II P !â- n i II THE FLE8HEBT0N AOVAMOE. CLOTHES AND THE WOMAN Whys and Wherefores of Past and Present Fashions. BY AGNES EGERTON CASTLE. A man asked me the other day: "Do clothes make the woman, or does a woman make her clothes!" Surely only a man could have put •nch a (luestion. Do clothes make the woman f A hun- dred pathetic viaions arise, lamenting, "No!" -Not the most subtle Parisian exponent, the cuuningost man-milliner of them uU, can render the undistin- guished other than common, the fat other than rotund, the plain other than uncomely. Indeed, unless the woman has something in her to correspond, finery only accentuates the natural handicaps. For how many of us the best chance is to be humble in misfor- tune, to be unobtrusive, to call upou our clothes not to show up, rather, indeed, to obliterate. How completely the true artist in modes understands this painful vanity! A woman's clothes can enhance or tone down; they can emphasize or veil; they cannot create. It was once the fashion for a lady to shave her forehead and wear a cushion beneath her waist. See the presentment of the burgomaster's wife by an Kyck. If ever a woman was a' martyr to a hideous fashion, it is she; yoii expect to see a palm leaf in her hand, a halo round her meek, disfigured countenance. Nevertheless if a woman cannot make her clothes in the sense of im- posing her charm on every fashion, she can and should express herself through them. And surely she does. The audacious little pagan that is the young creature of today, thrusting her shoulder-blades aggressively on the public, (Usplaying her legs, so often, alas! a little bandy, in thin white silk stockings, docs she not proclaim as with a trumpet blast, the new emanci- pation, the new subversive ideas, her mcnnd conceptions of pleasure! The woman who still likes to keep the veil before the mysteries, will she not cling to draperies and delicate shrouding textures? She will still wrap herself in poetries even to her garments. The greatest opportunity of expres sion a woman has is in her clothes. It is through them that she must be subtle important, inspiring, sympathetic, al luring. This is why, personally, I have a hankering for full skirts, for the im- mense scope they give to feminine emotion; you can flounce to some pur- pose, you can sweep away with con- viction, you can flutter and scold ami threaten, even annihilate, without a word. The old poets understood this Here is Herrick: â€" "A winning wave, deserving note. In the tempestuous petticoat." JUST BOOKS BY ELINOR MURRAY. Registered According to the a...^ ,. Copyright Act. Beauteous Maid: "My father made his fortune when he was quite a young man. Would you like to know how he did iti" Gallant Knight: "Not especially; but I would like to know if he still has it all right." Miss Fairleigh (from Vermont)â€" I feel lost in all this noise and hurry of your big city. Mr. Smart â€" If "findings is keep ing»," Miss Fairleigh, I'll head a search party. "You're seeing part of a frame-up, said the chorus girl as she kicked over her head. First Old Salt â€" Me sister writes me every bottle in that box we sent her was broken. Are you sure yez print- ed "This side up, with care," on itt Second Old Saltâ€" Ol am. An' for fear they shouldn't see it on top, 01 printed it at the bottom as well. Ethelâ€" Mother, dear, what is econ- omy t Mrs. Spender â€" Ethel, where on earth did you hear such a vulgar eipresslont Don't ever lot me hear that word from your lips again. It gave me quite a ihoek. Seek- My wife has a great fond- ness for pets, has yours t Peck â€" That depends on whether you refer to animals or the mood. I'OOH KKI.ATIONS. By Comptoa .\lai-kenze. Harper & Brothers. Itelutious, poor and otherwise, form what may without eiaggoratiou be classified as a subject of universal iu- interest. Is there indeed a single hu- man being, living or dead, who has net sulTetod more or less at the hands either of those into whoso midst he was born, of those who were thrust upou him, defenseless though perhaps protesting, or of those he has rashly acquired, the kind known by the grim and compulsion-implying term of " in- laws "f And yet, to hold the balance fair and even, it should be added that he is indeed unfortunate a^oug whose relations of various degrees, relations inherited and acquired, there is not one at least of whom he has cause to thnk gratefully. But this unfor- tunate situation, however rare it may be, was that of John Touchwood, suc- cessful romantic playwright and hero of Mr. Compton Mackenzie's new and very uutcrtaiuiug novel, "Poor Kol:i- tious. " John Touchwood was one of a large family, having no less than two sisters aad three brothers. Of them all, only he himself and his youngest brother, Hugh, their mother's favorite and the black sheep of the family, had re- mained unmarried. So, besides his brothers and sisters, he had quite a large assortment of brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, as well as two pairs of nephews and nieces. And a more thoroughly detestable crew it would be difficult to find. John's dead father had been an ill-tempered, cynical, somewhat tyrannical and generally un- pleasant parent; his mother was vain, idle and silly, and his brothers and sisters had inherited all their prents' objectionable qualities and added there- to a number of their own. The wonder of it all is that John himself should have been so good-natured and genial a person. But good-natured he was, and an arrant sentimentalist to boot -so arrant a sentimentalist, indeed, that when his romantic plays proved even greater successes than his real- istic novels had been failures, with the result that money poured into his bank account, he was able to return from the United States to his home in Eng- land actually looking forward to the meeting with his family. And though le must already have known something about his relatives, he was disposed to accept as genuine the protestations of affection i'(mtaiuod in their letters. His sfutimeutality did receive something 111' a Jolt when he heard Miss Doris /laniilton declare that never, under any circumstances, would she be a poor re- lation; but despite his forty-two years lie was of a hopeful temperament, and he had been disposed to regard the fact that his relations were all poor and that he himself bad becomi; rich prin- cipally as an opportunity to indulge in what a famous novelist once described an "the luxury of giving." How these relations descended upon him and made his life a burden; how one brother-in- law aspired to write a play whose cen- tral figure should be Apostle Thomas; liow the husband of his favorite sister, Kdith, who had successfully eluded his responsibilities by dying, left as his principal legacy the small and extreme- ly objectionable Harold â€" one almost ftels inclined to forgive Hugh his de- linquencies when ho thoroughly snubs that unspeakable brat â€" how his actress sister-in-law departed on tour, forcibly intrusting the care of her two obstrep- erous offspring to the care of their dear Uncle John â€" of all these and many more incidents the book tells in a thoroughly amusing way. Such a book as this, a somewhat I ynical but highly entertaining com- edy, which more than once verges upon farce and at times goes to the other extreme, lapshig into a morbid bitter- ness, is, of course, a niticcable depar- ture from Mr. Mackenzie's costoniary style. It is a novel so different in type from his others that it cannot justly be compared with them. Writ- ton in a light ironic manner, with much (leftnessuf phrasing and a thorough understaniiing of the follies and mean- nesses and hypocrisies to which his "poor relations" are so exceedingly UNCLE JIM'S STORY. SPDfNTNO THE FIiAX. Once there was the dearest, prettiest little girl â€" only she was lazy. She would not spin. This worried her poor mother nearly to death. One day she whipped her for being so lazy, and the queen passing by heard the little girl crying. "Why are you whipping the child!" the queen asked. The mother was ashamed to tell the queen the real reason, and she said: ' ' I can 't make my daughter stop â- pinning. She just insists on spinning and spinning, and I am too poor to get her any more flax," The queen was delighted to hear that the little girl was so very energetic. "Bring her to my palace. I will give her all the flax she can spin." When she reached there she found that three top rooms were flUed with nothing but flax from top to bottom. "If yon spin all this you shsll have my son for a husband, for though you are a poor girl I wish the prince to have an industrious wife." The poor girl was terribly frightened of course, for she conld not spin all that flaxâ€" no, not if she bad lived till she was 300 years old. . She went to her window, ths tears streaming down her faee. Then outside she saw three women. Ths first had a broad, flat foot, the second had a hoge underlip that hnng down over her ehin, and the third had a broad thumb. "What is the trouble they siked ths littls girl. The girl told them. The three old women > grinned and wagged their heads. "We will spin that flax for you if you will invite us to your wedding." So in they came, and in just one day they had all that flax spun. The little girl was so happy that her eyes shone like sunbeams, and the (|ueen, who brought the prince to meet the little girl, when she saw all that she had done, was just as pleased. As fi)r the prince, he fell head over heels in love with the girl and wanted to be married right away. Sy at the wedding the girl Invited the three old women as she had prom- ised, for she was not a bit proud and was glad to call them her friends for what they had done for her. The prince scowled when he looked at them. "How did you get such a flat foott" he said to the old woman with the flat foot, "By treading when I spin," she â- aid. To the one with the falling lip he said: "How did you get your Up in such a ttatst" "By licking when I spin," she said. To the third he said: "How did yon get such a broad thumb t" "By twisting the thread," she said. "By twisting the thread." Then said the prince: "Never shall my beautiful wife touch a spinning whesl." So ever aftsrwardi the girl never had to spia! Helps for the Housewife Shoulder of Lamb, Boned and Boasted- iiave a shoulder of lamb boned and rolled, ready for the oven. Set it on the bottom of a roasting pan in a hot oven, reducing the heat when the meat has seared over. Arrange parboiled potatoes and cooked rice around the edge of the roasting pan to a platter, and surround with the rice and pota- toes. THE^CARE AND FEEDING OF CHILDREN. BY ELINOR MURRAY. Registered According to the Copyright Act. Baby is a huugry creature. If he is not, something is wrong. When he wakes up, hia first thought is to eat; in fact, in his early weeks it is the only recreation he has. It is good lor him to be hungry too; but, of course, his feeding times must be regulated so that his appetite will remain good. If a baby is allowed to eat whenever he cries, he will eat until he is sick. So that you may know, when baby refuses food, there is something wrong. He may have been fed too often or to much, or some part of his food is too strong. Therefore, his food must be weakened or the intervals between meals lengthened until he is hungry. If an infant seems too hungry, it is because the food is insufficient or does not contain enough nourishment. It is quite possible for a mother to make the mistake of treating baby for colic when the trouble is hunger. Older children should be hungry when it is time to eat. If they are not, you may be sure there has been a feast of candy of biscuits between meals. While I am the last person on earth to deprive a Child of any pleas- ure or enjoyment, I do think that the careless eating of sweet stuff is re- sponsible for nearly all cases of tndl- Kcstlou and poor development. Chil- dren with very poor appetites should be denied candy and cakes and the like altogether, and eating between meals should be absolutely prohibited. Yet yoii find that these are the very chil- dren who are pampered and spoiled, allowed to eat what and when they please. The excuse is always the same: "Well, you know, she eats so little that I can't bear to refuse her what she fancies!" and nine times out of ten the result of the "fancies" is the deplored poor health, Like the baby, the older child may have a poor appetite because his diet is wrong, .V healthy child has no right to be "fii.ssy" about his eating. He should I'l.t whatever is put before him, pro- vided it is the proper fo d â€" and he is glad of it. If he refuses the food he should eat, let him go hungry until thf next meal. If you weakly substi- tute ;i "sweet" dish, you have satis- fied the hunger pangs for a little while, liiit you have not given his body proper nuorrishmeut and you have proved yourself weak in discipline. Why shoidd we be so anxious to teach our children music, languages, dancing and the like, and neglect to tiach them to apprecate proper food? prone, it yet usually and skilfully tries to keep the reader in sympathy with its vain, generous, sentimental and stdf-doccived hero, whose little weak- nesses and foibles are most of them of ail appealing kind. And when, at the very end, his relations go too far and overstep the limits of his endurance, the revenge John Touchwood arranges to take upon them contains a very com- plete and :ibuudant measure of poetic justice. A Persian Problem. Persia, lying south of the Caspian .sea, a thousand miles wide between the Euphrates and Afghanistan, and six hundred from the Caspian to the Persian Gulf may be the next of the Asiatic countries to attract our inter- est and attention. Aiiproacbing India and with the old threat of the Russian Hear renewed in a more menacing form, the fates of Herat may once more be In peril. The Bolshevik! quite obviously do not want peace or they would permit the world to settle down after Its fearful struggle. The report that General BrusUoff, one of the ablest of the Russian Commonders. has assumed the leadership of the Bolshe- vist forces, may (orshade anything. Russia at present la a Pandora's box, and no one can shut the Ud. The In- tegrity of Persia must be maintained it we are not to have an avalanche of revolution in Asia. Those who talk o( solf-detormlnalon and democracy for the wild tribes and races of the inter- ior know little of their quality. Demo- craey is self-government, but unless In- dividuals are self-controlled, the na- tions they compose can not be. This applies to the west as well as in the east. A WEIRD FRATERNITY. One of the most remarkable of fra- ternities is that of the Misericordia, which is said to have been instituted in 1244 and survives to the present day ill iiiauy cities and towns in Italy. The members, who are recruits from all ranks of siiciety, wear when dii dutv a costume of cheap black material that completely disguises them, the face be- iiiK hiddi'M by a sort of hood with two holes for the eyes. They bury the friendless dead, and also discharge the functions of an ambulance corps, deal- iiiK' with accidents as they occur, and carrying the sick or injured to the hos- Iiitals. The funds needed for the work are derived from membership fees, sup- plcnii-nted by alms for which the mem- Ix'r.s make unite appeals at the doors of churches, holding out a little box to receive them. RUSSIAN WHEAT, The annual production of wheat in the world prior to the war amounted to about 100,000,000 tons, the largest pro.iucers being Russia, with an output of L'L>,oO(l,noo tons, and the United States, which provided noarlv 19,000 - mill tons. SIX DATS TN SEALED CASE. -V heroic experiment in the interests of aviation has just been completed by .â- Vlr. Joseph Barcroft, F.K.S., a Cam- bridge don, who, to settle the question as to whether one could calculate the quantity of oxygen necessary to an air- man at high altitudes, was shut up for six days in a case which was placed in a room in the laboratory of the uni- \ ersity. During his six days in this ease Mr. Barcroft spent his time in work relating to the experiments. ••Whilst in the chamber 1 suffered a little from sleeplessacss, " said Mr. Bar- croft. "At the end my wrist was opened while I was doing a measured amount of work, and blood was extract- ed from the artery. It flowed into a large flask of about ten litres capacity. Oxygen was pumped from it and meas- ured. It was fojind to agree very closely with the calculated amount which would be predicted by a com- pleted knowledge of the breath of the patient. When I came out I thought I was very well, but it took me some (lavs to shake off the effects." BRITISH WAR MEDALS, It was recently stated in the British House of Commons that the total num- ber of war service medals produced up to the end of February is 1,037,000, and at the present rate of progress it will take approximately eighteen months to complete the 14,500,000 war service medals required. AUTHORATIVE ADVICE ON HOW TO KEEP WELL, The advice of the Public Health Service is good, because the things rec- ommended tend to build up the bodily powers: I, Ventilate every room you occupy, ". Wear loose, porous clothing suit- ed to season, weather and occupation. .'!. If an indoor worker, be sure yon get recreation outdoors. 4. Sleep in fresh air always, in the open if you can. 5. Hold a handkerchief before your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, and insist that others do so, for mutual protection. f>. -Always wash your hands before eating. ^ 7. Do not overeat, especially on meat and eggs. 8. Eat some hard and some bulky foods and some fruits. i>. Eat slowly and chew thoroughly. 10. Drink sufficient vmter daily. II. Evacuate thoroughly, regularly. 12. Stand, sit and walk erect. I.T, Allow no poisons and infections til enter the body. 14. Keep the teeth, gums and tongue clean. 15. Work, play, rest and sleep in moderation. 16. Keep serene; worry is the foe of health. Cultivate the companionship of your fellow men. 17. .\voil self-drugging; beware the j'lnusible humbug of the patent medi- cine faker. 18. Have your doctor examine you carefully once a year. Consult your dentist at regular intervals. There are natives in Central -Vfrica who can jump five feet into the air from a standing position without an effort. BARTERING PLACES Back in the centuries the shops or stores you know started in some- thing on the order of puhlic barter- ing places. What has taken their place is the modern store, where you can buy what you like just when you want it. You don't have to buy a year's sup- ply all at once as of old. The store- keeper keeps it for you, and you buy only what you need as you need it. The merchants and the manufac- turer and advertising have brought this useful state of affairs about for your convenience. You don't even nave to go to see everything and every shop to make your cnoice nowadays. * The advertisers relieve you of this trouble, by bringing their goods to you in the advertisements. Before the days of the development of ad- vertising you would have had to visit a dozen or a score of places, weigh and choose, and then not be sure you had made the best selection. Ad- vertising has made it possible to know just what will interest you and be of value to you. lust think what this means: You order now without worry or trouble because advertising tells you all about the things you want to buy before you buy them.- Read the advertisement and think about them with this in mind. They are there to serve you. Bread Crumb Omelet, Try adding bread crumbs to your breakfast omelet. Allow one cupful bread crumbs to four eggs and one cup- ful milk. Crumbs should be soaked in the milk. Turn in your beaten eggs and meat mixture until it is smooth and season with salt and pepper. Bake in shallow dish until set, about as thick as cujitard. Baked Com. One can corn, two eggs, one teaspoon salt, one-eighth teaspoon pepper, one teaspoon melted butter and one pint milk. Beat the eggs, stir all the ingre- dients together, turn into a buttered baking dish and bake until firm in a slow oven. To Remove MUdew, Apply a freshly cut raw tomato sprinkled with salt to the mildewed spots and lay in the sun. Repeat pro- cess several times if necessary. To Save Oas. Use three-cornered kettles, three ol which can be placed over one gas burn- er at the same time. ResoUag Shoes, . Children 's shoes can be resoled by cutting pieces from an old leather hand- bag to fit the soles and fastening them on with a good glue. Longer Lived Stockings. Make the children's stockings last twice as long by attaching the feet of stockings worn out in the leg to the legs of those worn out in the feet. Mothless Cupboards. Moths can be easily kept away by placing somewhere inside the cupboard a piece of llannel dipped in a mixture of equal parts of oil of cedar, oil of cajeput and oil of cloves. CREAM CHEESE SANDWICHES. These are best made with brown bread. For the filling crush half a cream cheese with a piece of butter the size of a cherry, a pinch of salt, and a handful of chopped green mustard or cress. Spread the loaf with the mix- ture and then cut thin sUces. Beef Sandwiches. Put some pieces from a joint of beef, including a fair amount of the fat, into a meat mincer and chop very fine. Take two or three pickled onions and slice as thin as possible. Moisten the meat with a little Worcestershire or other well-flavored sauce, and spread on thick slices of white bread. Add the rounds of onion and close the sandwich with a thin slice of bread and butter. Apple Sandwiches. Spread slices of white bread with margarine or butter. Peel and core a juicy apple. Lay thin slices of the ap- ple on the bread and spread with may- onnaise sauce. Close with a thin piece of brown bread. Garnish with sprigs of celerv. A Floor Polish. \a excellent and inexpensive floor polish is made by melting a trifle less than one pound of beeswax and pour- ing it into a quart of turpentine, add- ing tive cents' worth of ammonia. Put the mixture into a tin pail and set in another vessel containing hot water. Keep on the back of the range to heat and keep warm while using, as it can be applied better! Apply with a flan- nel cloth and polish with a piece of felt or Brussels carpet. When Icing, Dust a little flour over the cake to prevent the icing from running off, before putting on the icing sugar. Centerpiece and Doilies. After purchasing a square of heavy brown linen I cut out and embroidered a twenty-seven-inch round centerpiece, which left the four large corners. Out of these I cut rounds five inches in di- ameter, purchased a ball of cotton for ten cents and crocheted a two-inch bor- der round each piece. I now have four nine-inch doilies for ten cents which 1 could not buy for less than fiftv cents each. SwooUen Window Frames, Oftentimes windows stick when the frames are swollen after damp and rainy weather, A splendid remedy for this is to melt about a tablespoonful of lard and pour between the window frame and casing, also a little on the roller and rope if the window is so c'luippod. It works like magic. A Valuable Memorandum. Several years ago I found in an old book a valuable list of laundry helps. The compiler of this list suggested that tl^e housewife have it typewritten, mounted under glass and hung in the laundry. I followed this suggestion :ind have never regretted that I did so. Oood Lnnclieon Diali. Make some good sized baking pow- der biscuits and gmooth the tops over when they go in the oven. When cool cut out round piece on top of each and take out crumbs, leaving a shell. Then put a little butter inside and fill with two cups of boiled ham, put through meat cutter; add one teaspoon minced onion, one teaspoon mineed paraley, one well beaten egg and milk enough to moisten. Place in oven a few minutes and â- arr* with eream or tonato aaaee, garnished with parsley.