Pockets

POCKETS

(By Susan Adger Williams in Good Housekeeping)

A child should have a pocket —
Supposing on the road
He runs across a beetle,
Or a lizard, or a toad?
However will he carry them?
Whatever will he do
If he hasn’t got a pocket
To put them into?

A child should have a pocket
On which he fairly dotes!
Not one or two, but many
In his little waistcoats —
And one will be for money
He finds on the roads,
And one for cakes and cookies —
And one for hoptoads!

Fitchburg Sentinel (FItchburg, Massachusetts) Aug 20, 1932

Why Women Go West

The Clothes are Loose and Comfy —

The Saddles are Nice and Roomy —

And the Hats are Big and Shady!

Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg, Massachusetts) Jul 2, 1932

Gingerbread Ice Cream

Iamge from Cherry Tea Cakes

GINGERBREAD ICE CREAM

1 pint cream.
1/2 pint milk.
1/4 cupful stale gingerbread crumbs.
2 eggs.
4 tablespoonfuls confectioner’s sugar.
1 teaspoonful gelatin dissolved in hot water.
1/2 teaspoonful ginger, ground.

Scald the milk. Beat sugar and eggs together, then pour the milk over them. Pour the mixture into a double boiler, add the dissolved gelatin, then add the cream. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens. Remove from fire and when cool, stir in the gingerbread crumbs and ground ginger. Put in a mold, pack in ice and salt and freeze for half an hour. Serve with preserved ginger.

Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg, Massachusetts) Jun 20, 1934

Darrow the Cynic

Image from REA

DARROW THE CYNIC

In many ways Donald R. Richberg and General Johnson came off the victors in their public quarrel with Clarence Darrow. The defenders of NRA proved easily and conclusively the gross inconsistencies of Mr. Darrow’s reasoning, but they did not thereby validate the National Recovery Act and other measures of the Roosevelt recovery program. By exposing the addled thinking of Mr. Darrow, they have gained nothing in constructive defense of the follies of the NRA and its underlying philosophy.

It seems to be fate that the cause of opposition to administration policies falls into the hands of the Wirts and Darrows. They snatch the spotlight and the big headlines, while the calm, well-reasoned criticism of Ogden L. Mills is shunted into the background.

Mr. Darrow’s social philosophy has been shaped by his past experiences as an advocate for the accused, the oppressed, the unfortunate. He has become the champion of the underdog.

In a battle between society and a coupled of murderers, Mr. Darrow indicts society and excuses the criminals. A man of this type of mind would be expected to have a low opinion of the possibilities of human nature.

You might expect him to say, as he did say, “All competition is savage, wolfish and relentless and can be nothing else. One may as well dream of making war lady-like as of making competition fair.”

Mr. Darrow overlooks the fact that all advancement in social justice has consisted in applying workable rules for the enforcement of fair play — not perfect rules, by any means, but workable rules. They are ever being amended in an effort to reach a greater degree of fairness. As wolfish instincts become refined and sublimated better rules are accepted. We still have a long way to go, but we have certainly made a lot of progress in the last three centuries.

The most amazing thing about the Darrow report is that, while he is a professed cynic regarding human nature as applied to rules regulating fair competition, he advocates socialism, or socialized control of industry, which is based on the highest faith in mankind.

Mr. Darrow lacks the faith that business can ever be made to compete on a fair basis; yet he is willing to repose faith in a bureaucratic control over the lives of 120,000,000 persons.

Socialized industry means nothing less than the control of industry in the hands of a few tyrants. If takes a prodigious amount of faith in human nature to approve such a system.

Socialism, or socialized control of industry, to be successful, must presuppose: (1) That the leaders who battle their way to the top (through ruthless competition for leadership) will be not only superman, but also spotless, selfless characters; and (2) that the great mass of individuals will not be spoiled by the multiplicity of government props and aids that will surround them.

A people whose life is ordered for them by a small group of alleged supermen cannot retain the moral fibre of a people who are left to use their own initiative and invention.

A realist would concede that human nature is capable of great things, but in order to bring out the most and the best in him the individual must be left as far as possible a free agent, unhampered by manifold interferences from a paternalistic government. Political freedom means freedom for the individual to develop.

The question the country must settle is, how far, under our modern industrial set-up, must we go in ?? ???? down regulatory laws in order to protect individual liberty? What is the bare minimum of regulation consistent with modern conditions?

We believe that the National Recovery act, the Securities act, the Stock Exchange regulations bill and the other measures go far beyond the necessary minimum of regulation.

President Roosevelt and his advisers think that NRA and present legislation does not go far enough. There the ????  ?? ????ed, and it should be fought out along these lines.

Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg, Massachusetts) May 22, 1934

To a Shred of Linen

Image from flickr-jennamay

The following article, from the Cincinnati Chronicle, bears upon it the impress of inspiration. It shows how easily the pencil of genius can hallow the most trilling subject. The pen of no ordinary mind could have imparted the playful dignity to a linen rag, which Mrs. Sigourney has thrown around it. There will be few objections to literary ladies, if their “shreds of linen” always receive so beautiful an apotheosis.

TO A SHRED OF LINEN.

Would they swept cleaner!—
Here’s a littering shred
Of linen left behind, —a vile reproach
To all good housewifery. Right glad am I,
That no neat lady, train’d in ancient times
Of pudding making, and of sampler work,
And speckless sanctity of household care,
Hath happened here  to spy thee. She, no doubt,
When looking through her spectacles, would say,
“This comes of reading books:”—or some spruce beau
Essenced and lily-handed, had he chanced
To scan thy slight superfices, ‘twould be
“This comes of writing poetry.”—Well—well—
Come forth—offender!—hast thou aught to say?
Canst thou by merry thought, or quaint conceit,
Repay this risk, that I have run for thee?
——Begin at alpha, and resolve thyself
Into thine elements. I see the stalk
And bright, blue flower of flax, which erst o’erspread
That fertile land, where mighty Moses stretched
His rod miraculous. I see thy bloom
Tinging, though scantly, these New England vales.
But, lo! the sturdy farmer lifts his flail,
To crush thy bones unpitying, and his wife
With ‘kerchief’d head, and eyes brimful of dust,
Thy fibrous nerves, with hatchel tooth divides.

——I hear a voice of music—and behold!
The ruddy damsel singeth at her wheel,
While by her side the rustic lover sits.
Perchance, his shrewd eye secretly doth count
The mass of skeins, which, hanging on the wall,
Increaseth day by day. Perchance his thought,
For men have deeper minds than women—sure!
Is calculating what a thrifty wife
The maid will make; and how his dairy shelves
Shall groan beneath the weight of golden cheese,
Made by her dexterous hand — while many a keg
And pot of butter, to the market borne,
May, transmigrated, on his back appear,
In new thanksgiving coats.

Fain would I ask,
Mine own New England, for thy once loved wheel,
By sofa and piano quite displaced —
Why dost thou banish from thy parlor-hearth
That old Hygean harp, whose magic ruled
Dyspepsia, as the minstrel-shepherd’s skill
Exorcised Saul’s ennui? There was no need,
In those good times, of callisthenics,
And there was less of gadding, — and far more
Of home-born, heartfelt comfort, rooted strong
In industry, and bearing such rare fruit,
As wealth might never purchase.

But come back,
Thou shred of linen. I did let thee drop,
In my harangue, as wiser ones have lost
The thread of their discourse. What was thy lot
When the rough battery of the loom had stretch’d
And knit thy sinews, and the chemist sun
Thy brown complexion bleach’d.

Image from Vagabond Language

Methinks I scan
Some idiosyncrasy, that marks thee out
A defunct pillow-case.—Did the trim guest,
To the best chamber usher’d, e’er admire
The snowy whiteness of thy freshen’d youth
Feeding thy vanity? or some sweet babe
Pour its pure dream of innocence on thee?
Say, hast thou listen’d to the sick one’s moan,
When there was none to comfort?—or shrunk back
From the dire tossings of the proud man’s brow?
Or gather’d from young beauty’s restless sigh
A tale of untold love?

Still, close and mute!—
Wilt tell no secrets, ha! Well then, go down,
With all thy churl-kept hoard of curious lore,
In majesty and mystery, go down
Into the paper-mill, and from its jaws,
Stainless and smooth, emerge. Happy shall be
The renovation, if on thy fair page
Wisdom and truth, their hallowed lineaments
Trace for posterity.  So shall thine end
Be better than thy birth, and worthier bard
Thine apotheosis immortalize.

Alton Observer (Alton, Illinois) Jul 6, 1837

Image from Cynthia’s Linen Room

From History of American Women:

Lydia Sigourney (1791–1865) was a popular poet, essayist and travel writer during the early and mid 19th century. Most of her works were published with just her married name Mrs. Sigourney. Her poetry, like her prose, was about public subjects – history, slavery, missionary work and current events – or treated personal matters, especially loss and death, as experiences common to all. In contrast to Emily Dickinson or Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sigourney wrote for popular consumption, and was among the first American women to establish a successful writing career.

Read more at the  link.

Fast and Furious is Contemptible

Abilene Morning Reporter-News – May 20, 1928

Abilene Morning Reporter-News – Jan 17, 1937

Adams County News – May 8, 1909

Adams County News – Feb 11, 1910

Sandusky Star Journal – Apr 23, 1921

Daily Review – Dec 29, 1956

Bennington Banner – Feb 19, 1975

The Valley Independent – 1977

Amarillo Globe-Times – May 15, 1959

Albuquerque Morning Journal – Jan 15, 1911

Algona Kossuth County Advance – Oct 16, 1958

The Newark Advocate – Dec 22, 1936

Eau Claire Leader – Apr 2, 1922

Daily Review – Feb 20, 1951

The Odessa American – Nov 6, 1971

Hamilton Daily News – Mar 4, 1927

Albuquerque Morning Journal – Jan 15, 1911

Ironwood Daily Globe – Feb 27, 1955

The Independent – Jan 16, 1961

Abilene Morning News – Mar 25, 1933

The Independent – Jan 16, 1961

Adams County News – May 8, 1909

Bucks County Courier Times – Aug 2, 1974

Nevada State Journal – Jan 31, 1973

The Argument of Tyrants

Lima News (Lima, Ohio) Apr 19, 1956

A Daily Thought

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves! — William Pitt

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Jun 30, 1928

“How Liberty is Lost”

Insofar as the present dictatorships in Europe are concerned, Mr. Lippmann demonstrates satisfactorily that they have been caused by the knuckling in of people who surrendered to tyrants because of their fear, fear concerning their individual futures, fear about their jobs, fear of their truculent neighbors, always fear, fear, fear.

That sort of a condition cannot arise in a country that keeps its mind upon a fair distribution of wealth. Such a distribution does not mean, and can never mean, the ladling of money out of the public coffers to the undeserving. It does mean a wide distribution of jobs and of opportunities and a careful husbanding of the savings or accumulations of those who are smart enough to keep an eye out for the future.
…..

The American citizen of today who is blinded by constant sobbing references to his condition, to the “goodness” of the present administration, needs cast his attention upon the methods employed which have resulted in continued and widespread fear, the fear that grows on the tree of insecurity.

And there is no greater insecurity than to depend for one’s life upon the nod of an ambitious man looking for more power.

Appleton Post Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin) Jul 20, 1938

Sen. Goldwater may be a super, right-wing Republican, but that has not kept him from some fundamental points in what follows:

To understand the importance of the federal Constitution, we must recognize that it is primarily a system of restraints against the natural tendency of government to expand in the direction of absolutism.

We all know the main components of the system. The first is the limitation of the federal government’s authority to specific, delegated powers. The second, a corollary of the first, is the reservation to the states and the people of all power not delegated to the federal government. The third is a careful division of the federal government’s power among three separate branches. The fourth is a prohibition against impetuous, alteration of the system — namely, Article V’s tortuous but wise, amendment procedures.

Was it then a democracy the framers created? Hardly. The system of restraints on the face of it, was directed not only against individual tyrants, but also against a tyranny of the masses. The framers were well aware of the danger posed by self-seeking demagogues — that they might persuade a majority of the people to confer on government vast powers in return for deceptive promises of economic gain.

And so they forbade such a transfer of power — first by declaring, in effect, that certain activities are outside the natural and legitimate scope of the public authority, and secondly by dispersing public authority among several levels and branches of government in the hope that each seat of authority, jealous of its own prerogatives, would have a natural incentive to resist aggression by the others.

But the framers were not visionaries. They knew that rules of government, however brilliantly calculated to cope with the imperfect nature of man, however carefully designed to avoid the pitfalls of power, would be no match for men who were determined to disregard them.

In the last analysis of their system of government would prosper only if the governed were sufficiently determined that it should.

“What have you given us?” a woman asked Ben Franklin toward the close of the Constitutional Convention.

“A republic,” he said, “if you can keep it!”

We have not kept it. The system of restraints has fallen into disrepair. The federal government has moved into every field in which it believes its services are needed.

The state governments are either excluded from their rightful functions by federal pre-emption, or they are allowed to act at the sufferance of the federal government. Inside the federal government both the executive and judicial branches have roamed far outside their constitutional boundary lines.

…..

The Constitution is not an antique document. It is as pertinent today as it was when it was written. Our great error has been in departing from the Constitution as a document to restrain the concentration of power.

How do you stand, sir?

Daily Chronicle (Centralia, Washington) May 9, 1960

Delaware County Daily Times (Pennsylvania) Feb 22, 1966

Orange Compote

Image from The French Pastry Chef

ORANGE COMPOTE.

Take oranges of medium size,
The peel remove I pray;
From each a round cut from one end
And scoop the seeds away.

Fill up the little cups thus formed
With strawberry-preserve —
That flavor mixed with orange-juice
Is more than most deserve.

Then top each orange with whipped cream,
A cap all soft and white,
Made up of puffs, while for rosettes
The strawberries gleam bright.

On separate plates the fruit then serve
With lady-fingers slim
And I’ve no doubt a king would say,
The dish was fit for him!

— Woman’s Home Companion.

The Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) Jun 19, 1911

Swat the Agitator

Country Is In Need of Rest From Agitators

By GEORGE B. HUGO, President of the Employers’ Association of Massachusetts

OUR  COUNTRY UNDOUBTEDLY NEEDS A REST FROM PROFESSIONAL MISCHIEF MAKING AGITATORS AND UNIVERSAL FIXERS OF EVERYTHING — MORAL, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC. IT DOES NOT  NEED A REST, THOUGH, FROM THOSE HONEST AGITATORS WHO VIGOROUSLY ATTACK EXISTING ABUSES AND ADVOCATE DESIRABLE REFORMS.

The pure food agitation, for instance, deserves every encouragement. The “swat the fly” movement is also productive of general good. But because it is it DOES NOT FOLLOW THAT WE SHOULD SWAT EVERYTHING THAT FLIES, CRAWLS OR WALKS. We see, though, to have entered into a NATIONAL SWATTING CONTEST, evident in may diverging lines of endeavor. Some of these, while not productive of good, are NOT DANGEROUS TO THE PUBLIC AT LARGE.

But this cannot be said of that type of agitators, inciters of class hatred, advocates of lawlessness and violence, who frankly declare, “The question of right or wrong does not concern us.” They attack by this teaching the very fundamentals of morality and are therefore a positive MENACE TO THE COUNTRY.

Wichita Daily Times (Wichita Falls, Texas) Aug 6, 1912

Image from American Gallery – Robert Koehler

The Socialist Menace

The socialist is usually the worst menace to the country in which he resides when it is at war. The real socialists — the ones with brains enough to understand their own propaganda — are opposed to violence, but attached to them is always a group of extremists who are in favor of anything that savors of mischief and even bloodshed.

Laredo Times (Laredo, Texas) May 13, 1917

Surely, We Must Be Dreaming

Tucson Daily Citizen (Tucson, Arizona) Jul 9, 1957

It’s more of a nightmare, really.