy presence. Be not too fond, lest they fear thee not ; be not too bit- ter, lest they fear thee too much. Too much familiarity will embolden them; too little countenance will discourage them. So carry thyselfe that they may rather fear thy displeas- ure than thy correction. When thou reprovest them, doe it in season; when thou correctest them, doe it not in passion. As a wise child makes a happy father, so a wise father makes a happy child." 68 The New Century Home Book L ^be IRurecrij in tbe Ibomc ET the room set apart for the nursery be one of the largest rooms in the house, if not the largest. Let it have a southern exposure, if possible, but be certain that it has a plentiful supply of fresh air. Sunshine and fresh air are prime requisites in the nursery. The higher up in the house the room is located the better its air is likely to be. Never establish the nursery in a basement. A basement nursery may save mother, nurse, or servant a few extra steps in a day, but it cannot be as healthy for the children. Use wall paper light in color and simple in design. After the paper has been put on the wall it should receive a coat of varnish. This will make it washable, and it should be washed once a week. The nursery should be the clean- est room in the house, and the walls should not be neglected in the cleaning. Few ornaments in the shape of bric-a-brac are needed in the nursery, but there should be 69 The New Centary Home Book plenty of pictures and photographs on the walls. See to it that the pictures are not too cheap and gaudy. Good pictures will help to develop the taste for artistic things in children, and the training may begin very young. Let the floor covering be of cork rather than the ordinary carpet. A large crawling rug for the baby should have its share of the floor space. It can be decorated with birds and animals or with funny pictures. If possible, let the room be heated by a grate fire. Before the grate or stove or register place a well-fastened high wire screen or fender, so that the little ones cannot fall into the fire or against the heater. Little furniture is necessary in the nursery. A wide, roomy lounge or sofa should be pro- vided for the children to lie down upon with- out disarranging the bed. The chairs and table should be small and low, so that the children can use them without inconvenience. A cup- board with a drawer for each child is an ex- cellent thing in the room. Every child likes to have a place in which to keep all his little treasures. The cupboard supplies this want. 70 The New Century Home Book Many a rainy hour will be passed contentedly by the children in taking out and arranging over again the contents of the cupboard drawers. A hammock suspended from stout hooks across the room or across a corner will give the children a deal of fun and amusement, and it makes a capital bed for the baby. In lieu of the crawling rug, or for use over the rug, a yard for the baby may be easily con- structed. Have a little fence made about two feet high and four yards long. Cut it into lengths of a yard each, and hinge the lengths together. This will give you when open a yard square compound for the baby to play in, and when not in use it can be folded up and put away. In every nursery there should be a reliable thermometer. Consult it frequently, and see that the temperature of the room is not allowed to fall much below or rise much above sixty degrees. Keep a good-sized waste-paper basket in the nursery. Teach the children to throw into it the bits of paper and other refuse of their play 71 The New Century Home Book hours. It will give them the habit of neatness and cleanliness without an effort, and save much unnecessary work for the mother. Let each child have a separate bed. The best physicians no longer advise allowing chil- dren to sleep together. They are apt to be rest- less and disturb each other's sleep, and for sani- tary and hygienic reasons it is better for each child to sleep alone. Take pains to see that the child's bed is well aired every day. This should not be neglected even on the coldest days. In cold weather it is wise to open the bed a short time before the child's bedtime, so that the body may not be suddenly chilled when getting into bed. It is dangerous to undress a child after a playspell and put him directly into a cold bed. Chronic disorders sometimes follow such treatment. You cannot be too insistent upon good ven- tilation for the nursery. If raising the window makes too strong a draught, out of which the bed cannot be moved, cut a board about four inches high and the length of the window sill. Place this under the lower sash. Air will enter 72 The New Century Home Book the room between the sashes at an upward angle, and there will be no draught. Do not accustom your children to sleep in a room that is lighted. The best and most re- freshing sleep requires complete darkness. Let no one tell "creepy" stories or give the little ones the slightest reason to be afraid in the dark. Great patience will be needed to over- come the fear of darkness if it once finds lodg- ment in a child's mind. It is cruel to force such a child to go to bed alone in the dark. Fear is no preparation for a sound and re- freshing night's sleep. Keason with the child, and use gentle means to overcome his fear. The last half hour before the children's bed- time should be spent quietly, particularly in the case of children who are of a nervous tempera- ment. A song or a story or reading from a child's book will serve to quiet their nerves after a playspell and put them in the right con- dition for sleeping. Let the children sleep. If they sleep late in the morning, it is a pretty safe indication that they need the sleep. "Early to rise" is a good 78 The New Century Home Book rule, but it is not an absolute rule. Even when coupled with "early to bed" it cannot always be followed. If the child sleeps late and it is de- sirable to have him waken early, try putting him to bed earlier. If he still sleeps late, it is Nature's notice that he needs the sleep, and he should have it. Sleep is better than medicine. The cradle has given way to the crib. It has taken mothers a long time to realize that the constant rocking of the cradle is very bad for baby's brain, but they have finally done so, and the cradle has disappeared. In many of the best nurseries even the rocking-chair is abolished. Its presence offers too strong a temptation to rock the baby. Do not allow your baby to be rocked to sleep. With a little care and patience the child can be taught to go to sleep when placed in his bed without any special attention. It is better for the child and a great saving of time and trouble for the mother. Never have feather pillows or feather mattress on the baby's bed. Every nursery should have a medicine chest or cabinet for emergencies. Let it be placed 74 The New Century Home Book beyond the reach of the children, and it is safer to keep it locked, provided the key is always where it can be quickly found. Simple reme- dies and appliances should be kept in the cabi- net. Keep on hand witch-hazel for bumps and bruises ; sweet oil for burns ; mustard and flax- seed for poultices ; sticking plaster, or a roll of adhesive plaster, for the dressing of cuts; ab- sorbent cotton ; pieces of cotton and linen cloth, and bandages ready for use. Standard reme- dies — or your doctor's prescriptions — for the more common troubles of children should also be in the cabinet. See that each bottle or package is carefully labeled, and add to the label a statement of what it is to be used for. 75 The New Century Home Book amueemente for tbe little ©nee OIMPLE pleasures are the best for small children. Few toys are better than a large number. Too many playthings are al- most worse than none. The little child with a profusion of toys does not appreciate them. He will often destroy them, and at the same time acquire the habit of wastefulness and ex- travagance to plague him in after life. A little boy will often leave a room full of toys for a hammer, a nail, and a piece of board. A little girl will leave all her other playthings for a doll. You can keep baby quiet and amused for a long time by putting in front of him a box or basket filled with any kind of articles — buttons, spoons, toothpicks, small blocks, etc. — and let- ting him take them out and arrange each kind of article in a pile, or put them into another box or basket. A small board with holes bored into it and pegs which easily fit into the holes 76 The New Century Home Book will amuse almost any baby. Picture blocks, building blocks, colored cards, and the like will amuse even very young children. Give the lit- tle one a box of buttons and a stout piece of cord and show him how to "string" the buttons. When your little girl is old enough to handle a thread and needle let her have them. Do not give her needles with broken points, worn-out scissors, and thread too coarse for the needle, but let them all be as good as you use yourself. Let her have little pieces of bright and pretty cloth from your scrap-bag and encourage her to cut and make clothes for her doll. If she asks you to do it for her, give her only hints and let her do the work herself. If she has really tried and failed, however, then give her the necessary assistance. Thus, while amusing her, you are teaching her to be self-reliant and ingenious. When your little boy is old enough to know better than put tacks into his mouth let him have a small hammer and some large carpet tacks and some strips of thin wood. He will get a deal of amusement out of tacking the 77 The New Century Home Book strips together, and he will quickly begin try- ing to "make things/' and thus teach himself to be "handy" and self-reliant. If he is too young to "make things/' he will amuse himself driving the tacks into the wood haphazard. "I will tell/' says a mother in the Ladies' Home Journal, "some of the simple things that keep happy and contented our two boys, two and four years old. If I wish to keep them quiet and off the floor, they will sit happy in their high chairs, each with a tablcspoonful of dry beans, a bottle and a box, transferring the beans from one to the other. If box and bottle each have covers, so much the better. Big brother tires of this after a while, so I give him a handful of toothpicks, with which he will out- line houses, cars, the alphabet, etc. "Slates or paper and pencils are very wel- come to little fingers that only get into mischief for want of employment. A shawl hung over chairs makes a famous house, and a string from chairs to table makes a little clothesline. After the clothes are ironed with tiny irons they are hung on the chair rounds to air. 78 The New Century Home Book "A small wooden box acts several parts. Sometimes it is a trunk, sometimes an elevator, sometimes a bathtub, although big brother can hardly squeeze into it, but a listener would surely think a bona fide bath was taking place. Three chairs side by side make a *^closed 'lectric ;' one behind the other an ^open ^lectric,' with a broom standing up in the middle for a trolley. They '^ding, ding!' and buzz, take fares, and put on brakes in true style. "A bit of dough, rolling board and pin, when mamma is cooking, makes very little mess, and if the ^pie' can be baked in a little tin cover to 'save for father,' or 'carry to grandma,' how happy the small boys are ! They do imaginary cooking in their tiny tin kitchen and play party with little dishes. "Baby boy has often been happy a long while sticking clothespins around the edge of a tin pail, and both boys were happy a whole after- noon just winding raveled yarn into balls." Remember that play is children's necessary work. Deprived of it, your little ones cannot reach their true development. 79 The New Century Home Book ]furnl0bing tbe Ibome [ T OUSE and home play such important parts in our lives that too much care and at- tention cannot be paid to their furnishings. In furnishing the home the artistic side must not be neglected. The pleasure of existence is enhanced by art in the home. Helping to beau- tify the home is in itself a source of pleasure. To woman belongs the mission of adorning and beautifying the home. It is she who puts the house in order and makes it comfortable and attractive. Upon her good taste, judg- ment, and wisdom one must most rely in furnishing and decorating the home. "Art," says Dr. Jacob von Falke, of Vienna, "refines the manners, diverts our thoughts from vulgar things, consoles us for the many troubles and discomforts of material existence, and raises us above them into a higher spiritual sphere. It humanizes us and idealizes our life. All this it does by awakening the aesthetic sense 80 H O o < X o > cr 2 ft) o The New Century Home Book m us by increasing our pleasure in beauty and our capacity for its enjoyment, and by continu- ally providing new food and new objects of de- light to satisfy the longings which it has created." It does not require works of high art to do this. The artistic taste can be fully developed by beauty in the common, everyday furnishings of the home. It is from these objects, indeed, that the child receives his first impressions. His first glance rests upon them, and they be- come his standards in judging of others. In the vast majority of cases they are the only representatives of art in the home. Their in- fluence remains with the child through all his after life. Do not leave the adornment and arrange- ment of your home to the furniture dealer, carpet maker, painter, paper hanger, or picture seller. The best that either of them can do is to follow what may happen to be the prevailing style and fashion in his particular trade. The result will more than likely be an inharmonious grouping of colors and effects, unsatisfactory (6) 81 The New Century Home Book to the eye and destructive of that satisfying sense of comfort which one always feels on en- tering a really artistically arranged and adorned room. Let your furniture fit your house. If your rooms are large, let the furniture be large. If they are small, let the furniture be in propor- tion. Do not put large pieces of furniture in small rooms. Do not lay carpets of large pat- terns and brilliant colors in small rooms. In- stead, use carpets of neutral colors and small patterns. Where two or three small rooms communicate it is wise to carpet them alike. Buy very little furniture that is useful only for ornamentation. Let your furnishings be as beautiful as you can, but let them be usable. Never buy trashy furniture of any kind. Bet- ter have a few pieces of good, substantial furni- ture than a houseful of stuff that is constantly "giving out" and breaking down. If 3^our house is new, postpone papering it until it has thoroughly settled. Otherwise you must be prepared to repaper it after the walls have cracked. If you are living in a small 82 The New Century Home Book apartment or flat, you should follow only one color scheme in the wall paper. The paper in connecting rooms should always harmonize. Soft, neutral colors are best for living rooms, while making the best background for pictures. Plain colors are preferable for the paper in parlors, libraries, and sitting rooms. Floral designs in which gaudy colors are avoided are appropriate for bedrooms. Have your parlor furniture as costly as you can afford, but see that the value is in the ma- terial and workmanship rather than in fragile and useless "trimmings" that are easily marred or broken and quickly worn out. Parlor furni- ture should be solid and substantial — and com- fortable. A chair that looks so delicate and beautiful a visitor fears to use it is worse than useless. It mars the pleasures of your home. Table and chairs for the dining room should also be well built, solid, and substantial. If no sideboard is desired, a corner china cabi- net may take its place. A molding around the wall on which to place ornamental plates adds greatly to the attractiveness of the dining room. 33 The New Century Home Book Avoid heavy furniture in bedrooms. Let the bedstead be of metal or light wood that can be easily moved about when the bed is being made or the room cleaned. Bureaus, dressing tables, and washstands should also be light and easy to move. Give at least as much thought to the furnish- ing of your kitchen as to your parlor. Do not sacrifice the kitchen to lavish money in the drawing room. Let all your kitchen utensils be the best you can afford to buy. A good cook wants good utensils as well as good materials. "The best is the cheapest" is especially true in the kitchen. Let the floor be covered with oil- cloth or linoleum. Flimsy tables and chairs are out of place in the kitchen. A good clock is a necessity for the cook. Hang pictures in every room. Nothing does so much toward furnishing the home. A room without pictures is almost like a room without a window. Blank walls are melancholy. It is not necessary to have expensive pictures. Cheap pictures are not always poor. If you doubt your own judgment in selecting pictures 84 The New Century Home Book and have no one to whom you can appeal for aid, purchase copies of famous paintings, etch- ings, and engravings. These are almost cer- tain to be good. Visit an art gallery and note how the different kinds of pictures are framed and how they are hung. It will help you in artistically arranging your own. Do not fill your rooms with a profusion of bric-a-brac. Be chary of cheap and common ware in bric-a-brac. Two or three pieces of fine ware will do more to give beauty to a room than a score of trashy articles crowded upon table or mantel. One or two large vases are better than a dozen small ones. One handsome clock that keeps good time is better than two or three in the same room. Potted plants and flowers are great aids in the artistic furnishing of the home. Of these, as of bric-a-brac, the quantity should not be too large. Put one or two growing plants in your kitchen. If you keep a servant, the plants will aid you to solve the troublesome "help prob- lem." If you do your own cooking, you can do it better with cheerful surroundings. 85 The New Century Home Book Where closets are scarce, as often in small houses and apartments, a box window seat or corner seat may be made a substitute. A box couch in the dining room may serve for a table linen chest; in the library newspapers and magazines may be stowed away in it; and in the bedroom it may be used as a chest for dresses or lingerie. A shelf placed at a con- venient height and hung with a curtain may have hooks fastened to the under side for dresses. Let the shelf be enameled, and put books or photographs upon it. The housewife who is striving to make her home beautiful should not be forgetful of her- self. No matter how beautiful her home may be, if she neglects her own appearance, her labor will have been in vain. She is out of har- mony with the artistic surroundings she has created. She destroys the picture. It has been well said that "woman should be herself the noblest ornament of the ornamented dwelling." 86 The New Century Home Book flDecbanic6 in tbe Ibome T^O be "handy" with the hammer and saw^ plane and chisel, and the common tools of carpentry, is an accomplishment both pleas- ant and valuable. It is especially useful for women. The housewife who can drive a nai], saw a board, and use a screw-driver without calling in a carpenter can do much toward beautifying her home without expense. She can add greatly to her own pleasures and to the enjoyment of those around her. There is economy as well as independence in knowing how to use ordinary tools. If a caster drops off a bureau or table, it will cost nothing to replace it if you know how. It will be ex- pensive if you must depend upon a carpenter. A nail rightly driven will save a loosened shelf from falling, yet how many women must call for help to drive a nail. A little glue properly applied will keep chairs and other articles from becoming rickety and falling to pieces, but very 87 The New Century Home Book many women — and men — must pay a furniture dealer to put on the glue. And so on, in a thousand and one ways, the knowledge of how to use common tools at home will save money and temper. Keep a tool chest in the home. The more complete the assortment of implements the bet- ter, but hammer, saw, chisel, screw-driver, plane, rule, and carpenter's square should be always on hand. Let the children learn to use the tools. Let them begin carh' — as soon as they are old enough to handle the tools without danger of cutting or otherwise injuring themselves. Do not confine the tool chest to your boys. Why should a girl not be as well able to drive a nail as her brother? Besides its usefulness in keeping in repair and good order the things one has at home, the * knowledge of using common tools will enable one to make a host of articles both useful and ornamental for the home. The making of . these things will profitably fill up many an } otherwise idle hour for young and old alike. I 88 I The New Century Home Book There is a cottage home in New England every room of which has been largely furnished by the handiwork of a daughter who has learned to use tools, and at a cost almost too small to be reckoned. Her materials were boxes, barrels, and pieces of pine boards. Some of the contents of this cottage may serve as examples of what can be made with a few tools at home. Two shoe boxes make an excellent window seat. They are placed end to end and nailed together. The tops of the boxes are hinged to the backs, making a covered chest with two compartments. Over the top excelsior is spread and covered with colored cloth, tightly stretched and securely fastened at the edges with fancy headed tacks. The front and ends are covered with the same cloth as the top. Sofa pillows help to make the window seat a useful and ornamental piece of furniture. Out of two other shoe boxes has been made a bookcase for the library. One, standing on end, is fastened to the other, which lies on its side. A piece of board sawn to slip easily inside the 89 The New Century Home Book second box rests on cleats of thin strips of wood fastened to the ends of the box and serves as a bookshelf. The upright box has two such shelves. Homemade curtains hang from slen- der rods fastened at the top of each box. The sides and tops of the boxes are painted with enamel paint, and the finished bookcase rests on small roller casters. Fastened to the wall in the bathroom is a medicine cabinet made out of a box in which a grocer had received canned goods. The cover is hinged to one side, making it a door, and it is kept in place by a little snap lock. Shelves fastened to cleats inside hold different sizes of medicine bottles and increase its capacity. The cabinet is painted to harmonize with the wall covering. In a small room, in which space is very limited, is a wall writing desk which takes up no room when not in use. Two strips of pine wood, each two inches by three feet, are, fastened to the wall upright, parallel, and about three feet apart. Across the tops of these are three shelves, five inches wide, supported 90 The New Centtiry Home Book on brackets. Between the upper two shelves thin pieces of wood are glued for partitions, making handy pigeonholes. About four inches from the lower ends of the parallel strips, and reaching from one to the other, is firmly screwed to the wall a strip of wood about two inches wide. To this strip is hinged a shelf of boards wide enough to just reach to the lower shelf at the top of the parallels. On each end of this hinged shelf is fastened a small brass chain, the other end of which is fastened to the upright at the top. These chains allow the hinged shelf to drop down like the top of a regular writing desk, and it is ready for use. When not in use it is turned up and caught with a snap lock to the shelf above. The strip to which the wide shelf is hinged serves as a holder for the inkstand, pens, etc. A cabinet for bric-a-brac and a clock rest is made from a box twenty-four inches long, eight inches wide, and six inches deep. The box, painted the color of the woodwork of the room, rests on its side on two brackets firmly fastened to the wall. Hinged to the top in the center is 91 The New Century Home Book a small framed mirror, which reaches to the bottom of the cabinet. On either side of this mirror the bric-a-brac is arranged, and on top of the cabinet a clock is placed. From the boards of a good-sized dry goods box a china closet has been made for the dining room. It is about three feet high, a little less in width, and five inches deep. Shelves are placed at convenient intervals, fastened to cleats on the sides, and hooks are screwed to the bottoms of the shelves, on which teacups are hung. This closet has glass doors hinged to the sides, but curtains could easily be arranged to take the place of the doors. In the family sitting room is a most com- fortable armchair evolved from a sugar barrel. About one third of the staves were sawn through at the right height for the seat and re- moved. On each side of the space thus made two staves were sawn at the right height for side arms and removed. This left a wide curved back the height of the barrel. The head of the barrel, made stronger by crosspieces nailed on the under side, was then hinged to 92 The New Century Home Book the back and became the seat of the armchair, and at the same time the top of a handy book or newspaper box. A cushion covered with strong cloth was placed upon the seat. The sides and inside of the back were covered with excelsior, and then the whole barrel, inside and out, cov- ered with figured cloth. From two flour barrels has been made a most comfortable tete-d-tete. Each barrel was first cut down and prepared as for a single chair, except that no arms were provided. Three staves on the left side of each were sawn at a height a little above that for an ordinary arm. The barrels were then placed beside and facing each other so that the sawn staves met, and these were fastened together with strips of molding. The barrels were also nailed together below the seats. Cushions and chair pillows made the tete-d-tete complete. Another barrel serves as a clothes hamper. The top, cleated together, is fastened to the barrel with a hinge, so that it becomes a cover. The barrel is lined inside with unbleached mus- lin secured by tacks, while the outside is cov- 93 The New Century Home Book ered ^^LIXk dotii oi a dark color, mmed over the edges at each end of the barrel and well fas- tened with tacks. These examples will suggest many other arti- cles for the adonmient of the home that may be i!i2de with boxes and barrels. Indeed, the field ::7 :he exercise of one's ingenuity in this ic^f-^rct is practic-ally nnlimited. Beautiful screens, c-abinets. music racks, and the like c-an be made with bamboo, which can be bought for little money. Picture frames c-an be made at home from moldings which c<^ a mere frac- tion of what the dealer charges for the frame. Wood c-arving is a c-apital pastime and a use- ful octfupaiion for a boy on rainy days when out of schooL The nec-essary tools are not very expensiTe, and after one or two lessons from s^TTue ~::e who understands the art the boy will ^yjn leam to make many pretty things for the home. A small scroll saw will greatly aid the diildren in becoming independent of the car- penters help in making the more ambitious articles of furniture. 94 The New Century Home Book iSuilMng a "borne T^HEEE is an old saying that if yon want a house it is better to buy than to build- It is a mistaken notion- The true idea is that it is better to buy a good house than to build a poor one. If you start right in building a house, you will rarely fail to come out with a home as nearly what you want as it can be made, and one infinitely more satisfactory than anv house c-ould be in the planning and build- ing of which you had no share. But you must start right. Xever undertake to build a house without the aid of a com- petent architect. It is presumptuous to sup- pose YOU can do as well with only your own unaided judgment as with the help of one who has studied and been trained in architectoie. You will, of course, have your own very definite ideas of what you want your home to be, and the architect will be directly guided by these in drawing his plans, but for aU the multitu- 95 The New Century Home Book dinous details in putting your ideas into effect 3'ou should rely upon the architect. The car- penter and builder who combines architectural ability with skill in his trade is so rare that you need not count upon finding him in your lo- cality. Almost the first thought in building a suc- cessful house is that it shall be in entire har- mony with its surroundings. It may be com- plete and perfect in every feature of its interior and yet, through some unfortunate incon- gruity with its environment, prove unsatisfac- tory and disappointing. The skilled architect will study every feature of the landscape and the grounds surrounding the house, and will plan outline and general exterior finish and appearance to be in exact accord with the land- scape. The cottage or mansion on the seashore wliich seems to you the most beautiful you have ever seen would very likely appear common- place or positively ugly in an interior valley or on a mountain slope. The dwelling that pleases the eye when seen nestled in the shade 96 The New Century Home Book of a forest or on the sloping bank of a winding river would probably be almost offensive in its incongruity if built along an ocean driveway. Having decided to build a house and selected your site, give to the architect your general ideas and the limit of cost you can meet. When he has worked out the details, go over with him every item in the plans. Have each detail thoroughly understood, and satisfy your- self that it is the best. Then stand by the plans. Put aside every temptation to make changes in the arrangements of rooms, halls, closets, windows, or anything else in the house. It is costly to make such changes after the work of building has begun, and the probability is that you will be no better satisfied after the " house is finished than you would have been with the original arrangement. Be chary of running to extremes in seeking for novelties in the exterior of your house. • An odd feature may be attractive at first, but it is very apt to prove unsuitable, and the chances are you will tire of it when to remove or alter it will be expensive and troublesome. (7) 97 The New Century Home Book It is better to be conventional in the general outlines than to go too far in an effort to have yonr house different from any other. It does not follow that no novelty should be permitted. Indeed, you will hardly want your house to be just like your neighbors' dwell- ings, whether in city or village. You can easily avoid this without adopting a grotesque design or strange ornamentation. In doing this you will escape the error in taste of making your home too conspicuous. There is a becoming modesty in the appearance of a dwelling quite as much as in the dress of a woman. It costs no more to have your home beauti- ful, both in exterior and interior, than to have it ugly. Indeed, the house that has been made liomely by "freak" features and too much and too pretentious ornamentation has generally cost more than the house that earns admiration for the artistic taste and effectiveness of its simple outlines. It is not the money spent upon a house that makes it a success. It is the cunning grouping of design, material, and sur- roundings into one harmonious picture. Far 98 The New Century Home Book too often the money spent in seeking to make a house handsome is worse than wasted in ornamentation which spoils the beauty of a really good design. The architect should be an artist as well as a designer. If your house is meant to be a real home rather than a mere residence, see that it is sub- stantially built. Perhaps the greatest fault of the American home builder of to-day is the failure to give any thought to those who are to come after him, and his consequent neglect to erect such a home as his children will long to retain. The home "built to last" is a distinct gain to any community. Nothing does more to enrich and build up communities than the love and attachment for the locality of men and women whose early homes were there and who look upon the old homesteads as the most val- ued of all their possessions. Remember this when you build your house, and do your share toward developing the attachment to locality which is too often missing in the American character. In the purely commercial view, it pays to l.afC. ^^ The New Century Home Book build substantial houses. It is a poor invest- ment to put poor material and poor workman- ship into a house. If you should desire to sell the property at any time, you will find it hard to get a return of the original cost, or you will have to be content with a smaller increase in value than neighboring but better built prop- erty shows. If you retain the house, the cost of constant repairs made necessary by its poor construction will prove a heavy burden and ver}^ soon reach beyond the money it would have cost to have built in a substantial way. The better built the house the less fuel it will take to heat it in winter and the cooler it will be in summer. Do not forget, however, that the very best constructed dwelling cannot be long neglected without falling into bad condition. The wear and tear a house suffers from the elements and its occupants never ceases a moment, and every house must have constant care if it is to be kept in prime condition. Watch the little de- fects as they appear. If you promptly cure them, the expense will be little or nothing, and 100 The New Century Home Book you will rarely have any big trouble to meet in the house. Advise with 3^our architect and the builder, and have the interior finish of your house the best that you can afford. Let the same fear of too much ornamentation govern your ideas of the interior as of the exterior. Let the ma- terials be of the best, and bear in mind that simplicity of detail usually gives the truest artistic effects. Reject promptly any proposed oddity the sole purpose of which is to make a show. If you let freak features into your house, you will likely soon tire of them. If you decide to sell the house, you must find a pur- chaser of exactly your own taste in such mat- ters, or, perhaps, be unable to dispose of the property at as good a price as if the undesirable oddity were absent. In planning the interior of your house study well the requirements of your family and try to meet them to the greatest possible extent in the arrangement of rooms, closets, etc. Seek the best arrangement to reduce to a minimum the labor of the housekeeper. Avoid such an 101 The New Century Home Book arrangement as will require the housewife to run up and down stairs many times a day in conducting the ordinary duties of the house- hold. Let the kitchen and dining room be so located with reference to each other that meals may be conveniently served and unnecessary steps avoided. A small mistake of judgment in matters of this sort will often add serious burdens to the home life of wife and mother. Pay particular attention to your cellar. A vast amount of illness has been caused by im- properly built cellars, and by improper care of those properly built. Your cellar must, first of all, be dry. Insist upon every precaution being taken by the builder to insure dryness. Then see that the cellar has full and free ventilation. If it has windows, let them be so placed that they will admit good, fresh air. If it is windowless, let holes be made in the walls for ventilation. Fit them with gratings to keep out rats, cats, and other animals. If your house has no cellar, let ventilation holes be cut in the foundation walls, so that foul air cannot accumulate under the ground floor. 102 The New Century Home Book Arrange coal and other fuel bins so that the fuel can be put in with the least necessary labor and time. If the floor is concreted, have a chopping block set in the concrete near the wood bin. You will find it a convenience worth having in splitting kindling wood. If the house is heated by a furnace or hot- water stove in the cellar, build your vegetable and fruit storage bins, shelves, and closets so that their contents may not be harmed by the heat. It is absurd to put away winter supplies where they will be spoiled by their surround- ings; yet this is a mistake many householders make. Be careful whence the furnace draws its sup- ply of air. Do not let it be taken from the dark cellar. See that the intake pipe com- municates directly with the outside air. Whether your house is to have running water or not, it should have a bath and toilet room on an upper floor. If there is no running water, pipes may be laid connecting it with a well, and the water drawn by a pump in the bath- room; or the supply may come from a tank on 103 The New Century Home Book the roof or in the attic, to which the water is pumped. Outside of the sanitary advantages of the bathroom, every housewife will appre- ciate the convenience and saving of labor in having a water supply above the basement or ground floor. Finish the walls of the bath- room with tiles or some other material that can be thoroughly washed without harm. It is well to have washable walls also in the kitchen and all closets. A room on the first floor which can be used on occasion as a bedroom is not -found in the majority of houses, but it is desirable in all. Such a room will often be found a great con- venience in the case of sudden illness in the family, or when an invalid or an aged person who would find going upstairs a task is a guest. This room may be furnished with a folding bed, and when not occupied as a bedroom it can be used as a sewing or sitting room or study room for the children. The advantages of having a room which can be easily isolated from the rest of the house in case of the appearance of a contagious disease 104 The New Century Home Book are so great that you should provide for such a room in planning your home. This room should be in the upper part of the house, with a southern exposure, if possible. It should be well lighted, but the windows should have dark shades, so that sunlight can be shut out at need. Special care should be taken to have the room well ventilated. This "hospital room" should be provided with hot and cold water facilities, if you can do so, and a bath and toilet room should be con- venient. In whatever way the house is heated the room should have a fireplace and grate. A grate fire is often the most desirable for heat- ing a sick room, and it is a very important fac- tor in proper ventilation. It goes without saying that the "hospital room" need not be reserved exclusively for use in cases of contagious or other diseases. It ought to be one of the most bright and cheer- ful rooms in your home — too pleasant to be kept unused most of the time, or, if you are fortunate, all of the time. But it should be so arranged and furnished that it can be quickly 105 Gnuk^onrei into a "bo^it^ room" when the Bnld all bedroomiS 25 lirr^ ai tie size oi Toor boose win t^tth:" _ .".t evils i -,"'~i~r :_- 1_ -" - ^ : " ■ :.z.r > _„ \ : rxym Lu,aII 10 : - - - 17 - ~:_=. Abofc a - :: - - ^. tibere ^ 1 ^^L rT-rv dST. =o c-oiL=: -1.^: i—tr i^xjifalk of a ~'~ ~ waUmi^ "-'ir abate or hb Toic^ .- ^1 adfoimii. '"- plaiulT heaicL The ei- tai eost "linst ttds ia ir ■ — :-- eant, ^':l„t "::i«fit ar tioB - ' 1" y . ...... . : re- Th-c New Century Home Book ceive more careful attention than the plumb- ing. Xo matter how anxiously j-ou may ha^e to count ever}' doUar your home ooBts, do not "scrimp*' in the plumbing work. '^The best is the cheapest" applies to nothing more truly than to the sanitary appliances of your home. Do not let dollars count as against the health of your family. Xo fanuly h safe if its home is contaminated with bad air from sewer or waste pipe. One imperfect joint, one improperly placed trap, one minute defect in a small pipe, may bring illness to every member of the household. Sewer gas is a most insidious enemy. It is silent, persistent, and deadly. Its mischief is often wrought before its presence is suspected. Perfect plumbing is the one only way to ward off its attacks. Insist upon having the best material in aU your plumbing arrangements, and that every appliance used be of the latest and most ap- proved pattern. These will be of no value, however, without good workmanship. See to it that no part of the work of installing pipes 107 The New Century Home Book and fixtures is slighted. Let the pipes be ar- ranged, as far as the plan of the house will permit, so that they can be easily reached when repairs are necessary. It is a wise precaution to have all the plumbing tested at least once a year. Eats and mice, the "settling" of the house, or even the shaking it may receive from a severe gale may affect the pipes, and the slightest defect should be attended to at once. The great care given to the plumbing for the sake of health should be repeated in the case of all chimneys and heating flues for the sake of safety from fire. It is foolish to build a beautiful and costly home and then put into it cheap and defective flues, which need only the opportunity — sure to come — to destroy the whole building. It has been charged against Americans that they spend more money than any other nation in building and get less satisfactory results, be- cause they allow "show" to stand in front of usefulness. When you build your home try to prove the undeservedncss of this charge. 108 The New Century Home Book What has been said of the building of a home applies to the home on the farm as well as to the house in village or city. On the farm more than elsewhere must the architect pay close at- tention to the surroundings and landscape. The requirements of no two farmhouses are alike. The farmer must determine for himself what he and his family need in their new home, and then rely upon the architect to help him most nearly realize his ideas. The water supply on a farm is an important factor in determining the site of the house. Springs, ponds, creeks, and running streams may largely decide the site. The modern wind- mill, driven well, and water tower, however, have given the farmer a wider field for selec- tion, for with their aid the farmhouse may be built on much higher ground than would other- wise be the case. The windmill, too, enables the progressive farmer to have running water in his home and to pipe it to the barn and dairy. 109 The New Century Home Book asuilbing anb %om Heeociationa T"HE opening of the new century finds build- ing and loan associations a highly im- portant factor in the building of American liomes. These organizations arc known in some States as savings and h)an associations, and in Massachusetts they arc called coopera- tive banks. They have been comprehensively defined as "an outgrowth of tlie combined ef- forts of many independent individuals pos- sessed of limited powers of production, but large opportunities to make those powers avail- able, to gather into a common fund the surplus product of each individual's labor — not for the purpose of using this common fund as a lover for greater industrial advantage to the com- bination, but as a source of supply for a higher form of individual life to each member in turn, by providing for him and his family a home in which greater comfort might contribute to a more exalted type of civilization." 110 Illustrations on this page are of Cottages erected in the vicinity of New York City on the Co-operative Plan. The New Century Home Book While the first known association of the kind was organized in Frankford, Pa., near Phila- delphia, in 1831, the real growth and exten- sion of the system has been almost wholly in recent years. By far the larger number of as- sociations now in existence are less than two decades old. How rapid and wonderful their growth has been is shown by the fact that the number in operation in 1900 was 5,485, with an aggregate membership of 1,512,685. These had assets reaching the enormous total of $581,866,170. Exactly how many homes have been built by the aid of these organizations cannot be told. The most reliable estimates, made by officers of the United States League of Local Building and Loan Associations, place the number at 661,325 in the eighteen years from 1883 to 1900, both inclusive. If each of these homes should be allowed a ground frontage of thirty feet, and all were placed side by side in a line, the great row of dwellings would extend from Bangor, Me., to San Francisco, Cal., and one hundred and fifty-four miles on toward Hawaii. These IIX The New Century Home Book figures take no account of the so-called "na- tional" associations, which are not regarded as true home builders, and, indeed, are repudiated by most of the local associations. It is a conservative estimate that ninety per cent of these homes would not have been built without the help of the building and loan asso- ciations. In this fact lies the secret of their great value to the nation. Every new home es- tablished adds something to the material and the moral welfare of the community and the nation. More than half a million new homes in less than twenty years mean an advance in the well-being of, at the very least, three mil- lion men, women, and children, thus adding to their value to the state both in increasing its wealth and in tending to make them better citizens. Cooperation is the foundation principle of all building and loan associations. If you can save from your earnings, say, two dollars a month, you can do practically nothing with your savings for several years, for the sum will be too small to permit of safe investment or to 112 The New Century Home Book make the "first payment" usually required in such a transaction as the purchase of a lot or a house. If ninety-nine other persons each able to save two dollars a month join you in doing so, and all put their savings into a common fund, you will have from the first month a sum large enough to be put to a remunerative use, and by dividing the profits each member will receive a return from his savings, which alone would have had no earning power. Suppose that the wage-earners joining the fund agree that it shall be divided and the transaction closed when each member's share shall have reached two hundred dollars. On the face of things this would be at the end of one hundred months, but the money paid in from month to month has been so invested or loaned that it has been earning interest. This interest, added to the principal as it accumu- lates, brings each member's share up to two hundred dollars before he has paid in that amount. This may be at the end of seventy- five months, in which case the member has paid in one hundred and fifty dollars and receives (8) 113 The New Century Home Book two hundred dollars. It is obvious that no bet- ter use for small savings could be found, nor a greater incentive to make such savings. If the members of such a fund as that described decide to limit the investment of the funds to loans to members only, to be used only for the purchase or building of homes, they have by that decision become a building and loan association. Suppose you are a member of a building and loan association and desire to purchase a house, which you can do by making a first payment in cash. You borrow this money from the asso- ciation at an agreed rate of interest, giving a mortgage on the house as security. Both for the protection of the fund and in the interest of the borrower, who might be tempted to as- sume too great responsibilities, the amount you may borrow is limited by the association to the par value of your shares in the fund. If you hold but one share, for example, you may bor- row only two hundred dollars. If you are pay- ing five shares into the fund, you may borrow a thousand dollars, and so on. 114 The New Century Home Book Having borrowed from the association, you must now add to the monthly shares paid in the interest on the loan, but as this is paid each month the sum is very small and can hardly be felt as a burden. Besides, as this interest helps to shorten the time in which the shares of the association will mature — reach their par value — for distribution, you will ultimately get back your share of it. When the shares mature the association will owe you the amount of their face value, while you will owe the association the same amount which you have borrowed. The accounts thus offset each other and are "squared" simply by canceling the mortgage. When, with the money borrowed from the association, you make the first payment on your house, you obtain immediate possession of the home. Thereafter the amount you have paid for rent is laid aside from your earnings just as before, but instead of going for rent it is used for paying the balance due on the house, and in due season you have your home clear of all incumbrance. Thus with the aid of the building and loan association you have been 115 The New Century Home Book able to purchase a home with savings so small that you would otherwise have had to wait for years for them to accumulate. At the same time you have paid virtually no more than rent, so that the burden has not been heavy to carry. This is the operation of a building and loan association in its simplest form. In the devel- opment of these associations it was soon found that more than one member desired to borrow the funds the society had to loan. To meet this difficulty the system of premiums was adopted. Members desiring to borrow offered lump sums for the loan, in addition to the regular interest, and the one bidding the highest sum gained the loan. The premiums thus obtained swelled the profit account. Fines collected from members who failed to make payments of shares when due went into the general fund, while another source of profit was found in retaining a part of the interest earned by the shares of members who withdrew before their shares matured. It is evident that the usefulness of building and loan associations depends very largely upon 116 The New Century Home Book the welfare of the industrial classes. Upon this, indeed, their very existence depends. That they are seriously affected by industrial depression has been fully shown in recent years, when every period of business depression has been marked by a falling off in number and membership of associations and the number of homes established by their aid. In this lies one of the dangers in the way of these associations. Sharp competition among associations in order to show steady growth in spite of "hard times" is a dangerous thing. There is the temptation to overvalue land or houses upon which loans are made. Many as- sociations regard the loaning of funds on un- improved lands as so dangerous that they for- bid it. The primary object of the first building and loan associations was not to make money, but to provide homes for their members. The fact that in practice they did earn money by the saving of rents, and thus paid a profit to those members who did not establish homes, gave rise to another danger to all associations — the 117 The New Century Home Book organization of associations purely for money making instead of home making. Such organi- zations as these are constantly taking large risks in investments in the hope of getting large returns, which is the only inducement they can hold out for membership. When one of these associations is wrecked by the failure of some investment legitimate home building associations are injured in the public mind and affected by the loss of confidence of those who have confused the two classes of organizations. The safety of building and loan associations is in conservatism. The successful association is the one that makes the establishment of liomes for its members its first consideration, and that discourages the membership of per- sons who put in their savings only for profit. In several States these associations and their members are guarded and protected by the laws. This should bo the ease in every State. They should be safeguarded by State super- vision, as are savings banks, for, like the banks, they are designed to make the best use of the savings of the people for the people. 118 The New Century Home Book 2)rc66 in tbe Ibomc /^ NE of the greatest mistakes you can make in the home life is to dress beyond your means. You cannot dress too neatly or too carefully, but the moment you undertake to go beyond your purse you open the door to an end- less i^lague of evils. The very first lesson to learn in dressing is to keep within your means. In obeying this suggestion do not go to the other extreme. Do not dress meanly. Dress as well as your means will allow. Good cloth- ing is a powerful incentive to right living. A neat, clean, becoming costume will go a great way toward influencing its wearer to be clean, neat, and well-behaved. In selecting a wardrobe a woman of moder- ate means should never forget that the truest economy lies in purchasing only good mate- rials. Never put shoddy stuff into a garment. Goods that are cheap because of poor quality are dear when put into a dress which you can- 119 The New Century Home Book not afford to throw away after wearing only a few times. If your wardrobe must be limited, let its contents be of the best quality you can buy. It is easy and not one cent more expensive to dress becomingly. Colors and styles in har- mony witli your complexion and figure cost no more than others which might make a perfect fitting dress far from satisfactory. If, for ex- ample, you have a sallow complexion, your dresses should be of rich, bright colors, while if you have a blonde complexion, such colors as deep pink, yellow, red, and i)urple should be avoided. If you are short, you should wear plain skirts ; while if you are tall, the skirts may be profusely trimmed with becoming effects. If you are stout, narrow-striped goods will be more becoming than wide stripes or large figures. If you are thin, tightly fitting tailor- made dresses, stripes, and dark colors will make you appear still thinner. When buying mate- rials and making a dress always keep in view your figure and complexion, no matter what sort of a costume you are preparing. A good 120 The New Centory Home Book (Ircssnuikor looks at your face and figure first of all. • Age must also bo considered. Nothing is more absurd than for an elderly woman to dress like a young girl. It is an equally bad mistake for a young woman to dress like a grandmother. The more limited your wardrobe the more advantageous you will find a black dress. Black can be worn in all seasons and on all occasions. With care in selecting proper accessories — col- lars, bows, belts, and the like — one black dress, if of good material, can be used for church, l)arties, traveling, or visiting, and it is always ready for any sudden emergency. A black dress, too, lends itself better than one of an- other color to the "making over" so necessary in the wardrobe of the woman of limited means. All dresses — and especially those for evening wear — should be kept hanging in costume bags. The bag should be of stout muslin and large enough to hold the dress without crushing it. The sleeves should be stuffed with tissue paper, and all bows and laces covered with this paper. 121 The New Century Home Book Bodices should be kept in dust-proof boxes which will hold them without folding. Use colored tissue paper in covering laces, etc., be- cause white paper so used will often cause white goods to turn yellow. In packing away clothing for the summer be sure that each piece is well cleaned. Moths delight in dirty spots. Dresses should be hung for some time in the sun. Then the dirt, if any, on the bottoms of the skirts should be brushed off and the garments thoroughly shaken or brushed. Take pains in folding to have the dress smooth and folded straight. Between each fold sprinkle powdered camphor or some oilier moth preventive. The dress should be wrapped first in paper and then in a muslin bag and laid away in box or trunk. Furs should be well dusted and ])rushed, carefully folded and wrapped in cotton cloth with moth preventive. Additional security from moths will be gained by covering the furs with paper before they are wrapped in the cotton. If you possess a cedar chest in which to keep 122 The New Century Home Book your clothing, you need have no fear of moths, provided your clothing has been thoroughly shaken and brushed before it is laid away. Moths will not go through paper, and a box or trunk carefully lined with paper will be proof against these pests. If each article in the box is wrapped in paper 3^ou have made assurance doubly sure. Men's clothing will last longer and better preserve its shape and fit if it is kept folded instead of hanging. Coat, waistcoat, and trousers should be well shaken, brushed, and folded as soon as taken off. To fold a coat, spread it out flat, lining down, and turn up the sleeves so that the ends are even with the coat collar. Fold the revers over the sleeves, and then fold the whole gar- ment lengthwise, turning at the middle seam. If shelf or drawer is long enough, do not fold the tails of the coat. The waistcoat is folded once, lengthwise, with the lining out. Trousers should be folded by bringing together the waist buttons in front, which will bring the legs one over the other at the right turn for the crease. 123 The New Century Home Book Trousers may be doubled over once if necessary, but it is better to lay them away with a single fold. When men's clothing is to be put away for the season see that it is carefully aired, cleaned, and brushed, as in the case of women's dresses. Fold each piece as already directed, sprinkle with moth preventive, and wrap in paper. When you are going to have a dressmaker at home you should have everything in readiness before her arrival. See that the sewing ma^ chine is in first-class order, needles at hand of tlie right size for the dress goods to be used, and all the articles needed for the dress pro- vided. You ought not to have to go to the store for thread, buttons, linings, or anything of that sort after the dressmaker has begun her work. 124 The New Century Home Book Sewing in tbe Ibome ORTUNATE it is that the new century opens with scarcely a trace left of the once prevalent idea that sewing is an art which can safely be neglected in the home. The advent F AN OCCASIONAL BACKSTITCH. of the sewing machine was undoubtedly at the root of this notion. With the sewing machine came such wonderfully increased facilities for supplying the family with clothing, and all other articles in the making of which thread and needles are factors, that it was easy to let go the home sewing and to let the children grow up without the knowledge of the needle so necessary in the lives of their grandparents. That to do this was a mistake has happily been 125 The New Century Home Book realized, and a mother may now train her daughter to be a good seamstress without fear of sneer or criticism from even the most friv- olous of the devotees of the tyrant Fashion. The advantages of knowing how to sew hard- ly need to be mentioned. They are obvious. Time, trouble, and money are saved by the per- BUNNING. son who can use thread and needle. Petty an- noyances like rips and tears and loss of buttons have little place in such a person's life, which is made easier and more pleasant in a host of ways by the ability to sew. Teach, therefore, your children to sew. Let your boys be included in the instruction, at least up to a certain point. In every boy's ex- perience there are times when to be able to sew on a button, darn a stocking, or mend a torn garment will save him a deal of inconvenience 126 The New Century Home Book or annoying embarrassment. Teach your boy to do these things. If his knowledge extends to sewing on a patch, it will not harm him. No man whose mother taught him how to sew ever regretted his knowledge or failed to be thankful for his mother's thoughtfulness. Miss Emma M. Hooper, in an article copy- OVERCASTINO A SEAM. righted by the Curtis Publishing Company, and reproduced, with the accompanying illus- trations, by courtesy of the Ladies' Home Jour- nal, says : "The dainty finish of hand sewing on a gar- ment marks its owner as a person of refinement. All cannot learn to sew equally well; all may learn if they have the will to do so. Have a workbasket, no matter how plain it may be, as a receptacle for spools of thread and silk, thimble, large cutting scissors, and a small, 127 The New Century Home Book pointed pair for ripping; a measuring tape, piece of beeswax, needles of various sizes, a little muslin bag for buttons, and a second one for hooks and eyes off of the cards. Linen, cot- ton, and silk threads all have their use; so do twist and the cheap basting cotton, which need never be very coarse. For sewing on buttons, BASTINO. hook and eyes, etc., twenty to forty thread is generally used, while fifty to eighty are the most used numbers on sewing machines. "Select a needle according to the fabric to be sewed, and err on the side of fineness. Thread the needle with the end of the cotton or silk coming first from the spool. Make a small knot at the end of the thread, which should be about a yard in length. Sewing a seam is the first thing taught and requires backstitch- ing, running, or overcasting. The latter is 128 The New Century Home Book used with two selvedge edges, which should be basted evenly, using inch-long stitches with an equal space between. Then hold the work with the left hand and oversew the edges, going but two or three threads below the edge and insert- ing the needle diagonally, pointing to the left, with the stitches close, but not touching over FELLING A SEAM. the top. Backstitching is one stitch forward and the next one back, so as to form a continual row of neat and even stitches. "Running is done evenly by counting the threads, as a stitch of five over the needle, then five under, and so on, with an occasional back- stitch to keep the seam firmly in place. "Felling is hemming down an edge after seaming two edges together, leaving one above the other. Turn this down narrowly, pressing it with the fingers, and then give a second (9) 129 The New Century Home Book turning, which should be basted down. Finish by hemming the edge. Facing is done by sew- ing a strip along an edge, turning it up and hemming down the remaining edge. To bind with a braid, the two edges of the latter are placed one on either side of the article to be A FUENCU HEM. bound, basted, and then backstitched carefully in position. "To make a hem necessitates two turnings, as a raw edge is not hemmed. To measure a hem or tuck, take a piece of cardboard and mark off the correct width; by placing this against the material and marking the latter with a pin the correct turning is easily given. When the hem is basted place the needle in the single fabric at the doubled edge so that it takes a diagonal slant to the left and upward, coming out just above the doubled edge; then 130 The New Century Home Book repeat, putting the needle a trifle in advance and beneath where it came out, thus leaving diagonal stitches on each side of the sewing. A French hem is done by turning and basting the entire hem as usual, and then turning back this hem to the right side of the work and hem- ming as usual. A PLAIN DEM. "A rolled hem is usually found on ruffles. The edge is rolled between the left thumb and forefinger until the raw edge is completely hid- den, and then hemmed. "Even gathers show a running stitch of the same size on both sides of the work as for nar- row ruffling; the back of a skirt, though, will be gathered with the upper stitch twice as long as the under stitch. All gathers should have two rows of gathering threads, as this makes them set more evenly whether they are an inch 131 The New Century Home Book or a sixteenth of an inch apart; in each row the stitches must be the same in position and size. To guage or stroke gathers, pull all of the fabric gathered up on the thread in a small space and fasten the thread over a pin; hold these firmly with the left hand and stroke down lightly the material beneath each stitch with a BLIND STITCHING. needle. This gives a beautiful evenness, as each stitch is stroked and moved along until done, when the thread is loosened and the gathers stitched in place. "Shirring is simply several rows of gather- ing which are confined to a narrow space. "Puffing is formed by gathering and then sewing the lower row close up to the upper one, so as to form a puff between. In puffs and gathered ruffles made of thin materials a length once and a half as long as the space to be cov- 132 The New Century Home Book ered is allowed, while for silk or a heavier fabric once and a third is sufficient. Both of these quantities ma}^ be applied to lace, and it is commonly known that a bias-cut ruffle, puff, or flounce of any kind sets better when gath- ered than a straight one, neither does it take as much material. GATHERING. "To whip on lace, basting is not necessary, as it will be well to have the slight fullness arising from holding the lace toward you. The whipping is simply overcasting the edge of the hem and the lace together. "Cording is a bias strip with a soft cord along the center held by basting stitches until applied as a finish, when the close stitching is done close up to the cord. Piping is done in the same way, leaving the cord out. "On woolen goods use letter D silk twist for 133 The New Century Home Book working buttonholes, and numbers forty or fifty thread on muslin, and sixty or even finer on thin cotton materials. Do not cut a button- hole close to the edge; between a quarter and an eighth of an inch is the usual allowance of material between the end of the buttonhole and the edge of the fabric. Unless you are a SEWING ON GATHERS. practiced cutter you can hardly make a hole straight 'without the regular buttonhole scis- sors. Cut a hole that is a tight fit for the but- tons, as working enlarges it. After cutting run a fine cotton thread all around the hole to keep it in shape, and in working take the stitches from you. Commence at one end, and let each stitch touch. Put the needle in the wrong side and bring it out on the right side a sixteenth of an inch below the edge of the hole; as the thread is drawn up put the needle back in the 134 The New Century Home Book loop, which gives the buttonhole edge a durable and ornamental finish. As the ends are rounded spread the stitches a trifle, and when done rub with a thimble on the wrong side to flatten the work. SHIRRING. "Eyelets are worked in shirts, shirt-waists, evening bodices when laced in the back, etc., and are made like a buttonhole, except that they are round. Anyone able to embroider should make nice, even buttonholes, yet few women turn out really perfect examples. Ex- perience and patience will accomplish much, and I advise working one each day until a per- fect buttonhole is made. 135 The New Century Home Book "The stitches variously known as herring- bone, feather, rail, cat, and coral are all first cousins, and are generally used on infants' A BIAS PIPING. wear, lingerie, children's guimpes, etc. These are commonly understood. ^'Smocking is beautiful handwork for yokes on children's frocks, blouses, dressing-sacques, and tea gowns, and is easy to accomplish. Smocking consists of laying small plaits by careful measurement, and then catching the INSERTING LACE. edge of every two together with three over- stitches, forming a tiny knot; then passing to the third plait, which is caught to the second 136 The New Century Home Book one of the first two, leaving long, loose threads of silk beneath to secure the elastic appearance. The next row of knots or catches fastens every A BUTTOKHOLB. alternate plait, thus forming a kind of a honey- comb cell. The knots are often of a contrast- ing color of silk. "If a button has a metal shank, a hole must be pierced in the goods in which to run the shank; run a cord through and sew both cord SMOCKING. and shank in place. If the button has holes to be sewed through, remember that the thread must not be pulled so tightly that the goods 137 The New Century Home Book will be puckered beneath. Cross the threads as they come through the holes so that they form an X on the outside of the button, using heavy thread like linen twist or silk twist. On a properly made coat or jacket the buttons are sewed on before the lining is hemmed down. Small, braid-covered buttons require short stitches loosely drawn and tightly fastened." N"eglect of the sewing machine is responsible for a deal of trouble to seamstresses and the turning out of much unsatisfactory work. Every part of the machine should be kept thor- oughly clean. See that it is well covered when- ever the room is swept and at all times when not in use. Only the best quality of oil should be used, and it is well to apply the oil several hours before you sew. Then if the machine is wiped with a clean cloth just before using it there will be no oil to soil the garment you are making. 138 The New Century Home Book Crocbeting in tbe Ibome \ 1 7HILE there is almost no limit to the vari- ations of crochet work, it is all founded on one simple stitch known as the chain. No matter how intricate may be the design of any given piece of crochet work, its "body" is the chain stitch. To make the chain stitch is the first thing to be learned in crocheting, and the beginner should take special pains to make it "just right." It is extremely easy to make, but care- lessness in the chain stitch will affect the whole piece, and failure to keep this foundation even and smooth often spoils the beauty of the fin- ished article. To make the chain stitch make a loop or twist in the thread and hold it between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, passing the thread over the finger. Hold the crochet needle or hook in the right hand in the same position as you hold a pen in writing. Pass 139 The New Century Home Book the hook through the loop, catch the threaa and pull it through, making another loop. Then pull the thread through the second loop just as you did the first, and keep on repeating the operation, thus making the chain. A double foundation may be made with one thread. Make two chain stitches and draw a loop through the first. Throw the thread over and draw it through both loops. Take up the first loop to the left of the thread, throw the latter over and draw through both loops. Re- peat this until you have whatever length foundation you wish. To make a double foundation with two threads, make a slipknot in each and pass over the hook. Carry one thread over the left fore- finger and hold the other with the hook in the right hand, as in knitting. Make the chain stitches first with one thread and then the other, and tighten the threads after each stitch. The slip stitch is made by inserting the hook in each stitch of a foundation and drawing the thread through it and looping it in the hook. In double crochet the thread is thrown over 140 The New Century Home Book the hook and a loop taken up through a stitch of the foundation. Then the thread is again thrown over and drawn through two of the three loops now on the hook. Once more the thread is thrown, and it is then drawn through the remaining loops. This is repeated in every stitch of the foundation. In single crochet a loop is drawn through a stitch of the foundation, and the thread thrown over and drawn through both loops on the hook at once. The treble crochet stitch is the same as the double, except that the thread is thrown over the hook twice before taking up the foundation stitch, and it is thrown over three times and drawn through two stitches each time in work- ing off. One of the most useful crochet stitches is the knot. To make it, crochet a chain stitch of the required length. Draw up the loop on the hook about a quarter of an inch, throw the thread over the hook and pull it through. In- sert the hook between the drawn loop and the thread just pulled through, throw over the 141 The New Century Home Book thread, and draw through again, thus making two loops on the hook. Throw the thread over and draw through these loops. Draw tightly, and thus form a knot. Draw out the loop on the hook and repeat the process, making an- other knot, and so on, until 3^ou have a chain of knots as long as you wish. Then turn and catch in the center of the third knot. Make a single crochet between the threads next to the knot, then two knots, passing one and catch- ing into the next knot. Repeat this until the row is finished. Then turn and repeat as from the first turn. When yarn is used in crocheting it should be shrunk. To shrink it dip the yarn into boiling water, and then spread it out to dry thoroughly in the sunlight or before a stove. Directions for crocheting articles are gener- ally given in abbreviations. Those usually employed are "st" for stitch ; "ch" for chain ; "s c" for single crochet; '^d c" for double crochet, and "tr" or "tre" for treble crochet. An asterisk (*) means that the directions im- mediately following it are to be repeated as 142 The New Century Home Book many times as indicated before going on with the next stitches. A handsome and useful circular shawl can be crocheted by following these directions, using eight skeins of material : First row, twen- ty tr in ring made by joining four ch. Second row, between each group of five tr make a shell of eight tr with one tr between. Third row, between second, third, sixth, and seventh sts of each shell of eight make a shell of six tr with one tr between. Fourth row, shell of eight tr in each shell of six tr with one tr between. Fifth row, same as third. Sixth row, shell of six in each shell of six with one tr between. Seventh row, same as fourth. Eighth row, same as third. Ninth and tenth rows, same as sixth. Eleventh row, same as fourth. Twelfth row, same as third. Thirteenth and four- teenth rows, same as sixth. Fifteenth row, same as fourth. Sixteenth row, shell of eight in each shell of eight with one tr between each shell three times. In every fourth shell make two shells of six with one tr between. Sev- enteenth row, make shells of eight with one tr 143 The New Century Home Book between nine times, and in every tenth shell make two shells of six with one tr between. Eighteenth to twenty-second rows, inclusive, shell of eight in each shell of eight with one tr between. Finish with picot edge by making three ch fastened between every tr by single stitch. If two colors are nsed, make the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth rows of a different color. In recent years "canvas crochet" has become very popular. It is really crochet embroidery, the materials being a crochet hook, wool or silk, and the silk canvas employed in needle tapestry. Designs for almost any kind of needlework may be used, and conventional patterns can be purchased traced on canvas. The only differ- ence between canvas crochet and ordinary crocheting is that in the former there is a foun- dation of canvas. The stitches are alike. 144 The New Century Home Book Iknittlng in tbe Ibome |\T0 matter what may be the vagaries of fashion, knitting never seems to go en- tirely out of date. Knitting machines and great mills have done away with the homemade stocking and socks, but the knitting needle sur- vives, and the great variety of useful and orna- mental articles made by the expert hand knit- ter are always popular. Fancy articles, caps, skirts, bootines, and mitts for the little ones, and house jackets, soft shawls, and cloudy head coverings for their mothers, never grow old- fashioned or unwelcome. The first thing in knitting is to '^cast on" the yarn. This is done in two or three ways. The common method is to make a loop in the yarn and slip it on a needle. Then pass a sec- ond needle through it. The yarn is thrown around the second needle and drawn through, and the loop thus formed is slipped onto the left-hand needle, which is thrust through it (10) 145 The New Century Home Book from the front to the back. The right-hand needle is then put through the second loop, and another loop is made as in the first case and slipped upon the left-hand needle. This is re- peated until as many stitches as you wish are on the needle. Another method of easting on calls for only one needle. The yarn is held under the third and fourth fingers of the left hand, and the needle is held with the right hand. With this hand carry the yarn from under the left thumb up and over the thumb, over the forefinger, under it, and up over the thumb. Pass the needle under the crossing back of the yarn brought down from the forefinger, draw it for- ward to the left, and seize the crossing with the thumb and forefinger. With the right hand throw the yarn over the needle and draw a loop through. Slip the yarn from the left fore- finger and draw it to the stitch on the needle. Put the yarn as at the start and repeat. Having cast on the yarn, to do plain knitting you simply pass the right-hand needle through the first stitch, throw the yarn around it and 146 The New Century Home Book draw through, forming a loop or new stitch. This is done for all the stitches on the left- hand needle. 'Turling" in knitting is the same as seam- ing. To purl, the yarn is thrown in front of the right-hand needle, instead of its usual place at the back. The right-hand needle is passed under the next stitch from right to left, which brings it in front of the left-hand needle, instead of back of it. The yarn is thrown around the right-hand needle, but the loop is drawn backward instead of forward. This is repeated as many times as necessary, and the yarn is then thrown back of the needle as in ordinary knitting. Widening in plain knitting may be done by knitting a plain and purled stitch of the same loop without slipping the loop until both are made. Another way is to knit one out of the front and one out of the back of the same loop. A third method is to take up and knit as a stitch the bar of yarn between the needles. To widen when purling, the yarn in front of the needle must be wound entirely around it. 14' The New Century Home Book To narrow, pass the point of the right-hand needle under two stitches at once, throw the yarn over and draw the loop through both. Another way is to slip one, knit one, and pass the slipped stitch over the knitted one. To narrow when purling, purl two together. An- other method is to purl one and put it back on the left-hand needle, draw the next stitch over it, drop the drawn stitch off the needle, and slip the first stitch back upon the right-hand needle. As in crocheting, directions for fancy knit- ting are generally given in abbreviations, of which this is the key: "k," knit plain; "p," purl; "pi," plain knitting; "n," narrow; "k 2 to," knit two together; "th o," or "o," throw yarn over needle ; "si," slip a stitch ; "si and b," slip and bind. An asterisk (*) has the same meaning as in crocheting. A useful shoulder shawl is thus made from fine Shetland wool : Cast on any number of stitches divisible by six and add two extra at each end for edge stitches. First row, o, k 1, 0, k 1, si 1, k 2 to, pass slipped stitch over 148 The New Century Home Book knitted, k 1, repeat. Second and all even rows, purl. Third row, o, k 3, o, si 1, k 2 to, pass slipped stitch over knitted, repeat. Fifth row, k 1, si 1, k 2 to, pass slipped stitch over knitted, k 1, 0, k 1, 0, repeat. Seventh row, si 1, k 3 to, pass slipped stitch over knitted, o, k 3, o, re- peat. Eighth row, commence again from first row. Woolen yarn should be shrunk before it is used in knitting. Dip it into boiling water and let it dry in the sun. If the yarn is thus treated, the articles made from it can be washed with little shrinkage. In washing knitted woolen goods use castile soap and lukewarm water. Add a little borax to the suds. Soak the articles without rub- bing them, squeeze gently, rinse in lukewarm water, and squeeze as dry as possible without wringing. Dry as rapidly as possible. 149 The New Century Home Book j£mbrolt)er? in tbe Ibome I N embroidery, as in all other fancy needle- work, the first thing to remember is that decorative work of any kind is to be seen — not covered up. Many persons forget this in em- broidering. In a table doily or a lamp mat, for example, the chief figure and .most beauti- ful part of the embroidery should not be in the center of the article, where plate or lamp will cover it out of sight wlien it is in use. Yet it is a common tiling to see sucli articles with all the beautiful ])arts where they must be hidden, and the edges, the only parts seen, left ])lain. The fitness of tilings must also be kept in mind. We hang pictures on the wall to be seen and admired. Why should an embroidered picture be used for the seat of a chair or the back of a sofa, where it will be sat upon or leaned against? Dr. von Falke tells of a woman who embroidered a ])eautiful portrait of her husband for the seat of a chair, and it 150 The New Century Home Book was so used until some one pointed out to her that she was not paying her husband the honor she had intended, but quite the contrary. Keep this matter of the fitness of things in view when embroidering for sofa pillows, traveling bags, headrests, table linen, etc., and your work will be more satisfactory. Linen is by far the best material for the background of embroidery. It will last longer and wear better than other fabrics, and it is equally adapted for coarse work or the finest designs. It is the only good material for pieces that may need to be laundered. Unless you are an expert it is unwise to try to embroider on linen held in the hand. "Puck- ering" is almost certain to mar such work. The linen should be stretched over a hoop or frame. If held in the hand, be sure that it is not held over the finger on the bias. Colors to be used in embroidering must, of course, depend upon the design and upon the taste of the individual. In general, only light shades should be used in dainty designs. Light blue is effective on a white ground, and white 151 The New Century Home Book looks well on a light pink background. Use great care not to twist or roughen the em- broidery silk or floss, and do not let knots show in the outline. Tulle embroidery is worked with floss silks upon fine black or white tulle. It is admirable for trimmings. Select an easy outline crewel work or embroidery pattern, trace it out upon pink paper muslin, and baste the tulle to the paper muslin. Thread a fine darning needle with floss, and run this along so as to trace out the pattern with a run line. Darn the floss into the tulle to fill in any parts of the design that are thick, and work two or three run lines close together to make stalks or any prominent lines. Velvet work consists in outlining upon em- bossed velvet with gold thread flowers and arabesques, and filling in the center of such parts with satin stitch worked in colored filoselles. Select a deep and rich-toned piece of embossed velvet and couch along every out- line of the embossing two threads of Japanese gold thread; then take two shades of green 152 The New Century Home Book filoselle of the same color as the velvet and fill in the centers of any flowers or geometrical figures with long satin stitches. Sabrina work consists in cutting out, either from colored velvet, velveteen, satin, silk, cloth, serge, or washable materials, whole or single petals of flowers, leaves, or conventionalized flower patterns and affixing these pieces to col- ored cloth or white linen backgrounds with wide-apart buttonhole stitches. Such parts of the design as are too small to be cut out are worked with chain or crewel stitch upon the background. Select an outline crewel design composed of small leaves, fruit, or flowers with tendrils, and trace it out upon linen or oatmeal cloth, should it be required to wash. Cut out the various shapes of the pattern in cardboard, and lay these upon the pieces which are to form the design. Cut out these pieces very carefully with sharp scissors, as upon their accuracy the neatness of the work depends. Baste the pieces down upon the foundation in their places, being guided by the traced design, and then button- 153 The New Century Home Book hole around each piece with wide-apart stitches with ingrain cotton or silk. Work the stems and connecting stalks or tendrils of the design with the same silk and in chain stitch, and ornament the centers of the flowers with peach knots and satin stitches. Just as flowers and growing plants are always appropriate decorations for the dinner table or at luncheon, so floral designs never lose their popularity in draperies for the table. The variety of such designs for centerpieces, doilies, etc., is practically unlimited. The housewife who is fortunate enough to have several sets of draperies in different floral designs can add to the attractiveness of her table by having the real flowers and the embroidered linen match in kind and color. 154 The New Century Home Book plants anb ]flower6 in tbe Ibome 1\T room in the house should be without its flower or growing plant. Do not be con- tent with the furnishing of your home until plants and flowers are included. They do more than any other one thing to brighten the home and its surroundings. And there is not a home in the land so poor that it cannot have a flower or plant. You cannot learn all about growing flowers in any book. A great deal of useful informa- tion may be had from books on floriculture, but an ounce of practical experience with the growing flowers in house and garden is worth several pounds of book instruction. Each plant and flower has its own peculiarities. To reach the best results these peculiarities must be carefully studied. Of two flowers of the same family one will thrive best in the hottest sun, and the other needs only half as much bright light. One will need a great deal of 155 The New Century Home Book water and the other only a little. If raised in the house, one will require a small but deep pot and the other a broad and shallow one. Success in flower growing depends upon find- ing out what treatment your plants call for and seeing that they get it. While all flowers and plants need air and light, there are numerous handsome varieties which do not demand strong sunlight, and it is not necessary to confine your indoor plants to rooms open to the sun. You may have as attractive an indoor garden around a sunless window as where the sun shines brightly. The length and width of boxes for a window garden must depend upon the size of the win- dow. Let them be as long and as wide as the sill will allow. They should be from eight to ten inches deep. Shallow boxes do not give root room for deep-growing plants. Consult your own taste as to the material for the boxes, remembering that flowers will flour- ish as luxuriantly in a box made out of cheap pine boards as in a costly box of hard wood or tile. Many florists think wooden boxes prefer- 156 The New Century Home Book able. • Bore small holes in the ends, near the bot- tom, for drainage purposes. If of wood, paint the boxes to harmonize with the woodwork and wall covering of the room. Elaborate decora- tion is not necessary. It will be covered np by the much prettier decoration of the plants themselves. Do not fasten flower boxes to window or wall. Let them rest on the sill and firm brackets or stands. You should be able to easily lift and turn them or shift their posi- tion to another window. Many persons do not plant flowers directly in the boxes, but keep them in pots set in the boxes. This enables an easy rearrangement of flowers or plants when- ever desirable, and permits turning any one without turning all the other plants in the box. Most flowering plants grown in the house need to be turned occasionally to insure symmetrical growth. In reaching toward the light they will grow out of shape if left too long in one posi- tion. All flowers planted in the same box must have practically the same treatment, no mat- 157 The New Century Home Book ter what may be best for each individual plant. In watering, especially, all must share alike, though one plant may not need nearly as much moisture as its neighbor. Where pots are used this difficulty is entirely avoided. Let the soil for all your boxes be rich and light. Bonemeal makes an excellent fertilizer for poor soil in boxes or pots. The earth should not harden into cakes after watering. If it does, put in enough coarse sand to lighten it. The bottom of the box should have a layer of coarsely broken charcoal to serve as a foun- dation for the soil and to assist in drainage. If you decide to plant in boxes, be careful to select for each box such varieties as require about the same conditions of soil, light, and moisture. Plants calling for strong sunlight should not be placed in the same box with those thriving best in half-light, nor should flowers requiring a great deal of water be in the same box with those liking a dry soil. The box on the window sill is the simplest form of the indoor flower garden. It is the foundation for a floral bower that may be ar- 158 The New Century Home Book ranged in a countless number of pretty and effective designs, just as your taste and fancy may dictate. Brackets and swinging shelves on eiach side of the window may carry flowers, plants, or vines trained in any way you wish. Trellis work may be carried all around the window, on either side, or simply overhead, rounded, pointed, arched, or squared, and cov- ered with running vines. Hanging baskets may be suspended from top or sides to help complete a charming floral picture. If the window is large, a shelf for plants may be run across the center, from side to side, without shutting out too much light. One of the great- est pleasures in raising flowers in the home is in designing artistic window gardens and in arranging each plant so that it shall do its full share in adding to the beauty of the whole. Individual taste, too, must select the flowers, plants, and vines to be used. Sun-loving plants cannot be expected to do well in windows where the sun does not enter, nor can flowers which droop in bright sunlight be successfully used if placed where the sun pours upon them. 159 The New Century Home Book If your indoor garden is in a window having a southern exposure, roses, geraniums, helio- tropes, fuchsias, and similar flowers will rarely fail to give the best results. In general, all high-colored flowers are suitable for a sunny window garden. For a garden in a shady window primroses, hyacinths, calla lilies, white azaleas, and be- gonias are some of the flowers most likely to be successful. Nearly all varieties of ferns thrive in a sunless window, and most of the palms and the common rubber plant do well in such a garden. Nasturtium, asparagus, and smilax are ef- fective running vines for window gardens. Morning-glories, if given proper trellis sup- port, add greatly to the beauty of a garden. Beautiful borders for window boxes can be had by planting sweet alyssum and mignonette. Acorns planted in wet moss in a shallow dish are very decorative. They need plenty of warmth and grow very rapidly. Saxifrage, moneymusk, and othonna are ex- cellent plants for hanging baskets. A coarse 160 00 a> •^ o o B PC o> M a. a D O o O o The New Century Home Book sponge, dampened and sprinkled thickly with flax, mustard, or clover seed, will become a very pretty hanging garden if suspended by a string in the window. Bulbs for flowers for the winter window garden should be planted in September or early in October. This will bring them into blossom for the Christmas holidays. The Easter lily and freesia should be potted in August. See that the soil is rich. Give it a thorough water- ing after planting the bulb, and set the pot away in a dark closet or in a dark place in the cellar, and let it alone for six or eight weeks, except to give it a little water if the room in which it is kept is very dry. The bulb must be thoroughly rooted before the plant is brought to the light. Freesias, hyacinths, narcissus, and daffodils are easy bulbs to grow. Plants raised from seed are likely to be fully as vigorous as those from cuttings, and are much more likely to be free from disease. Some of the best flowers for the home in winter, raised from seed, are the sweet alyssum, mignonette, dianthus, stocks, and primrose. (11) 161 The New Century Home Book Flowers from cuttings that may be best raised for the winter window garden are ver- benas, carnations, geraniums, roses, heliotropes, lantanas, ageratums, and coleus. To root these plants place the tender ends of the branches in sand and keep the sand well moistened. After they have rooted cut the tips and place the new plant in a pot filled with good, rich soil. As the plants grow keep them well pruned back to give them shapely forms and induce a strong new growth. In a general way what has been said of the indoor garden equally applies to the outdoor window garden — the only outdoor garden that many dwellers in cities can have. There is the same opportunity for the judicious selection of plants and flowers, with a much longer list of flowers in summer from which to make your choice, and the same chance for plain or elab- orate designs, with the window box as the base. In most large cities the great majority of dwellings have only small back yards available for flower raising, and these are often so very small that there is really no room for a flower 162 The New Century Home Book bed. Yet even in these restricted spaces a little care and ingenuity will bring about astonishing results. A small tub containing some quick-growing vine placed on top of the post which holds up the clothesline will turn the post into a thing of beauty. Running vines planted at the foot of the post will add to its attractiveness. Tall flowers, like hollyhocks and sunflowers, can be planted close to the fence, where they will please the eye without taking up needed room. Barrel hoops may be fastened to the fence in such a way as to make, when covered with vines, a canopy under which a seat may be placed in pleasant weather. By planting tall flowers near the fence, medium growers Just in front of these, and smaller plants in front of the latter, you can get the effect of a large surface of flowers with only a few inches of actual space taken up in the yard. Scores of other effective ways of utilizing the small back yards in beautifying your sur- roundings will be sure to suggest themselves if you will give the matter a little study. Do not 163 The New Century Home Book neglect the back yard. The view from the rear windows of a home in a city block is not apt to be inviting at its best. You can do much to make it attractive by making a garden of your back yard, and in thus giving pleasure to your- self you will be adding to the pleasure of your neighbors whose windows look out on your yard. Often, too, your back yard garden will induce your neighbors to improve their yards, so that the whole interior of a block may be made beautiful and the pleasures of home life enhanced. One of the most frequent causes of failure in raising flowers in the home is improper water- ing of the plants. The most common mistake is to give too little water. While plants differ greatly in the amount of moisture they require, it is easier to give them too little than too much. It is not enough to merely moisten the surface of the soil in box or pot. The earth should be saturated all through, so that the lowest root of the plant may get its share. Do not let the soil harden or "cake" after watering. It should be kept loose. If the 164 The New Century Home Book plant is one having a mass of roots, run a stiff wire through the earth three or four times be- fore watering, so as to form little channels for the water to penetrate the mass. Do not try to water plants by putting water in saucers to be drawn up through the bottom of the pot. The plant will get very little of it, for most of the water will evaporate. Do not water the roots alone. The leaves of a plant and the petals of a flower need water as much as the roots. Dust and dirt clog the pores of leaves and prevent the plant from get- ting the most good from air and moisture. Sprinkle the leaves and flowers well every time you water the plant. The under side of leaves should also be occasionally moistened. This can be done with a gardener's syringe. In the case of plants with large leaves it will pay to lightly wash the leaves with a wet sponge. In watering house plants use water of the same temperature as the room in which they are kept. Eain water is the best. Spring water should not be used unless it has been ex- posed to the sun several days in shallow vessels. 165 The New Century Home Book When there is a hard rainstorm the ground becomes thoroughly soaked, and every part of the outdoor plant gets a drenching, but the rain does not destroy the plant. Remember this when you are watering your house plants. Remember, also, that a good soaking is much better for the plant than frequent wettings with only a small quantity of water at a time. In constructing a greenhouse it is wiser to consult a builder of experience than to rely upon your own judgment. The house should have a southern exposure if possible. Other- wise let it face the east. A western exposure is not desirable. A northern exposure will make the greenhouse a failure. If the sides are of glass, it is well to use double sashes. Glass thick enough to withstand falling hail should be used for the roof. Great care should be taken to so arrange the ventilators that plenty of air can be admitted from the outside, but it must not be permitted to strike the plants in a draught. If your home is heated by steam or hot water, it is a simple matter to extend the pipes into 166 The New Century Home Book the greenhouse. Oil stoves are regarded as ex- cellent independent heaters by many florists. Moist air is a necessity in the greenhouse. If hot air from a furnace is used for heating the greenhouse, special care must be taken to pre- vent the air from becoming too dry. What- ever may be the heating arrangements, water should always be kept where it can evaporate in the greenhouse. The temperature of the greenhouse should not fall much below seventy-five degrees, nor go above eighty degrees. A bright winter sun will raise the temperature to this height in the middle of the day, and you should regulate your artificial heat accordingly. Beware of sudden changes of temperature in the greenhouse. If the air gets too warm, do not let in a rush of cold air, but open ventila- tors so that the cooling will be gradual. If the house is too cold, let in the heat by slow degrees rather than all at once. Plants are extremely sensitive to sudden changes of temperature. If you are so fortunate as to have a porch or veranda with a southern exposure, it can be 167 The New Century Home Book easily turned into a winter home for plants by inclosing it with glass. It will not have all the advantages of a greenhouse, but it will make an excellent substitute, and the labor and cost of constructing it will be much less. If the inclosed porch opens from a room in which a fire is kept, it will probably not need an in- dependent heating apparatus. As in the regu- lar greenhouse, the sides should have double sashes and should be air-tight. No air should get into greenhouse or plant room in winter except through ventilators. The same general rules apply to the inclosed veranda as to the greenhouse. To make a home fernery take five panes of glass of equal size — four for the sides and one for the top. Fasten them together like a box with a light wooden frame. Take any shallow tin dish, like a baking pan, the size of the box. Scatter in the pan small stones — broken pieces of rock rather than pebbles — and put in leaf mold from the woods, such as the ferns and wild flowers grow in. Then collect from the woods small ferns and transplant them into 168 The New Century Home Book the pan, spreading the roots over the stones carefully and covering lightly with the mold. Wild strawberry plants and partridge vines may be planted with the ferns. Around the edges put moss gathered where the ferns were found. A miniature lake may be represented by a small piece of looking-glass the edges of which are concealed by tiny shells and moss. Sprinkle the plants and moss thoroughly and put over the dish and its contents the glass cover, and your fernery is complete. Keep it in a shady place for a few days until the plants have had time to become well rooted. It should be kept from hot sunlight at all times. A few minutes in the sunlight each day will be enough for the ferns. Keep the plants moist, but not too wet. A rockery in the center of a lawn is usually a disappointment because it is out of place. It advertises too glaringly that it is an imitation of Nature. It should be in a retired spot, if possible, and not too close to the house. The larger the stones the better. Their arrange- ment must be left to individual taste. The 169 The New Century Home Book more carelessly they are thrown into a pile the more natural will the rockery appear. Do not be sparing of earth in the rockery. A heavy storm will often wash away much needed earth from a new rockery, and this should be promptly replaced. Wild vines and ferns should be liberally planted in the rockery, and as these do better in the shade the pile should be where it is shaded by trees or bushes. The clematis is a good vine for a rockery, as it is a strong and rapid grower, and its flowers add to its attractiveness. The American ivy is another desirable vine. Wild flowers such as are found among rocks in shady places may be transplanted to the rockery with little trouble. Beautiful outdoor beds may be made by transplanting wild flowers. Nearly all kinds of these flowers will bear replanting if care is used in taking them up not to shake the earth from their roots. They may be taken at any season, even when in full bloom. Wild cle- matis, the moccasin flower, Jack-in-the-pulpit, violets, honeysuckles, and nearly every variety of ferns are easily transplanted. 170 The New Century Home Book Sudden changes of temperature are nearly as bad for outdoor plants as for those raised in greenhouses. Do not wait until cold weather to bring in the plants you wish to keep indoors. Carry them into the house some time before fires are lighted in the fall, so that they may become accustomed to the change without being first subjected to artificial heat. Be sure that they have an abundance of fresh air and light. Do not keep your plants in painted pots. The paint closes up the pores of the clay and keeps air from the roots, while keeping in too much moisture. Do not take the plants out of their pots when you put them outdoors in the spring or early summer. If you do, you will have to repot them in the fall, and thus disturb their roots at the time when they need all their strength to prepare for the winter. If your home is heated by steam, water should be kept evaporating on the radiators in rooms where plants are kept, and the plants should be sprinkled more often than when other means of heating are employed. . 171 The New Century Home Book Of all the nonflowering plants for the home, palms and rubber plants are probably the most popular. Palms, especially, lend themselves better than any other plant to decorative pur- poses. In growing palms the pot is an important element of success. It should be much deeper than its width, for palm roots grow downward instead of spreading out. The soil should be quite rich, but not so light and porous as to let the roots dry too quickly. An excellent soil is made up of equal parts of garden loam, coarse sand, and rotted sod. There should be a good layer of broken charcoal at the bottom of the pot for drainage, and this should have a cover- ing of florist's moss to keep the charcoal from becoming clogged with the earth after water- ing. Bonemeal may be used as a fertilizer, but with the soil mentioned very little fertilizer will be needed. Care must be taken in watering palms to see that the soil is thoroughly saturated, so that the roots are reached. Mere surface watering does no good. Palms like plenty of moisture, but 172 The New Century Home Book the earth in the pot should not be turned into mud. The frequency with which palms should be watered depends on the air of the room. Water them when the soil is dry. If the plant stands in the sunshine, it is apt to need water daily in warm weather, while in winter two or three times a week will be enough. Palms are such slow growers that a plant rarely needs to be transplanted to a larger pot oftener than once in two years. In repotting disturb the roots as little as possible. Set the roots with the old earth around them in the center of the new pot and fill up with new earth. Pack the new soil firmly, so that it will not be more porous than the old and thus drain water away from the roots. Keep the surface of the soil at the point where roots and stem unite. The pot for the rubber plant should be quite large. An eight-inch pot is none too large for a plant two feet high. Drainage should be pro- vided for as in the palm pot. The rubber plant needs a richer soil than the palm. It will thrive in a soil composed of three parts of garden 173 The New Century Home Book loam, two parts of leaf mold, one part of coarse sand, and one part of partly rotted manure. It is well to add a little bonemeal to the earth in the winter. Water your rubber plant as you do your palm, and in repotting it use the same care to avoid disturbing the roots. One of the best homemade insecticides for use in the plant room is an emulsion of kerosene oil and milk. Take a given quantity of slightly sour milk and twice as much kerosene oil. Churn the milk and oil together until they unite in a thick jelly. It will take a long shak- ing or churning to bring this about. To one part of the jelly add fifteen parts of water and apply this to the plants in a fine spray, taking care that it reaches all parts. Another good insecticide is made by soaking tobacco stems and leaves in hot water until the water turns to the color of weak tea. Spray the plants with this water, or dip them into it. Insecticides are useless against the little red spiders that so often infest plants. The one sure remedy for these is water applied to every part of the plant. It is sometimes well to dip 174 The New Centttfy Home Book the plant into the water for ten minutes at a time. Eed spiders on a plant are a certain sign that there is too little moisture for the plant in the air. Limewater is the best remedy for worms in the soil in pots. Put about half a cupful of fresh lime in about three quarts of water. Let all the lime dissolve that will, and then pour off the water and use it to thoroughly saturate the soil. It can be applied as many times as necessary to kill all the worms without any harm to the plants. Violets worn in a corsage bouquet may be kept fresh and odorous for several days by wrapping the stems in a thin fringe of cotton batting that has been dipped in salt water and then rolling them in a strip of tinfoil. When the violets are not being worn keep them with the stems in a glass of salt water in a cool room and cover the blossoms with tissue or oil paper. Water in which mignonette has been placed should be changed often, for it quickly be- comes foul. Do not mix heliotropes with other cut flowers in water. They decay very quickly 175 The New Century Home Book and will harm the other blossoms. Cut flowers that have become wilted may be freshened by clipping the ends and dipping the stems into hot water for a few moments. The perfume of any flower can be easily ob- tained if you have an abundance of the blos- soms. Pick the blossoms without stems and drop them into a jar half full of olive or almond oil. Let them stand twenty-four hours, and then put them into a coarse cloth and squeeze them dry over a bottle of oil. Add fresh flowers and repeat the operation until the required strength is obtained. Then mix the oil with an equal quantity of pure spirits. Shake the mix- ture every day for three weeks, and then it may be bottled ready for use. 176 The New Century Home Book Birbe in tbe Ibome "n lEST in the list of song birds for pets in the home stands the canary. Few pets give more pleasure than this sweet singer. Canaries are at home in a cage, and the pleas- ure of listening to their song is not marred by the thought that they are pining for freedom. Most of the canaries sold in this country come from Germany or England. Much the larger number are bred in the Harz Mountains in Germany. The English canary has the ad- vantage of the German bird in size and bright color, but its song is louder and harsher, and the variety of its notes less than in the German bird. The St. Andreasberg canary, so-called be- cause it is bred in the village of St. Andreas- berg, in the Harz Mountains, is generally re- garded as the best singer. Great care is taken in mating birds of good voices only and in the training of the voices. (12) 177 The New Century Home Book The musical education of the canary begins when he has finished his first molting, or when about twelve weeks old. With others of his age the bird is placed in a room out of hear- ing of all other singing canaries. In the ceil- ing of this room is a small opening, and in the room above is kept a fine European nightin- gale or skylark, or some other excellent whistling bird. From this unseen instructor the young canaries learn tlieir beautiful bell notes, trills, flute notes, water notes, and shakes. A bird which gives promise of an unusually fine voice may be placed in a separate room for special instruction. He can be taught to whistle a song. The trainer whistles the song over and over for an hour at a time, three times a day, until the bird has mastered the notes. During the training he must not be allowed to hear any other canary sing, or he will quickly forget the new song and take up his natural notes. Unpainted cages are best for canaries or any other house birds. A bird will be sure to peck 178 The New Century Home Book at every place that offers a hold for his bill, and it takes very little paint to poison him. Whether your bird's cage is of wood or metal, give special attention to keeping it clean. It is almost impossible to have a healthy bird in a dirty cage. Keep gravel paper or fine loose gravel on the floor of the cage. If the floor is metal, let the gravel lie on paper, so that the bird's feet may be kept from the metal. Perches should be frequently washed and care- fully dried before they are replaced in the cage. Be careful about hanging your canary in or too near a window. He is very sensitive to draughts and will catch cold from a draught so slight you cannot feel it. Sunshine is not only not necessary to a canary, but it is gener- ally injurious. The bird may be placed in the sun's rays for a few minutes — ten or fifteen — after he has taken his bath, but that is quite enough. If the cage is in a strong light, such as it gets in a window, the bird will spend too much of his time hopping about, and his song will lose its soft and most pleasing notes, his voice becoming shrill and loud. 179 The New Century Home Book To keep your canary in good voice and good health special care must be taken of his food. The most common mistake of bird owners is to give too much food and not the right kind. German rape seed and canary seed, in equal parts and well mixed, should be the staple food the year round. Be careful that the rape seed is not adulterated with mustard or turnip seed, and that the canary seed is not partly millet seed. It is safer to trade with a reliable dealer in buying food for the bird. Avoid giving your bird too much food. A good-sized teaspoonful of the mixed seed each day is enough, provided the food cup is so placed that the canary can reach all that is in it. If more seed than he can eat is furnished, the bird will pick out only the canary seed and leave the rape. If he is allowed to do this long, his voice and song will be spoiled. If your bird persists in eating only the canary seed, put in more rape and less canary seed. If neces- sary, give him rape seed only for a short time. Feed the canary a small piece of hard-boiled egg — yolk and white grated together — twice a 180 The New Century Home Book week. This may be given each day while the bird is molting. Do not feed the bird celery, lettuce, or other "greens.'' All he should have in that line is a very small piece of apple about twice a week. Sweet apple is better than sour for the bird's health. A cuttle bone should always be kept in the cage, and it should be re- placed with a fresh bone three times a year. Like the seed cup, the water cup should be cleaned every day and fresh water supplied for the bird. It is better for a canary to bathe three times a week than every day. The water should be tepid and not over three quarters of an inch deep. Canaries often take strange whims about bathing. A bird will refuse to get into the usual tub, but will quickly hop into a shallow saucer. Sometimes he does not like the shape of the dish, or he objects to its color. It is use- less to try to force your bird to bathe if he de- clines. Try him with different sizes, shapes, and colors of tubs, and different depths of water. If you fail to suit his taste, the bath must be omitted. 181 The New Century Home Book The canary's bedtime is at dusk. His cage should then be covered and placed in a dark room. Paper is the best covering, but in using cloth or paper see that it is so arranged around the bottom of the cage that there are no upward draughts. Do not hang your canary so near the ceiling that he must breathe the bad air which collects there. Take him out of the room when it is being swept. The dust which he must other- wise breathe is bad for his voice. Sixty-five degrees, or a little higher, is the best tempera- ture for canaries. Many of the canary's most dangerous dis- eases are due to colds. Hence the stress that has been laid upon the necessity for avoiding draughts. When a canary has caught cold his body puffs up and his breathing becomes labored, while his appetite is much more than normal. On the first appearance of these signs give the bird a paste made of one third of a hard-boiled egg — both yolk and white — grated together with a liberal pinch of red pepper and two or three drops of olive oil. Put two drops 182 The New Century Home Book of alcohol in the drinking water. A piece of fat salt pork, raw, should be hnng in the cage for the canary to eat. If the cold does not yield readily to this treatment, it is best to consult a bird dealer. Never neglect the cold. Treat asthma as you do the cold, but cut the salt pork into very fine pieces and sprinkle it with red pepper. Give the bird a little bread soaked in warm milk, and put only rape seed in the food cup. Loss of voice is usually the result of a cold, and is treated in the sam§ way as a cold. Sometimes it is due to oversinging. In that case let a very small piece of rock candy be dis- solved in the drinking water, feed the bird the egg, pepper, and oil paste, and cover the cage to keep him from trying to sing. Too much food, especially too much rich food, often causes epilepsy or fits. A sudden fright or hanging in the hot sun, sometimes has the same result. Let the bird have fresh air and sprinkle cold water on his head. If the fits are due to the heat, let the canary breathe smelling salts and sprinkle his head. 183 The New Century Home Book Close confinement in a small cage, or in a dirty cage of any size, will cause cramps. Put the canary in a larger or a clean cage. Hold his legs in warm water, and put two drops of laudanum in his drinking water. Dirty cages will cause sore feet. Soak the feet in warm water, wipe dry, and rub them gently with glycerine. When the nails on your canary's feet grow long and interfere with his walking they should be trimmed. By holding the bird up to the light the vein in each nail can be seen. Cut the nail with a sharp knife or scissors, taking great care not to cut as far back as the vein. The beak may also become overgrown and need to be trimmed. It is wiser to take the bird to a dealer for this operation. This caution applies also to broken legs. Do not try to set your bird's broken leg at home. No matter how clean you keep the canary's cage, it will occasionally become infested with little red insects which are almost too small to be seen with the naked eye. These insects irri- tate the bird, and, if left alone, will destroy his 184 The New Century Home Book health. If your bird persistently scratches and pecks at his feathers and body, especially after settling upon his perch for the night, look for the little red pests. Give the bird a thorough dusting with insect powder, rubbing it through his feathers with your fingers to make sure that it reaches every part of his body. If the cage is of metal, unscrew the hollow top, fill it with the powder, and replace it. If the cage is wooden, put the canary into another one and give the wooden cage a thorough washing with suds made from carbolic soap. Let it be well dried before it is again used. Another simple method of ridding the bird of insects is to substitute for the ordinary perch a hollow reed with two or three notches cut in the center on one side. The perch will be found filled with the insects in the morning, and they can be shaken out into a fire. Keep this up three or four days and all the insects will be caught. The perch should be occa- sionally dipped into boiling water to destroy any insects that were not shaken out. Still another effective remedy for these in- 185 The New Century Home Book sects is to put under each wing of the bird a mere trace — less than half a drop — of kerosene oil. This should be repeated in ten days. What has been said about the care of cana- ries and the treatment of their diseases will apply generally to other birds usually kept in the home whose principal food is seeds. Among these are the linnet, bulfinch, goldfinch, chaf- finch, and the paroquet. The mocking bird, which is a favorite in many homes, requires careful and constant at- tention. He should have a large cage, and it should be kept very clean and well supplied with gravel. Prepared food obtained from your bird dealer is better for the mocking bird than any food you can prepare at home. Flies, grasshoppers, spiders, and other insects should be gathered at the proper seasons and hung up in paper bags to dry. Feed these to the bird in winter, first softening them by pouring boil- ing water over them. Meal worms are also a delicacy for mocking birds, but they make rich food and should be given sparingly. Give your mocking bird a bath each day. 186 The New Century Home Book Parrots needs large cages or stands. The best food for a parrot is a mixture of equal parts of hemp, rice, cracked corn, and sun- flower seeds. He should have a small piece of cuttle bone each day. Fresh fruit may be given in limited quantities, but you can tell only by experience what kinds will be best for your bird. Never give your parrot meat or greasy food of any kind. He will often relish a cracker or piece of bread soaked in coffee. Let the parrot have plenty of sand daily for his dry bath. Water baths should be given to him only once or twice a week. Use from a pint to a quart of water in which has been dissolved about a teaspoonful of borax, and spray the bird thoroughly with an atomizer. 187 The New Century Home Book iBconomic Dalue of Birbe T^HE economic value of birds to man lies in the service they render in preventing the undue increase of insects, in devouring small rodents, in destroying the seed of harm- ful plants, and in acting as scavengers. Based upon reliable statistics, leading ento- mologists estimate that insects cause an annual loss of at least $200,000,000 to the agricultural interests of the United States every year, ex- clusive of the damage done to ornamental shrubbery, shade and forest trees. In the air swallows and swifts course ever in pursuit of insects which constitute their sole food. When they retire the nighthawks and whippoorwills take up the chase, catching moths and other nocturnal insects which would escape the day-flying birds. The woodpeckers, nuthatches, and creepers attend to the tree trunks and limbs, examining carefully each inch of bark for insects' eggs and larvae, or ex- 188 The New Century Home Book cavating for the ants and borers they hear at work within. On the ground the hunt is con- tinued by the thrushes, sparrows, and other, birds who feed upon the innumerable forms of terrestrial insects. The stomach of a yellow-billed cuckoo shot at six o'clock in the morning contained the par- tially digested remains of forty-three tent caterpillars. E. H. Forbush, ornithologist of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, states that the stomachs of four chickadees con- tained 1,028 eggs of the cankerworm. The stomachs of four other birds of the same species contained about 600 eggs and 105 female moths of the cankerworm. The average num- ber of eggs found in twenty of these moths was 185, and as it is estimated that a chickadee irij eat thirty female cankerworm moths a day during the twenty-five days when these moths crawl up trees, it follows that in this period each chickadee would destroy more than 138,- 000 eggs of this noxious insect. Professor Forbes, Director of the Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History, found 189 The New Ccntary Home Book 175 larvae of bibio — a fly which in the larval stage feeds on the roots of grass — in the stomach of a single robin, and the intestines contained probably as many more. Dr. A. K. Fisher, assistant ornithologist of the United States Department of Agriculture, has found that ninety per cent of the food of the red-shouldered hawk, commonly called "chicken hawk," or "hen hawk," consists of in- jurious mammals and insects, while 200 cast- ings of the barn owl contained the skulls of 450 small mammals, no less than 225 of these being skulls of the destructive field or meadow mouse. Dr. G. F. Gaumer, of Yucatan, says the kill- ing of immense numbers of herons and other littoral birds in Yucatan has been followed by an increase of mortality among the inhabitants of the coast, a direct result of the destruction of birds that assisted in keeping beaches and bayous free from decaying animal matter. The feathers of each and all of these little- appreciated allies of the agriculturist are used on women's hats as well as those of more gor- geous plumage. 190 The New Century Home Book (Bolbfieb in tbe Ibome /^OLDFISH are by far the most satisfac- tory fish to keep in a home aquarium. They are hardy, will stand considerable hand- ling, require little food, and will live many years with proper care. They have been known to live fifty years. The aquarium for goldfish — or any other fish — should be square or oblong. The globes in which the fish are usually sold so distort the appearance of the fish that their true size and movements can be seen only from above. Cover the bottom of your aquarium with clean sand to the depth of about two inches, and over this put a thin layer of gravel. Two or three small aquatic plants, such as are found in any nearby creek or pond, should be placed on the gravel and weighted with pebbles so that they will retain their position until they have taken root. Then pour in clear fresh water very slowly and carefully, so that the sand and 191 The New Century Home Book gravel are not disturbed. Fill the tank to about two inches from the top. Drop into the water a few snails, such as are found in any pond. They are the best scavengers known for an aquarium, and are of great service in consum- ing decaying vegetation. This done, the aqua- rium is ready for the fish. Do not overfeed your goldfish. A bit of toasted bread, which has been kept a long time and is perfectly dry when dropped into the water, is the best food. It should be given about twice a week, and is better for the fish if made of baker's bread. In small aquariums, where the fish arc crowded or large, the water should be changed nearly every day. In large aquariums, kept in well-ventilated rooms, the water requires chang- ing less often. When bubbles collect around the sides of the aquarium it is a sure sign that the water needs to be changed. Take care not to frighten your goldfish. The aquarium should be kept in the quietest part of the room, and it should always have fresh air. Drop into the water once in a while 192 The New Century Home Book a small pinch of salt. It helps to sweeten and clarify the water. When the room is lighted in the evening cover the aquarium with a cloth. The goldfish needs darkness when it rests. The most common disease of the goldfish is a sort of dropsj;, which is always fatal. Its symptom is a small puff or swelling on the under side of the belly of a different color or shade from the surrounding skin. If you have other fish in the aquarium remove at once the fish showing the sign of dropsy. Otherwise you will lose all your fish. Another disease which attacks goldfish is a parasitic fungus or phlegm, due to the deposit of a micro-organism, which appears upon the fins and gills and soon spreads over the head and body and kills the fish. This disease is probably caused by impure water, but when it appears changing the water does not cure it. No remedies are known for these diseases in goldfish. (13) 193 The New Century Home Book Canb? in tbe Ibome T^HE common notion that all candy is un- healthy is not strictly true. It depends upon the candy and the person who eats it. Pure candy is rarely unhealthy, except for those persons who should not eat sugar. It is unhealthy for every person who eats too much of it. Moderation is a golden rule in the use of candy. Impure or adulterated candy is a menace to the health of every person who uses it. The profit in adulterating confectionery is large, and there is a great deal of impure candy in the market. The chief ingredient of candy is sugar. Most candy is nine tenths or more sugar. As a producer of heat and an active maker of fat, sugar is an important element of food. If you are inclined to take on too much fat, you will be wise to let candy alone. If you are thin, good candy, eaten in moderation, will tend to increase your flesh. 194 The New Century Home Book Its quality of producing heat explains why candy is so agreeable to children. When the body is growing, as in the case of a child, a great deal of heat is needed. Sugar supplies this better than almost any other food. It is a stimulating food, also, and therefore valuable to persons who have to perform heavy labor, or who are weak and generally "run down^' in health. These very qualities of sugar call for moderation in eating candy. Too much stimu- lating food is as bad as not enough. Because candy is largely a food, it should not be eaten just before mealtime. It does not contain all the food elements needed by man, but will destroy the appetite for food at the table. Children are the most likely to indulge in overeating of candy, and they will suffer more than their elders from such indulgence. The sugar in the candy quickly ferments after eat- ing, and if too much has been eaten, serious stomach troubles will follow. A baby in arms should never have candy. It will cause acidity of the stomach, and the little one will suffer 195 The New Century Home Book great pain. To give candy to an infant is as far as possible from doing it a kindness. It would be less cruel to strike the baby a hard blow. The pain would be less severe and sooner over. Guard against impure candy. Cheap candy is not always the poorest, but it is well to keep a close watch upon the "penny candy" so allur- ing to most children. Glucose is a very com- mon adulterant of candy. It is usually made from corn and takes the place of the sugar which gives candy its principal value as food. Plaster of Paris and terra alba are often found in candy, and glue is used instead of gum arable in some of the common gumdrops. Cheap colored candy should always be regarded with suspicion until it has been proved pure. Harmful and poisonous drugs are often used in the coloring matter. The fact that pure sugar readily dissolves in water and leaves a clear liquid affords an easy means of testing the purity of candy. Put a small piece of candy in a glass and pour over it boiling water, filling the glass. Let it stand 196 The New Century Home Book twenty-four hours, and if any foreign sub- stance is in the candy, it will appear as a sedi- ment in the bottom of the glass. To determine the presence of starch in candy, boil a teaspoonful of the candy in a cupful of water until it reaches the consistency of a thin paste. Then let it cool and add one drop of iodine. If starch is present, the mix- ture will turn blue. You can always have pure candy by making it yourself. The children will tell you that homemade candy always tastes the best, and there are no better judges. It tastes all the better if they have been permitted to help in the making, or, indeed, to do all the work. Candy making at home is not at all difficult. Even some of the most fancy kinds, for which high prices are charged in the stores, are easily and cheaply made at home. Careful attention to small details is the prime factor in success- ful candy making. Oddly enough, the weather must be consid- ered in making candy. Do not undertake it on a damp, foggy, or rainy day. The more dry 197 The New Century Home Book and clear the weather the easier it will be to handle the sugar, which catches and retains the humidity in the atmosphere, making it too "sticky" to use with comfort or the greatest success on a damp day. For this reason the room should be free from the steam of boiling water. In boiling the sugar for making candy care must be taken to avoid crystallization or gran- ulation, to which the sugar is always inclined as the water evaporates. It is useless for candy making if it granulates. To escape granula- tion, the sugar, to which water is added in the proportion of half a cupful to a pound, must be constantly stirred while it is boiling until it is dissolved, but not a moment longer. Then cover the sugar for five or six minutes, so that the steam cannot escape. If crystals appear on the sides of the pan when the cover is re- moved, they must be carefully wiped away without touching the sugar. Greater heat is required for sugar than for molasses, and the heat should be as even as possible. The more rapidly sugar is boiled the better candy. 198 The New Century Home Book All cream candies and fancy bonbons are made with fondant for their foundation. If placed in air-tight jars, the fondant can be kept for any length of time. Here are some reliable recipes for making fondant : Moisten three cupfuls of granulated sugar with one and a half cupfuls of water in a sauce- pan. Let it stand without disturbance for half an hour. Then put it over the fire, add a large pinch of cream of tartar, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Then place the pan where the contents will boil slowly, but not burn, and do not stir the mixture. If it seems to boil too fast, hold the pan up from the fire for a moment. When the syrup has boiled a few moments dip a small stick into the liquid, and then quickly plunge the stick into cold water. If the mixture adhering to the stick can then be rolled up like soft putty, the syrup has reached the right point and should be taken from the fire at once. Turn the mixture out of the pan upon a shallow dish, like a platter, or upon a marble slab, and knead it with the hands or stir with 199 'it: ^ai»il a IBS " ■-.~ ^ "' ' r-Zr—f Z*ZiZ>r . vast J atom — '— fli ^WjIl - ^hBI^pV^ „, _i a HBE^R^ ^as. ~ "" _ __"" -^r -* - _ I #KL m 1 :£ KM !-":_ - Tg BfiSBI^^ ""* * 1 ~ _ . ' _ " - - " ^-^^ - The New Century Home Book If the candy is to be pulled, pour out only a small quantity at a time. Dip the hands in flour, take the cooling candy with the tips of the fingers, and pull until the desired color is reached. Twist into sticks and cut into lengths, or lay on marble and cut into small pieces. If a large quantity is to be pulled, it may be thrown over a peg or hook that has been buttered or floured. 2. To make this candy hard and brittle, sub- stitute a half teaspoonful of vinegar for the soda. Stir constantly when the candy is nearly done. 3. Three cupfuls of molasses, one cupful of sugar, one tablespoonful of vinegar, and a piece of butter the size of an egg. Boil eighteen minutes, and add half a teaspoonful of soda and boil two minutes longer. Stir constantly. 4. One pint of New Orleans molasses and half an ounce of butter. Boil until the mixture becomes brittle when dropped into cold water. Then add ten grains of soda and take from the fire to cool. Stir in black walnuts or hickory nuts, or the candy may be pulled. 202 The New Century Home Book 5. One cupful of New Orleans molasses, a half cupful of light brown sugar, two table- spoonfuls of vinegar, and butter the size of an egg. Boil until the mixture hardens when dropped into cold water, and then drop in one fourth teaspoonful of soda. Pour on buttered plates to cool. Fudge. 1. Mix three quarters of a cupful of unsweet- ened chocolate, grated or cut into small pieces, one cupful of milk, and two cupfuls of sugar. Boil, stirring constantly. When fairly boiling add a small piece of butter. After twenty minutes it will begin to thicken. Watch care- fully, and when the spoon leaves a trace on the bottom of the kettle take it off, add one tea- spoonful of vanilla quickly, and beat until the mixture is thick. Pour into buttered pans in layers about three quarters of an inch thick and cut into squares. The success of fudge depends upon its being removed from the fire at the right moment. 2. Prepare as in IN'o. 1, and add chopped nuts when the vanilla is put in. Walnuts, 203 The New Century Home Book hickory nuts, peanuts, or an}^ preferred nuts may be used. Almonds are too hard to be desirable. 3. Substitute maple sugar for the chocolate, and prepare as in No. 1. 4. To two cupfuls of granulated sugar add two thirds of a cupful of milk. Heat slowly until the boiling point is reached, and then boil rapidly. When it begins to thicken add a piece of butter the size of a walnut. Boil a moment or two longer. Then take from the fire and add vanilla to suit the taste and one cupful of finely chopped nut meats. Stir until the mix- ture is smooth. Pour into buttered pans in la3^ers half an inch thick and cut into squares. 5. Prepare as in No. 4 and use grated cocoa- nut instead of the nut meats. 6. Use fruit instead of nuts, and prepare as in No. 4. Chocolate Caramels. 1. Mix one cupful of molasses, two cupfuls of brown sugar, and one cupful of milk, and boil for half an hour. Then add a good-sized piece of butter and two tablespoonfuls of flour 204 The New Century Home Book which has been moistened with cold milk and rubbed smooth. \Yhen the mixture begins to thicken add one half pound of grated choco- late. Test by cooling a few drops on a cold plate, and when the desired consistency is reached pour into buttered pans and cut into squares. 2. One cupful of best syrup, one cupful of brown sugar, one cupful of white sugar, two cupfuls of grated chocolate, two cupfuls of cream, one teaspoonful of flour mixed with the cream, and vanilla to suit. Eub the choco- late to a smooth paste with the cream, boil all together half an hour, and pour into flat dishes to cool. 3. One cupful of milk, two cupfuls of sugar, one cupful of molasses, half a cupful of grated chocolate, and vanilla to suit. Boil for one and a quarter hours and cool in buttered tins. 4. One cupful of water, one cupful of sugar, half a cupful of grated chocolate, butter the size of a walnut. Boil the water, sugar, and butter to a syrup, and when nearly done add the chocolate. Stir the whole mixture con- 205 The New Century Home Book. stantly to prevent lumping. Spread on greased paper and cut into squares. 5. One cupful of milk, two cupfuls of sugar, two cupfuls of molasses, and one cupful of chocolate. Boil all together until the syrup candies. Pour on greased tins and mark into squares. Peanut Thin. Put two cupfuls of sugar and a dessert- spoonful of butter into a shallow saucepan and stir constantly until dissolved. Then remove from the fire and stir in a pinch of soda and one cupful of shelled and skinned peanuts, rolled rather fine, and pour on buttered pans in very thin sheets. Great care must be taken to prevent burning of the sugar. As soon as it dissolves it will begin to burn unless removed. Other nuts may be used in this recipe as preferred. Popcorn Balls. Prepare mixture as in recipe No. 1 for molasses candy, but do not cook quite so hard. Pour a small quantity into a buttered pan, sprinkle thickly with freshly popped corn. 206 The New Century Home Book Dip the finger tips into flour, and with them form the popcorn into balls. There should be just enough candy to hold the corn together. Popcorn Cakes. Proceed as for popcorn balls, but pour crushed popcorn into the hot mixture until it cannot be stirred any more. Place the mixture on a buttered board or marble slab, press with a rolling pin until about half an inch thick, and cut into squares with a large knife. Sugared Popcorn. Boil together one cupful of sugar, one table- spoonful of butter, and three tablespoonfuls of water until candied. Pour in popcorn and stir briskly until the corn is well coated. Flavor with vanilla if desired. Honey Popcorn. Boil in a frying pan one pint of honey until it is very thick. Then stir into it freshly popped corn, and when it is cool mold it into balls. 207 The New Century Home Book Cream Walnuts. Crack English walnuts carefully so as to pro- serve the halves in perfect shape. With fingers slightly moistened with water or butter form imcooked fondant into small balls and press two pieces of the nut together on either side of the balls, flattening them to the desired shape. Lay on waxed or buttered paper. Cream Dates. Remove the pits from dates and fill the cavi- ties with uncooked fondant. Stuffed Dates. Shell and skin peanuts, remove the pits from dates, and in each date insert two whole nuts. Press together and roll in granulated sugar. Chocolate Cream Drops. Mold fondant into small balls. Scrape half a cake of chocolate into a bowl and set it in the top of a steaming teakettle — not boiling — until dissolved. Drop the fondant balls into the chocolate, one at a time, roll them over 208 The New Century Home Book quickly, take out with a fork, and place them on a buttered platter. Do not let the chocolate cook, or it will harden. Cream Candy. Boil two large cupfuls of granulated sugar and six tablespoonfuls of water until the syrup will harden when dropped into cold water. Add two teaspoonfuls of vanilla and a small teaspoonful of cream of tartar. Turn into a buttered dish until cool enough to handle, pull until the mixture is white, cut into short lengths, and set away to get cold. When the sticks have become cold and hard they may be placed in a glass jar and set away for a week or ten days. CocoANUT Candy. Put the milk of one cocoanut into two pounds of sugar and set it on the fire. When it begins to boil add the grated meat of the cocoanut, and cook until the nut meat is ten- der. Pour into buttered pans to cool and cut into squares before it hardens. (14) 209 The New Century Home Book Butter Scotch. Boil one cupful of sugar, one cupful of but- ter, and one cupful of molasses until it hardens when dropped into cold water. Spread thinly in pans and mark it in little squares. Taffy. Put a little butter in the bottom of a sauce- pan and put over it one pound of sugar and two tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Let it stand all night. If it looks too dry in the morning, add a little vinegar. Boil the mixture without stir- ring it until it hardens when dropped into water. Drop in a teaspoonful of vanilla and pour thinly into buttered tins to get cold. Turkish Delight. Break into pieces an ounce of sheet gelatine and soak it in half a cupful of cold water for two hours. Put one pound of granulated sugar and half a cupful of cold water into a pan and let it dissolve over a fire. When it reaches the boiling point add the soaked gelatine and boil steadily for twenty minutes. Put in the rind 210 The New Century Home Book and juice of one orange and the juice of a lemon. Wet a tin with cold water and turn into it the mixture about an inch thick and stand it away to harden. When it jellies cut into squares and roll in confectioner's sugar. White Candy. Mix one pound of sugar, two thirds of a tumbler of water, one teaspoonful of vinegar, butter the size of a walnut, and half a teaspoon- ful of cream of tartar. Boil twenty minutes without stirring. Pour into buttered plates to cool. Butter your hands and pull the candy, occasionally wetting the fingers with a little vanilla or lemon. Fig Candy. Boil one cupful of sugar and one third of a cupful of water until it is a pale brown color. Then stir in a quarter teaspoonful of cream of tartar and take off the fire. Wash and cut open figs, spread them on a platter, and pour the mixture over them. Set in a cool place until the covering has hardened, 211 The New Century Home Book Fruit Glace. Mix one cupful of granulated sugar, one cup- ful of water, and the juice of one lemon, and boil half an hour in a porcelain-lined kettle without stirring. When the syrup hardens if dropped into water pour it into a small dish and set it in a pan of boiling water to keep the syrup liquid. Dip into it cherries, grapes, bunches of currants, slices of citron, peaches, plums, oranges divided into their natural sec- tions, sliced pineapples, or any other fruit. Place the fruit on a buttered paper to let the glace cool and harden. The whole meats of nuts may be substituted for fruit in this recipe, making a very rich nut glace. 212 The New Century Home Book flee Cream in tbe flDome T^O make good ice cream at home is not at all so difficult as many persons think. As in candy making, the essential thing is careful attention to details. Carelessness in freezing is responsible for most of the failures in home ice cream making. In packing the freezer for use remember that the smaller the ice is broken the better it will do its work, while the salt should not be too fine. The best salt is that prepared espe- cially for the purpose, and generally known in the market as "ice cream'^ salt. When the cream has been poured into the can, and the can set into the tub, place the ice and salt around it in alternate layers. Begin with a layer of ice about three inches deep. Then put in a layer of about an inch of salt, and so on to the top. It is well to break the ice by pound- ing it in a bag. The freezing should not be done too hastily, especially at first. Lumpy 213 The New Century Home Book cream will be avoided by turning the freezer slowly at first, increasing the speed as the freez- ing progresses. Every utensil used in making ice cream should be kept perfectly clean. Use special care in seeing that the ice cream can is very thoroughly cleansed. No matter how carefully it was cleaned when last used, scald it inside and out before using it again. Do not eat cream that has stood in the can overnight. There is always danger of poison in such cream. Vanilla Ice Cream. Use one pint of milk, two cupfuls of sugar, one large tablespoonful of flour rubbed smooth in cold milk, two eggs beaten light, one table- spoonful of extract of vanilla, and one quart of cream well beaten. Heat the milk in a double kettle. When it is smoking hot add the flour, eggs, and one cupful of the sugar. Cook twenty minutes or a little less, stirring often. When cold add the remaining sugar, vanilla, and cream, and freeze. A mixture of vanilla, lemon, and almond extracts makes a pleasant 214 The New Century Home Book flavoring. This recipe makes about two quarts of cream. Caramel Ice Cream. Proceed as for vanilla cream, but use only a small teaspoonful of vanilla. When the hot mixture is ready place it where it will remain hot. Put the second cupful of sugar in a shal- low saucepan and stir constantly until it is melted. Turn this "caramel" into the hot mix- ture, stir or beat until perfectly mixed or dis- solved, and strain. When cold add the whipped cream, and freeze. Peach or Banana Ice Cream. Make the hot mixture as for vanilla cream, adding with the whipped cream about a pint of peeled and mashed peaches or bananas. Lemon Ice Cream. Mix the juice and rind of two lemons, the juice of one orange, and three quarters of a pound of sugar, and stand in a cool place about two hours. Scald a quart of cream and let it cool. Freeze the cream until it is quite thick, 215 The New Century Home Book and then stir in the sugar and lemon mixture and freeze the whole. Coffee Ice Cream. Use three pints of cream, one cupful of strong, clear coffee, two cupfuls of sugar, and two tablespoonfuls of arrowroot wet in cold milk. Heat half of the cream until it boils. Stir in the sugar, and when this is dissolved stir in the coffee and then the arrowroot. Boil all together for about five minutes. When cold beat the mixture up very light, whipping in the rest of the cream by degrees. Freeze. A cheaper coffee cream is made by sweeten- ing one quart of strong coffee with a quarter pound of sugar, stirring in two quarts of rich custard, and freezing. Creamless Ice Cream. Mix together and freeze one can of con- densed milk, twice the quantity of fresh milk, two eggs well beaten, one teaspoonful of vanilla, and half a teaspoonful of gelatine dissolved in cold water. If desired less sweet, increase the quantity of fresh milk. 216 The New Century Home Book Cream Ice. Use four lemons, eight peaches — or four bananas — four cupfuls of milk, and four cup- fuls of sugar. Grate the rinds of the lemons and use all of the juice and pulp, discarding only the seeds and tough skin. Peel and mash the peaches and mix in the sugar. Prepare the freezer, and when all is ready stir in the milk rapidly and begin freezing as soon as possible. If desired less rich, water may be substituted for part of the milk. Lemon Sherbet. Take two cupfuls of sugar, five cupfuls of cold water, the grated rind of one orange, and the juice of two oranges and two or three lemons. Boil the sugar and water just five minutes. When cold add the other ingredients, and strain and freeze. Sherbet prepared in this way should be served in small glasses. If additional stiffness is desired, beat the white of one egg stiff, add one spoonful of powdered sugar, and stir into the mixture as soon as it is frozen through. 217 The New Century Home Book Lemon and Other Ices. Proceed as for lemon sherbet, but after freez- ing pack it away and allow it to stand until very hard. Any fruit may be used to vary the flavor of sherbet or ice, but lemon should al- ways be the foundation. Strawberries, rasp- berries, blackberries, and peaches make good sherbet and ices. Mash the fruit and add either before or after straining. Mousse. Whip one quart of cream very light. Add one cupful of powdered sugar and flavor to taste with extract, or raspberry shrub, or any fruit syrup. Freeze without stirring. Maple Mousse. Use four eggs, one cupful of maple syrup, and one pint of cream. Beat the yolks of the eggs light and whip them into the syrup. Place in a double kettle, and when smoking hot allow it to remain over the fire ten minutes longer. Then take off and beat until frothy. When cool add the beaten whites of the eggs and the cream, well whipped. Freeze. 218 The New Century Home Book Cooling Drinks in tbe Ibome All ANY pleasant drinks for hot weather days are easily made at home, and can be drank with entire safety if used in moderation. Drinks prepared with fruit juices are healthful and nutritious, but care should be taken to use only pure juices. If you put up these juices at home, you run no risk of buying adulterated stuff in the stores. Lime juice or grape fruit juice should be kept on hand in the summer, and children and grown folk should frequently take a little of the juice in slightly sweetened water. To can fruit juices, mash the fruit and rub it through a sieve. To every pint of the juice and pulp add three cupfuls of sugar. Fill fruit jars with the mixture, cover them, and place them in a kettle with enough cold water to about cover them. Bring to a boil slowly and boil half an hour. Then fill the cans full, seal them, and cool them in water. 219 The New Century Home Book Egg Lemonade. Dissolve in one pint of water half a pound of granulated sugar and add the juice of four lemons and a cupful of cracked ice. Have ready the yolks and white of four eggs, beaten separately, the white until stiff and dry. Stir in the yolks with the lemonade and then the white. Add more sugar if desirable and serve in small glasses. Pineapple Lemonade. Boil one pound of granulated sugar in a pint of water until it is a thick syrup. Remove the scum as it rises. Squeeze the juice of three large lemons into a bowl and peel a pineapple, cutting out all the eyes. Grate the pineapple into the lemon juice, pour the syrup into the bowl, and stir it briskly two or three minutes. Add a quart of water and strain into a pitcher. Raspberry Drink. Put into a preserving kettle a pint of red raspberries and a quart of currants and mash them thoroughly. Set the kettle over a moder- 220 The New Century Home Book ate fire and let it heat gradually. After the mixture begins to boil pour it into a jelly bag and let it drain into a large bowl. When it is clear and cold ice it, sweeten to suit, and serve in small glasses. Orangeade. Beat one egg light and put it into a tumbler. Fill the glass nearly full of cold water, add the juice of one orange, sweeten, and shake well. Portable Lemonade. Mix one ounce of powdered tartaric acid, six ounces of powdered sugar, and one dram of essence of lemon. Place it in the sun to thor- oughly dry. Then rub together and divide into twenty-four portions, putting up each in a separate paper. One portion will make a glass of lemonade by simply dropping it into the water. 221 The New Century Home Book Ipaetimee in tbe Ibome QOME of us who are not yet ready to be called very old can remember when many good people looked askance at the introduction of games into the home life. It was thought to be an unprofitable, if not a downright sinful, misuse of time which might be devoted to bet- ter things than mere amusement. Happily for old and young alike, this view of life in the home has passed away. In the best and happiest homes games and pastimes have their place. There can be no doubt that men and women are helped to happier and better lives by home amusements. The chil- dren who are permitted and encouraged to en- joy healthful and innocent games at home cling closer to their homes. They are not tempted to go elsewhere for the amusement for which !N"ature has given them the desire. The danger in driving children away from home for amusement is particularly great in 222 The New Century Home Book the case of boys. For boys whose home life re- presses every buoyant feeling and desire for fun and romping the forces of evil are ever lying in wait. There are pitfalls and traps enough for your sons at the best. Do not help to put them in the way of these perils by re- fusing them amusements at home. ^ Parents, too, are better for joining in their children's games and pastimes. It lightens their cares; it helps to keep their brains clear for the larger duties of life; it aids in warding off physical and mental ills; it tends to keep them young in their old age. Above all, par- ticipation in your children's sports keeps you in that close and intimate touch with their lives, their thoughts, and their aspirations in which the truest family relations are found, and to attain which far too many parents fail. You do not want your children to grow away from you. Do what you can to prevent this by giving them amusements at home and sharing the pleasure with them. Keep the home pastimes within proper bounds. Because these amusements are desir- 223 The New Century Home Book able and good, they must not be permitted to fill up an undue share of the home life. Every member of the family, young or old, has his duties for himself and for others to perform, and with these the games must not be allowed to interfere. Studies must not be neglected for sports. Not until the day's lessons are learned and the day's duties done should the games ap- pear. If this rule is followed, the home amuse- ments will be all the more enjoyable and will play their true part in the home life. If you find your children's studies and duties leave them no time for amusements, it is a serious question whether they are not doing more than is good for their mental and physical health. Other things being equal, outdoor games are preferable to indoor sports for their wider ex- ercise in fresher air, but these are often out of the question, and, of course, are not to be lliought of in the long evenings of winter. It is well not to entirely forget exercise in making up a program for an evening's games, but it need not be of the violent or too noisy kind. The familiar games of blind man's buff, bean 224 The New Century Home Book bags, battledoor and shuttlecock, parlor ring toss, grace hoops, and parlor tenpins are ex- cellent for children and grown folk who have had little exercise. They give mind and body mild but stimulating and healthful activity, and are helpful after a rainy day which has kept everybody indoors. There are many pleasant home games in which parents and children may join, and which cannot be obtained at the toy stores. Some of them are given herewith : Jenkins Up. Divide the players into equal sides and seat them on opposite sides of a large table — the dining table is generally the best. One side takes a silver quarter or other coin, and all the players on that side hold their hands out of sight under the table. While the leader of the other side slowly counts ten the first side players pass the coin quickly back and forth from hand to hand under the table, until at the end of the count the signal, "Jenkins says hands up!" is given. Then all hands on the (15) 225 The New Century Home Book first side must be raised with fingers tightly closed and the elbows resting on the table. Of course, one of the pla3^ers will have the coin in his hand, but he must not betray that fact. At the signal from the opposite side, "Hands down !" all drop their hands to the table, open- ing the fingers so that the hands rest flatly on their palms. The second side must now find the hand under which the coin is concealed. They agree upon a hand they believe does not conceal the coin, and order it lifted from the table. This is kept up, one hand at a time, until the coin is revealed, the object of the sec- ond side being to have the hand covering the coin the last one left upon the table. When the coin is revealed it is passed to the other side, which conceals it as the first one had done, and so on. The hands on the table when the coin is found count one each against the side which is hunting for it. The side loses which first has fifty hands scored against it. Each player keeps special watch on the player opposite, so as to catch any sign he may betray of having the coin. 226 The New Century Home Book "It." One of the players is sent out of the room, and the others place their chairs in a circle and agree that "It" shall be his or her left-hand neighbor. The outside player is then called in, and it his duty to gness what "It" is. Step- ping into the circle, he asks one of the players some questions about "It" which can and must be answered either "yes" or "no," and the player questioned must have his left-hand neighbor in mind when he answers. Questions are asked in turn of each player, going to the left around the circle. The questions and cate- gorical answers are sure to make a lot of fun from the start, and are to be kept up until the one in the center guesses what "It" is. Characteristics. Write on slips of paper— one for each player —seven or eight questions, the answers to which, if truthfully given, would tend to bring out the player's characteristics. For example : "What is your favorite book?" "What is your idea of happiness?" "What do you think of 227 The New Century Home Book matrimony?'^ Each player writes an answer to each of the questions. The answers are then read out without giving the writer's name. The one who rightly guesses from the answers who wrote the larger number wins the game. Eyes and Nose. Hang up in a doorway a sheet or large piece of paper and cut in it two holes for the eyes and one hole for the nose. Let one half the players be in front of the sheet and the others behind it. Each of the latter players steps up and looks through the eyeholes, letting his nose appear through the hole cut for it. Those in front of the sheet are to guess who it is whose eyes and nose they see, being allowed one minute for observation. Then the players change sides, and those who first posed become the guessers. The side making the larger num- ber of correct guesses is the winner. A variation of the Eyes and Nose game is to place a lamp so that it casts shadows of the players' profiles or hands or entire heads, those in front to guess whom the shadows represent. 228 The New Century Home Book Mixed Flowers. Select the names of ten well-known flowers and mix up the letters in each name, as, "negumiar" for geranium; "sanpy" for pansy, etc. Write these mixed names on slips of paper, one for each player, and allow so many minutes to sort out and write the correct names of the flowers. The winner is the one having the longest correct list at the end of the contest. Candle Hide and Seek. Send a player out of the room and wrap a piece of white paper around a white candle. Set the lighted candle on table or shelf, turn out or very low all other lights, call in the out- sider, and ask him to find the paper you have concealed, which you can truthfully tell him is "in plain sight." Gymkhana Race. This jolly game requires a blown egg for each player, with a coffee spoon for each; a piece of board with nails driven through it and their sharp ends sticking up; a needle and 229 The New Century Home Book thread for each person, and for each an apple swinging from the end of a long string. Place the blown eggs on a smooth table top or the polished floor; put the board and nails in an- other part of the room, or in another room, and hang the apples by their strings to a shelf, mantelpiece, or any other object so that they shall swing freely. At a given signal each player picks up an egg with his coffee spoon, not touching it with his hands, carries it to the board, and sticks it upright on a nail point. Then each threads a needle and puts it back into the workbasket. Next each player must take a bite from a swinging apple without touching it with his hands. The player who first accomplishes all these things is the winner. Memory. Place on a table in a room from which the players are excluded a collection of all sorts of things, small and large, and having no relation to each other. Call in the players, one at a time, and allow each one minute to look at the things on the table, without touching them. 230 The New Century Home Book After all have seen the table distribute paper and pencils and allow five or ten minutes for the plaj^ers to write down what they saw on the table. The one writing the longest correct list wins the game. Five Senses. This is an enlargement of the game of Memory. Arrange one table as for Memory, and cover it with a cloth. On another table place various articles under a sheet, and on a third table tiny portions of articles to be eaten or drank. On still another table put various articles having more or less characteristic odors, such as vinegar, coffee, cologne, etc. These tables represent the senses of sight, touch, taste, and smell. The cloth is lifted from the first, and the players are allowed two minutes to look at the articles, as in the Memory game. On the second table the players have two minutes in which to feel of the ob- ject under the covering. At the third table a taste of each article is taken, and at the fourth table one good '^sniff'^ of each article. Then a 231 The New Century Home Book person behind a suspended sheet strikes twice on each of various musical instruments, dishes, glasses, and other articles which have distinc- tive tones. After this the players are given slips of paper and pencils and allowed ten or fifteen minutes to write out what they saw, felt, tasted, smelled, and heard. The longest correct list, counting all senses, wins the game. Egg Football. Divide the players into equal sides and seat them around a smooth-top table with the mem- bers of the two sides alternating, so that each player sits between two of the opposite side. Erect miniature goal posts at each end of the table, and in the center place a blown egg. At a signal the players start to blowing the egg, each side striving to blow it through its opponents' goal. Of course, the egg must not be touched with the hands. Let the game be played in two "halves," as real football, and at the end of the contest the side scoring the larger number of goals is the winner. After each goal is won the egg is placed back in the center of the table. 232 The New Century Home Book If the egg is blown off the table, it must be re- placed one inch from the point where it left the table. Candle Duel. Blindfold two players, but have the hand- kerchiefs thin enough so that the wearers can see the glimmer of a lighted candle. Let each be given a lighted candle, which must be car- ried in his left hand, while his right hand must be held behind his back. Turn the lights low and let the contestants try to blow out each other's candle. The first one succeeding is the winner. Only the larger children or adults should try this game, for it is too much like "playing with fire" for the little ones. Hunt the Penny. With a sharp knife "nick" a copper cent so that a tiny point will stick up from its face. Press this against the dark wood of any article of furniture, mantelpiece, or the like, in plain sight, and then call in the player to find it. Like the white paper around the candle, it is not so easy to find as one might think. 233 The New Century Home Book Geography. Two persons must be in the secret to play this game. One of them is sent out of the room, and the others choose the name of some city or State, river or mountain. The outsider is then called in, and the second player who un- derstands the game asks him questions as to what name has been chosen. Suppose it is Chicago. "Is it New York?" the player will ask, and the answer will be "No," very prompt- ly. "Is it Buffalo?" "No" will be the answer. "Is it Chicago?" and to the astonishment of the others the answer will be "Yes" at once. The explanation is that just before asking the question which will give the right name the questioner mentions an animal. In this case "Buffalo" gave the outsider notice that the next name mentioned would be the one chosen. Hat Toss. Cut thin cardboard into slips about four inches long and three inches wide. Mark six slips "A," six "B," and so on, giving each player six cards of the same letter. Place a hat on its 234 The New Ccntuty Home Book crown in the middle of the floor and let the players draw their chairs into a circle aronnd it and as far from it as about five feet if the room will allow. Then each in turn tries to toss one of the slips of cardboard into the hat. Each slip that goes into the hat counts ten, and each one that rests on the brim counts five. The game may be to see which player will first count a hundred, or which will have the largest count at the end of five or ten rounds. The slips are lettered so that each player can tell which are his in the hat. Pictures and Poems. Let each player draw on a sheet of paper a picture of any object or thing he chooses, but without saying or writing what it is. Then let each player pass his drawing to his left-hand neighbor, who must then write a "poem" at least four lines long to describe or "fit in" with the picture which has been passed to him. It is hard to tell which are the funnier — the pic- tures or "poems" — in this game, and to guess what the pictures are is not always easy. 235 The New Century Home Book Princess Feather. Let the players be seated in a square, each holding with both hands to the corners or edges of a sheet spread out in the square. A small, very light feather is then tossed into the air over the sheet, and each player must, by blow- ing it, prevent it from touching him or falling to the sheet near his hands. If the feather touches a player, he must rise and stand behind his right-hand neighbor until some other player suffers the same penalty, when he takes that player's place. If he is touched a second time by the feather, he must go into "dungeon" by leaving the game. The same penalties are paid by the player nearest to whose hands the feather touches the sheet when it is allowed to fall. As the players fall out and the number around the sheet lessens it becomes harder and harder to keep the feather in the air, and the contest between the last two players left is al- ways exciting. Of course, no player is allowed to let go of the sheet or touch the feather in any way. It must be kept in the air by the breath alone. 236 The New Century Home Book Another way to play Prince's Feather is for the players to divide into equal numbers and stand up in lines facing each other about three feet apart, each player having a palm leaf fan. The feather is fanned back and forth. No player can turn around. Whenever the feather is fanned over the heads so that it goes behind a line, the leader of the opposite side chooses a player from the losing side, who must then work as valiantly as ever for the side to which he then belongs. At the end of a set time the game is stopped, and the side then having the larger number of players is the winner. Half the fun of this game is lost unless the feather used is very light and downy. The leader of the winning side is entitled to wear the feather as a trophy. New leaders should be chosen each time the game is played. 237 » The New Century Home Book mineaa in tbe Ibome \1 7HEN in doubt as to whether the services of a physician are needed it is better to err on the safe side. It is both foolish and ex- pensive to run for the doctor whenever any little ailment appears, but it is poor economy to neglect seeking your physician's help until you have become seriously ill. If simple home treatment does not soon result in improvement, the doctor should be called. A medicine cabinet or chest should be kept in every home. In it should be kept the com- mon remedies for common troubles, and such appliances as would be needed in the case of an accident or a sudden illness. Each bottle or package should be marked with its contents and for what the medicine is designed. Besides the usual standard medicines for the more common diseases, you should keep in the cabinet ammonia, witch-hazel, sweet oil, vase- line, ipecac, salt, mustard, limewater, absorb- 238 The New Century Home Book ent cotton, court or surgeon's plaster, a couple of thin strips of wood for splints, and two or three bandages ready for use when an accident happens. ' The medicine case should be kept in a con- venient place, but never where children can get into it. If poisons or medicines containing poisons are kept, they should be in bottles of different shape from the others, and always in the same place in the cabinet. The best plan is to have a separate case for poisons, small enough to set inside the larger case. The poison case should be locked, but the key should be kept beside it. With such simple precau- tions as these the risk of taking poison by mis- take for some harmless medicine is reduced to a minimum. Never, unless it is absolutely necessary, take anything from the medicine chest in the dark. See as well as feel what you are removing. The Sick Eoom. When illness enters your family put the patient in the most cheerful room in the house. 239 The New Century Home Book The room should be well lighted and open to the sunlight, and, if possible, it should have a southern exposure. It should be out of reach of kitchen odors. What has already been said of necessity for fresh air in the home applies with still greater force to the sick room. The ventilation of the room is of the very highest importance. Re- covery of the patient is sure to be greatly re- tarded, and, indeed, is often impossible, without a constant supply of fresh air driving out the impure air of the sick room. There must be an outlet for the foul air as well as an inlet for the fresh air. If there is a fireplace in the room, it will provide tlie very best outlet for vitiated air. A fire in the grate in cold weather, or a lighted lamp set in the fireplace in warm weather, will cause an upward current through the chimney to carry off bad air. In letting in fresh air care must be taken not to expose the patient to draughts. The win- dows should be kept lowered a little from the top and raised a trifle from the bottom. If it is found that the raised window causes a 240 5' X > 2 0) o The New Century Home Book draught, as is apt to be the case, place under the lower sash a piece of board the width of the window and about three inches wide. This will let the air in at the middle of the window and at the same time give it an upward current, so as to avoid a draught. If you use any kind of patent ventilators, see that they are arranged to send the air toward the ceiling. Sometimes when the patient is very sensitive to changed conditions the air of the room may be changed by opening the windows of an ad- joining room until that room has been filled with fresh air, and then closing the windows and opening the door to the sick room and swinging it rapidly on its hinges, so as to drive into the room the air from the connecting room. If you are troubled with the notion that night air is dangerous and unhealthy, get rid of the erroneous idea. The patient needs good air at night quite as much as in the daytime. Indeed, if a light is kept burning in the sick room, there is even more need of good ventila- tion at night than at other hours, for the light will use up a share of the good air. (16) 241 The New Century Home Book If the sick room contains running water and a stationary wash basin, it is better not to make nse of them. The waste and overflow pipes of the basin should be tightly plugged with rub- ber corks. These pipes communicate with the sewers, and there is always some danger of the entrance of contaminated air through them. The portable wash basins and pitchers used in the sick room should be kept scrupulously clean. The proper temperature of the sick room will depend much upon the nature of the patient's disease, and should be regulated as the doctor directs. A reliable thermometer should always hang in the room. In the absence of specific directions from the physician, the temperature should be kept at from sixty-eight to seventy degrees. The furniture of the sick room should be plain and limited to the wants of the patient and nurse. No upholstered furniture should be permitted in the room. Lace curtains are out of place there. The curtains should be of muslin or material that can be easily washed. Let the patient's bed be so placed that the 242 The New Century Home Book nurse can attend the patient from either side. This, too, will give him a better chance to get fresh air than when the bed is in a corner or against a side wall. If the bed is of good width, the patient will enjoy being moved from side to side occasionally. Two narrow beds placed side by side will serve the same purpose. The bedstead should be of iron or brass rather than wood. It should have a wire mattress, and in ordinary illness there should be a hair mattress over the wire springs. In cases of severe illness, when the patient must be disturbed as little as possible, the bed should have a "draw sheet." Fold a sheet lengthwise so as to make it half its original width. Lay it across the bed so that one end is even with the side of the bed, and tuck in on the other side all the extra length. Then by gently drawing the sheet under the patient he can have a fresh part to lie upon with prac- tically no disturbance. Many persons find it difficult to change the sheets without disturbing the patient or ex- posing him to the cold air, yet it is a simple 243 The New Century Home Book matter. To change the under sheet, start at one side of the bed and roll up the sheet until the roll is close to the patient's body. This may be done without throwing off the outer bed cov- erings. Koll the fresh sheet lengthwise as far as the middle and place the roll alongside the roll of the old sheet, letting the unrolled part cover the mattress. Then gently turn the patient over the two rolls so that he rests upon the smooth part of the fresh sheet. Then pull out the old sheet and unroll the fresh sheet. If the patient is so ill that he cannot be rolled over, the rolled portions of the sheets may be gently pushed under his body. To change the upper sheet, spread the fresh sheet and a blanket over the outer covering of the bed. Let the patient, if he is able, or an- other person hold on to the sheet and blanket at the head of the bed while the old sheet and other covering is drawn out from under them at the foot of the bed. When a member of the family falls ill with a contagious disease and he cannot be removed to a hospital for treatment — which should 244 The New Century Home Book always be done if possible— great care must be exercised in isolating him from the rest of the family. If there are children in the home, they should be sent away if it can be done, even if the patient is well isolated. A room at the top of the house should be chosen for the sick room. It should be stripped of its furniture and thoroughly cleaned. Only such furniture should be put back into the room as is necessary, and this should be of the most simple kind. The carpet should not be put down again, and the pictures should be re- moved from the walls. If it is desirable to have curtains at the windows, they should be of the cheap sort, for they should be burned after the patient has recovered. Curtains or shades should be of a dark color, so that bright light may be excluded at will. The door of the sick room must be kept closed, and before it should be hung a sheet which should be frequently sprinkled with a solution of carbolic acid. Only the nurse and doctor should have access to the room, and the doctor will direct what 245 The New Century Home Book precautions they must take to prevent carrying contagion to others. Disinfectants should be constantly kept in the upper hall or room adjoining the sick room, and should be occasionally sprinkled all through the house. An excellent disinfectant is a solution of sulphate of zinc and salt in water. Use four ounces each of the sulphate of zinc and common salt to a gallon of water. A quantity of this disinfectant should be kept in the sick room, and everything that leaves the room should first be dipped into it. This ap- plies to knives, forks, spoons, dishes, etc., as well as to sheets, towels, etc., sent out to be washed. While disinfectants should be used in the sick room, fresh air secured by good ventilation is the best weapon against con- tagion. Besides the zinc disinfectant, a copperas solu- tion should be provided for the disinfection of discharges from the patient, drains, water- closets, cesspools, sewers, etc. Make the solu- tion by dissolving a pound and a half of cop- peras in a gallon of hot water. 246 The New Century Home Book Food for the Sick. The patient's food will depend largely upon the nature of his ailment. Its kind and the amount the patient should be permitted to eat must be prescribed by the physician. In serv- ing the food the more temptingly it is arranged on tray or side table the more pleasant it will be to the patient and the more good it will do him. If a small quantity of any article is ordered, let it be served in a small dish rather than in a large one. Half a tumblerful of water is more satisfjdng to the average patient if given to him in a small glass which it fills than if served in the tumbler. If the patient is in need of strengthening food, but has little appetite, he will eat more of a tastefully served meal than of one carelessly arranged. While the doctor should be relied upon to regulate the patient's diet, in his absence you must act for yourself, and you should know something about the qualities of different kinds of food, remembering that in all or- dinary circumstances the more easily digested food is the better for sick person or invalid. 247 The New Centtiiy Home Book In meats, etc., the more easily digested are roast beef, medium cooked rather than well done; beefsteak, tender and rare; broth, beef tea, broiled or stewed lamb, lamb broth, broiled or stewed chicken, chicken soup or broth, roast turkey, broiled, baked, or stewed sweetbreads, broiled, baked, or boiled trout, and broiled calves' liver, chopped fine. The more easily digested vegetables are peas, boiled and in soup; baked, stewed, or boiled cauliflower, raw cabbage, rice in puddings with- out eggs, boiled rice, and boiled or baked mush- rooms. Oranges, raspberries, and peaches are the best fruits for digestion. Milk stands at the head of all food for per- sons in good health as well as those who are ill. Eggs, served in any way except hard boiled; butter, dry toast, stale bread, and custards are all easily digested foods. Foods only partially digestible are mutton, well-cooked fresh pork, duck, salmon, lobster, calves' liver, potatoes, cabbage, beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, celery, strawberries, 248 The New Century Home Book currants, blackberries, apples, warm bread, cake, cheese, and puddings. Foods that are difficult to digest, and which, therefore, should not be given to the sick if other is at hand, are veal, ham, game, clams, salt fish, sardines, fried oysters, kidneys, calves' brains, radishes, turnips, cucumbers, eggplant, oysterplant, pears, cherries, pineapples, ba- nanas, plums, pies, pastry, doughnuts, buns, drawn butter, and all boiled puddings. Great care should be used in giving drinking water to the patient to see that it is pure. Ice water should not be made by putting ice into the water, but by putting the water in bottles on the ice. Glasses or pitchers containing water should always be kept carefully covered. Water quickly becomes contaminated with the germs in foul or bad air. If the water is suspected of impurity, it should be boiled before using it. Do not give distilled water to drink except by the doctor's direction. Neither tea nor coffee should be given to a patient without the doctor's consent or instruc- tions. Both are stimulants, and either might 249 The New Century Home Book be the most harmful thing you could give the sick person. Tea contains several chemicals, and to many persons coffee acts as a laxative. In brewing tea for a patient never let it boil. For coffee use only freshly ground berries, and serve it without milk. Milk and coffee together are indigestible. Cocoa is better for the patient than chocolate, as a rule. Chicken jelly is often very palatable and nourishing for the sick person. To make it, cut up a chicken into small pieces and put them into a stone jar. Tightly cover the jar and place it in a preserving kettle in water and boil for three hours. Strain off the liquid and season it with salt and pepper. Sugar and lemon may be used for seasoning if preferred. To make calves' foot jelly, put two calves' feet into two quarts of water and boil until the water is reduced to a pint. Then strain into a dish and put away to cool, removing the fat. To make arrowroot jelly, boil a lemon peel in a pint of water until reduced one half. Make a thin paste of half an ounce of arrow- root and milk, put it into a cup, and fill the 250 The New Century Home Book cup with milk. Eemove the lemon peel from the boiling water and add the cupful of arrow- root and milk. Sweeten with sugar to taste and boil five minutes. Mix a quarter of a pound of rice with half a pound of sugar and enough water to cover the mixture. Boil until it becomes glutinous, strain, season to taste, and let it cool. This makes an excellent rice jelly. Mutton broth is often ordered for the patient. To make it, chop up a pound of lean meat, sea- son with a little pepper and salt, and let it boil hard for twenty minutes, and strain. Other broths are made in the same way. If beef broth is ordered and you have no ex- tract of beef with which to make it, chop up fine two pounds of raw beef and pass it through a lemon squeezer or a meat press, or press it between a couple of plates, and thus obtain the extract. To make barley water, boil a small cupful of barley in a pint of water until it is reduced one half. Season with sugar and lemon juice or sweet orange. 251 The New Century Home Book Eice milk is made by beating half a cupful of ground rice into milk enough to make a thin batter, adding half a pint of milk and boiling slowly for five minutes. Flavor as in barley water. To make flaxseed tea, put half an ounce of whole flaxseed into two cupfuls of cold water and boil slowly until the mixture is as thick as cream. Put into a bowl four ounces of pow- dered sugar and an ounce of pulverized gum arable. Pour over this the flaxseed and stir until it is dissolved. Flavor with the juice of a lemon and strain for use. Oatmeal gruel is made by mixing two table- spoonfuls of the oatmeal with a little cold water, stirring it into a pint of boiling water, and letting it boil for an hour. Then strain and add a little salt. Make Indian meal gruel in the same way. Poultices. These are used for allaying inflammation and for soothing purposes, or as counter irritants. For the latter mustard is generally employed. 252 The New Century Home Book For the former the most common poultices are made of flaxseed or bread. To make a flaxseed poultice, scald a vessel to insure its being hot, and pour in a little hot water. Into this stir ground flaxseed until it is of the consistency of a thick paste and well mixed. Spread this mixture about an inch thick upon a piece of thick muslin or linen and put over it a piece of thin cloth, which will serve to keep the flaxseed from sticking to the skin. Apply the poultice while it is hot, and keep it warm by covering thickly with flannel. A poultice should be changed every two hours, hours, the fresh poultice being ready to apply before the old one is removed. A bread poultice is made like the flaxseed, using stale bread crumbs instead of flaxseed. A bread and milk poultice is made by sub- stituting milk for the water. Charcoal poultices are sometimes ordered for certain kinds of wounds. These are made by adding to a flaxseed poultice half an ounce of charcoal and sprinkling a little of the charcoal over the poultice. 253 The New Century Home Book To make a hop poultice, pour boiling water over the hops and set them aside to steep for several minutes. Then squeeze through a strainer and spread upon a cloth. Many physicians regard beet poultices as very useful. These poultices are made with fresh beets — just from the garden, if possible — pounded into a fine mash. The best mustard poultice or plaster is made of a mixture of one part of mustard to four parts of flour, for an adult, and six or seven parts of flour if for a child. Stir the mixture into a thin paste with warm water and spread it thinly on a piece of cloth or brown paper, and cover with a thin cloth. Do not use boil- ing water in making the plaster. Oatmeal, bran, Indian meal, or flaxseed may be used instead of the flour. 254 The New Century Home Book Before tbe Doctor Comee ■\ /ERY many lives are sacrificed every year through ignorance of what to do before the doctor comes in the case of illness or acci- dents. Many and many a case of prolonged and fatal illness might be avoided by the prompt use of simple home remedies taken at the first sign of trouble and without waiting for the family physician. Many and many an accident has proved fatal when the life of the victim might have been saved had those around i\im known how to treat his injuries while waiting for medical help to come. Many and many a supposed drowned person has been allowed to really die because no one near knew how to restore suspended animation, and it was too late when the doctor arrived. Do not let any member of your family or anyone in your community lose his life because of your ignorance of what to do in any ordi- nary emergency. Look upon it as a part of 255 The New Century Home Book your duty to your family and to society to know how best to aid the victim of an accident, mishap, or sudden illness. It is more than your duty. To have saved the life of a fellow- being or to have eased his sufferings brings with it the highest pleasure. When that being is one of your own loved ones this pleasure is enhanced a thousandfold. So, too, the pain and anguish of losing a dear one through your own ignorance of simple things to do in an emergency are something that cannot be meas- ured. Do not neglect another day to learn at least the first principles of rendering first aid to the injured. See that every member of your family does the same. There is nothing hard or dif- ficult about it. A child can readily understand most of the things to be done in caring for the victim of an accident. You cannot tell what moment you may need the knowledge. When that moment comes do not let it find you unprepared. The ability to properly meet an emergency whenever it may arise may mean the saving of more than one life. 256 The New Century Home Book Fainting. Be careful not to assume when a person sud- denly loses consciousness that he has simply fainted. Fainting is only one form of uncon- sciousness, and is due to the failure of the heart to supply the brain with a sufficient quantity of blood. Unconsciousness may come from various other and more serious causes. In fainting proper the blood recedes from the face, leaving it very pale, and the pulse be- comes very feeble, sometimes failing altogether. Lay the patient down flat, and see that the head is not raised. If the patient is on a bed or sofa, let the head lie over the edge, so that it will be below the level of the body. If this cannot be done, raise the feet so as to increase the flow of blood to the head. Sometimes this alone will revive the sufferer. Cold water should be sprinkled over the face, and smelling salts or ammonia held to the nose. See that the clothing is loosened, and win- dows opened to let in plenty of fresh air. If the faint does not readily give way to this treat- ment, apply hot cloths or a hot water bottle to (17) 257 The New Century Home Book the pit of the stomach, or place a mustard plaster over the heart. When the patient re- covers consciousness he should remain quiet for at least an hour. Burns and Scalds. The first and chief thing to do in the case of a burn is to keep the air away from it. To do this cover the burn with common baking — not washing — soda, moistened with a little water, or olive oil, sweet oil, fresh lard, linseed oil, vaseline, starch, wheat flour, cold cream, or any fresh fat. Over this wrap flannel, cot- ton batting, or several thicknesses of cotton cloth. Use oil in preference to baking soda or flour if the skin is broken. Carron oil, made by shaking together equal parts of limewater and linseed oil, is an excellent application for burns. When a person's clothing has caught fire do not try to put out the flames by throwing water over him. The flames must be smothered. Throw the sufferer down and roll him up in anything of wool that happens to be at hand — 258 The New Century Home Book rug, table cover, blanket, coat, or cloak. If nothing of this sort is at hand, roll him over and over on the ground as rapidly as possible. Pour water on parts of the clothing still smoldering after the flames are extinguished. Do not try to remove the clothing except by care- fully cutting it away from the body, so as to leave any part of it that adheres to the flesh. Shock. In the case of severe burns the shock suffered by the patient may be even more dangerous to his life than the burns. Heat and stimulants are the best treatment for shock due to burns or any other cause. Apply hot cloths to the chest and abdomen, and put other cloths, hot water bottles, or heated bricks along the sides of the body, under the armpits and between the thighs. Then wrap the patient in blankets and give him hot drinks every ten or fifteen minutes until the doctor arrives and takes charge of the treatment. If the shock is the result of an in- jury to the head, do not give the patient any stimulating drink without the doctor's advice. 259 The New Century Home Book Bruises. Place over the bruised place a cloth saturated with vinegar, or hot water, or extract of witch- hazel, or paint the bruise with tincture of iodine. Keep the cloth wet until the pain has ceased. If the bruise has been caused by a blow or fall severe enough to cause injury to internal organs, treat the patient as for shock and send for the doctor without delay. Cuts. To stop the bleeding is the first thing to be done in the case of a cut, whether it be slight or deep. In simple cuts the bleeding may be stopped by the application of cold water, ice, or moderate pressure to the wound. Then press the edges of the wound together and cover with a piece of adhesive plaster. When a vein or an artery has been severed there must be no delay in stopping the hem- orrhage, or the results will be fatal. Lay the patient down with the head only slightly raised, but raise the part of the body in which is the 260 The New Century Home Book wound as much higher than the rest as you can. Make a pad or compress of your handkerchief or any convenient cloth and lay it over the cut, first bringing the edges of the wound together, if possible. Fasten the compress over the wound tightly with another piece of cloth as a bandage, and wet it with cold water. Pressure directly over the wound is the only way to stop the bleeding when the cut is on the trunk of the body. If the wound is in the leg or arm and the compress over it fails to stop the flow of blood, pressure must be applied to the artery. This is done with the tourniquet. In the leg the artery is in front and a trifle be- low the groin. In the arm it is on the inner side and under the biceps muscle. Place over the artery a small piece of wood, or a small stone, or a handkerchief tied into a hard knot, and over this and around the limb tie a towel or handkerchief, or a suspender, if necessary. Run a stick between the cloth and the limb and turn it until the cloth presses the pad down very hard upon the artery and the bleeding ceases. 261 The New Century Home Book Ragged Wounds. When the skin and flesh have been torn and lacerated the wound should be carefully and thoroughly washed out with warm water. It should then be covered with a cloth dipped in warm water and bandaged, taking care not to tie the bandage too tightly. In lacerated wounds, as well as in all other cases in which water is applied, it is well to use a few drops of carbolic acid in the water, but if it is not at hand, do not wait for it. Shock is generally present with ragged wounds, and must be treated as already explained. Severed Limbs. When a hand or foot or finger has been lost in an accident the stump should be treated just as a ragged wound. The tourniquet will prob- ably be necessary to stop the bleeding, and the shock to the patient will require watchful care. Broken Bones. When a bone is broken but is not pushed into the surrounding flesh and the skin is un- 262 The New Century Home Book broken it is called a simple fracture. When the flesh about the bone is torn and lacerated and the skin is broken it is known as a com- pound fracture. Such a wound is, of course, much more serious than a simple fracture. In every case of a fractured bone the first thought should be to move the patient as little as possible before the doctor or surgeon has attended to the wound. It is better when pos- sible to keep the patient at or near the place where he was hurt, for every movement of the injured limb tends to aggravate the wound. Eemember that a broken bone does not need to be reset at once. Under all ordinary circum- stances leave the resetting to the surgeon. Broken Leg or Arm. Let the injured person lie in as comfortable position as he can and place the broken limb on a pillow, or the softest thing at hand. Put a wet cloth over the fracture and keep it drip- ping with cold water. This treatment is suf- ficient if the patient can be kept where the accident happened until the doctor arrives. 263 The New Century Home Book If the patient must be taken away, or if a physician cannot be obtained without a long delay, treatment must be on somewhat different lines. Having put the limb on a pillow or other soft rest, draw the limb into its natural position as well as you can, being very careful to use only gentle force so as not to injure the flesh around the broken edges of the bone. One hand should be above the fracture and the other below it. Take two pieces of thin board, pasteboard, book covers, or anything at hand that is at all stiff and as long as the broken bone and as wide as the limb. Make a thick pad of cotton bat- ting or the softest material at hand, and gently place the limb upon it, taking care always not to move the broken bone out of its position. Place one of the splints on each side of the limb, and with handkerchiefs or cloths tie the splints and pad firmly to the limb, above and below the fracture, so that the broken bone cannot be thrown out of its place. Do not tie a strip directly over the fracture. If nothing better is at hand, you can make a pad out of 264 The New Century Home Book leaves, or hay, or grass, or 3'our own coat or waistcoat. For splints you can use sticks, canes, anything that will not easily bend. If there is absolutely nothing at hand for splints, you can tie the injured limb, if it is a leg, to the patient's other leg. Broken Forearm. Gently draw the broken bone into its natural position, make a soft pad, and bind it on the arm together with splints placed one above and the other under the arm. The splints should reach below the wrists. Throw a sling around the patient's neck, and place the arm in it. Broken Collar Bone. If a physician can be summoned where the accident occurs, simply lay the injured person flat on his back and keep him perfectly quiet until the doctor comes. If it is necessary to move him, make a pad of your handkerchief and place it under the armpit. Lay the hand and forearm across the chest, and bind the elbow to the patient's side. 265 The New Century Home Book Broken Ribs. Bandage the whole chest tightly with cloths, and keep the patient perfectly quiet while wait- ing for the doctor. Broken Jaw. Press the jaws tightly together and tie them with a bandage around the head, so that they cannot part. Broken Skull. Put the patient on his back, let his head be raised a trifle, and keep it covered with a cloth wet with cold water. If possible, he should remain in a darkened room until the doctor has cared for him. Under no circumstances should stimulants be given to a person with a frac- tured skull except under the orders of the physician. Dislocation of Finger. Simply pull the finger bones into place and bind the hand so that the finger cannot be moved. 266 The New Century Home Book Dislocated Jaw. Wrap your thumbs with pieces of cloth and, with one on each side of the patient's mouth on the back teeth of the lower jaw, press down and then backward until the jaw springs into place. If your thumbs are not protected, they may be cut by the teeth as the jaws snap together. Dislocated Shoulder. Place the patient flat on his back and sit down on the floor beside him. Put your foot in the armpit on the injured side and draw the arm down and forward over his chest. The pull should be steady and gentle. Be careful not to try to jerk the bone into place. If the strong but gentle and steady pull does not set the bone, it is better to wait for the doctor, if he can be called in a reasonable time. In all dislocations it is wiser to do nothing more than to cover the joint with wet cloths and leave all other treatment to the physician. The directions given here are for carrying out only when a doctor cannot reach the patient in 267 The New Century Home Book a short time. There is great danger of injur- ing the ligaments that hold the bones in place in treatment by an inexpert person, and this risk should be avoided if possible. Sprains. Hold the joint in water as hot as can be borne an hour or more, taking care that the water is kept hot by adding a fresh supply as it cools. Then bandage the joint so that it cannot be moved, but do not tie the bandage so tightly as in the case of a broken bone. The sprain will not be relieved unless the joint is kept perfectly quiet. Choking. If the patient is an adult, slap him violently on the back. If this does not relieve him, place him standing with chest pressing against the wall and strike him a hard blow between the shoulders. If the choking person is a child, give the chest a quick and strong squeeze with the hands at the sides. If the cause of the choking lodges in the 268 The New Century Home Book throat and cannot be reached by thrusting the finger down as far as possible, a physician should be sent for with all speed. While wait- ing for him continue the treatment mentioned unless it is found that the obstruction is not great enough to seriously interfere with breath- ing. In that case simply keep the patient quiet until the doctor comes. If the patient ceases to breathe, lay him flat on his back and pull his arms up and over his head so that the hands rest on the top of the head. Then lower the arms and press them on the chest. Repeat this movement at the rate of about sixteen times a minute. When a child has swallowed a button, or anything of that sort, the best way is to let him alone. Giving the child an emetic or a purga- tive will do him no good and may do a great deal of harm. If the thing swallowed has sharp or rough edges, give him plenty of pota- toes and cheese to eat. Relief is sometimes obtained by letting the suiferer swallow the white of an egg, repeating in two minutes if necessary. 269 The New Century Home Book Obstructions in" the Nose. If a foreign body which has lodged in the nose cannot be easily removed with the fingers, be careful not to make matters worse by poking it further into the nostril. Breathe into the nose a bit of snuff or popper, or tickle the op- posite nostril with a feather, so as to cause sneezing, which will usually remove the ob- struction. If it fails, wait for medical help. Bodies in the Ear. If an insect gets into the ear, kill it by pour- ing in a little sweet oil, and then wash it out by pouring in a little warm water. If a pea or bean has lodged in the ear, as often happens with children, do not use water to remove it. Use a small scoop or bent probe. Cinders in the Eye. Cinders, dust, sand, or any foreign substance getting into the eye should be removed, if pos- sible, before they have had time to cause in- flammation. Close the eye until it is filled with tears; then turn back the lid and remove the 270 The New Century Home Book substance with the edge of a fine handkerchief, or with a long hair plucked from the head and held as a loop. If the substance does not readily yield to this treatment, it is safer to appeal to a physician. To neglect anything affecting the eye is to run the risk of seriously injuring the sight. Snake-bites. Suck the wound as quickly as possible so as to draw out the poison, but be careful not to swallow the saliva. If the bite is on a leg or arm, tie a cord tightly around the limb above the wound to prevent the spread of the poison through the system. Alcoholic stimulants may be given, but the common notion that complete intoxication is necessary in snake-bites is groundless. If no physician can be called and the bite appears to be serious, the wound may be cauterized by thrusting into it the end of a small iron or steel wire or knitting needle or the point of a penknife heated until it is white hot. When possible this treatment should be left to the doctor. 271 The New Century Home Book Dog-bites. If the wound has been inflicted by a dog which is at all suspected of having the rabies, it should be quickly washed with water and sucked, if possible, as in the case of a snake- bite. If on arm or leg, tie a cord tightly around the limb not far above the wound. Then, if a doctor cannot be quickly obtained, the wound should be cauterized as directed for snake-bites or by the use of caustic. Then un- tie the cord above the wound and keep the part covered with wet cloths. Cauterization should not be resorted to if there is any doubt that the dog is mad, and in every possible case it should be left for the doctor to attend to. Fear frequently causes hydrophobia to fol- low the bite of a harmless dog. The dog that has bitten a person, therefore, should not be killed until it is perfectly certain that it is mad. Otherwise there will always be doubt in the case of a harmless dog, and the patient will have a good excuse for the fear that may prove fatal. Eemember that dogs are often called mad without good reason. 272 DC a> a. -t o o X p < 3 CD <<; CD Z CD o The New Century Home Book Stings. When stung by an insect or bitten by a spider, suck the wound vigorously for a mo- ment, and then cover it with a cloth wet with quite strong ammonia. A mixture of equal parts of common baking soda and salt well rubbed into the wound will often give relief. Sunstroke. The symptoms of sunstroke are headache, dizziness, faintness, nausea, weakness of the knees, and "seeing double." The face becomes red and the head and body very hot and dry, perspiration being absent. The pulse becomes strong and very rapid. These symptoms are often accompanied with delirium and con- vulsions. The first thing in treating sunstroke is to reduce the great temperature of the body. Strip the patient and sprinkle him with cold water, or wrap him in a sheet which is kept saturated with cold water. At the same time rub the body with ice. Keep up this treatment until consciousness returns. Sometimes the (18) 273 The New Century Home Book patient again loses consciousness. In that case repeat the cold water treatment. If the patient cannot be stripped at once, wring out cloths in ice water and apply to the head, back of the neck and hands. Never give whisky to a per- son suffering from sunstroke. Simple heat exhaustion calls for rest and quiet only in a room as cool as possible. Ice applications and cold baths are unnecessary, and alcoholic stimulants must be shunned. Frost-bite. Remember first of all not to carry a frost- bitten person near a fire. Place him in a mod- erately warm room and rub the body well with hot flannels or with the hands alone. Give him hot tea, coffee, or beef tea in small quantities, but often. If a limb or ear or nose is frozen, rub it with snow if this can be had. If not, rub with cloths dipped in cold water. Keep the patient away from the fire until circulation has been fully restored, and then he should sit at some distance from the heat at first. 274 The New Century Home Book Drowning. Never assume that a person taken from the water is drowned, even if he has been in the water for hours. In very many cases a person who appears to be drowned is only apparently so, and his life may be saved by proper treat- ment. The first thing to be done when an apparent- ly drowned person is taken from the water is to bring about a return of breathing. Circulation and warmth must be secondary considerations. Waste no time carrying the patient away from the spot where found, unless in very bad weather and shelter is very near. Treat him in the open air. Loosen all the patient's clothing and if pos- sible strip him to the waist. Koll up a coat if no pillow or blanket is at hand and place the patient upon his face, with the coat under his chest and his forehead resting upon one of his arms. This allows the water to flow from mouth, throat, and lungs, while it throws the tongue forward so as to clear the entrance to the windpipe. Fold a handkerchief over your 275 The New Century Home Book fingers and wipe out the patient's mouth and back of the throat. Press gently but firmly between the shoulder blades and on the sides, and thus further aid the escape of water the patient has swallowed. Be especially careful not to lift the patient into a sitting position even for a moment, for that will force water to the bottom of the lungs and prevent the success of all efforts to restore breathing. If the treatment up to this point has not re- stored the patient's breath, turn him upon one side, straighten out the arm upon which his forehead rested, and let the side of his head rest upon it. Do not turn the head backward so far that the tongue can drop back and close the windpipe. If the tongue does fall back, pull it forward at once. If snuff or smelling salts are at hand, apply them to the nose or tickle the nose with a feather or straw. Cold water may be dashed upon the head and chest, or the patient may be given a hard slap with your open hand on the chest. All this must be done with the utmost 276 The New Century Home Book promptness, for the patient must not be kept lying on his side more than a few seconds. If he still shows no signs of returning life, the next effort must be to induce artificial respiration. Turn the patient upon his face as at first, with the roll under his chest and his forehead upon an arm. Press the back between the shoulder blades and press the sides. Then turn the patient upon the side just as before for not to exceed four seconds. Again turn him upon his face, and keep on alternating these move- ments at the rate of not more than fifteen times a minute. Keep a close watch upon the tongue during this treatment, and see that it does not fall back and close the windpipe. If it keeps falling back, tie a string around it back of its thickest part, draw the ends of the string out at the corners of the mouth, and tie them under the chin. While the patient is thus being turned from face to side and side to face his hands and feet should be wiped dry, but without much rubbing. If it is possible to slip on dry cloth- 277 The New Century Home Book ing, do so, but do not try it if it interferes with the treatment. Keep up this treatment for fully ten minutes if no results are shown before that time. Then, if breathing is still absent, another method of inducing artificial respiration must be tried. The treatment already applied will have ex- pelled all water that may have collected in the lungs. Place the patient upon his back on a board or where the ground is flat, and put under his head and shoulder a tightly rolled coat or blanket. Draw the tongue out of the mouth and tie it as already described. Kneel behind the patient's head, grasp the arms just above the elbows and draw them upward and over the head with a gentle but steady and firm movement, until the hands touch the ground. Hold the arms in this position for two seconds. By this movement the ribs are elevated and the chest expanded so that air may enter. While the arms are extended two seconds the air has time to fill the lungs. Bend the patient's elbows, turn the arms for- 278 The New Century Home Book ward until they rest again by the side of the chest, and press the chest with them gently and firmly. Hold them in this position for two seconds. This movement will press out of the lungs the air admitted by the first move- ment. Eepeat these two movements over and over at the rate of fifteen or not to exceed sixteen times a minute. Do not give up hope of the success of this treatment for hours. Cases are frequent in which persons apparently drowned have been restored after two hours of this arti- ficial respiration, and there are several cases in which breathing has been restored after five hours' steady work. Supposing the efforts to induce breathing have succeeded, the treatment must then be to restore circulation and warmth. If the first effort to breathe is a gasp, try to time the movements by the gasps. When the patient is once more breathing rub the limbs in an up- ward direction briskly and with considerable pressure. Throw a blanket or any other cover- ing over the patient and keep up the rubbing. 279 The New Century Home Book Place hot water bottles or heated bricks under the armpits, between the thighs, and at the feet. Put several layers of warm flannel over the pit of the stomach. As the hot water bot- tles cool replace them with others at about the temperature of the body. When the patient is ready to swallow let him have hot tea or coffee, or weak ginger tea every few minutes. If diffi- culty in breathing continues for some time, put a mustard plaster over the chest. Suffocation. As in the case of apparent drowning, the fact that hours have elapsed since a person was suf- focated should not prevent efforts to restore him. Lives may often be saved after the per- son has been apparently dead four or five hours. The treatment is the same for all cases of suffocation without regard to the causes. Throw cold water into the face, slap the patient sharply on the chest, and hold ammonia or smelling salts to the nose. If this treatment fails, then try to induce breathing by artificial respiration, exactly as in drowning cases. 280 The New Century Home Book Concussion" of the Brain. This is due to a heavy blow or fall in which the patient has struck upon his head. The symptoms are apparent stupidity, nausea, faintness, shivering as if cold, and partial or complete insensibility. Place the patient flat on his back, with his head slightly higher than the rest of the body. Loosen all clothing about the neck and waist. When the patient shows faintness and shiver- ing cover chest and abdomen with flannel cloths which have been dipped in hot water, and place hot water bottles or heated bricks around the body. When the first shock has passed ice or ice water may be applied to the head. Never give the patient alcoholic stimu- lants in case of injury to the head. Unconsciousness. In every case in which you are uncertain of the cause or kind of unconsciousness send for a physician at once. While waiting for the doctor lay the patient on bis back, and, if the face appears flushed, raise the head and cover 281 The New Century Home Book it with cloths wet with cold water. Do not raise the head if the face is pale. Give no stimulants if the face is flushed. Loosen all the clothing, especially about the neck. Convulsions. Teething sometimes causes these attacks in children, and occasionally they are due to im- perfect digestion. They are sometimes fore- runners of serious illness, and it is therefore wise to send for a physician as soon as a child is attacked. While waiting for the doctor place the child in a bath of water as hot as your bared arm can stand and lay on his head a cloth dipped in cold water. If this does not quickly relieve the spasms, give the child a tea- spoonful of ipecac and a glass of warm water. If the child cannot be made to drink, thrust your finger down its throat. The object is to induce vomiting. If no doctor is at hand and the convulsions continue after the child has been in the bath a quarter of an hour, he should be taken from the water and given an injection of soap and warm water. 282 The New Century Home Book Croup. Whenever your child shows the symptoms of croup — the choking and characteristic hoarse cough — send for the doctor. It may very likely be only a temporary attack which your home treatment will relieve, but you cannot be sure of that, and if it is more serious, the sooner the physician is present the better. Before the doctor comes give the child a teaspoonful of syrup of ipecac every ten minutes until he vomits. Then let him drink a glass of warm water. Put his feet in a hot mustard bath and put a mustard plaster over his throat and upper chest. Nosebleed. Do not bend ov.er the head. Apply cold water or ice to the back of the neck and the bridge of the nose. If convenient, put the feet into as hot water as they can bear. Throw the head back and take long breaths through the nose. Snuff up a strong solution of alum in water, cold water, or vinegar and water in equal parts. 283 The New Century Home Book Poisons. In every ease of poisoning, no matter what the cause or kind, send posthaste for the doc- tor. Then turn to the patient and lose not a moment in caring for him. The first consider- ation is to cause vomiting and to empty the stomach. Give the patient water at once — ^hot, cold, clean, or dirty, whichever is nearest at hand and can be given the quickest. Tepid water is best, but do not lose time in get- ting it. Put a little salt or mustard in each tumblerful of the water if it is handy. If three or four glasses of this water do not cause vom- iting, thrust your forefinger down the patient's throat as far as possible and hold it there sev- eral seconds. Use anything at hand that will serve the purpose. After the first vomiting keep up the treatment so that the stomach may be completely emptied, if possible. In general, the antidotes for acid poisons are alkalies, while acids are antidotes for alkali poisons. Acids have a sour taste and smell. Very quickly after an acid is swallowed the pa- tient will be seized with severe pains in the 284 The New Century Home Book stomach and abdomen, nausea, and faintness. The feet and hands become cold and clammy, and the membrane lining the mouth will be wrinkled. If the acid has touched the patient's skin or clothing, it will leave a burn on the skin and a discolored spot on the clothing. When an alkali has been swallowed there will be great heat in the patient's throat, severe pains in the stomach, bloody vomiting, hiccoughs, colic, and great weakness. Besides these general symp- toms, each poison has its own characteristic symptoms, but the thing to be known before the doctor comes is the nature of the poison rather than its exact description. Having induced copious vomiting as di- rected, discover if possible the kind of poison the patient has taken so as to guide the next treatment. If you cannot find out the nature of the poison — and very little time should be spent in the effort — follow the vomiting by giving the patient liberal quantities of milk, raw eggs, oil of any sort, flour stirred in water, or gruel — ^whichever is at hand or can be the most quickly obtained. Then, if there are 285 The New Century Home Book signs of collapse, give stimulating drinks, such as hot coffee or tea, or hartshorn in water. Do not stop to brew tea or coffee in the usual way. Pour hot water on the tea leaves or coffee, stir it up, and let the patient swallow leaves or coffee grounds as well as the water. If the poison is known to he an alkali, give vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, flaxseed tea, or slippery elm. If it is an acid poison, give soap and water, hartshorn, lime, chalk, whiting mixed with milk, whitewash, or wood ashes. If nothing else is at hand, scrape plaster from the wall or use tooth powder. Cooking soda or magnesia may also be given. If the poison swallowed is arsenic, give the patient large quantities of limewater and milk, or flaxseed tea or slippery elm, or magnesia and castor oil in tablespoonful doses. Paris green calls for the same treatment as arsenic. When the poison is carbolic acid rub the patient's legs and arms vigorously and keep the body as warm as possible. Give Epsom salts in water. 286 The New Century Home Book If the poison is corrosive sublimate or other preparations of mercury, give the patient white of eggs and wheat flour in milk. If the sufferer has taken phosphorus, give him slippery elm or flaxseed tea. When the poison is nitrate of silver or lunar caustic let the patient take quantities of salt, which is both an emetic and antidote. In the case of opium poisoning the main thing before the doctor arrives is to keep the patient awake. Keep him on his feet and make him walk up and down. Slap him vigorously with a wet towel, or pinch him, or use any other method to keep him awake. If he is al- lowed to fall asleep, death will almost surely be the result. Similar treatment should be given in any case of narcotic poisoning, such as morphine, bitter almonds, poppy, or tobacco. The general symptoms of narcotic poisoning are numbness, stupor, nausea, partial or full delirium, pain in body and limbs, and slow breathing. The pu- pils of the eyes are contracted, and the patient often acts as if intoxicated. 287 The New Century Home Book When poisonous mushrooms have been eaten give large doses of Epsom salts. Then give stimulating drinks, heat the body, and rub the limbs briskly. Milk and the white of eggs should be given when a zinc poison has been swallowed. These are also the antidotes for lead poisoning. When iodine is the poison give starch and wheat flour in water and apply hot cloths to the stomach and abdomen. If the poison is a volatile oil, such as cre- osote, oil of turpentine, or fusel oil, give salt in water, white of eggs and camphor, and cover the stomach and abdomen with hot cloths. In the case of chloroform or laudanum poisoning give the patient strong coffee and dash cold water over head and chest. Keep him awake and, if necessary, resort to artificial respiration, following the method described for resuscitating the apparently drowned. 288 The New Century Home Book Xearning Hnotber Xanguagc 'T'HE ideal way to learn a foreign language — French, German, Spanish, Italian, etc. — is to live in the country in which the language is spoken. In that case it is better to live with some family rather than in a hotel or ordinary boarding house. The middle class of a country is usually sufficiently educated to give a good knowledge of the tongue. The family should be one no member of which speaks English. You will thus avoid the temptation to resort to your own language whenever you meet trouble in making yourself understood. If you must speak in the foreign tongue or rely upon the sign language, your progress in acquiring the language will be much more rapid. The knowledge gained by residence with the foreign family should be supplemented by reading the books of the country and its news- papers. Select the books of its best writers and read the newspapers which are the least given (19) 289 The New Century Home Book to sensation mongering. The higher the class of the newspaper the better and purer will be its German, or French, or whatever its lan- guage. If you can afford the expense, which, as a rule, is comparatively moderate, a capable tutor or instructor may be employed to give you a broader knowledge of the language than mere conversation with the family will bestow. He can aid you in mastering and under- standing the peculiar idioms of the country, the construction of sentences, and the like. But the vast majority of would-be students of a foreign tongue cannot go abroad to learn the language. For these the way at home is well defined and not hard to follow. If you are not a housekeeper, arrange to board or lodge with a family whose members speak at home the lan- guage you wish to learn. You will find this one of the very best aids for the student. If it is inconvenient or impracticable to board or lodge with a foreign-speaking family, it is well to employ an instructor who -converses principally in the language you are studying. 290 The New Century Home Book If he is wisely chosen, such an instructor will greatly shorten the time you will need in which to become proficient in the language. Next to living with a foreign family and em- ploying an instructor, it is desirable to asso- ciate as much as possible with those who speak the language. In selecting these associates, however, you should seek only those who are well educated in their native tongue. Associa- tion with those who do not speak good French, German, etc., will do you more harm than good in your study. In what has thus far been said it has been assumed that you have obtained and studied a text-book of the language you are seeking to acquire, and that your desire is to learn to speak the language instead of simply to read it. Careful study of a language in text-books is highly beneficial, and, indeed, almost a neces- sity, but very few will be able to speak the tongue merely from a study of the books, no matter how thorough this has been. Only when a person has unusual linguistic talents can this be done with satisfaction. To the 291 The New Century Home Book average student, however, who is hampered by a lack of money to go abroad or engage a tutor, the study of text-books, supplemented by visits to foreign-born residents in their homes, shops, and churches, attendance upon lectures when- ever possible, etc., will in a surprisingly short time give a fair knowledge of the language and the ability to speak it fairly well after ear- nest work. The so-called "short aids" to a language should be selected with great care. Very many of those offered to the public are of little or no practical value. Some of these aids, however, are what they purport to be, and these may be studied with real profit. In choosing a text- book of this kind you should seek the advice of some one well versed in the language. Your own judgment is apt to be at fault. Most lan- guages are very idiomatic, reflecting the genius of the people, and the best "short aids" are those which best aid you to acquire and under- stand the colloquial and idiomatic expressions of the foreign tongue. In learning any foreign language your chief 292 The New Century Home Book need will be unlimited patience and persever- ance. These are the qualities that make for success in any undertaking of any nature. The desire and ability to listen is most important. To listen well is a gift from Nature that all do not enjoy, but you can train yourself to be a good listener, and thus to get the most out of what you hear. Avoid overconfidence in addressing a for- eigner whose language you are trying to learn. It will cause him to laugh or sneer at your mis- takes, and the chances are that he will decline to help you by pointing out and correcting your errors. If he sees that you are in earnest in studying his tongue, you may count upon re- ceiving his aid. It appeals to his regard for his native land and his own self-love to know that you wish to speak the same language that he speaks. If you are in school or college, and there are among the students those who speak Spanish, Italian, etc., try to associate with them. Many times the groundwork of a foreign language is in this way easily mastered by a student, who is 293 The New Century Home Book surprised to find that he has stumbled into a new tongue. Such a method of acquiring a new language is often the most pleasant be- cause of the friendships which may be formed between you and those with whom you have associated while a student. Beware of patois and the slang of foreign languages. They corrupt the speech as they corrupt the English tongue. The higher the type of the foreign language spoken the better, and as a rule the speech of the untutored im- migrant is to be avoided. Practice in speaking a foreign tongue is most essential. The main idea should be not only to talk the language, but to think in it. Until you think in it you cannot expect to speak it fluently. This is the real test of one's knowledge of the language. Every language learned makes the next easier to acquire, while a famous linguist and author has declared that a new language opens up a new world to him who possesses it. Goethe placed association as the most powerful influence in linguistics. 294 The New Century Home Book In teaching a foreign language to a child a text-book is of very little use. The child niust learn by hearing and association. If the parents speak the tongue they wish their little one to acquire, it is a wise plan to teach it sim- ultaneously with the child's English lessons. Before the little one is old enough to read it can be taught the foreign equivalent for each English word it learns. With proper care and patience on the part of the parents, the child thus learns the foreign tongue without a thought of study, and will converse in it as readily as in his native language. The danger to be guarded against in this method of teaching a child is that he will fall into the habit of using both languages in ordinary speech. This should never be per- mitted. It will invariably spoil both his Eng- lish and his acquired tongue. Let him speak one or the other — never both together. 295 The New Century Home Book travel at Ibome ant) Bbroab I T is a far cry from the stagecoach and the sailing vessel of the heginning of the nine- teenth century to the flying railroad trains and the great express steamships of the beginning of the twentieth century. One hundred years ago a journey or a voyage of a hundred miles was a serious undertaking. Now a trip across the continent or the ocean is a matter of almost as little consequence as a visit to one's neighbor. The Old World and the New World are less than six days apart;, and you can go from Maine to California in five days or even less. Americans are known the world over as a nation of travelers, and with their constantly increasing demands have come constant im- provements in methods and means of trans- portation, until to-day you can almost literally enjoy all the comforts of home in traveling on land or sea. Railroad trains have become lux- urious hotels on wheels, with dining rooms, 296 The New Century Home Book libraries, drawing-rooms, writing rooms, bath- rooms, and even barber shops, while corps of well-trained servants serve you as you are whirled across the continent at fifty miles an hour or even greater speed. Lake, river, and ocean steamships have become great floating palaces in which you find every convenience and luxury of the modern hotel, while you are carried to your destination at the rate of four hundred or five hundred miles a day. But while modern traveling by rail or boat has reached this remarkable degree of perfec- tion in comfort and convenience, it still has, in the nature of things, numerous drawbacks. These may be largely overcome and lessened by a little care and forethought on the part of the traveler. In traveling by rail at home or abroad it is well to avoid night trains as far as possible. If you are traveling for pleasure, this is easily arranged, and a little effort will enable busi- ness journeys to be planned in a majority of cases so as to have little night travel. Ameri- can sleeping cars are the best in the world, but 297 The New Century Home Book no one will contend that they are as comfortable or as pleasant to sleep in as a good room in a hotel. A long railway journey is much less exhausting if it is broken by restful nights with the sleep that few can enjoy in a sleeping car. If you are traveling through a part of the country that is new to you, much pleasure and real value of the trip are lost if you are carried over one half of the land in the night, and it thus remains as unknown to you as if you had never been near it. American railroads and steamships are much more liberal than those of any other country in the matter of carrying free baggage, but, outside of the question of economy, the less baggage you have to look after in traveling the more comfort you will find in the jour- ney. Especially is this true of "hand bag- gage." Be careful how you load yourself down with a lot of satchels, hand bags, boxes, parcels, umbrellas, canes, and other things. They will be an ever-present nuisance to you from end to end of your journey, and utterly spoil the pleasure of traveling. 298 The New Century Home Book On the other hand, your journey will be less enjoyable if you do not have enough baggage with you. It is the small things that count in a traveling trip. Your hand bag should con- tain a comb and brush. You will prefer to use your own comb to that supplied for all in drawing-room or sleeping car. It should also have soap and towels and a whisk broom. If the journey is to be of much length, a pair of slippers will be very restful for the feet, and you will rarely see an experienced traveler wearing brand-new shoes on his journey. In your hand bag, also, should be a few staple remedies for common diseases. All that are necessary can be obtained in the form of tablets, which can be carried without incon- venience. Let your traveling bag be large enough to hold all these things, and shun extra parcels. If you are a woman and must travel alone, this caution about too much hand baggage ap- plies with special force. If you must spend the night in a sleeping car, your traveling bag should be roomy enough to hold a wrapper of 299 The New Century Home Book material suitable to the season to be worn while in your berth. Carry in your purse only such money as you are likely to need during the day, making al- ways a liberal allowance. The rest of your money should be carried in a strong pocket or pouch well fastened to a belt and worn under the dress. If you find it necessary to stay at a hotel at your journey's end, go by the woman's entrance to the parlor and send the hall boy for the clerk. Give him your card, or your name and address, so that he can register for you, and have a clear understanding with him as to the room you are to have and what it is to cost. He will then send you the key of the room and the porter to carry your bag and show you to the room. If your visit is to a city with which you are unacquainted, you will find the services of a chaperone most desirable for shopping or sight- seeing trips. All first-class hotels furnish chaperones who will take you anywhere and everywhere in the city, and whose charges for the service are moderate. 300 The New Century Home Book If you do not care to stay at a hotel, but de- sire to find a lodging or boarding place, ask for the headquarters of the Young Women's Chris- tian Association, and application there will rarely fail to put you on the track of what you want. If you are going abroad, your traveling ar- rangements must be quite different from those you make for travel at home. Your first thought, whether man or woman, is likely to be the outfit you will need to take with you. Of this you must be largely your own judge, but if you are not accustomed to ocean or European travel, you will do well to take the advice of those who have been abroad. Begin your preparations with the idea from the start of taking with you as little baggage as possible, and never lose sight of that purpose. There are several reasons for this advice. Ex- pense and trouble of transportation are the chief. European railways and steamships do not carry baggage free, except in very limited quantities. The maximum limit for one per- son is thirty pounds. The American system of 301 The New Century Home Book checking baggage does not prevail in Europe, and you must look after your own trunks, or fee some one to do it for you. Even in the latter case you must identify your own bag- gage. Then there is the annoyance of customs examinations at the border of each country you visit, only such personal effects as are in actual use being, as a rule, nondutiable. Still another reason is the small need of an extensive ward- robe while traveling on land or on shipboard, and the desirability and pleasure most persons feel in outfitting in Europe. For the ocean voyage you should provide yourself with a steamer trunk for the state- room and a folding chair for the deck. Both should be plainly marked with your name and "U. S. A." Some of the ocean lines furnish the folding chairs. You should have a large warm rug, coat or cloak of winter weight, warm outer clothing, and heavy underclothing. For a woman a golf cape, with a cowl, is very desirable, together with a cap that need not be removed when reclining in a steamer chair, warm gloves, and a down pillow with a cover of 302 The New Century Home Book washable material made so that it can be re- moved and cleaned when necessary. These steamer conveniences may be packed in the steamer trunk and left stored with the steamship company on the other side until the return voyage, if desired. For the rest of the trip abroad the clothing should be suited to the country you are to visit. There are as great extremes in temperature in Europe as in our own country. Temperature also varies greatly on the ocean, and one must be prepared for severe cold in midocean, even in midsummer, in crossing from the United States to England, France, Holland, or Ger- many. After going on board the steamer and leav- ing your baggage in your stateroom, look up the saloon head steward and secure the best ob- tainable seat at the dining table. There is gen- erally some rivalry for the seats near the head of each table. A judicious tip will sometimes accomplish much on shipboard as well as on shore. The deck steward is another whose good will 303 The New Century Home Book adds much to the comfort of the voyage. As a rule, tips are not given until the end of the voyage, but the custom varies on different ships. Do not give indiscriminate tips. Fee those who have waited upon you well, and no others. Tell your friends not to fill your stateroom with flowers when you start on a foreign trip. By the second day of the voyage the flowers are fit only to be thrown overboard, and if seasick- ness overtakes you sooner, the flowers must go the sooner. Passports are not needed in traveling through the British Isles, but if your trip is to extend over much of Europe, it is a wise precaution to carry the passport. In several countries you will find it a necessity. You can obtain a pass- port by sending directly to the Secretary of State in Washington, or through a custom- house broker in your sailing port. If you have trunks with you and are travel- ing rapidly from one point to another, it is ad- visable to ship the trunks from one chief point to another and rely upon hand baggage for the 304 The New Centtiry Home Book intermediate places. Take only such baggage as can be easily handled and placed in a cab. !N'early all steamship lines and tourist agen- cies issue booklets giving hints and directions concerning cabs, porters, tips, etc., in various countries. These give the customs of the coun- tries, and you should consult them. Remember that on shipboard and in travel- ing you can make one dress do the duty of sev- eral at home. You are in different places from day to day, you are unknown to all you meet, and you need have no fear of criticism or gossip. Where to go in Europe is a question each traveler must settle for himself. The number of trips that may be planned in advance is abso- lutely unlimited. You will know in a general way what you most wish to see abroad. Tell this to the nearest representative of any one of the principal tourist agencies, and he will quickly arrange a tour for you that will best meet your wishes and the limitations of time and expense you may find necessary. If it is your first trip abroad, and you have (20) 305 The New Century Home Book with you no one of experience in foreign travel, it will be a wise plan to purchase the tickets for the principal part or the whole of the journey from the agency before leaving. This will give you the minimum trouble in traveling, for you will know the exact route you are to take from place to place, the railroad line, boat, etc., and in many cases you can even take with you from home the time-tables of the railroads on which you are to travel in Europe. Travel should be an education as well as a pleasure. Indeed, the more you learn in travel the greater will be the pleasure. The secret of successful travel is to keep your eyes and ears open. In observation you will find the greatest charm of traveling, either at home or abroad. In traveling in foreign countries, especially, one should seek to broaden his knowledge. Eead something of the history of the country you are going to visit. When you arrive there learn at first-hand all you can about its system of government, both national and municipal. Look around you and learn something about the geography of the country, its rivers, moun- 306 The New Century Home Book tains, and lakes, its physical characteristics, and its climate. Study the people as you meet them in their homes, on the streets, and in the hotels and stores. Study the language of the country you are in. You will never have a better opportunity. It is almost impossible to visit a large city in which English is not spoken in the hotels and principal shops. This will be a constant temptation to you to speak in your own lan- guage rather than to learn the foreign. Put the temptation behind you, and try to make yourself understood in their own tongue by the people you meet. Read the local papers of the place in which you are staying, and thus add much to your fund of general information. The more you learn about the country the greater will be your enjoyment while there, the greater profit you will derive, and the more pleasant will be your recollections of the trip. 307 The New Century Home Book Ifarm, IDillage, ant) Cit? Xife IT OW to get the most benefit out of life, on the farm, in the village, or in the city, is an important problem. Upon its right solu- tion depends much of the happiness of the in- dividual and the family. You will find real culture in all three, for the city-bred person, with all his advantages, does not possess other advantages that are within the grasp of the farm-bred and the village-bred. Environment has much to do with the edu- cation and the disposition of the individual. It is your duty to absorb from your environ- ment everything that is instructive, pleasant, and moral. The farm, the village, and the city depend upon one another. Not one can be wholly un- influenced by the others, and it is when you discover the true relations of the three that you will appreciate the responsibility of making the most that you can out of your environment. 308 The New Century Home Book Even if you do not live in a place noted for its architecture, its arts, its science, or for its general culture, that does not mean that your surroundings cannot help you in making your life valuable to society. The mere fact that your home is in a cultured farming community, village, or city does not give you culture, though it does enable you to grasp the idea and the value of that high condition. Life does not consist of educational features alone. There is a nature to be developed along many lines. If you live on a farm, you are in close communion with Nature. The freshness of the air, the song of the birds, the beauty of the fields, and the woods nodding in the winds should fill you with joy and inspiration. To enjo}^ farm life, study everything around you. Study the soil and its vagaries. Watch the growth of the oats, corn, wheat, and other grain. Note the differences in the trees. Study the cattle. The more you delve into the fea- tures of farm life the more you will be aston- ished at the profundity of Nature. The knowledge that you will acquire in this 309 The New Century Home Book way is practical. It is the knowledge that brings bread and butter. It means more than veneer and polish. Let your guiding rule be to go to the bottom of things. If you have this always in view and follow it, you will be a power in the community and a bulwark of personal strength. In the sphere of the farm you will be the master. Investigation of farming conditions will lead you sufficiently into the sciences to grasp their fundamental facts. You should enrich your hours of rest from labor with good, whole- some books. Let them be primarily of the kind which will have a bearing upon your occu- pation. Take the keenest interest in national, State, and county affairs. Cultivate the society in your township and county. Do not allow yourself to be narrow. To escape from narrow-mindedness, keep in as close touch with the outside world as possi- ble. Careful reading of a good newspaper and of one or more of the best magazines will enable you to follow in a general way the drift of the world's affairs. 310 The New Century Home Book The farmer should try to benefit himself through travel. If he cannot take long Jour- neys, let him take short ones. He will see what others are doing, and if he is observant, he will be able to draw many useful lessons from his fellow-men. There is a spirit of independence in farm life which is helpful to American society. The farming class is the sturdy, honest, industrious element. It is one of the greatest safeguards of the nation. Happy is the man who can draw forth from the environment of a farming community the many priceless treasures which it contains. In village life the same fundamental rules apply as in a farming community. While the two careers have their marked differences, they are still intimately connected. The farmer and the villager go hand in hand. The village-bred person should never allow himself to become warped. By that is meant provincialism, which shuts out large ideas and prevents a normal and steady growth. It too often happens that the villager thinks all the 311 The New Century Home Book world revolves around his little sphere. He is too apt to attach undue importance to triviali- ties which should be disregarded. It is no easy matter to be an enterprising and broad-minded villager. The smallness of the place often accentuates small troubles. It is not at all surprising that everybody knows everybody else's business in a village. That is to be expected. And while this is the case, it really has its charm and its value. You are acquainted with your neighbor's needs, with his trials, with his successes, with his aspira- tions. If you are a true villager, you will re- gard him as your friend, take an interest in his affairs, and counsel him when he turns to you for advice. The intimacy which exists in village life should be founded on a high plane. The more you help your neighbor the more you will help yourself. Unless you have this truth in mind there is sure to be friction. Gossiping is one of the chief dangers in vil- lage life. The fact that one knows what every- body else is doing is sufficient to start gossip- 312 The New Century Home Book ing. Gossip is all right in its place, but it should be the proper kind of gossip. It should be the gossip of a loving and conscientious family. Your interest in your neighbor's af- fairs should be tempered with discretion. Herein lies the opportunity for the develop- ment of a fine character. With a proper use of your influence you can be a power for good among your neighbors. Their books can be shared by you, and your books may be at their disposal. Their ideas and your ideas should be exchanged with frank- ness, but with a due regard for the feelings. Avoid talking all the time of your own little village. Lead your neighbors into other fields of conversation. Tell them what you have seen elsewhere, and induce them to tell you what they have seen. In this way the community will be benefited, and it will be less apt to be- come a gossiping village, with petty quarrels and spites. Culture will find its way in. Your homes will show the artistic finish you have observed in larger places. You will want to have as many advantages of the city life as pos- 313 The New Century Home Book sible without surrendering the peaceful charm of the village. Never affect a "city style/' which is unbe- coming in a village. The refined urban resi- dent will only be amused at it, and your neigh- bors will justly remark that you are trying to be something different from what you are. Do not be like the ostrich, which buries its head in the sand and imagines that it has hidden itself. Above all things, be what you are — a villager — and all persons will realize that you arc a genuine and wholesome character in the national life. Do not become drowsy, even if your village has that tendency. Take life as a field for activity. Do not, however, dron ilidc repose- fulness which most city dwellers do not possess, but which they ardently wish they did possess. It is one of your rare good fortunes to have it, and you should not lose the jewel. This reposeful spirit is, unfortunately, too lacking in a city. The keen competition of city life causes overexertion and a tendency to work too hard. The nerves become weary, and 314 The New Century Home Book the body becomes weak. One of the worst dan- gers which beset city life is this ceaseless nerv- ousness. It is well, therefore, for one who lives in a city to be regular in eating and sleeping and in obtaining diversion. Too many men have so strained their nerves, or, as the physicians say, overdeveloped their nerv- ous system, that it is difficult for them to sleep soundly. Many city workers find it a severe task to keep still and to have that fine equipoise and balance which are so beneficial to brain and nerves. You have doubtless known men who are un- able to enjoy the comforts of their affluence simply because they have overworked them- selves in the accumulation of their wealth. They are fidgety and irritable, nervous and complaining, though possessing many admi- rable traits of character. It is one of the lamentable features of city life that the keen competition is allowed to destroy the health of the most intelligent and the most benevolent of citizens. In business there is much to be learned from 315 The New Century Home Book our English cousins. It would probably not be a misfortune if there were a trifle more phlegm in the make-up of the American char- acter. In a new and progressive country, however, it is unreasonable to expect the equi- librium and the repose of an old nation. Be- sides, there are so many elements in the national life in America that the strain in a large city is necessarily great. There is no country in the world having the same relentless activity as the one in which we live. It is a meritorious and at the same time a dangerous feature. The main idea of the man in the city should be to properly harness the activity. The young horse, if allowed free license in work, will strain himself in his will- ingness, but a careful and experienced driver will not allow him to draw on his reserve power all the time. In business always have a reserve power, so that in the event of victory or defeat you will be able to receive the results with that calm equipoise which is such a de- lightful sign of a highly civilized character. One of the greatest dangers in city life is 316 The New Century Home Book that, owing to its many diversions, attractions, and complexities, one's ambition and purpose may be stifled. This is true both of men and women. It requires great force of will at times to persevere in the purpose which one has formed. Take, for instance, the study of law. A young man after his admission to the bar should train himself to turn his back on many pleasures, for the law is a jealous mis- tress. In a large city the attractions are so numerous and the friends and acquaintances are so many that it is easy for a young man to neglect his ideals in his profession. Once started in the path of neglect and dalliance, the fight for a high standing in his profession is most surely lost. What is true of the young lawyer is true of the young physician, the artist, the scientist, and of all others. Your purposes should be strong and enduring, and you should hold them paramount to all other considerations which are not inherently of greater importance. It is only when this course is followed that the best results are obtained. Very often 317 The New Century Home Book women are hindered in their household duties by excessive social demands. If they surrender themselves to society, the home suffers; and if they are mothers, their children are neglected. On the other hand, there should not be too much self-denial, for a mistake in that direc- tion is apt to lead to a morbid condition of mind and body. If you can strike the "golden mean" in city life, you will recognize why the poet Horace bestowed upon it that elegant ad- jective in his famous ode. If you wish to develop in a city, be very observant. By this is not meant staring. It is the power of quickly taking in situations. A simple glance sometimes suffices. Try to learn all about your city. Visit its institutions, its museums, and its schools. Go into the various quarters of the city and learn how the different classes live. If you are sympathetic, you will be enabled to enrich your life with charitable work, but true charity in a large city requires no little prudence and study. It should be the aim of every city person to foster not only the great and fundamental prin- 318 The New Century Home Book ciples of conduct, but also to gain that outward polish which renders its possessor additionally attractive. Conventionalities have their bene- fits, and in a large city they mean much. Mere appearances have a value, for the conditions of city life necessarily require quick action. Per- sons have neither the time nor the opportunity to know you as you would wish to be known. It is wise to always try to put your "best foot" forward. Be careful in forming friendships in a city. You do not and cannot know the antecedents of most persons you meet. It is a wise plan not to accept invitations to a stranger's home un- less you are reasonably sure that it is such as will meet with your ideals of what a home should be. While you should be careful about your associates and associations, try to meet many persons, with a view of studying all types and of learning what your fellow-men think and do. The "golden mean" is an admirable ideal for the city dweller to have always in mind. 319 The New Century Home Book Hcblevemente of tbe Centuri? \170NDERFUL as a dream of enchantment have been the achievements of the nine- teenth century. It opened with mankind divided by great seas on which mariners in wooden ships were compelled to trust to the caprice of the winds to move them; with trav- elers on land going in ox carts, wagons, or, at the best, in post chaises; with knowledge months and even years old, filtering to the edu- cated classes through letters and small essay sheets; with housewives spinning and weaving cloth for clothing, and knitting yarn for hose; with cobblers slowly pegging shoes; with the young republic of the western hemisphere giv- ing a new example in the science of govern- ment, and nations far divided in thought and action; with half the world utterly in the dark concerning the work of the other half. In one hundred years these conditions have wholly disappeared. You may travel from one 320 The New Century Home Book end of the world to another in fast ships of iron and steel, that in storm or calm pass stead- ily on to their destinations. Railroad trains have taken the place of the old stagecoaches. Cars and carriages propelled by electricity rush through city and country. Great machines make cloth and hosiery and shoes. The young republic has proved its claim to existence and has spread its influence over one hemisphere and its power throughout the world. Nations have learned to know one another, and the places that were dark have come within the realms of light. Standing out from all achievements and making the wondrous progress of the century possible is the development of the powers of nature and their application to mechanics. Steam, which has opened up new realms for mankind, has found an efficient and most powerful ally in electricity, and as the possi- bilities of this power increase it is finding new rivals in air and water to relieve man of the work of his hands. Development of steam power has given us (21) 321 The New Century Home Book railroad trains that cross the continent of America in a few hours more than four days, and steel ships that cross the Atlantic Ocean in less than six days and the Pacific in less than three weeks. Eailway lines cross and recross the continent of America. At the opening of the new century a railway line is being ex- tended from the coast of Spain on the west to the eastern coast of Siberia. Another line is being built to connect Cairo in Egypt with Cape Town through the darkest regions of Afri- ca. Great lines are extended through India and are intended to reach China. The beginning of the twentieth century sees 442,200 miles of railways in the world, repre- senting an investment of $35,520,000,000, and the United States leading all other nations with her 190,000 miles of roads — more than the mileage of the whole of Europe. Steamship lines, representing billions more in invest- ments, connect every port of importance in the world. Billions upon billions more are in- vested in the countless factories of the world, where steam machinery is doing the work of 322 The New Century Home Book millions of hands and carrying into the homes of the poor luxuries undreamed of a century ago. Steam had full sway at the beginning of the century, but electricity has surpassed it at the end with its marvelous achievements. From San Francisco on the west to Manila and Yokohama on the east, from St. Petersburg to the southernmost point of Africa, stretch lines upon lines of wires and cables which constantly pulsate with the affairs of the world and bring the government at Washington in immediate touch with its representatives in the farthest capitals. England has a system of cable communica- tion that reaches each one of her separate col- onies, running the breadth of Canada, and car- ried to the Bermudas, to Jamaica, to Gibraltar, Malta, Aden, down the West Coast of Africa or across to the India Ocean, to India, and by Sumatra to Australia or to Hongkong. Nine cables in which Americans have had the chief interest stretch across the Atlantic. Two are about to be laid across the Pacific. South 323 The New Century Home Book America and Africa and Asia have their shores lined with the wires that compose the nerves of the world. One great American telegraph com- pany alone operates 904,633 miles of wires. Growing out of this system of sending mes- sages by wire has come the achievement of transmitting the voice by wire. The business man in Boston who wishes to give instructions to his representative in Chicago may talk with him from a booth in his own office, or without leaving his own desk. Vast volumes of business are transacted by the telephone. In the United States alone al- most 1,500,000,000 messages are sent by tele- phone in a year, and the use of the system is steadily increasing. The United States has almost 500,000 telephone stations. Conti- nental Europe has nearly as many, and there are about 110,000 stations in England. Akin to the telephone, the century has brought the phonograph, which takes upon rolls of wax the sounds of the human voice or of musical instruments and repeats them in any part of the world. 324 The New Century Home Book In further development of the same idea has come the kinetoscope, which takes pictures many times in a second, so that they can be re- produced and show individuals in action, rail- way trains in motion, street scenes, and even battles in war. Rounding out these achievements, the end of the century finds inventors and scientists suc- cessfully solving the problem of sending by wire or cable the handwriting of individuals and their pictures, as well as the pictures of any scenes one cares to reproduce. Telegraph- ing of pictures has already been accomplished, and it has been demonstrated that handwriting can also be transmitted. Not the least important achievement of the nineteenth century is the automobile. This is essentially the product of the last ten years. Its possibilities have not yet been fairly gauged. France has led in the development of the auto- mobile, making every sort of vehicle, from the motor bicycle to the great road engine which carries sufficient gasoline fuel to run for four hundred miles. French law has carefully safe- 325 The New Century Home Book guarded the use of the automobile, and the French military authorities have shown an ap- preciation of its value by requiring each ma- chine to be registered, so that it may be requi- sitioned for use for military purposes in case of war. In England the automobile has already made great inroads upon the trucking trade. In the United States corporations having more than $400,000,000 capital are engaged in the manufacture of automobiles, making more than two hundred varieties of the machine. Electricity, gasoline, and steam are princi- pally used to propel these vehicles, although carbonic acid gas, compressed air, and alcohol have been found practicable. Electric vehicles are most widely used, although the great stor- age batteries necessary to run them for twenty or thirty miles make their construction heavy and their cost greater than machines of other types. An electric phaeton will weigh two thousand pounds, the storage battery weighing nine hundred pounds. The cost of such vehi- cles ranges from $750 to $4,000. The batteries can be charged at any electric power house. A 326 The New Century Home Book gasoline tricycle can be purchased for $350, and a good family carriage for $1,000. The latter vehicle can be run twenty-five miles a day throughout the year at a cost of about $1,300 for five years. Steam power has thus far been found the best for heavy automobile trucks and fire engines. Practical telegraphy without wires is another heritage of the new century from the old. Wil- liam Marconi, an Italian inventor, perfected a system in advance of Americans and others who had been experimenting with the same object in view, and early in 1898 showed at a regatta in British waters that by releasing an electric impulse from a pole carried on a ship's mast he could send messages through the air that would be caught by a receiver seventy-five miles away and transmitted by wire to a receiving station. Further tests were made on British warships, when messages were sent eighty miles without a wire. In the international yacht races off New York harbor in 1899 descrip- tions of the contests were sent by Marconi from a steamer to a newspaper in New York. 327 The New Century Home Book In sending wireless telegraph messages one knob of an induction coil is connected with the earth and another with a wire reaching to the top of a pole erected to a considerable height to overcome the curvature of the earth. Every electrical impulse given by the key of the send- ing apparatus goes through the wire on the pole and out into space through which it is carried by the oscillations of ether with the speed of light. It is caught on a pole which has a similar wire. Marconi and other investi- gators assert that it is possible to overcome the curvature of the earth otherwise than by the erection of poles, and that the electrical impulse can be controlled and directed. Out of the control of electricity has come the ability to obtain degrees of heat never before thought possible. Great electric blast furnaces have been built, run by the harnessed water power of Niagara Falls, and in these furnaces a heat of three thousand degrees Fahrenheit is constantly attained. Even the work of Nature has been done in these fierce furnaces, and under the great heat coke and clay have been 328 The New Century Home Book made to combine to produce a crystal that is almost a diamond — an approach to a realiza- tion of the dreams of the ancient alchemists who sought to make gold out of baser materials. Another source of power brought into use in the closing years of the century is liquid air, which promises to be developed into a serious rival of steam and electricity. Through the experiments of Charles E. Tripler, an Ameri- can, air has been drawn through a series of pipes and its heat extracted until it has reached a temperature of three hundred and twelve de- grees below zero, when it turns into a liquid. So cold is this liquid air that if it is put on a block of ice the heat of the ice will turn the air into steam. This steam can be used as power. Tripler has used it to produce more of the liquid air, thus suggesting an approach to the idea of perpetual motion. The feasibility of navigation in the air and under water has been proved during the closing years of the nineteenth century. The United States government has a submarine torpedo boat, the invention of J. P. Holland, which has 529 The New Century Home Book demonstrated its capacity to run several miles under water. Electricity and a store of com- pressed air furnish the power for the boat and the supply of oxygen necessary for the crew. The Holland boat carries torpedoes with proper firing apparatus, and in practice ma- neuvers with ships of the navy has approached within striking distance of cruisers and battle- ships without being detected under the great search lights of the war vessels. The French navy has also experimented with submarine boats, and has obtained even more satisfactory results than the American navy. Professor S. P. Langley, of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, has been the chief American experimenter in the problem of aerial navigation. He has proved the ability of a mechanical contrivance of his construction, built with wings, to maintain itself in the air and to be directed in its flight. French inven- tors have directed balloons by mechanical de- vices. Count von Zeppelin has made successful trials of an immense airship at Friedrichshafen, 330 The New Century Home Book on Lake Constance. He has traveled several miles at high attitudes, steering the ship in any desired direction both with and against the wind. His machine is a dirigible balloon. The King of Wurttemburg has taken great interest in von Zeppelin's experiments. With such demonstrations of practicability, it seems a safe assertion that one of the early triumphs of the twentieth century will be the successful navigation of the air. One of the most important achievements in the world of medicine and surgery which marks the old century is the discovery of the Eoentgen or X rays, by which the bones of the body can be seen and photographed through flesh and clothing, and fractures, wounds, bullets, or other foreign substances can be instantly and accurately located for the guidance of the physician or surgeon. Brain surgery has also been developed in the field of medicine. Surgeons are now able to explore the cerebral chambers, considered in previous centuries sacred from the knife, and to remove the causes of mental troubles. Every 331 The New Century Home Bcx)k organ of the body has yielded to the advance in surgical science. It has been found possible to remove the stomach of a human being without sacrificing his life. Countless other achievements of the nine- teenth century have given tremendous impetus to the advancement of the human race. One cannot measure what has been done for the world by the invention of the sewing machine; the introduction of gas and electric lighting; the use of anaesthetics in surgery and of anti- septics to guard against blood poisoning; the making of friction matches; the invention of photography; and the application of the spec- trum analysis, which extends our knowledge of the universe and enables us to ascertain the relative heat and chemical constitutions of the stars, and to measure the motion of stellar bodies. Commensurate with the advancement in science and mechanics has been the progress in the field of world-politics. From the example of the republic of the United States has sprung an idea of liberty that has extended the repub- 332 The New Century Home Book lican system over j)ractically the whole of South America, and firmly planted the republi- can idea on the continent of Europe. Two re- publics were established in South Africa dur- ing the century, but in the century's last year they were defeated in war with Great Britain and were annexed to her empire. In accord with the spread of the principles of liberty were the freeing of the slaves in America and the crushing of the African slave trade by Great Britain and the freeing of the serfs by Kussia. The opening of Africa and its partition among the powers of Europe, with the spread- ing of the attributes of civilization through its darkest regions, are surpassed in importance only by the opening of Japan and China to trade and commerce, and their acquiescence in the efforts of the West to carry enlightenment and Christianity to their peoples. Between nations has come a better under- standing. European powers have found it pos- sible to act in concert upon many troublesome questions that earlier in the century would have ooo The New Century Home Book been certain to end in destructive wars. The civilized powers of the globe have acted to- gether. Arbitration has been found an effective means of settling international disputes which otherwise would have been the cause of war. Notably was this the case in the dispute between Great Britain and Venezuela over the bound- ary of British Guiana. Armaments of the na- tions have increased enormously, together with their standing armies and great ships of war, and new explosives and powerful artillery, yet through the Geneva and Brussels agreements the horrors of war have been lessened and the possibility of conflict made more and more remote. Americans may well be proud of the fact that their government has been the chief leader in the promotion of international arbitration. With the record of the nineteenth century before him, who shall dare to set a limit in prophecy to the achievements and progress of the world in the century to come ? 334 The New Century Home Book IRational (Browtb in tbe Ccnturi? JWl ARVELOUS has been the growth of the United States in the nineteenth century. In territorial expansion, increase of population, extension of commerce, accumulation of wealth, and all that goes to make a great nation its record is phenomenal. With only 825,000 square miles of territory at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the United States enters the twentieth century with 3,692,125 square miles. This is more than the area of the whole of Europe. Besides this, the so-called colonies or new possessions include 153,894 square miles. This gives the vast total of 3,846,019 square miles as the area of the United States in 1900, an increase of more than 3,000,000 square miles in one hun- dred years. In a single State of the United States — Texas — England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy, and Portugal could be placed, and there 335 The New Century Home Book would still be room to spare. The entire popu- lation of the world could be accommodated in Texas, and each man and woman would have nearly four times as much living space as is enjoyed by a resident of New York city. One hundred years ago the population of the United States was 5,300,000. To-day it is 76,- 300,000. A century ago nearly every European country exceeded the United States in popula- tion. Spain had twice as many inhabitants, and France five times as many. The twentietli century finds Eussia the only European coun- try with as great a population as the United States. France and Great Britain together have fewer inhabitants. Germany has only two thirds as many. The exact population of the new posses- sions of the United States is unknown. It is at least 10,000,000. Thus the American government extends its sway over 80,300,000 persons. At the opening of the nineteenth century the United States included sixteen States and the District of Columbia. The States were the 336 The New Century Home Book original thirteen States of Delaware, Pennsyl- vania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Mas- sachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Caro- lina, and Rhode Island, which ratified the Con- stitution in the order named in 1787-1790; Vermont, admitted into the Union in 1791 ; Kentucky, admitted in 1792; and Tennessee, admitted in 1796. The District of Columbia was organized in 1790. Ohio was the first State admitted into the Union in the nineteenth century. It came in in 1803. Then came the rest of the present States of the Union in this order, with the years of their admission : Louisiana, 1812; Indiana, 1816; Mississippi, 1817; Illinois, 1818; Alabama, 1819; Maine, 1820; Missouri, 1821; Arkansas, 1836; Michi- gan, 1837; Florida, 1845; Texas, 1845; Iowa, 1846; Wisconsin, 1848; California, 1850; Minnesota, 1858 ; Oregon, 1859 ; Kansas, 1861 ; West Virginia, 1863; Nevada, 1864; Nebraska, 1867; Colorado, 1876; North Dakota, 1889; South Dakota, 1889; Montana, 1889; Wash- (22) 337 The New Century Home Book ington, 1889; Idaho, 1890; Wyoming, 1890; Utah, 1896. Of the Territories, New Mexico was organ- ized in 1850; Arizona, in 1863; Indian Terri- tory, in 1834; District of Columbia, in 1790; Alaska, in 1868; Oklahoma, in 1890; and Hawaii, in 1900. One hundred j^ears ago the territory of the United States comprised only that part of its present area lying east of the Mississippi River, less the present State of Florida. This terri- tory all belonged to the thirteen original States when the Union was formed. Between 1784 and 1803 the original States ceded to the gen- eral government the territory out of which grew the great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. By far the most important single addition to the territory of the United States in the nine- teenth century was the great Louisiana pur- chase in 1803. This vast area extended on the north from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, and in the east it reached from the 338 The New Century Home Book British possessions to the Gulf of Mexico. Spain had ceded this great domain to France in 1800, and Napoleon prepared to send an army to "New Orleans to uphold his authority. The United States entered a vigorous protest to the presence of a French army in America, and Napoleon finally authorized the sale of the ter- ritory, all then called Louisiana, to the United States. The price paid to France was $11,250,- 000. In addition the United States assumed the payment of $3,750,000 debts owed by France to American citizens, so that the cost of the Louisiana purchase to the government was $15,000,000. Out of the territory thus acquired from France have been carved the States of Louis- iana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kan- sas, part of Colorado, part of Wyoming, Mon- tana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, and the Indian Territory. More than one million square miles of territory thus became a part of the United States. The next territorial expansion of the Unite(i 339 The New Century Home Book Stales was in 1819, when Spain relinquished its title to Florida. Under the terms of the treaty the United States paid $5,000,000 to American citizens to settle their claims against Spain, and gave up its claim to the territory of Texas, possession of which had been claimed by both Spain and the United States since the liOuisiana purchase. War followed the next acquisition of terri- tory. Texas had become an independent re- public in 1835, after its people — largely Ameri- can settlers — had defeated and driven out the Mexican army. Its independence was recog- nized by the United States, England, France, and Belgium. A treaty of annexation was agreed to by the United States and Texas in 1845, and when Texas was formally annexed it was invaded by Mexico, which had never recognized its independence, and the two years' war between the United States and Mexico was the result. This Mexican War resulted in a further ad- dition to the territory of the United States. The treaty of peace of 1848 provided for the 340 The New Century Home Book cession to the United States of the whole of New Mexico and Upper California. Four years later there was a dispute between the United States and Mexico as to the bound- ary between New Mexico and Mexico, and the latter government tried to sieze the disputed territory. War was finally avoided by the United States buying the land in dispute from Mexico. This was known as the Gadsden pur- chase. Out of tlie territory acquired from Mexico have been erected the States of California, Nevada, Utah, and part of Colorado, and the Territory of Arizona and part of New Mexico. Alaska was the first territory acquired by the American government outside of the United States proper. It was purchased from Russia in 1867, and organized as a Territory the fol- lowing year. The purchase price of Alaska was $7,200,000 in gold. The exact boundary lines of the Territory have not yet been definitely established, and its exact area is, therefore, not yet known. The government authorities now give the area as 599,446 square miles. It was 341 The New Century Home Book supposed when the purchase was made that Alaska contained about 550,000 or 560,000 square miles. The discovery of rich gold fields both in the interior and on the coast has made Alaska of vastly more importance to the United States at the beginning of the twentieth cen- tury than ever before, and none can say what vast stores of mineral wealth may be revealed, as the Territory is opened up by adventurous explorers. In the closing years of the century the United States for the first time extended its rule to territory beyond the continent. The monarchy in Hawaii was overthrown by a re- volt of the people in January, 1803, and a republic was established, to which the United States gave prompt recognition. The leaders in the new republic were eager for annexation to the United States, and in 1898 a measure for that purpose was passed by the American Con- gress, the Hawaiian Legislature having already voted for annexation. The Hawaiian Islands were formally an- nexed by the United States in 1898, the Ameri- 342 The New Century Home Book can flag being raised in Honolulu on August 12 of that year with due ceremonies. The islands were organized as a Territory of the United States in 1900. By the annexation of Hawaii the United States gained about 6,700 square miles in area, with a population of about 109,000. The Hawaiian Islands lie in the middle of the . Pacific Ocean between latitude 18 deg. 50 min. and 22 deg. 50 min.. North, and longitude 154 deg. 50 min. and 161 deg. 40 min.. West. There are twelve islands in the group, but four of these are merely uninhabited rocky islets. The largest of the islands is Hawaii. The other inhabited islands are Maui, Oahu, Kaui, Molokai, Lauai, Niihau, and Kahoolaui. On Maui is Mount Haleakala, the largest volcano crater in the world, being about thirty miles in circumference and from two thousand to three thousand feet deep. It is ten thousand feet above the level of the sea. Honolulu, capital of the Territory, is on Oahu Island. By far the greatest accession of territory to the United States, with the exception of the 343 The New Century Home Book Louisiana purchase and the purchase of Alaska, came to the nation as a result of the war be- tween the United States and Spain over Cuba in 1898. By the terms of the treaty of peace which concluded that war, and which was signed on December 10, 1898, the United States came into possession of the great Philip- pine Archipelago and Guam in the Pacific, and Porto Rico in the West Indies. These islands added to the actual land area of the United Stales about 146,650 square miles, with a pop- ulation not definitely known, but estimated at about 10,000,000. How many islands are in the Philippines no one knows. The most careful estimate is that there are approximately two thousand, many being mere islets. The actual land area of the Philippines is estimated at 143,000 square miles. The archipelago is so imperfectly known that the best authorities differ as to its exact geographical location. According to the En- cyclopaedia Britannica, it lies between latitude 4 deg. 40 min. to 20 deg.. North, and longitude 116 deg. 40 min. to 126 deg. 30 min.. East. 344 The New Century Home Book Spain claimed possession of the Philippine Islands for more than three hundred years, but some of the islands have never been fully ex- plored, and several of the native tribes were never really under Spain's control. The largest island of the archipelago is Luzon, on which is situated Manila, the capital of the group, which was founded by the Span- ish in 1581. The best known of the other islands are Mindanao, Mindoro, Panay, Negros, Zebu, Samar, and Leyte. A group of the Philippine Islands lying near Borneo is known as the Sulu Archipelago, and while it was nominally under Spanish rule, its real ruler was a native chief known as the sultan of Sulu. The United States has continued the sultan at the head of the group, under his acknowledg- ment of American sovereignty. Under the peace treaty by which the Philip- pines were acquired the United States paid Spain $20,000,000. In the same treaty of peace which gave the Philippines to this country Spain ceded to the United States the island of Porto Rico, one of 345 The New Century Home Book the most important of the West Indies. Porto Kico is about one hundred miles long and forty miles in breadth. It adds about 3,600 square miles to the American territory, with a popula- tion of 957,000. During the war with Spain the United States took possession of Porto Eico, meeting with very little opposition from the natives and easily defeating the Spanish forces on the island. The American flag was hoisted over the island on October 18, 1898, so that the United States was occupying Porto Kico when Spain gave it up. Although the largest island of the Ladrone Archipelago, Guam is only about one hundred miles in circumference. It lies in latitude 13 deg., North, and longitude 145 deg., East, and is in a line from San Francisco, Cal., to the Philippines. It is about 900 miles from Manila and 5,200 miles from San Francisco. Guam was seized by the United States dur- ing the Spanish war, and was formally yielded up by Spain in the peace treaty. The Ameri- can flag was raised over the island on February 346 The New Century Home Book 1, 1899, and the first American governor reached Guam in July of the same year. While on the way to seize Guam, Commander Taussig, of the United States Navy, acting under orders from the government, raised the iimerican flag over Wake Island. This is a tiny coral islet of only a few acres in extent, lying in the track of vessels from the United States and Hawaii to China and the Philip- pines. It is about 2,000 miles west of Hono- lulu and 1,300 miles from Guam, in latitude 19 deg. 10 min. 54 sec, North, and longitude 166 deg. 31 min. 30 sec. East. Wake Island is only about eight feet above the level of the sea, and the waves probably wash completely over it in unusually violent storms. It has no fresh water, and only a few shrubs and bushes. It is, of course, unin- habited. The latest addition to the territory of the United States is the island of Tutuila, one of the Samoan group in the South Pacific Ocean. By an agreement made in 1889 the United States, Great Britain, and Germany undertook 347 The New Century Home Book a joint protectorate over the Samoan Islands. Internal dissensions and frequent outbreaks be- tween rival claimants for the kingship kept the islands in almost constant unrest, and caused more or less friction among the protecting powers. Late in 1899 an agreement was reached by the throe powers, under whicli Great Britain witlidrew altogether from Samoa, Germany received the islands of Upolo and Savaii, and llic United States became possessed of Tutuila. This agreement was carried out, and in the closing year of the nineteentli century Tutuila was added to llic American domain, tlie Ameri- can flag being formally raised over the island on April 17, 1900. Tutuila increased the area of the United States only fifty-four square miles and added only about 4,000 to the population. Its princi- ]M\\ value is in its splendid harbor of Pago- Pago, in which the entire navy of this country could be moored, safe from storms, and the entrance to which is so narrow that only two vessels can enter at the same time. 348 The New Century Home Book No other country on earth equals the United States in wealth. One hundred years ago the nation's wealth was $2,000,000,000. It is now more than $100,000,000,000. ISTo other country equals the United States in manufactures. The amount of capital in- vested in manufacturing is about $6,500,000,- 000. More than 7,000,000 persons are em- ployed in American factories. Their earnings are about $3,250,000,000 a year. The foreign trade — exports and imports — of the United States at the opening of the twen- tieth century reaches about $2,150,000,000. The United States now produces each year about 2,000,000,000 bushels of corn, 550,000,- 000 bushels of wheat, and 790,000,000 bushels of oats. The cotton crop is more than 11,000,- 000 bales of 480 pounds each. One half of the world's product of 5,000,000,000 gallons of petroleum a year is produced in the United States. In the production of gold and silver the United States occupies a leading place among nations. Its gold product exceeds $65,000,000 349 The New Century Home Book a year, and its silver product is more than $70,000,000 a year. The production of copper is about 240,000 long tons a year. The coal fields of the United States extend over 194,000 square miles, and yield about 200,000,000 tons of 2,240 pounds each. There are about 190,000 miles of railroads in the United States, not including about 65,- 000 miles of side tracks and sidings. No other country approaches the United States in extent of railroad lines. Germany, the nearest to this country, has less than 40,000 miles. Exclusive of Alaska, the forests of the United States cover an estimated area of 699,500,000 acres. The value of timber cut each year is more than $1,000,000,000. About 17,000,000 pupils are enrolled in the public and private schools and colleges of the United States. They are taught by nearly 420,000 teachers. 350 The New Century Home Book Zbc ination'6 (Breateet Cit? TX EEPING pace with the growth of the most remarkable nation in the world's history, New York, the metropolis of the western hemisphere, has well earned the title of the "Imperial Cit}^" A town of less than 5,000 inhabitants two centuries ago, a city of only 24,000 residents when the War of the Revolu- tion ended, it has reached out and absorbed population until the end of the century finds it with 3,437,202 inhabitants within its 320 square miles of territory. Even these figures do not do justice to New York's greatness, because but for the accident of State lines the cities on the New Jersey shore of the North Eiver would undoubtedly have been absorbed by the greater city and would have added almost 500,000 to the city's inhabitants. There are, too, many tens of thousands who earn the living for their fami- lies in the offices and business houses of the 351 The New Century Home Book city, but who make their homes on the lines of the great railways which morning and night run fast trains for their benefit. Yet, without spreading its authority over all its workers, New York is a city of magnificent distances, for from the boundary line at Yon- kers to the soutliern point of Staten Island is thirty-four luilcs, mihI from llowhmd Hook, Staten Island, to Hornl INirk, Long Island, is almost twenty-five miles. Government for such a multitude of inhab- itants, whose state varies from abject squalor ill rough every possible gradation to fabulous wx'alth, is a difficult problem that troubles every State Legislature. When Brooklyn, Long Island City, Staten Island, and other contigu- ous territory were consolidated with old New York on January 1, 1898, a borough system, designed to safeguard the interests of all the former municipalities, was adopted. Manhat- tan Island, wifh 1,850,093 population, is the dominant one of these divisions, and is known as the Borough of Manhattan. The territory north of the Harlem River, extending to the 362 The New Century Home Book northern boundary line of the city, is the Bor- ough of the Bronx, and has 200,507 inhabitants. Long Island City and the added villages to the east, with 152,999 inhabitants, make up the Borough of Queens. Brooklyn, with its 1,166,- 582 inhabitants, is the Borough of Brooklyn. Staten Island, having 67,021 inhabitants, forms the Borough of Eichmond. Each borough has its own president, its bor- ough board, its school board, and its deputies in the principal executive departments of the city. The affairs of the entire municipality, however, are controlled by a municipal assem- bly of two houses and the mayor and his execu- tive appointees. As checks upon the assembly are a board of public improvements, having power to determine upon and supervise all public works, and a board of estimate and ap- portionate, which prepares the city's annual budget. These boards are composed of heads of departments, with the mayor and comptrol- ler of the city as members. Necessity for rigid supervision and care of the expenditures of the public funds is seen in (23) 253 The New Century Home Book the fact tliJit the city ollicials are guardians of more weallli than is licld in ilie whole State of New York oulsiih' llic liinils of tlic city. New York city's annual expenditures are more than those of any six States in the I'nion comhined. 'I'he assessments as specified hy the State hoard of e fire depart- ment and the street cleaning department cx- 854 The New Century Home Book pend about $5,000,000 each. For the health department, which guards against the adulter- ation and sale of poor food and milk as well as against disease, about $1,000,000 is provided. In these and all other branches of the city gov- ernment there is a constantly increasing de- mand upon (lie public purse. Provision also has to be made for the interest and sinking fund for the city's indebtedness, which is almost $250,000,000, and has been rapidly increasing in recent years. The aver- age tax for municipal purposes is more than four per cent, a rate which shows that New York spends much more money for its govern- ment than any city in Kurope. There are thirty thousand employees on the salary list of the city. Most important of these are the judicial odicers. These include thir- teen coroners, twelve police magistrates in Manhattan and the Bronx, and twelve more in the other boroughs; twenty-one civil justices; ten judges of Special Sessions; six judges of General Sessions; and thirty- four Supreme Court judges, from whom are chosen the mem- 355 The New Century Home Book bers of two ajipellate divisions of tlie Supreme Court. The greatest department in the city is that of the police. It is controlled by a board of four commissioners, equally divided in party politics, who are appointed by the mayor. Under the board's charge are one chief, five deputy chiefs, ten inspectors, 127 captains, and 7,752 policemen. Stringent civil service laws are supposed to afford protection to members of the police force from discrimination and persecution by their superiors, although a sys- tem of transferring men from precincts in one end of tlie city to those in other distant sec- tions has been found valuable as a means of discipline. To reinforce the authority of the police are three brigades of the National Guard, two of which, including two batteries of artillery, a squadron of cavalry and a signal corps, are in the Borough of Manhattan. A battalion of naval militia, a fire department having 133 engine companies and 40 hook and ladder com- panies, and large corps of building and health 356 The New Century Home Book inspectors contribute to the peace and safety of the city. Great public works are under way or planned to aid the growth of the city by making its business centers more accessible from the out- lying regions beyond the Harlem River, on Long Island and Staten Island, and also in New Jersey. Most important of all the public works in progress at the end of the century in the "Im- perial City" is the underground railway, which is intended to carry passengers from the north- ern part of the city to the City Hall in three quarters of an hour. The contract for this gigantic undertaking is being carried out, and the cost is to be $35,000,000, with the provision that the road is to be finished in 1903, A four-track road is to be looped around City Hall Square, with provision for extension to the Battery at the southern end of Manhattan Island if desired later. From the City Hall and Brooklyn Bridge the four-track subway will be built to Ninety-sixth Street by way of Center Street, Fourth Avenue, Forty-second 357 The New Century Home Book Street, and Broadway. From Ninety-sixth Street a two-track road will be constructed to 125th Street. There it will cross Manhattan Valley on a viaduct and then extend under- ground to 190th Street, whence it will be built on the surface to Kingsbridge. At Xinety-sixth Street two tracks will branch off and run underground to Westchester Avenue, across the Harlem River, where they will run on an elevated structure to Bronx Park. Provision has also been made for an extension of the subway under the East River to Brooklyn. This great rapid transit line will include almost twenty miles of tunnels which will be like a great steel box, supporting the surface of the streets by means of steel pillars and beams. The tunnels will be only a few feet be- low the surface and are to be brightly lighted by electricity and fully ventilated. The underground roads are designed to add to the transit facilities afforded to the Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx by the present ele- vated and electric surface roads. One line of 358 The New Century Home Book the elevated railroad now extends from the Battery to 155th Street — ten miles on the west side of the city, making connections with suburban lines of the New York Central Eail- road. Another line of the elevated railway ex- tends on the east side of the city from the Bat- tery to 177th Street in the Bronx — more than twelve miles. Besides the lines mentioned, New York is fairly gridironed with cable, electric, trolley, and horse-car surface lines, which by a system of transfers enable a person to reach any part of Manhattan from any other part of the bor- ough for one fare of five cents. On certain lines transfers are taken from the elevated roads, b}^ which for eight cents one can ride from the Battery to the northern limits of the city. The Borough of Brooklyn, which has a com- plete transit system of trolley and elevated roads, now has an entrance into Manhattan Borough by means of the Brooklyn Bridge. Over this bridge run the cars of both elevated and surface lines. These facilities, however, 359 The New Centuryr Home Book are far from adequate, and for the benefit of the tens of thousands who must depend upon the ferries for crossing the river, as well as to open up the vacant ground on the outskirts of the borough, more bridges are to be built across the East River above the present structure. The East River Bridge, about a mile above the Brooklyn Bridge, is being built. It is to be completed by 1907, and its cost will be $12,- 000,000. It will be 7,200 feet long, and its roadway 135 feet above high-water mark, while its two steel anchorage towers will be 335 feet above the same mark. Tlie bridge will have two carriageways, two footwalks, four trolley car tracks, and two elevated railroad tracks. Between these two bridges a third is to be constructed at a cost of $13,000,000. A fourth East River bridge is planned to cross at Black- wcU's Island to give quick entrance to the Borough of Manhattan from the Borough of Queens. This bridge is expected to cost about $13,000,000. Greater than any of these East River bridges will be the structure that is to be built over the 360 The New Century Home Book North Kiver to connect New York with New Jersey at Fifty-ninth Street. The contract for this bridge has been let. It calls for the com- pletion of the work in 1906, and the 'cost is placed at $17,000,000. The main span of the North River Bridge is to be 2,700 feet in length. The bridge will give an entrance into New York for the principal trunk railway lines now having their termini in Jersey City and on the Jersey shore. It will also greatly facilitate communication between the city and the sub- urban towns of New Jersey so largely popu- lated by men and women whose business life is spent in New York. Another great public work under way in New York at the opening of the new century is the construction of a driveway and prom- enade for fourteen miles along the North Eiver and in the Borough of the Bronx, which will connect the extensive parks of that borough with those of Manhattan and provide a mag- nificent runway for bicyclists as well as pleasure vehicles. This splendid driveway will be an extension 361 The New Century Home Book of the present Eiverside Drive, which runs along the Xorth River from Seventy-second Street to and beyond the tomb of General U. S. Grant, at 125th Street. By a great steel viaduct, constructed above the roofs of dwellings and factories, the drive will be carried over the Manhattan Valley. Thence it will continue on up to the Harlem River, crossing to Van Cort- landt Park. From this park the drive will turn eastward to Bronx Park, and continue on across the borough to the beautiful Pelham Bay Park on Long Island Sound, crossing the bay on a long steel bridge. Brooklyn Borough already has its fine Ocean Parkway, connecting Prospect Park with Coney Island and the ocean beach. Liberal provision for breathing room for the residents of the "Imperial City'' has been made. There are 6,919 acres of park lands in the city, of which 4,057 are in the Bronx, 1,573 acres in Brooklyn and Queens, and 1,288 acres in Manhattan and Richmond. Pelham Bay Park alone has 1,756 acres, and Van Cortlandt Park comprises 1,132 acres. Central Park, in 362 The New Century Home Book Manhattan, the most accessible of all, has 843 acres, and is valued at $90,000,000. In Van Cortlandt Park are public golf links, and in Central Park are tennis courts and baseball, croquet, and cricket grounds open to the peo- ple. In Bronx Park zoological and botanical gardens are established and constantly being extended. Another most important public work under wa}^ is the erection of a vast public library in- tended to rival or surpass the similar institu- tions of Boston and Washington. Its site is in Bryant Park, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and West Fortieth and West Forty- second Streets. The old city reservoir which stood for many years on the site has been re- moved to make room for the library, for the building of which $2,500,000 has been appro- priated. When this structure is completed it will be stored with the 300,000 volumes now in the Astor Library and the 80,000 volumes of the Lenox Library, and will be aided by a large legacy left by Samuel J. Tilden as the founda- tion for the institution. It will prove an im- 363 The New Century Home Book posing center for the fifty-seven public libraries of New York. To provide water for the millions in the Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, the city has undertaken to build a gigantic system of waterworks in addition to the present great Croton system. The Croton Reservoir, first utilized in 1890 to supply the new Croton Aqueduct, is to be greatly enlarged by a dam now under construction, so that it will cover about 7,000 acres of ground and have a storage capacity of 32,000,000,000 gallons of water. This will make the city's total storage capacity for water 72,000,000,000 gallons. The dam will cost $5,500,000. It will be 1,300 feet long, 100 feet above the bed of the Croton River, and the foundation will rest on rock 130 feet below the river's bed. Connected with this new water system will be the Jerome Park Reservoir, which will store 3,000,000,000 gallons and will cost about the same as the big Croton dam— $5,500,000. Even these vast waterworks will not long supply the needs of the Manhattan and Bronx Boroughs, 364 The New Century Home Book and the authorities are already at work on the problem of increasing the city's water resources in the near future. With nineteen great railways centering in the city; with forty-five ferry lines running boats at intervals of from five to fifteen min- utes; with ocean steamship lines holding piers for many miles of the water front, and with the trade of river and sound steamers and ocean "tramps," the harbor of New York always pre- sents a busy scene. The waters of the city seem to have been especially adapted by Nature to ac- celerate the marvelous growth of New York. The total water frontage of the city is 353 miles, of which about 100 miles are in the Boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. Man- hattan Island has a frontage of twenty-nine and six tenths miles, Brooklyn and Queens have 201 miles, and Richmond fifty-two miles. In Man- hattan alone there are 242J piers, of which the city owns 154 whole and twenty-two half piers. Practically all of the great ocean steamship lines have their piers on the North River side of Manhattan. 365 The New Century Home Book New York's churches form an important factor in her activities. There are more than a thousand houses of worship in the five bor- oughs. In Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx the Roman Catholics have 185 churches; the Protestant Episcopalians, 135; Methodists, 114; Baptists, 94; Presbyterians, 89; Luth- erans, 70; Reformed Church in America, 55, and Congrcgationalists, 42. Hebrews have 61 synagogues. Grammar school buildings in the Boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx num- ber 191; primary schools, 102; high schools, 8; night schools, 51, and night high schools, 3. At the head of the city's school system stand the College of the City of New York and the Normal College, the former for young men and the latter for young women. Graduates of the Normal College are eligible for positions as teachers in the public schools. The city takes the children of the poorest citizen, starts them in the kindergarten, carries them up through the primary, grammar, and high school grades, and then gives them a thorough 366 The New Century Home Book collegiate education, all without cost to the parents. Columbia University, the famous King's College of ante-Eevolutionary days, rich in endowments, occupies its new buildings on Morningside Heights, and is one of the chief educational institutions of the city. Another prominent educational center is the New York University, for which new buildings are being erected on University Heights, in the Bronx, overlooking the Harlem River and the upper part of Manhattan. Wealth of the city is shown in the condition of its banks. Manhattan Borough has twenty- six savings institutions, of which the largest is the Bowery Bank, with deposits of more than $65,000,000. Brooklyn has twenty savings banks, one of them — the Brooklyn — having $34,000,000 in deposits. Manhattan has eighty-five State and national banks, of which two — the National City and the Bank of Com- merce — have $10,000,000 capital each. Brook- lyn has twenty-seven of these banks. With this great wealth goes corresponding 367 The New Century Home Book charity. Public and semipublic charitable in- stitutions are scattered throughout the city. The municipality supports several county in- firmaries, a great orphan asylum, and con- tributes with liberal hand to hospitals and other institutions in which unfortunates receive quick and able attention. Dispensaries are connected with most of the large hospitals and medical schools in which needy persons can receive medical attention free of charge. Persons hurt or falling ill in the streets arc carried to hospi- tals and nursed back to health without cost if they are unable to pay for treatment. Aged persons and orphans receive care and support in homes established by the citizens. The private charities of the city are organ- ized into central corporations, of which the Protestants have one, the Hebrews another, and the Catholics a third, and the work of relief is so systematized as to prevent waste in one direction and penury in the other. The city of Xew York gives annually to charity the sum of $4,500,000. This is supplemented by a like sum from individual citizens. New 368 The New Century Home Book York's total charities, therefore, reach the mag- nificent figure of $9,000,000 every year. Almost $3,000,000 a year is paid in salaries of clergymen in the city, and a like amount for the maintenance of churches. This sum is greater than the total spent for theaters and concerts, which is ahout $5,500,000 a year. There are eighteen places of amusement in Brooklyn Borough and fifty-one in Manhattan — figures in marked contrast to the number of churches. In addition to the private palaces to be found in the fashionable districts of Fifth and Madi- son Avenues and along the North Kiver front of Manhattan, wealth finds many places where it can have the luxurious surroundings it craves. Of the hundreds of hotels in New York more than a score seek to cater only to the rich. Perhaps the largest of New York's hotels is the Waldorf-Astoria, with its 700 rooms at $5 and $6 a day each, and numerous other rooms and suites at $25 a day and up- ward. In this type of the city's great hotels is a private theater and concert room, a ball room, (24) 369 The New Century Home Book and a roof garden, where concerts are given on summer nights. Delmonico's and Sherry's, with their public and private dining rooms, ball rooms, and banquet halls, are types of the city's higher class restaurants. Types of anotlicr kind of luxury are the Metropolitan and Progress Clubs, which are known as "millionaire clubs" because all their members are supposed to be possessed of great wcaltli. Tlierc arc scores of other prominent clubs in the city, and in every department of life wealth or poverty is abundantly able to find its level and its companionship. Feeding tlio multitude in the "Imperial City" is an important and interesting problem. Accurate figures to cover every item of the city's daily bill of fare liave never been com- piled, for it is an impossible task. But when the food supplies for Manhattan alone are taken into account the results are astounding. Of eggs alone 80,000,000 are consumed in a single year in ^ranhattan Borough. Twenty- five thousand bushels of potatoes are eaten every day. Of butter 290,000 pounds are con- 370 The New Century Home Book sumed in a day, and 300,000 pounds of cheese in the same time. More than 500,000 steers are required to furnish the beef eaten in a year. The mutton eaten calls for 2,436,000 sheep a year, and 1,600,000 hogs supply the pork for the same period. Into Fulton Market alone are brought 45,000,000 pounds of fresh fish every year. Of fresh green vegetables the consumption is about 40,000,000 bushels a year. These food supplies are handled in several large markets, like the Fulton and Washington Markets, and by shops which range from the "delicatessen stores," of which there are 800 in Manhattan, to big commission houses which never deal in less than carloads of any article. "How shall I see New York in haste?" is a question often asked by visitors to the city who can remain only a day or two, or perhaps a week, and must then leave with the prospect of not visiting the city again for years, if at all. Of course, if you have only a limited time at your disposal, you can do nothing more than barely look over the surface of New York. You 371 The New Century Home Book cannot really see into the city's own peculiar and characteristic life, for even the oldest of its residents have not reached the end of learning of its wonders. Yet New York offers the best opportunity of any great city in the world for a hasty view. If you merely come to it on a ferryboat from the New Jersey shore and look at the great pile of buildings that rear themselves at the lower end of Manhattan Island and the rows of shipping at the piers and the crowded traffic of the bay, it is well worth while. If one has only a day to spend in the city, he can see much of the surface of its life and activities by an intelligent and industrious use of his time. Let him take an Amsterdam Avenue trolley car from the center of the city in the morning and ride up to 112th Street. He will then be at Columbia University. He should step into the beautiful library of the University and see its great dome and its books and the bronze signs of the zodiac in the floor of the court. From the steps of the library one can see far 372 The New Century Home Book over Harlem to the East Eiver, taking in the line of Central Park and noting the wonderful growth of the upper residence portion of the city. Just in front will be seen the high arch and foundations of the great Cathedral of St. John the Divine, which the Episcopalians de- sign to be the most imposing religious structure in the world. Its foundations go down seventy feet into the cliff upon which it stands. Near the Cathedral is St. Luke's Hospital, one of the city's finest institutions of the kind. A short walk northward from Columbia University will take the visitor to the stately tomb of General U. S. Grant, with the trees planted beside it in the name of the famous Li Hung Chang, China's foremost modern statesman. The tomb is on historic ground, for it was here that the battle of the Harlem was fought, and the Continental militia learned that they could drive back the vaunted regulars of King George. Stepping down the hill from Grant's Tomb, let the visitor take another Amsterdam Avenue car and ride to 155th Street, on Washington 373 The New Century Home Book Heights. Leaving the car there, he will see the heautiful Trinity Church Cemetery on the left, but he will have no time to walk through it. Going eastward down 155th Street, he will reach the viaduct crossing a part of the plain below the Heights and the Harlem River. Conspicuous on a high bluff to the north of the entrance of the viaduct stands the historic old Madame Jumel mansion, the rendezvous of almost all the famous men of the republic's early days, where Aaron Burr married the noted Widow Jumel, and where Washington was often a visitor. It is now a private resi- dence, but the old mansion is filled with valu- able relics of its early days. Just at the entrance to the viaduct is the en- trance to New York's noted Speedway, a wide and level course following the shore of the Har- lem River, built for the speeding of horses. Looking up the Harlem River from the via- duct, one can see High Bridge spanning the Harlem from cliff to cliff, and carrying the Croton water supply for tlie whole of Manhat- tan Island. A short distance above High 374 The New Century Home Book Bridge the Washington Bridge looms up, wider and higher. Still farther northward, and on the Bronx side of the river, the dome of the University of New York is seen. Below and beside the viaduct are the Colum- bia Field, the scene of the university games and of many collegiate sports, and the Polo Ground of the New York Baseball Club. Stairways lead down from the viaduct to the west side line of the elevated railroad. A ride on this road to Eighty-first Street will give the visitor a fair idea of the residence part of New York. From the Eighty-first Street station a short walk leads to the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan Square, where a remark- able collection of the remains of birds and ani- mals may be seen. After a hasty glance at the exhibits let the visitor walk eastward through Central Park, to which there is an entrance near the Museum. This will take him to the obelisk known as Cleopatra's Needle, and to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the east side of the park, in which are exhibited a large collection of 375 The New Century Home Book valuable and famous paintings, including Meis- sonier's "1807'' and Rosa Bonheur's "Horse Fair," works of art, sculpture, china, tapestries, and collections of antiques. The trip through this building must be hur- ried, and therefore unsatisfactory, but the vis- itor has still much to see. Let him step from the Museum to Fifth Avenue, adjoining the park, and take a stage going down town. This will give him a trip through the dis- trict of the most fashionable residences. At Sixty-seventh Street is the home of George J. Gould, head of the Gould family. One square below is the mansion of John Jacob Astor and his mother, Mrs. William Astor. Commodore Elbridge T. Gerry's residence is at Sixty-first Street. Just below it is the Metropolitan Club, and then at Fifty-ninth Street the Netherland, Savoy, and Plaza Hotels, fronting on the plaza at the Fifth Avenue entrance to Central Park. On the south side of the plaza, extending from Fifty-eighth Street to Fifty-seventh Street, is the palace of Mrs. Vanderbilt, widow 376 The New Century Home Book of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and her family. Across from it, on the southwest corner of Fifth xA. venue and Fifty-seventh Street, is the home of Harry Payne Whitney, formerly occupied by his father, William C. Whitney. Opposite the Whitney residence on Fifth Avenue stands the elegant mansion of the late Collis P. Hunt- ington. A few squares farther down on Fifth Avenue is the building of the University Club, a feature of which are the arms set in its walls of all the principal colleges and universities in the coun- try. At Fifty-second Street are the large double mansions known as the "Vanderbilt houses," one being the home of George W. Van- derbilt and the other the residence of Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Sloane. At Fiftieth Street and Fifth Avenue is St. Patrick's Cathedral, with the palace of Arch- bishop Corrigan, head of the Koman Catholic Church in New York, behind it on Madison Avenue. At Forty-seventh Street is the town house of Miss Helen Miller Gould. A few blocks farther down the avenue are Sherry's and Del- 377 The New Century Home Book monico's. Then comes the van of the trades- men who are year by year pushing the Fifth Avenue dwellers farther and farther up town. At Thirty-fourth Street is the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and below it the Holland House. Then one reaches Madison Square, where the "politi- cal hotels" — the Fifth Avenue and Hoffman House — are located. By this time the visitor will have filled a busy morning. Let him leave the stage at Madison Square for luncheon in any one of the numerous restaurants in the vicinity. After luncheon let him take a Broadway car down town. This will give him a glimpse of the city's chief shopping district, Grace Church at Eleventh Street, followed by the wholesale dry goods and other business districts, and, far down town, at Wall Street, the financial district. Leaving the car at Wall Street, Trinity Church is on the right and facing the money center. A quick trip may be made through its churchyard, where the bodies of Alexander Hamilton and many other men of note in the olden time are buried. A few steps down Wall 378 The New Century Home Book Street are the Stock Exchange and the United States Sub-Treasur}^, on the steps of which a statue of Washington marks the spot where the first President took the oath of his high office. Returning to Broadway, a short walk takes the visitor to Bowling Green, where the leaden statue of King George stood until it was pulled down to be made into bullets for the Ameri- cans. On the site of the old British Fort at Bowling Green the government is erecting a new customhouse, and where Washington es- tablished his headquarters after the retreat from Long Island a great office building now stands. A few steps farther lies Battery Park and Castle Garden, now a public aquarium, well worth a visit if one can spare the time. Here, too, is the Barge Office, through which enters the vast army of immigrants constantly seek- ing homes in America from every other coun- try on earth. Here a boat can be taken for a trip to the famous Statue of Liberty, whence a view may be had of the entire harbor of New 379 The New Century Home Book York, with the immigrant station just below and Staten Island, Brooklyn, and the Brook- lyn Bridge in the distance. This will easily fill up the afternoon. In the evening the visitor may visitor the teeming East Side and find a new phase of the city's life. A Third or Fourth Avenue car may be taken for a ride through the Bowery to, say, Rivington Street. Let the visitor walk east through Rivington Street to Norfolk, to Divi- sion, and to Chatham Square. Crossing the square, let him walk to Park Row and down that thoroughfare to Printing House Square, where many of the principal newspaper offices are located; the City Hall and its park, the Post Office building, old St. Paul's Church, and the Astor House. He may return up town by one of several street-car lines at and near the Post Office, or the east or west side elevated road, stations of which are within a short walk. This evening trip will give the visitor a review of the polyglot population of some of the city's tenement districts, made up of Russian Jews, Syrians, Turks, Poles, Hungarians, Chinese, 380 The New Century Home Book Greeks, Italians, and various other nationali- ties. With a second day to spend in the city, a morning visit may be paid to the navy yard in Brooklyn, including a trip over the Brooklyn Bridge in a trolley car. For this trip a request for a permit to enter the yard should be sent in advance, addressed to the commandant of the yard. War vessels are nearly always at the yard, and visitors to them are shown every courtesy by officers and men on board. As a substitute for the navy yard visit one can go to Prospect Park, Brooklyn's splendid breathing ground, and a rival of Central Park in Manhattan. It includes the site of the fiercest struggle of the battle of Long Island. In the afternoon the visitor may go to Coney Island, New York's famous ocean beach resort, or to Greenwood Cemetery. If the visitor is fortunate enough to have a week at his disposal, let him go over the ground suggested for the one-day trip, but in a much more leisurely way. A sail may be taken to Glen Island one day, giving the visitor a view 381 The New Century Home Book of the city's public institutions on Blackwell's Island and Ward's Island, Hell Gate, and the entrance to Long Island Sound, and the Sound defenses of New York at Throgs Neck, Wil- lett's Point, and Fort Slocum. Another sail will take one through the Nar- rows and lower bay to Coney Island or Rock- away Beach, giving a view of Governor's Island, headquarters of the Department of the East of the United States Army; Fort Columbus, the Quarantine Station on Staten Island, and the islands in the lower bay where immigrants from infected foreign ports arc detained until all danger of their bringing disease into the city has passed ; and Forts Hamilton and Wadsworth, which, with high-power modern rifles mounted behind immense fortifications, guard the approach to New York from the sea. An afternoon may be well spent in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and another half day in the Museum of Natural History. A day spent in Bronx Park and its fine zoological and botanical gardens will not be wasted. A visit to the Croton waterworks, one of the greatest 382 The New Century Home Book pieces of engineering skill of the century, is well worth while. The better part of a day may be enjoyed in a visit to the city's chari- table and correctional institutions on Black- well's Island, and the Tombs prison in Man- hattan, for which permits may be obtained at the office of the Department of Charities. Some of the immense ^^sky scrapers" of the city, such as the Park Eow Building, with its twenty-six stories, should be visited. If one comes from an inland town, he will find little in the whole city more interesting than a visit to one of the great ocean steamships lying at the wharves. Whatever one's tastes may be, tlie means to gratify them are always to be found in the nation's greatest city — New York. 383 The New Century Home Book 3Bc0lnnlnfl9 of Ilblnoe T^IIE first newspaper advertisement was printed in 1G52. Air pumps were first made in 1050. The first almanacs were made by the ancient Saxons, who carved on sticks the courses of the moons of the wliole year, so that they could tell when the new moons, the full moons, and the changes would occur, niid when festival days would fall. The carved stick was called an "almond aght," and hence the naiiK- "almanac." The first recorded account of an almanac in England is in the "Yearbook" of Henry VI T. The first almanac printed was by George von Purback in 14G0. The General Court of Massachusetts issued the first American coins in 1G52. They were of silver, with "N. E." on one side and "VI." or "XII." on the other side, to denote the value of the coin in l*]nglish pence. The first money used by the American col- 384 The New Century Home Book onists was the wampum of the Indians, whicn consisted of shells ground to the size of kernels of corn and strung together. Silver dimes were first coined in 1796. Copper money was first coined in Rome in 580 B. C. The first American copper cent was coined in New Haven, Conn., in 1787. Anaesthesia was discovered in 1844. The first arithmetical figures were carried into Europe by the Saracens in A. D. 994. The first cable dispatch across the Atlantic Ocean was sent in August, 1858. Backgammon was invented by the Chinese many centuries ago. The implements of the game were almost exactly like those now used. The first successful balloon ascent was made in 1783. Congress incorporated the first national bank in the United States in December, 1781, The first regular bank was established in Venice in 1157. The Bank of Genoa was founded in 1401, the Bank of Amsterdam in 1609, and the Bank of England in 1694. (25) 385 The New Century Home Book The use of barber poles as signs grew out of the fact that in the olden time barbers acted as surgeons and performed the bleeding and cup- ping then so much employed as a cure for disease. The bleeding was generally done on the arm, and the patient grasped a small pole to hold his arm rigid for the operation. The barber usually kept the pole in his window. Bayonets take their name from Bayonne, where they were invented in 1G70. They were first used in fighting at the battle of Turin in 1003. The first successful steamboat was built in 1782 by the Marquis de Jouffroy. It plied on the Saone River for a time, but had too little power. Eobert Fulton built the first entirely successful steamboat, the Clermont, which made a trip from New York up the Hudson River to Albany in 1807. The first iron steam- ship was built in 1830, and eight years later two steamships crossed the ocean from England to America. Ships were first "copper-bottomed" in 1783. The first lifeboat was built in 1802. 386 The New Century Home Book The earliest record of the burning of heretics in England is dated 1401. When all men carried swords buttons were put on the back of the coat to support the sword-belt. Hence the buttons still found on the backs of men's coats, for which there is not the slightest use. Equally useless buttons on the sleeves of modern coats are said to owe their origin to Frederick the Great. He found his soldiers in the habit of wiping the perspiration from their faces with their sleeves, thus soiling the garments. He had rows of buttons fastened to the sleeves to prevent this habit. Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar in B. C. 46, when he corrected errors in the previous Roman calendar and added ten days to each year, making the year 365 days, with an extra day every fourth year. The Julian calen- dar failed to account for about eleven minutes a year. In A. D. 1583 this uncomputed time had reached ten days, and Pope Gregory XIII corrected the error by ordering the ten days to be dropped on the 5th of October, that day being for that year reckoned as the 15th of 387 The New Century Home Book October. Pope Gregory also ordained that every hundredth year not divisible by 400 without a remainder should not be reckoned a leap year. By this arrangement it will take about five thousand years for the difference beween the civil and the natural year to amount to one day. The Gregorian calendar is now in universal use. The first camp meeting was held near Rus- sellville, Ky., in 1799. It was led by John McGee, a Methodist clergyman, and his brother, William McGee, a Presbyterian minister. Cannons were first used at the siege of Algeciras in 1342. Great Britain's first census was taken in 1801. Cherry trees were introduced into Britain from Pontus about A. D. 50. The origin of chess is disputed. Some authorities say it was played in India 5,000 years ago. Others declare it originated with the Chinese B. C. 1120. Chimneys were introduced into Rome from Padua in 1368. 388 The New Century Home Book Chocolate was first drank in England in 1520. Christmas was first celebrated in A. D. 98. Christianity was first preached in Britain in A. D. 178. Chronometers were first made in 1665. William Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood in 1616. The first clock was made in England in 1568. Coaches were first used in England in 1569. Coffee was first known in Abyssinia, whence it was carried into Arabia at an unknown date. The first record of its use in Arabia is dated 1587. It was not introduced into England until 1641, and into France until 1714. The oldest college is Oxford University, founded by King Alfred in A. D. 872. Har- vard University is the oldest American college, having been founded in 1636. The first town school in America was opened in Hartford, Conn., before 1642. The first legislation es- tablishing common schools in America was passed by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1645. Kappa Alpha is the oldest Greek letter 889 The New Century Home Book college fraternity in America. It was estab- lished in Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., in 1825. The first comedy, as well as the first traged}^ was played in Athens in B. C. 562. Plays were first acted in Rome in B. C. 239. The first compass was used in France in 1150. The Chinese are said to have used the loadstone earlier than this. Cooking schools started in this country in Boston, Mass., in 1879. The first copperplate print was made in 1450. The first cotton gin was made in 1795. The power loom was invented in 1785, the spinning jenny in 17G7, and the spinning frame in 1769. The date of the first Crusade was 1095. Cutlery was first manufactured in the United States in 1834. Speusippus, a Greek philosopher, who lived in B. C. 350, wrote the first cyclopedia. The degree of "Doctor" was first conferred in Bologna in 1130, and in England in 1209.. Dials, maps, and globes are the inventions 390 The New Century Home Book of Anaximander, who lived in the sixth century B. C. Bartholomew Columbus carried them into England in 1489. The first dictionary of modern languages was published in 1612. The first French dic- tionary was published in 1694. England's House of Commons was organized in 1295. The first envelope was used in 1839. Fire engines were invented in 1663. The first steam fire engine was built in 1830. The first American flag authorized by Con- gress consisted of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, with thirteen white stars in the blue field. The Union flag had been unfurled over the American camp in Cambridge on New Year's Day, 1776. The resolution indorsing it was adopted by Congress on June 14, 1777. In 1818 Congress decreed that a star should be added to the flag for every State admitted to the Union. Two-tined forks were first made in England in 1608. Three-pronged forks were not made until 1750, and silver forks were unknown be- 391 The New Century Home Book fore 1814. Dainty Queen Elizabeth and all before her time used their fingers for forks. Gas was first used for lighting purposes in 1792. It was introduced into New York in 1827. London's streets were first lighted with gas in 1814. Glass was made in Egypt more than three thousand years ago. Glass windows first ap- peared in England in the eighth century. Glass mirrors were first made in the thirteenth century. The first glass factory in this coun- try was established in 1780. Gold was first discovered in California in 1848. Gunpowder was known to the Chinese as early as the ninth century. Its first use in fire- arms is believed to have been in 1313. Muskets were in use in 1370. Pistols were not invented before 1544. John Hetherington, a London haberdasher, wore the first high silk hat in January, 1797. His appearance in the streets with the strange headgear caused a riot, during which several women fainted. 392 The New Century Home Book The Koman goddess of faith and honesty was Fides, and her symbol was two right hands joined, or two figures clasping each other's right hand. This led the Eomans to take each other by the right hand when making an agree- ment, in token that they would adhere to the contract. From this grew the hand-shaking of to-day. Hops were first cultivated in Germany in the ninth century. The first iron horseshoes were made in A. D. 481. The first insurance policy on ships and merchandise was written in A. D. 43. Kerosene was first used for lighting in 1826. "When lead pencils were invented is uncer- tain, but it is believed they were first used in 1565. The first library of which there is any record was founded in Memphis by the Egyptian King Osymandyas, in the twelfth dynasty. Its works were of unknown antiquity, and it was destroyed by the Persians. Greece's first library was established in Athens by Pisistratus, about 393 The New Century Home Book B. C. 527. The first library in Rome was founded by Paulus .^milius, B. C. 167. The most celebrated ancient library was founded in Alexandria in B. C. 290. It contained 700,- 000 volumes. The first public library of New York was established in 1730. Its books were a gift to the city from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. London was founded A. D. 50. Linen was first made in England in 1253. The first life insurance company in the United States was established in 1812. Locomotives were first made in the United States in 1829. Lucifer matches were first made in 1829. To Zacharias Jansens, of Holland, is given the credit for the invention of the compound microscope in 1590. The first practical motor car was built in 1786, and was propelled by steam. Musical notes now employed were invented in 1330. Steel needles were introduced into England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 394 The New Centunr Home Book The first newspaper was published in Venice in 1630; the first in France in 1631; the first in England in 1655; and the first in America, in Boston, in 1690. The first daily newspaper appeared in 1702. The first religious news- paper in this country was the Herald of Gospel Liberty, published in Portsmouth, IST. H., in 1808. The first omnibus was run in Paris in 1827. Omnibuses were introduced into Xew Tork in 1830. Organs for church music were first intro- duced by Pope Yitalianus, about A. D. 670. The Chinese invented paper in B. C. 170. Pens were first made of quills in A. D. 635. Steel pens were made first in 1803. Photography was the simultaneous discovery of Daguerre in France and Talbot in England in 1839. Pins were first manufactured in the United States soon after the War of 1812. The renting of a house in Boston in 1639 for the receipt of letters to and from Europe was the beginning of the postal service in this coun- 395 The N&w Century Home Book try. The colony of New York established a monthly post between New York and Boston in 1672. A post office was opened in Philadel- phia in 1693. The first American postage stamps were issued by the government in 1847. They had been introduced in England in 1840 by Rowland Hill, known as the "Father of the Penny Post." It is said the first purchaser of a United States stamp was Henry Shaw, who was in Postmaster General Cave Johnson's office when the first sheet of stamps was re- ceived from the printer, and wlio then bought a five-cent and ten-cent stamp, the two de- nominations then issued. Post offices were established in France in 1464, in England in 1581, and in Germany in 1641. Mail was first carried by stagecoach in England in 1785. Pneumatic tires for wheels were invented in 1889. Potatoes were introduced into England and Ireland in 1586. Credit for the invention of the art of print- ing with movable type — the most valuable of 396 The New Century Home Book all human inventions — is claimed by the Dutch for Laurence Koster, between 1420 and 1426, and by the Germans for Johan Gansfleisch, of the Giitenberg family, about 1438. It was in- troduced into England in 1471. The first printing press in America was imported in 1639. Stereotype printing was invented in 1725. America's first railroad was laid in Quincy, Mass., in 1726. It was four miles long and was built to carry granite from the quarries. A coal road was constructed in 1827 at Mauch Chunk, Pa. The first railroad in England was laid in 1825, and ran from Darlington to Stockton. France's first railroad was built in 1832. The first horse railroad was built in 1826. Eaising the hat when greeting a woman is a survival of the custom of knights in the olden time, who removed their helmets in the com- pany of women to signify that they regarded themselves as among friends. The first patent for a reaping machine was issued in England in 1799. 397 The New Century Home Book Fireproof safes were first patented in the United States in 1843. Saddles were first used in tlie fourth century. Stirrups were not used until the next century. The first sawmaker's anvil was brought to America in 1753. Elias Howe, an American, invented the sew- ing machine and took out the first patent for the invention in 1846. Shoe buckles were first worn in the seven- teenth century. Wooden shoe pegs were invented about 1818. The first silk dress made in New England was worn in 1750. Spectacles were invented in 1280. The first steam engine in America was brought from England in 1753. The first total abstinence society was founded in 1809. America's first temperance society was organized in Saratoga County, N. Y., in 1808. The first society exclusively for circulating the Scriptures was the British and Foreign Bible Society, organized in 18Q4, 39a The New Century Home Book The first society for the promotion of Chris- tian knowledge was founded in 1698. Sulphuric acid was discovered about the middle of the fourteenth century. Tea was first used in England in 1656. The telegraph instrument was invented by S. F. B. Morse in 1835, but its utility was not demonstrated until 1844. Telescopes were first used in England about 1608. Nicot introduced tobacco into France in 1560. Tops were invented by the Chinese before B. C. 3000. The earliest record of a trial by jury is A. D. 970. England's first turkeys were sent from America in 1620. The first turnpike in England was made in 1663. Umbrellas were first made in the United States about 1800. They were of oiled ging- ham and very large. Jonas Hanway was the first man to carry an umbrella in the streets of 399 The New Century Home Book London. Dr. Jameson carried one in Glasgow in 1780. Before that umbrellas had been car- ried only by women. The first voyage around the globe was made in 1522. Violins were first made about the twelfth century. Watches were first made in Nuremberg early in the sixteenth century. The earliest known description of a watch was written by Johannes Coccianes in 1511. It then took a year to make a watch, and its value was about $1,500. Weaving was introduced into England in 1330. The first screw wrench was made in 1835. Zinc was first described as a metal about 1540. Zero, meaning "nothing," was first used as a thermometer mark by Fahrenheit in 1795. lie had put snow and ice together when a boy and believed he had found the lowest degree of temperature, and he then called it zero. 400 FEB 16 1901