The Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser

II. THE MOTHER. It was in one of those tearful little villages on the Somme, where scarce one trick stands upon another, but where still, ly some strange freak, the gardens bloom. Always there are roses, such a profusion of roses. It was, then, in such a village as this that we met the old French woman. We :;ad come in from the line. and the out- going battalion had told us that there was ne civilian left-an old woman. We saw :er soon enough. She came round the cook-houses, humble, self-effacing, implor- ing, but oh, with an air' She asked but a few crusts of bread when we should have rnished our meal. We filled her a mess- tin with gippo," and she thanked us wonderfully, courtseying and smiling as though she were some grande dame receiv- ing a favour at the hands of a king. Two days later I saw her at home. She L\ ed in the cellars of a little house, of which there was nothing but the cellars left. She recognised me, and gave me a pretty welcome. Would I not like to see her garden ? I went in-that. is to say, ii you can call it going in when one steps over a single wire six inches from the ground. It must have been a beautiful garden once. No.v, like that of Goldsmith's schoolmaster, it was running wild in a profusion of weeds and flowers. One thing- caught my eye. Near the house, in a plot kept free from weeds, were two rose-bushes bearing beautiful blooms—one red, one white. I think she must have noticed me looking at them. Ah," she said, m'sieu admires the }(Jes ? But they are sweet. They are the roses of my two sons-Alphonse' the red and Pierre the white. Good boys they were, m'sien, and dutiful sons. Each week 1 hey sent their uld mother monev from Paris. And then came this terrible war. I have not heard of them, m'sieu. since A erdun. I know not whether they live or are deid but always I hope, and always I tend lovingly their rose trees. If thev live, then the flowers shall be abloom when they come back to me. If thev are dead well, it is for France; and when at last the Boche is driven back across the Rhine, and there is peace once more, I shall take the roses and seek my sons' graves. It is not far, Verdun, m'sieu, when there is no war, and surely there will be someone to show me the graves? ..And then I shall plant them there—the red above Alphonse, the white above Pierre. Till then, see you. m'sieu, I am happy in tending the roses." Vhat could I say ? I could only wonder.

BY THE WAY. Random Jottings about Men and Things. A hen belonging to Mr. E. Kind WilslieL-, of Hertford, has laid Herts. 184 eggs in thirty-nine weeks. W hi!e such efforts are put forth, there is little danger of this country coming under the German voke. A. There is a proposal on foot in Rallying connection with the 300th anniver- Point. sary of the death of Sir Walter Raleigh In October 29th, 1518, to establish a "Raleigh Honse" in London. The house would be used to encourage schemes of a literary or scientific nature in which British and American citizens could co-operate. Although Damascus is sUPI" sed Damas- tv be famous for its ancient cene swords, they were never made in Blades, that city. The Crusaders found them there, but the swords were of Persian make. Similarly, Stilton cheese is not made at the village of Stilton; in the Iel old coaching days the cheeses made many miles away were picked up by the coaches at Stilton, which is on the main highwav to London. A million tons of fuel wood will What is be sold to the public during the Fuel winter at prices fixed by the local Wood? Fuel Committees. Many people- have been asking what the exact meaning is of the term "fuel wood." Here is the answer. Fuel wood is the waste lop and top of felled timber exceeding two incl es in diameter, and any other timber that is unsuitable to be converted into sawn lumber or pit-wood. Fuel wood also means aiin waste produced in dealing with timber at u sawmill or a factory. One method of saving coal has How to been suggested by the managing Save director of a hat factory at Luton. Coal. In our trade," he writes, "it has been the custom to work from 9 a.m. to noon, from 1 to 4. and from 5 to 8. We are now working from 8 to 1, and from 2 to 6, with no off time for tea." It will be noticed that this factory still keeps to the plan of a nine-hours' working day, but saves lighting and heating by closing earlier. The workpeople. moreover, thus obtain the advantage of a full evening's recreation.

MAP=ENLARGING. Map-making requires a special aptitude and training; map-enlarging, on the other hand, is a thing that anyone can learn to do who can see with fair accuracy and can hold a pencil. All officers in the British Army and a large number of the N.C.O's. are taught to make enlargements. The reason for this is that even the large-scale printed maps cannot give a great many of the small features of 'he ground which are of the greatest importance in infantry work. It cannot, for example, give a hedge, which might be sufficiently high and thick completely to screen the movement of troops, or a ditch, which might be an excellent natural firing trench, or small rises in the ground, which, though they may be scarcely perceptible, are yet sufficient to hide numbers of men. It is the knowledge ti advance cf these things that enables troops to make the best use of the ground over which they are moving, and saves them many casualties. These are the things, then, for which map enlargements are made. There is little occa- sion for them in trench warfare, but as soon II as armies are in movement and are fighting over open ground which still retains its natural features their use returns; nor has it been superseded by aeroplane observation and air photography. Everyone has copied maps at school with a great deal of measuring and rubbing out and drawing again, and often with the result of finding as the map nears completi' that places which are really hundreds of miles apart are going to join. or that other places that are really neighbours are separated by a gulf which there is nothing to fill. To avoid this. and to enable maps to be copied by eye quickly and accurately and with only occasional measuring, a very simple device is used. The part of the map which has to be enlarged is enclosed in a pencilled square or 4 1 oblong, and this is divided up into -mch squares. The paper on which the enlarge- ment is to be made is then divided up into the same number of squares. Enlargements are nearly always made on a scale of 4 inches to one mile, as. this scale allows goods room for filling in small features. Thus, if the printed map is on a scale of 2 inch to the mile, the squares of the enlargement will be eight times as large as the i-inch squares into which the printed map has been divided—that is to say. they will be 2-inch squares. ThtWnaking of this prelimin- ary framework is rendered very simple by the fact that the Army pocket-books have their pages already printed with quarter-inch squares so that they can easily be divided up into squares of any size. Into this frame-work the map is copied, the squares helping the eye to measure accurately. The enlargement so made is the "skeleton" map. It is ready then ba- the real work to begin, the filling in from :111 examination of the ground itself of ail the small features which are not shown on I the printed map. Most map* U"' the same conventional signs," as they are called, to represent the. different features in the landscape— chniches, windmills, trees, railway cuttings and embankments, villages, bridges. But besides these signs for such natural (nJ artificial features of the landscape, there are a number of signs, not given on any map. to represent tactical features. By the use of these, there is filled in on the enlarge- ment hedges which give cover from yiew; hedges with ditches or banks, which not only give cover from view but also cover from fire dead ground; the extent of the field of fire from any given posi- tion the places where troops can or cannot be easily deployed from the road. All these things are of the greatest importance in fight- ing none of them is given on the printed map; by the help of a few simple signs they are marked on the enlargement. It is not hard, and does not need much practice to learn to make such maps quickly, clearly and accurately. The harder thing is to do it in any weather and in any circllm- stances. The hardest thing is to have first i 1 rained the eye to see features and grasp it once (heir importance. |

A PRESENT FROM PALESTINE. I ■ — ^— ———— i THE TURKEY: I wonder what Wilhelm said when he heard of this!" @)

THREE QUESTIONS BY PRESIDENT WILSON. Shall the military power of any nation, or group of nations, be suffered to determine the fortunes of peoples over whom they have no right to rule, except the right of force? Shall strong nations be free to wrong weak nations and make them subject to their purposes and interest ? Shall peoples be ruled and dominated, even in their own internal affairs, by arbitrary and irresponsible force, or by their own will and choice? E=:; o. c, E 3 3 a:

THE WOMAN'S PART. Strikers and Women's Wages. [By MARGARET OSBORXE.] The women strikers have been very success- ful this autumn. Omnibus conductors have w«>n their claim to the same war-bonus as the men with whom they are work- ing, and are earning £ 3 8s. a week for s ix hours' work. The men of the Vehicle Wurker, Union, to which the women belong, backed them in their claim. and the general public, in spite of the in- convenience that they suffered, were in favour of the women's claim for "equal pay for equal work." If a woman 'bus conductor does exactly the same work as a man and does it as well, fair play demands that her pay shall be as good as his. It is as good. Now the women are triumphant the men are satisfied the public is pleased; and the employers do not mind. Everything has worked splendidly. But would anyone be so pleased if they looked a iittie further forward ? It seems to a looker- on that several things have been forgotten. Some Points to Remember. One quite small point is this. The girls struck for a bonus of 5s. a week. It will take them between thirteen and fourteen weeks to make up the week's pay that most of them lost, before they will feel any benefit from that 5s. at all. Another point is tiiis. What exactly did the "incon- venience to the general public come to? To some extent it was waste of time for those who have plenty of time to waste. But some workers who got late to work because of the 'bus strike, or never got there at all, were doing war-work. How many munition workers had to walk an extra two hours a day because of the strike, and how much did this hinder them in filling shells and making fuses ? We shall never know. We shall never calculate how many days' or weeks' extra work it would take to make up for this waste. But some of it cannot lie made up. because people who are already working to the limit of their time and strength cannot do more. The country has I lost this. There are drawbacks to even the most successful strike. The Moral for Other Women. I-ei-v few women earn as much as the 'bus girls, and there is a danger that those who do not will think that there is some magic in striking which will get them. too. £ 3 Ss. a week if they try it. rBtis girls got 5s. a week by striking. But many of them were earning 15s. or less in factories or in service before the war, and they did not rise from 15s. to £ 3 8s. by strikes. Not at all. They got high pay because they were wanted badly, and because the men's union insisted that they should have it. The Union made an agreement with the employers that the girls who did omnibus work should be paid as well as a man is paid. and that they should all be dismissed after the war. They came in to take the places of men called up for the Army, and it is right that they should give them up when the men come back. If they were cheaper to employ than men. there would be a danger that they would be tempted to come back again after their dismissal and compete with men conductors when there were not places enough for all. and that might bring down men's pay. The Men's Point of View. One can understand why men want their wages to remain at as high a figure as possible and why women should not wish to be black- legs, and why both should be willing to risk a I great deal to keep places open for the men who have gone to the front. But it is not so easy to understand why women should be kept out of 'bus conducting for ever, when they have proved that they can do it so well. The men say that it is quite unfit. work for women. That is a matter on which women are the best judges. I remember when it was thought rather shocking for a woman to ride on the top of a 'bus. The men say that women cost more to employ than men. because they generally work only four days a week. But if the employers do not mind this. why should we ? And if they cost more, they are not really doing "equal work." and should not ask for equal pay. Bad timekeepers in any trade are expensive to employ and ought to be cheaper to pay. but they seldom are. The Question of Competition. It is quite natural that any man should like to arrange for as little competit ion as possible in his own well-paid job. He doesn't want any women in it: But if he thinks a minute. he doesn't want his daughter, his wife, or his fiancee turned out of t-hrir well-paid jobs lie- cause other men don't like competition. He will snv quite truly that. at the present price of food. he can't afford to keep them at home [Continued of foot of vxt roJnmv.]

A CAMOUFLAGED ROAD IN ITALY. [Bri'iih Officii. • j This road has been decorated to conceal It from the Austrians. t I

FOOD TOPICS. Items about Production and Rationing. [Br <• SMALLHOLDER "] It is to be hoped that a good deal of th labour unrest recentiy prevalent in the min- ing districts may be pacified by the steps n.), taken for the establishment of national cah- teens at the,pitheads. There is und> .ubteiiy a difficulty among the working population < r the country, whose duties often carry theni considerable distances from iiome. about the<r daily provisioning. Before the war it wis comparatively easy for a man to carrv h mid-day- meal with him from home, or t > obtain it from the hostelry nearest to lu-t work. The food-rationing scheme necess tated by the war has made both these pro- r cesses difficult, but there seems to be r-) reason why the system of National Kitchen,, which have so abundantly justified itself n populous districts, not also succeed "I isolated areas where the number of customer may be counted upon as regular and whe' hot food at moderate prices will be welcom •. Communal treatment of the food problem tends to economy in many directions, elimin ting at one stroke waste of tinle, waste fuel, and waste of food. while the satisfaction with the hot and comforting meals served is already pronounced. That it will be stiU more pronounced -is the winter draws on goe> without saying, and it may lie regarded as i practical certainty that both National Kitch- ens and Pithead Canteens will. long cutlass the wpr. ° Blackberries and Jam. The unfavorable weather of the last few weeks has played havoc with the later black- berry crop, preventing the fruit, which was abundant, from ripening. This is a mis- fortune, though it was always a considered contingency. Never before has the blackberry been awarded so much distinction in th category of British fruit. It has come to th » rescue this year in a period of extraordinary fruit shortage, and it is the more to be r e- gretted. that the later instalments of splendid crop have failed. However, we a now entitled to plume ourselves upon the fa." that jam is coming into very general circula- tion. True, it is likely to be rationed, and probably the rationing will work out in fav, of the children, which is precisely as should be. But there will be enough to 2 round and to satisfy the reasonably swel-1, tooth of the adult. What is likely to U sharply checked is any tendency to profiteer- ing and hoarding. And that again is precise! y as it should be. Safeguarding Flour. It is sometimes difficult for the general public to appreciate the reasons for an Order made by a Government Department. As an instance we may quote the Flour and Bread (Prices) Order, under which many licence are issued for the supply and purchase of flour for purposes other than the making of bread. Floar. for example, is used in numer- ous essential industries apart from that < ? food. It enters largely into the composition of sizing for cotton warps and yarns into the preparation of munition overalls; iw) the facing of moulds for castings; into ad hesives; in to castings for Admiralty gun an torpedo gear; into paste for sealing packer and cartons of salt; into the filling of colliery brattice cloths into the dusting of cores in brass foundries; and into other purposes I that might astonish the ordinary citizer The ordinary paperhanger is an inveterate user of flour in his ordinary vocation, but lie may not obtain it nowadays without a licence. In fact, so strictly is the people's food supple safeguarded in these days of war that it < very difficult for any commodity suitable for human consumption to escape that destiny and to become diverted to any other purpose however urgent such purpose may appear to be. China Tea.—Some small consignments of China tea arrived in England in August, but the tea still remains in the bonded ware- houses because it is undrinkable until it ha* been blended with some other tea that will follow later. The transport of this other te-j. depends upon tonnage being available.

[Continued from previous column.] doing nothing. Or rather he cannut afford keep them at home in comfort, and, since they have been earning good wages thev. hav- become accustomed to comfort. The truth is that, after the War, either everyone who can work must work or must be uncom- fortably poor. Our agreements between our- selves and with employers and the Govern- ment should aim at leaving people free to do the work which they do best and at which4h y earn most. If women ask for equal pay for equal work, they should see toil that they giv. equal work for equal pay. And we must keep before our minds that. though strikesan sometimes necessary, they are very wasteful, not only for the employer, but for the country and the worker himself. The workman on strike sometimes says he is "playing." Quite so. He is playing with fire. 'Strikes are a newer game for women than for men and women must see to it that they are not mora reckless than the old hands. In war-time it is not everyone for herself, but all for England THTS OT IT. MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES. Braised Sirloin of Beef.- I NcftrL)tE,'VT' 2 Ibs. sirloin, 2 table.spoonfuis dripping, outside leaves of a head of t-elery, 2 carrots, 1 onion, tablespoonful flour, salt pepper. METHOD.—Bone and roll the sirloin, dred.e with flour, salt and pepper. Slice the vegetab!^ and fry in the dripping. Put in the meat an I brown well on both sides. Drain off the fat, cover the bottom of the pan with boiling water* -eason, and simmer for twenty minutes, I the lid on the stpw-pnn and put the pan quickly into the hay-box cooker, and leave for three hours. Return to the fire for five minutes befon- serving. Mutton, veal and pork, boned an rolled, can be cooked in the same manner, but veal and pork require t",O minutes' eooking Oil the fire and four hours in the hay box, for a joint of 2 lb. Mutton requires slightly less cook- nig tltall beef, so that 2' !b. can be cooked :ll the time allowed for 2 lb. of beef. Baked Fruit Pudding.- I NC.REDIEST-I If). iiiea;lv potatoes, } lb. cooking apples. 11 tabi^ spoonfuls golden syrup, teaspoonfnI ground ginger, 1 egg, i teaspoonful baking powder, METHOD.—Wash, scrub and steam or boil the potatoes, peel and rub them through a sie\e or colander. Peel and L'hop the apples fineiv. Mix the potatoes, apples, syrup and ginger, add the eg, and beat well together. The baking powder should be stirred in last. after the mix ture has been thoroughly beaten. It is easier to mix the powder in eveniv if it is first utixei with 4 teaspoonful of flour. Put the pudding :u a greased pie-dish and bake in a moderate oven for an hour. Serve hot. Almost anv kind of fruit can be used instead of apples NG. »