Gifts For The Troops

From the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 31st January, 1918.

GIFTS FOR THE TROOPS

The Director General of Voluntary Organisations (Scotland House, New Scotland Yard, London, S.W.1) announces that the following articles are particularly needed in large quantities during the next fortnight: — Comforts for troops in the field: Knitted comforts of all kinds, especially mufflers and mittens, handkerchiefs (dark shade), footballs, and boxing gloves.  Hospital supplies for sick and wounded in military hospitals: Pyjamas, slippers, hospital bags, dressing gowns.  All gifts should be forwarded to the nearest Voluntary Organisations’ Depot, or to the Comforts Depot, 45, Horseferry Road, Westminster, London, S.W.1.

Recipes for a meatless day

From Home Notes, January 26th 1918.

OUR MEATLESS DAY.

Miss Lydia Chatterton gives you some splendid recipes which contain no meat at all.

We all know how much the winning of the war can be helped by the strictest economy in the use of all food, especially that which comes from abroad; so if you resolve to live as much as is possible on the products of your cabbage patch, you are indeed doing your bit in a practical way.
Be sparing with sugar, flour, meat, fats, and cereals of all kinds, and make the most of all root vegetables—remembering that they contain a goodly percentage of sugar, and also that they can in many instances take the place of flour, such as thickening for soup.  This week I'm going to give you some special recipes for meatless days—try them, and you'll have no complaints, I assure you.
Try cauliflower cream and potato scones for breakfast, and you have a good nourishing meal without bread or meat.  Start the dinner with muligatawny soup, followed by a good vegetable pie and a ginger pudding, and you will feel satisfied on the coldest day.

Cauliflower Cream.

1 cauliflower
A dash of cayenne
2oz. dry cheese
½ teaspoonful of very finely chopped parsley and thyme
1 oz. margarine or butter
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoonful of milk.
Boil the cauliflower until tender, then take all the white part and beat it with a fork until it is a creamy mass.  Season well with salt, pepper and cayenne, then add the herbs, the cheese finely grated, and the milk.  Put the mixture in a fire-proof dish, sprinkle a little grated cheese over, and the butter in small scraps.  Brown in the oven or under the griller.

Potato Breakfast Scones.

¼ lb. flour
2oz. margarine or butter
½ lb. potatoes (weighed after being cooked and peeled)
1 teaspoonful of salt
1 teaspoonful of baking powder
½ tumbler of milk
1 dried egg.
Rub the margarine into the flour, add the salt and baking-powder, well mix with the potato mashed quite free from lumps.  Make to a paste with the soaked egg and milk.
Roll out, cut into scones, and hake for a quarter of an hour.  Eat hot.
Any left over are very good split and toasted another day.

Mulligatawny Soup.

1 onion
1 dessertspoonful of flour
1 quart of vegetable stock or liquor that meat has been boiled in
1 dessertspoonful of fine oatmeal
A few drops of essence of cloves
1 apple
2 oz. dripping or butter
A teaspoonful of lemon juice
1 tablespoonful of curry powder
A little boiled rice
Chop the onion finely and fry it in the butter. Stir in the curry powder and flour. Then stir in gradually the stock until quite smooth, add the apple peeled, cored and grated, the clove essence, lemon juice and a good seasoning of salt.  Boil all together gently for half an hour, being careful it does not burn.  Serve with plain boiled rice.

Vegetable Pie.

1 large onion
2 carrots
1 stick of celery
2 turnips
A teaspoonful of finely chopped parsley
Pepper and salt
1 tablespoon haricot beans
2 oz. butter or margarine
Mashed potato
Soak the beans overnight. then boil them until tender.  Peel and cut up the onion and other vegetables.
Dissolve the butter in a saucepan, put in all the vegetables wet from being washed.  Put the lid on firmly, and let them cook gently until tender.  No water is needed.  Put the cooked vegetables into a pie-dish, sprinkle parsley and seasoning between.  Cover with mashed potato, and bake until brown.

Ginger Pudding.

1 tablespoon of maize flour
1 big teaspoonful of ground ginger
4 oz. of mashed potato
4 oz. flour
2oz. dripping or suet
½ pint of milk
1 tablespoonful of golden syrup or treacle
A saltspoonful of carbonate of soda.

Mix together the flour and maize, add the finely chopped suet or rub in the dripping. Mix well with the potato, ground ginger, soda, and syrup.  Mix to a batter with the milk and steam in a basin for two hours.

Serve plain or surround with some heated marrow ginger.

THICK VEGETARIAN SOUP WITHOUT FLOUR.

Delicious creamy soups can be made with vegetables, milk and water, and 1 or 2 oz. margarine or dripping. 

Potato, turnip, parsnip, carrot, artichoke, dried peas, lentils, or cauliflower —any of these may be chosen, or a mixture of several—remembering the dried ones must be soaked first for twenty-four hours. 

A slice or two of onion is an improvement to any of them; so are a few scraps of dry cheese grated and added at the last minute. 

The method is very simple.  Clean, peel and cut up the vegetables.  Melt the butter or dripping in a stewpan, put in the wet vegetables, cover closely, and cook slowly until they are quite soft.  Rub through a sieve.  Return the pulp to the stewpan.  Season well.  Add milk or milk and water to make it a pleasant consistency. Make very hot and serve.

[I don't know what "marrow ginger" was.  Essence of cloves sounds more like something to relieve toothache than a spice, and perhaps was then used for both.]

OXO At The Front

From Home Notes, 26th January 1918.

Text:  OXO AT THE FRONT. 

Hot OXO is an inestimable boon to the fighting forces at this time of the year.

It aids and increases nutrition; it stimulates and builds up strength to resist climatic changes, and is invaluable for all who have to undergo exertion either to promote fitness or to recuperate after fatigue.

OXO takes up little space, is easily carried, and can be converted quickly into a hot nourishing drink which, with bread or biscuits, will sustain for hours.

OXO Ltd., Thames House, Lon. 

The Public Meals Order

From the Yorkshire Evening Post, 23rd January 1918.

DRASTIC CUTTING DOWN IN PUBLIC MEALS.

TWO MEATLESS DAYS.

GUESTS MUST BRING THEIR OWN SUGAR.

The new Public Meals Order—which comes into force on Feb. 3 except as to meatless days, which begin on Friday [25th January]—introduces a number of important modifications regarding meals in hotels, restaurants, clubs, boarding-houses, and all other eating-places.  Its chief features are:—

Two meatless days a week, and meat meals restricted to 3oz. uncooked.
Meatless and sugarless breakfasts every day, and sugarless teas.
No milk for adults, save with tea, coffee, or cocoa.
Five-eighths of an ounce of margarine a day.
Guests to bring their own sugar; residents allowed up to 6oz. a week.
Tea before 5.30 p.m. not to include more than 1¼oz. of all foods in which flour is used. 

...The meatless days ... are to be Tuesdays and Fridays in the Metropolitan Police district, Wednesday and Fridays in the provinces.  Poultry and game rank as meat.

Meatless breakfasts are ordained by the prohibition of the serving or eating of meat, poultry, or game between 6 a.m. and 10.30 a.m.  Children under ten are exempted from the no-milk stipulation.  The sugar allowance (1 oz. a day but not more than 6oz. in a week) is for sweetening purposes.  It is limited to residents for "the major portion" of a week and not rationed for sugar; others described as "guests" must carry their own sugar.

Breakfast, it is pointed out, is going to be a difficult meal in the business type of hotel.  Apparently no milk may be served with porridge, and the bacon course is forbidden.  Commercial travellers as a class eat a hearty breakfast, make a light lunch, and take a substantial evening meal.  Now the breakfast must consist of fish, eggs, jam, and bread and butter, and the heavy meat-tea becomes impossible.

As to tea-shop teas, the Order says no person shall be served with or consume between 3 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. more than 1½oz. in all of broad. cake, bun, scone, and biscuit.  The present limit is 2oz. but the old Order does not contain the restriction against consuming, and the omission of which allows permits to buy a bag of pastries at the counter and then sit down in another part of the premises and eat them with an ordered tea.
....

MEATLESS MENUS IN LEEDS

A START AT SOME OF THE PUBLIC EATING-PLACES.

Although today was regarded by many as the first meatless day, the suggestion by the Leeds Food Control Committer) that it should be so observed has by no means met with general acceptance in the city.  Hotel and restaurant proprietors varied considerably in their attitude towards it.  Some loyally excluded meat of all kinds from their menu, and mainly substituted fish, vegetable stew, macaroni, cheese, and eggs.  Many, however, are reserving the first meatless day until it becomes compulsory on Friday, one reason advanced being that owing to the sudden change in the weather, the meat purchased for use tomorrow would not keep.
…
Meanwhile it is not without interest to notice what is being served to take the place of meat.  At the Leeds and County Conservative Club a meatless day is not being observed to-day, but will be on Friday, when the menu will be:—

SOUP. 

Consomme croute au pot.   Yellow Pea.  Cream of Lentil. 

FISH.

Fried Fillet of Plaice. Cod Steak. Fish Pie. 

Fried Halibut Steak. Boiled Halibut and Hollandaise Sauce. 

Boiled Salmon Steak. Cold Salmon. 

ENTREES. 

Macaroni au gratin.   Vermicelli a la Portugaise.  Curried Eggs and Rice. 

Poached Eggs on Toast.  Poached Eggs and Spinach.  Welsh Rarebits. 

VEGETABLES. 

Mashed and Jacket Potatoes.  Boiled Rice. Haricot Beans.  

Marrowfat Peas. Spring Cabbage. Turnip Tops.

SWEETS AND CHEESE.

….

At one of the restaurants in Leeds where a meatless day was observed, the following was the menu.—

SOUPS.

Green Pea.  Scotch Broth.   Chestnut. 

FISH.

Filleted Plaice and Parsley Sauce.   Steamed Cod and Caper Sauce.  Stuffed Haddock.

 ENTREES.

Vegetable Irish Stew.   Bean Pie.  

Cheese Dumplings.  Tomatoes and Turnips au gratin.  

Lentil Rissoles.  Savoury Rice. 

Vegetables, Puddings and Sweets. 

At another restaurant a compromise was effected by the elimination of beef and mutton and the introduction of poultry, grilled ham, and sausage. Several dishes of fish were served, along with savoury omelettes, eggs on toast, and haricot croquettes.

Many of the restaurant proprietors spoken to to-day on the subject of the meatless day expressed the opinion that it will be welcomed, as whilst lately they have been unable to secure normal supplies, the general public seem unable to realise the fact, and are dissatisfied if they cannot procure as much as usual.

For the same reason the majority of them regard the new Sugar Order with favour.  This order only permits of sugar to be used for cooking purposes.  "Lately we have had the greatest difficulty, " said one manager, "in getting supplies of sugar, and many people have been anything but satisfied when they have not been provided with the quantity allotted to them.  I am glad they will now have to provide it themselves, as it will mean that we should have quite a hundredweight [50.8 kg.] per week less to purchase."

One manager expressed considerable doubt whether it will in future be possible to continue the supply of Yorkshire pudding.  In the opinion of some proprietors, it will not be legal to supply a customer with Yorkshire pudding and then boiled pudding or tart at the close of the meal, as by so doing the limit will be exceeded.

Representation of the People

From the Illustrated London News, 26th January 1918.

LADIES' PAGE.

It has taken just half a century of effort to get sex removed from the disqualifications for citizenship.  Fifty completed years precisely have passed since John Stuart Mill first challenged a vote of the House of Commons on the equal right of women to the franchise.  From that date to the present, women have carried on an unceasing propaganda in favour of the equality of their sex in representation as well as in taxpaying and obedience to the laws made by Parliament.  In the meantime, many things bearing on the subject have happened.  The Married Women's Property Act was an important step.  Several of the States of the American Union have fully enfranchised their female citizens, beginning with Wyoming in 1870, and now including wealthy and leading States such as Colorado and California; and in every case the change has proved able to gain the approval of the leading men and of the people as a whole.  Then our own Australasian colonies followed suit, beginning with New Zealand in 1894, and culminating in the Confederation of Australia in 1906, and just recently a part of Canada.  The admission of women to higher education, and the brilliant success many of them gained in abstruse subjects, such as mathematics, is another notable fact that has helped in changing opinion.  But finally, of course, the part taken by women in this terrible war is the immediate reason for the general agreement now expressed that we ought to be recognised as citizens sharing in the corporate life of the nation.  As the Archbishop of Canterbury said, in the House of Lords debate, the vote is not being given as a reward for the work done by women—for it is not a privilege so much as a trust to fulfil—but as a recognition of the ability and devotion that they have shown and that have proved them to be a valuable portion of the nation's forces.

The Lord Chancellor, opposing the enfranchisement, suggested that women voters will be more ready than men to make “an inconclusive and hasty peace, throwing away all for which we had fought.”  As George Eliot said wittily, “Prophecy is the most gratuitous form of error,” and any assumptions as to what women will do with the vote are necessarily of that order.  But, as the old herbalists believed that the bane and the antidote always grew near one another, the next page of the Times to that recording Lord Loreburn's prophecy bore its contradiction, in the record from Canada as to the recent election there in which the one and only question was conscription— “the appeal for reinforcements for the Canadian army.”  We are told by the impartial Times correspondent that “possibly 400,000 women voted, of whom at least 70 per cent. cast their ballot for the Union candidates.  The appeal to support the men in the trenches was very influential with the women.  They were better organised than the men voters, and their speakers were very effective.”  Nor did it, in fact, need this last-hour proof that women are willing to give the sacrifices necessary in a righteous and defensive war, for every one of the splendid New Zealand boys whom we have seen in our midst was brought up by a voting mother, and, when the need of the Empire arose, those mothers not only voted their money, but gave their darling sons to the war in a manner that alone should have defended women from Lord Loreburn's imputation.  New Zealand was the first of our Colonies, before the war, to vote the cost of a battle-ship to the Imperial Navy, and in the war her contributions have been exceptional.

........

Of course, the vote is now given on different terms from those on which we have always asked for it. Our claim has always been “Votes for women on the same qualification as they are given to men.”  I still believe that this would have been a much better basis.  It would have enfranchised all women paying taxes on their own account, who would have been mainly single or widowed, but including some married women in business or owning property; but the whole number would have been far less than will come in by the present arrangement.  The absurd restriction of women's votes to persons over thirty years of age would also not have had to be devised, as the only scheme for somewhat lessening the flood of new and inexperienced electors.  However, the working men objected to the preponderance of propertied and well-educated women amongst those who would have been enfranchised “on the same terms as men”; and the present change, illogical as it is, at least removes being of the female sex from the list of disqualifications for voting, where it previously stood with lunacy, crime, pauperism, and childishness. —FILOMENA.

[The Representation of the People Act of 1918 granted the vote to women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification.  The same Act gave the vote to all men over the age of 21. It became law in February 1918.

Until the Married Woman’s Property Act of 1870, and later extensions, married women effectively could not own anything – it belonged to the husband. The acts allowed her first to control any money she earned, and then to keep any property she had before her marriage, and any that she inherited during the marriage.]

Is Tea a Necessity?

From the Illustrated London News, 12th January 1918.

LADIES’ PAGE.

LORD RHONDDA [the Food Controller] has set down as the maximum allowance of tea per week suggested for each person only one-and-half ounces!  Of sugar he allows half-a-pound, and of butter or margarine a quarter-of-a-pound.  These quantities are exactly half in the case of the fat and the sugar, and less than half in the case of the tea, of what our domestic servants used to expect as their weekly allowance, if the domestic system was to ration them in these articles.  In many households they were practically allowed to consume what they pleased of such things, and then usually they much exceeded the quarter-of-a-pound of tea.  How are they now to be confined .to an ounce-and-a-hall of it, I wonder?  No scheme of rationing can work satisfactorily unless it can be enforced on everybody; and unless we mistresses are absolutely compelled to diminish the servants’ food to the ordered amount it will be useless to suppose that we can do it.  Voluntary partial efforts will merely result in those who are loyal to the national needs being left without domestic workers; while the numerous selfish, well-to-do women who would, in order to keep servants, give them any-thing they can get hold of, disregarding patriotism, will surreptitiously supply far more than the rations.  Indeed, I cannot see how any mistress, unless backed up by strict State compulsion on one and all of the community, can dare to say to her servants "Yon are only to have an ounce-and-a-half of tea for a week."  Once they realise that they cannot get any more than that allowance by changing places, it will be all right; but this will only be true if all mistresses who supply more (from stores already put by or surreptitious sources), are very severely dealt with by law.  Otherwise there simply will be an exodus from the loyal households.

Is tea a necessity?  There is almost a mutiny in the Government offices, where thousands of women are employed, at the threat that the tea which has hitherto illuminated the middle of the afternoon's weariness shall be abolished.  The excuse of the authorities for this dreadful threat is the time that is wasted by the girls in preparing and consuming the little meal.  But, as a practical fact, the brain works so much more freely and rapidly after a cup of tea has cleared it that the time spent upon taking the vitalising beverage in the afternoon is by no means wasted.  Every serious brain-worker knows by experience the powerful, invigorating, and awakening influence of the precious herb.  One of the Chinese legends as to the origin of tea is that the shrub sprang up for the first time on the spot where a devoted son had thrown down his eyelids. which he cut off to prevent himself from sleeping while watching over his sick mother; which thing is an allegory.  A royal poet of the native land of tea, China, the Emperor Kien Lung, wrote an ode in its praise; he counselled, "At your ease drink this precious liquor, which will chase away the five causes of sorrow; One can taste and feel, but not describe, the state of repose produced by a liquor thus prepared."

Whether there is any real value in tea as nutriment of the nervous system or whether it is purely a passing stimulant cannot yet, strange to say. be considered settled question.  Liebig claimed to have demonstrated that "tea and coffee have become necessaries of life"—not mere luxuries, observe—"by the presence of one and the same substance in both vegetables, which has a peculiar effect upon the human system.  By contributing to the formation of bile, they have become a substitute for animal food to those eating little meat, and to the large class who are unable to take regular exercise."

[Justus von Liebig was a 19th century chemist and food scientist.]

How To Become A Laboratory Attendant

From Woman’s Weekly, January 26th 1918. 

HOW TO BECOME A LABORATORY ATTENDANT.

A New Opening for the Girl Worker of To-day.

MANY girls feel they would like to take up scientific work, but they cannot always spend the time or the money in the training.  

The war has opened up a fresh career that means working in a laboratory, and no previous experience is necessary, for women are now engaged as laboratory attendants.  

There is so much work to be done in the world of science that the trained workers require untrained ones to help them. 

Different kinds of work are all ranked under headings— often with very long names.  Where clays, earths, and such like are tested is called an assaying laboratory; or if it is for metal, a metallurgical laboratory.  Whatever is the nature of the scientific work, the laboratory attendant must help the workers and be responsible for the care of the laboratory.  

She will most probably have a boy to work under her.  She will be required to get to the laboratory about 8 a.m., and help to get the room, or rooms, ready for the day's work; have the windows opened, fires lighted, see that the room is swept, or sweep it, and dust it herself.  

If she has a lad helping, she must keep a sharp eye on him — see that he touches nothing on the working-benches.  A chemist may often have to leave important work on his bench when he leaves off for the night — it cannot always be put away.  So that makes a laboratory attendant's position a very responsible one. 

HER “ODD JOBS.” 

ONCE the rooms are clean and tidy, the “still” must be started, if the distilled water used is “home made.”  Then the big bottles containing acids—called “Winchesters” — must be looked over.  If any are empty, fresh ones must be brought in from the store cupboard.  By this time the staff will arrive, and work begins.  If there are several, every one will be sure to want something at once.  The attendant will be required to prepare the samples for analysis.  If an ore, she will crush it in a mortar and pass it through a sieve whatever size she is told.  If a 100 sieve, this job lasts some time.  If the sample be a metal, she will have to cut it into small pieces.  She may drill it, or, with some, hammer it very fine, and cut it up.  If the sample is already in small pieces, she must clean it, if soiled.  She may have to wash it in ether. This quite an exciting job, as the ether evaporates off quicker than she can clean the sample. 

All kinds of odd jobs will fall to her lot.  Stoppers will stick fast in bottles—especially alkalies —so that she frequently has to get her wash-bottle of boiling water and remove them.  The girl who is good at removing stoppers will win golden opinions for herself. 

Of course, the more she picks up about apparatus or electric batteries, the more use will she be to her chief.  To be a useful laboratory attendant a girl must be quick, sharp, take an interest in her work, anxious to learn all she can, and let the staff see she is a willing worker. 

Some of the men who have held positions for many years in the same laboratory are quite “characters.”  We know of one who always speaks of “my laboratory,” and who keeps a far sharper eye on the general expenses than does the chief himself. 

One golden rule of a laboratory is that the work must never be spoken about to anyone outside, as it is often confidential. 

Sometimes people will find an excuse to look over a laboratory just to find out something. 

HE KNEW TOO MUCH. 

A VISITOR one day got permission to look over a large laboratory where rubber was being analysed.  He said he knew nothing of science or commerce, and at the end of his visit he asked for a bit of rubber as a keepsake.  He opened his penknife, and, licking the blade, cut a bit.  Suddenly he found himself turned out with the remark, “None but one experienced with rubber would have known to wet the blade first if you want to cut rubber.”

HOURS AND THE PAY. 

THE working hours will be from about 8 a.m. to 6 or 6.30 p.m., With one hour off for dinner; and there is plenty of opportunity to make a cup of tea in the afternoon. 

The pay will depend on the size and style of the laboratory.  A girl who had never been in a laboratory before would get about 18s. a week to start with, and would eventually get 25s. to 30s. a week.  

In a large firm, where two or three were kept, the head one, who would require to be experienced, would receive a higher wage. 

HER STYLE OF DRESS. 

THE most suitable style of dress is an overall.  In some laboratories a cap to match is advisable, if the goods to be experimented upon give rise to much dust, such as ores.  

She may have to attend to the store of chemicals, and she will also be responsible for keeping the bottles that are in use filled up. Of course, this has to be most carefully done, as an error on the attendant's part would upset perhaps all the scientific work on hand.

[Woman's Weekly were running a series of articles at this time on good career occupations for women.  There's no suggestion here that the lab attendant posts were available because women were replacing men who were now in the armed forces, but it's quite likely.  

The suggestion that using ether would be 'quite exciting' amused me, given the effects of breathing in the vapour.]