THE TOPEKA DAILY STATE JOURNAL SATURDAY EVENING, JUNE 21, 1913.
COMMON SENS! m the HOME
t, LDITED WMAWON IlARLAND
THE CASE OF THE MINISTER'S WIFE.
FROM on of my constituency comti
to me a letter containing a, request
which I cannot Ignore. The writer
la the wife of a qfcrgyraan and her
communication to me was called
forth by our talk on the page a few weeks
aero concerning unnecessary demands on
our time. She writes:
" Mentally I am shaking: hands with you
alnce reading your remark about inconsid
erate callers. Such experiences as I have
bad!
" I am a minister's wife that feminine
nfortunate whom all women feel free to
criticise and to torture. First, I lived in a
parsonage and any Tom. Dick, or Harry in
the town would knock at the rear door or
ring at the front entrance at any hour on
personal errands with which - I had no
concern.
" Callers finding a door unlocked would
calmly walk In and through the house until
they found my husband or me and before
that time they used keys to unlock my
house doors until I requested that they be
turned over to us. The telephone and door
bell rang day and night, especially if a
church social was on hand, and those who
promised refreshments left cakes. Ice
creams, freezers, etc., at my home to be de
livered at the proper place and time.
" Sunday afternoon, the one day when a
minister needs rest, we were swamped with
callers. When Lucy lost her handkerchief
or Harry his pocketbook I was asked to
go to the church and hunt for them.
" Now, in another locality, my husband
has strict office hours and I do" not see any
one outside of regular calling hours, sel
dom go to meeting, except to the lightly
attended ones, and do no church work
whatever. My husband has requested that
the telephone be used only for necessary
business and never outside of office hours
unless In case of sickness or death or a
similar emergency. My home is quiet and
restful for my family as a result and the
head of the house does far more and bet
ter church work and ' is quite a success,
where beore he was a wornout, nervous
man and I a breathless, weary housewife.
"' I wish you would write something for
the Corner as to what Is and what is not
courtesy toward a minister's wife. The
average woman seems sadly lacking In
knowledge on the subject and any minis
ter's wife to whom I have talked has had
even worse experiences than mine. If
this letter will save another woman the
torture I have endured I shall count it
a rich reward. A Parson's Wife."
Picture Not Overdrawn.
When I read such a letter as that and
recollect my own experiences as the wife
of a minister I feel I must have been an
exceptionally fortunate woman. Occa
sional trifling annoyances there were, but
they were merely pin pricks and could cer
tainly not be dignified by the name of " tor
ture." No such trials as the writer's ever
came my way.
Nevertheless I hava seen and heard
enough of the afflictions of other ministers'
IMPORTANT NOTICE
"nECAUSE of the enormous number of
Utters sent to the department 1 must ash,
contrlbalart to limit their communications to
100 words; except in eases of formulas or
recipes which require greater space, t want
all mu correspondents to hats a showing in
the Corner, and if my request In this respect
is complied with it will he possible to print
many snore letters. ,
Attention is catted to the fact that Marion
Harlan J cannot receite money for patterns,
as shs has no connection with any department
that sells them. '- Marion Harland.
.rp1
tHIS Is a fine bread recipe, tested
for years by the writer: Put a
half cake of yeast into a half cup
of warm water with three table
spoons of sugar. Do this in the
morning. Boll three or four potatoes, mash
them, and let them cool In the water In
which they were boiled. When cool, add
yeast and sugar and water, and put this
to raise. I set my yeast toraise in the tire
less cooker, and it keeps warm until bed
time, and I use a hot brick or flat iron In
the cooker to help In cool weather. By
evening It is In fine condition. Two and a
half quarts of the liquid will make about
four loaves. I put together a small half
cup of shortening and two tablespoons of
salt and add this to the liquid, and then
stir in enough flour to make a good dough.
Let it raise over night and you will have
bread fit for a king. R. M. T.
I give this recipe because the writer
claims so much for It; but she makes no
mention of kneading or working It, and for
that reason I do not think as highly of it
as I do of the following, which came to
me by the same mail: -
" I have a fine bread recipe, which I think
many would find useful: Dissolve one cake
yeast In two cups lukewarm water and
put with It enough flour to make a thin
batter. Set in a moderately warm place
over night. In the morning put with the
mixture a quart and a half of flour, two
cups scalded milk, a tablespoon and a
half of butter and the same of lard, two
tablespoons sugar and one of salt Knead
thoroughly and set In a warm place until
double its first size, then make into loaves
and place in pans to raise again. This
makes four loaves and a pan of light rolls.
"Mrs. T. S."
A while ago some one wrote asking for
a recipe for breadmaking, and said she
wanted something fitted to guide a fool! I
knew Just what she meant, for to the in
axperienced breadmaker the process is full
f pitfalls and possibilities of mistakes.
wives to be able to believe that her pic
ture Is not overdrawn. These memories
Join with her appeal to talk today about
the attitude of the members of a congre
gation toward the wife of their pastor.
I know by my own past and by observa
tions I have made that in every household
of faith there are dear friends and helpers
for the wife of the clergyman. I know
also that in the hearts of many members
of the parish there is a conviction, acknowl
edged or Ignored, but firm In either case,
that the entire congregation has a sort of
proprietary right in the minister and his
wife, is free to advise and to criticise and
to take liberties that any one of the advisers
and critics would hotly resent If bestowed
upon herself. r
I know also that In many churches there
seems to exist an Impression that when
the clergyman was engaged his wife was
considered as part of the bargain; that her
pastoral duties, so far as church work,
calls, money raising efforts, missionary
and charitable societies go, are not second
to his, and that she Is expected to attend
service every time the bell rings.
In this connection I recall clearly a re
mark I heard made by a clergyman who
was delivering the charge to the people at
the Installation of a minister. " Remem
ber," he said, "that your pastor Is a man
as well as a minister! " I would alter his
remark to read in this case: "Remember
that your pastor's wife is a woman :.s Well
as a parsoness!
Sometimes I wonder Just where began the
Impression of the congregation that It had
a share in the clergyman's wife. In Mrs.
Stowe's tales of old New England we read
of the reverence and respect in which tha
minister was held, and these feelings ex
tended to his wife. In those days there was
no talk of her being the servant of the
people. Tet my memory, which goes back
many years, recalls no period when It was
not felt in the majority of churches and
by the majority of parishioners that the
minister's wife had a distinct duty toward
her husband's charge, and she was severely
blamed if she failed to fulfill this. Even
today it exists In some churches.
She Attended the Funerals.
" I'm worn to a wrecR attending tha
funerals of the flock," a minister's wife
lamented to me not long ago. " There hava
been eight or ten deaths In the parish with
in the last six weeks, and It has told upon
me terribly."
" But, my dear child, why do you goT
I cried.
" O, It wouldn't do If I didn't! I always
call at the house of mourning at least ones
before the funeral, and then go to that,
too. It's very wearing! "
After hearing that I was not astonished to
learn a week later that the victim had
broken down with nervous prostration and
had been sent to a sanitarium!
Although it happened years ago, there
still remains in my mind a call I received
one cruelly rainy day from the wife of a
MARION
The second recipe I have given with its
exact measurements, and its instruction to
let the bread raise to twice its original bulk
can be followed even by the green hand at
breadmaking with a likelihood of good re
sults. I wish all who send in recipes would
not take for granted too much knowledge
on the part of the reader, but would make
every detail clear, for the sake of the pos
sible Ignoramuses.
Way to Hang Lace Curtains. .
" Will you please tell me the correct
way to hang lace curtains? I am an Eng
lishwoman and a young housekeeper, and I
come to you for help. I notice most people
have the curtains only the length of the
windows. I have some fine Irish point and
other expensive curtains, and it seems such
a pity to cut these curtains, as they are
three and a half yards long.
" Mrs. E. F. S."
Indeed it would be a pity, and more than
a pity, to cut such curtains as those. A
few years ago when in Dublin I bought
Irish lace curtains for myself, and no mat
ter what the passing fashion nothing would
lrduce me to cut those draperies. I know
It Is the fashion to have curtains the length
of the window, but it is also good style to
have them fall to the floor, and you need
not feel yourself out of the mode if you
follow the latter method; or you may make
your curtains approximately window
length by your way of hanging them.
Throw them over the pole Instead of pin
ning them and suspending them from rings,
and drape the superfluous amount as a
sort of flounce or valance at the top of the
curtain. I have done this myself with
great success at a window where I did not
wish to have the curtains fall the full
length. Do not tie back your curtains, but
let them hang straight.
Directions for Washing Comforts.
" Some one asked for directions for wash
ing comforts, and I was so successful with
some last spring I am glad to send this:
" First, lay the comfort out flat and
draw into shape, making all smooth. Note
whether any of the ties are loosened or
not, and If so retle, and tie more in the
center of each square, as no cotton will
remain In place properly unless the tufts
are well and securely fastened.
" Then place the comfort In a tub of
lukewarm water In which has been dis
solved a small handful of borax. Press
down and keep under water for one hou..
In the meantime scrape and dissolve thor
oughly one-half cake good white soap in a
gallon of hot water and add to the tub.
pressing down the comfort so that the
soap Is well mixed in the water. Let it
soak another hour. Work with the hands
by pressing down for a few minutes, then
take a small scrubbing brush, using mora
minister. It was before the days of street
cars, and she had walked through the
downpour to ask me if my husband knew
anything of the whereabouts of a certain
colored laundress who attended her hus
band's church and who had been reported
as in want. My caller's husband was in
bed with a cold and it was incumbent upon
her to look up the needy parishioner.
The haggard, worn face, the utter weari
ness of her whole drooping body touched
me to the heart. When I learned a few
weeks later of her complete breakdown,
persistent insomnia, and then of her
HARLAND'S HELPING HAND.
soap, and scrub the soiled places, but do
not rub on the washboard.
" Rinse by using plenty of water, at leitst
twice, and hang on line from one end, em
ploying a good number of pins. As soon as
It begins to dry at top change and hanij
from the other end, or if you have clean
grass to spread it upon place it with tho
wrong side to the sun and shake lightly
occasionally until it has partly dried, when
It can be hung on a line.
FAMILY
SUNDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Bananas and cream puffed rice feat them
together).
Bacon.
Popovers.
Toast.
Coffee.
LUNCHEON.
Beef loaf.
Yorkshire tea cakes.
Hashed potatoes, browned
Endive salad.
Crackers.
Jam.
Iced tea.
DINNER.
Cram of lettuce soup
Roast shoulder of veal.
Baked fresh tomatoes.
Potatoes browned In pan
Strawberry Ice cream.
Cake.
MO.XDAT.
BREAKFAST.
Oranges
Cereal and cream.
Dried beef with egg.
Rolls.
Toast.
Coffw.
Ll'XCHEC.
Mince from beef loaf heated, with remainders
of baked tomatoes.
Lyoanaise potatoes (a leftover).
Cake.
Iced tea.
DINNER.
Cream of carrot soup,
luutton chops en casserole, with green peas
and Parisian potatoes.
Baked macaroni and cheese.
Fresh raspberries and cream. '
Coffee.
TUESDAY,
BREAKFAST.
Stewed rhubarb.
Maple flake ajid cream
Bacon.
death, I felt she had been made a mar
tyr to her husband's charge. I never heard
that they were moved by remorse to mother
the six little children she left behind!
One plucky parson whom I knew an
nounced boldly when he accepted a call
he wished it to be clearly -understood tha
"Eycryont zrfpee to epiticire the. JTmirltT'sr wife:
congregation was engaging him and not
his wife. She was in sympathy with his
aims and was a devoted church worker,
but he insisted she take only the part
which any earnest Christian woman would
feel she could perform without neglecting
her duties to her home, her children, or
" Let me add that the Corner appeals to
me because there are so many genuine
helps and there is such a neighborly spirit
throughout the whole. J. M. S."
Thank you for the directions, which
differ somewhat from those already sup
plied by other housekeepers, and thus go
to confirm what I have always declared,
that there Is more than one right way cf
doing a thing well. I am happy to know,
too, you have found the Corner of help
MEALS FOR
Poached eggs.
Toast.
Quick biscuit.
Coffee.
"LUNCHEON.
Sary stew from remainder of mutton chops
Baked potatoes.
Toasted biscuit left over from breakfast
Cream cheese.
Strawberry Jam.
Ginger snaps
Tea.
DINNER.
Clear tomato soup.
Veal curry (a leftover).
Iced bananas.
Boiled rice.
String beans.
Strawberry shortcake
Coffee.
WEDNESDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Oranges.
Cereal and cream.
Creamed eggs.
Corn muffins.
Coffee.
LUNCHEON.
Cold veal, sliced (a leftover from Sunday)
Fresh tomatoes sliced.
Rice muffins (a leftover)
Stewed prunes.
Cake.
DINNER.
Brown potato soup .
Broiled steak.
French fried potatoes.
Young beets.
Queen of puddings.
Coffee.
THURSDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Oranges
Hominy and cream.
Bacon omelet.
Whole wheat biscuit
Toatt.
Coffee.
LUNCHEON.
Hash of bee-f and potatoes fa leftover).
Toasted biscuit (a leftover).
herself. She was not to be president of
the missionary society or of tha benevo
lent organization or of the church guild
or to run the infant class.
This Is an excellent position to take but
not easy to retain unless the church people
are In sympathy with It. When they are
not backward to say the minister's wife
should be " a true helpmate " and to point
out how much more efficient are the wives
of other clergymen who undertake to man
age all the beneficent sgencles of the par
ish it Is only natural for a wife who has
her husband's Interests at heart and Is
and that you feel the neighborly spirit
as much as the rest of us do. Let us hear
from you again.
A Danish Cook Book-
" I would like to Inquire If there is any
way In which I could obtain a Danish
cook book, or If I could get some good
recipes for sweet soup, ablesklver, and
kliner. I would like a book if I could get
A WEEK
Beet sa'.ad with lettuce (a leftover).
Hot gingerbread.
Iced tea.
DINNER.
Vegetable soup.
SiUfTed calves' hearts.
New peas.
New potatoes
Asparagus.
Strawbsrry Ice.
Coffes.
FRIDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Orange.
Cereal and cream.
Creamed codfish.
Rolls.
Toast.
Coffes.
LUNCHEON.
Warmed over Brunswick stew.
Popovers.
Btrawbery float.
Tea.
DINNER.
Lamb soup (foundation from Brunswick stew).
Salmon steaks.
Bleed potatoes.
Asparagus.
Bread and raisin pudding
Coffee.
SATURDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Oranges
Cereal and cream.
Shirred ggs.
Quick Sally Lunn.
Coffee.
LUNCHEON.
Creamed salmon In nappies leftover.
Cheese toast, baked.
Asparagus salad (a leftover).
Cookies.
Tea.
DINNER.
Barley broth.
Veal cutlet with tomato sauce.
Potato puff (a leftover).
Lima beana.
Syllabub.
Caka.
Coffee.
eager for him to make tne best of his
charge to throw herself into the work and ,
attempt d'utles she has no business to as
sume. I met such an one In a little country town
last spring. The rector was underpaid
and overworked. There was a cluster of
small children in the rectory live under 12
years of age and the salary did not war
rant keeping a servant. Yet the rector's
wife drilled the choir and sang In it, pre
sided over the different church societies, at
tended all the services, made pastoral calls
In the parish, and1 In every way served as
one and would gladly buy it If I knew the
price and where to get It. Mrs. A. L. 3."
Unfortunately I cannot give you the In
formation you wish, but there Is no doubt
that some of. the Danish housekeepers
who read the Corner will be able to help
you out or that some one will know where
you can get the book you wish. The names
of the dishes you ask for I have printed
Just as you send them, and I take no au
thority for their correctness. Your name
and address will go on file, and I hope
before long there will be a call for th-m
from some one who can supply either the
recipes or the book.
Need Room Furnishings.
" Can any of you who have more house
hold goods than you need do something
to help a family who have recently moved
here from Scotland? The husband has
suffered terribly from rheumatism through
the winter and is unable to work. They
have a room they could let If It were fur- soap and water If you follow the directions
nished. and this would help to lighten their I have given.
terrible burden. They need a rug, dresser. Should any of my readers have trust
mattress for a three-quarter bed, pillows, worthy Instructions for washing a chamois
bedclothes, and towels. I would not ask vest I would be giad to receive and print
this for myself, but I know the need of them.
this household. The initials of the man
whose family are in want of these things
are R. C, and his home Is in Chicago."
The last time I moved I regretted bltter-
!y that I knew of no one to whom some of
my surplus household good could have been
of service. In my new home there was no
place for a number of excellent pieces, a
little worn, but still well worth keeping,
although they would have brought no !)-
lng If I had tried to sell them. It may be
that among the readers of the Corner the-e
are some who are in a like position or
who are the possessors of attics and lum-
ber rooms they would like to clear of
superfluous objects. In this hope I print
the above letter, thinking that thus some,
at least, of the wants of this destitute
Scotch family may be supplied. I hold
their full address and will give it on appli
cation. Difficult to Clean.
" Will you please Inform me how to clean
a chamois under vest? I know It cannot be
boiled or washed like other clothes. Also
Will you please tell me how to clean white the readers of the Corner can tell me where
ribbon? I have a beautiful one, but It Is I can get a recitation called Caleb's Court
soiled now and when I have washed other ship ? It begins something like this: X
white ribbons it has made them turn yellow had no time for courtin' when I was young
and flimsy. C. W." and spry- I saw It once In a magazine and
A chamois vest Is rather difficult to clean, nT reader will furnish me with a copy
because of the risk of Its being spoiled In I will gladly pay postage on it. D. D. C."
the drying. Make a suds of warm water To you I make the same response I did to
and a good soap, putting a little ammonia the writer of the preceding letter. Your
with it; rub the chamois vest clean in this, application may meet the eye of some one
as you would a chamois glove, and rinse in who can grant your wish, and in the hop
water of the same temperature. Unless you of this I have your address on die.
the clergyman's stated assistant or parisli
worker would hava done If h had re
ceived a salary for her efforts. And the
women of the congregation calmly per
mitted her to do It! Never did It seem to
occur to them that they should throw them
selves into the breach and lift some of the
burden from her overweighted shoulders.
She was the rector's wife and this wr.s
part of her Job !
Sure to Be Criticised.
Even when fewer duties lr t.. lir.e ot
church work are laid upon the minister's
wife, even when she is not found fault with
and Judged harshly when she does not call
regularly upon all the members of the
flock, even when she is not accused of hav
ing her own favorites among the church
people and showing mora attention to
them than she does to others, criticism
awaits ker m other lines.
Shall I be making too sweeping a state
ment If I say that nearly every woman in
the congregation feels she has the right
to pick flaws in the housekeeping of the
minister's wife, to demur at the manner In
which she trains her children and man
ages her servants to say nothing of the
way she treats her husband?
Think, of It carefully; be honest with
yourself. Don't you hold the notion that
you hava a liberty in the parsonage or the
rectory or the manse which you would not
claim In the house of any one else whom
you know no more Intimately than you do
your minister's wife? Don't you consider
that you understand her duties and should
suggest to her changes In her manner or
her conduct as you never would to the or
dinary friend or acquaintance? Don't you
say sometimes that someone ought to speak
to the pastor's wife about her neglect to
call on this one or that, or upon the fact
that her front steps are not so clean as they
should be or that her children whisper to
gether in church or are late at Sunday
school?
If you are guiltless of any of these Incli
nations the minister's wife In your church
Is lucky to have you as a member of her
husband's congregation
I am glad to think that more and more
the parishes that can afford It are supply
ing their clergymen with helpers author-
lzea aias in tnis worn. v e noi oniy nave
the assistant minister or the curate; we
have also the parish visitors, both men
an women; the home missionaries, the
deaosnesses, and others of the same type.
The time has either gone by or Is going
when all the labor the parson could not dis
charge was allotted his wife as a matter
of counra
Tet even now she has not won rer full
right to her own individuality, to the pri
vacy of her home, to the same status as
the ordinary lay woman. Lei me echo my
correspondent and say that If this talk
will result in sparing another woman what
some ministers' wives have endured I shall
count It a rich reward.
have a frame to dry it on, as you would a
sweater In like circumstances, you mu-t
watch it carefully and pull It into shape as it
dries. If you don't take great pains you
will get It out of shape hopelessly. For
this reason I think you would be wiser to
put It Into the hands of the professional
cleanser.
The white ribbon Is another matter. Wash
that, also. In suds made of warm water
and a good white soap, rinse It In water of
the same heat, to which you have added a
trifle of bluing, hang It to dry, and while It
still Is damp press It between two thick
smooth cloths. If you do the work properly
there Is no reason why It should not come
out looking all right. If you prefer, wash
It in gasoline, keeping this away from the
fire or a light. Dip up and down In the
gasoline, rubbing soiled spots between j our
Angers and pouring the gasoline oft and
exchanging It for fresh when the first Is
soiled. But I think you can do as well with
Dog for Protection.
"My husband Is away from home much
of the time, I have five small children, and
we live In the suburbs and I am constantly
afraid of the house being broken into by
some lawless men in the town. Do you
suppose that any of your readers could
help me In securing a collie or a IS'ewfound-
land dog? I will be so glad to get one for
the protection of my children and myself. I
am not able to pay either express or freight,
but I would be grateful to receive one
" Mrs. U. m."
The home of the correspondent Is In Mis
sissippi, so that any one who could give the
dog probably would have to pay a good
sized sum for Its transportation unless It
was sent from nearby. I hold the address
and will be glad to send It to any one who
wishes to supply her request
"Caleb'j Courtship."
Will you kindly inform me If any one of