Red Cross Workers Wanted

From The Times 17th September 1918. 

RED CROSS WORKERS WANTED.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—May I ask leave to plead in your columns for further aid for the Central Workrooms?  During the three years of our existence we have, through our working parties, home workers, and workers in the Central Workrooms, been able to supply over 30 million garments and hospital necessaries to the joint stores of the British Red Cross Society and Order of St. John in Pall-mall, and to Red Cross hospitals in all the fighting areas.  It is, however, in the Central Workrooms at Burlington House that help is primarily needed.  Whenever a sudden demand for any special necessary arises it is to these rooms that the stores department first turns.  For instance, a thousand sand-fly and mosquito-proof sleeping suits were urgently needed in hospitals in Mesopotamia.  These were made by our workers at the rate of 250 a week.  Many such examples could be cited, and now that the autumn is here and the sick and wounded are daily increasing in number, we need more and more ladies to come and help us.  Machinists are especially welcomed, but all who can help are invited.  May we ask that many will volunteer for a certain number of days or half-days each week, remembering that this is an urgent national work, for the wounded will not be restored to health without the necessary comforts and appliances? 
Yours, &c.,
LOUISE GOSFORD.
British Red Cross Society and Order of St. John, Headquarters Central Workrooms, Royal Academy, Piccadilly, W.1.

Knitted Comforts for the Troops

From The Times, September 16th 1918.

WINTER COMFORTS FOR THE TROOPS.

REGULAR KNITTERS WANTED.

Sir Edward Ward has sent a circular letter to the Press, in which he says:— "The approach of a fifth winter of war with our Armies still occupying the field casts an even greater duty and responsibility than ever upon those of us who are left at home.  Thanks to the loyal support of large numbers of workers who have continued to knit during their summer holiday, I have already been able to meet practically in full the entire requirements for warm comforts of the Expeditionary Forces in all theatres of war except France, but it is in France that great numbers of articles will be required.  I have no hesitation in entrusting to the workers affiliated under the Army Council's scheme the privilege of once more helping our soldiers to those creature comforts which mean so much to the fighting men.  Under the scheme, thanks to the associations and individual workers who for the past three years have continually and generously supported my Department, both our Army and our Allies have benefited to an extent far greater than those who were responsible for the scheme ever dreamed of.
"It needs but a small sacrifice for every knitter to send to the depôt of their local voluntary organization or to the Comforts Depôt, 45, Horseferry-road, Westminster, S.W.1, regular contributions of knitted comforts each week during the next three months.  Such support will provide all the articles required, and I am convinced our great home army of voluntary workers will see to it that 'nothing is wanting.' "

Missions to Seamen

From the North Wales Chronicle, 6th September 1918.

MISSIONS TO SEAMEN. WORK IN THE NORTH WALES STATION. 

The annual report for the North Wales Station of the Missions to Seamen, just issued, states that the past year has been full of interest, and not the most confirmed "grouser" could complain of monotony or lack of opportunity.  Both at Bangor and Holyhead the work presented many new problems.

At Bangor the work on the T.S. [Training Ship] "Clio" had gone on under the happiest conditions, and the chaplain (Rev. C. W. Barlow) states that the ship has provided him with many a happy hour and oft-times proved a veritable tonic.  To meet an unusual demand, a Sailors' Club has been established in Bangor, under the auspices of the Missions.  The club is housed in a building admirably adapted for the purpose and lent rent free by the Dean and his committee, while for the usual accessories they thanked willing and generous friends.  All the men on the mine-sweepers were supplied with woollen comforts by the Bangor Women's Patriotic Guild.

Holyhead had provided much scope for, as the naval base grew, so the work of the chaplain (now appointed by the Admiralty as hon. naval chaplain) increased in like ratio.  It had been made possible by friends of the Missions to meet several of the more pressing material needs of the sailors, and, during the Christmas period, some seven to eight hundred warm articles were distributed to them, as well as some sixty plum-puddings.  In addition, a circulating library of five hundred to six hundred books had been established, and a number of gramophones loaned out to the ships in turn. The Stanley Sailors' Home at Holyhead had proved a great boon to many a sailor whose ship had been torpedoed.  It was not allowable to state the number of men cared for there; but, when the time came that such information could be made public, it would be seen that the Home had played no mean part in helping those who were in distress through the perils of sea and of war.  The Stanley Sailors' Hospital had also provided many opportunities for ministering to the needs of the sailors.

Farming Scholarships for Women

From the Essex Newsman, 25th August 1918.

Free Farming Scholarships for Women.

The Board of Agriculture are offering 10 free scholarships for women, tenable at the Midland Agricultural College, Kingston, Derby, for a combined practical and theoretical course in farming of about 22 weeks’ duration, to commence early in October.  The scholarships will cover cost of maintenance and tuition; preference will be given to candidates over 21 years of age suitable for the positions of fore-women, under bailiffs, instructresses, etc.  Only women who have had considerable practical experience on the land, and will undertake agricultural work for the duration of the war, will be eligible.

[I wonder what happened to the women who were awarded these scholarships when the war ended?]

Eating Corn

From the Illustrated London News, 10th August 1918. 

LADIES’ PAGE.

An excellent idea was that of inviting the children in many schools in England to write letters in their own words to the American Food Controller, Mr. Hoover, expressing their gratitude for the self-denial of the American nation by which we are being comfortably fed.  As President Wilson finely puts it: "America is eating at a common table with her Allies."  Under no compulsion, in millions of households in the United States, as well as in hotels and clubs, days of abstinence are, and have been for several months past, voluntarily observed, in order that the wheat and the beef and the pork done without on those days may come to save us and our Continental Allies from want.  Every school-child should at least be told clearly about this mighty effort of loving comrade-ship and self-denial.  It should weave a tie between us and our sister nation across the Atlantic for all time.

The American housewives use a great deal of maize meal, which is over there called distinctively "corn."  On their "wheatless days " for their Allies' benefit, it will be "corn bread" that will replace the more costly grain that they are saving to give to us.  We ought to try to make more use of maize ourselves. It will not make good loaves unless mixed in about equal parts with wheaten flour; alone, it is made up, usually mixed with sour milk and carbonate of soda, into flat cakes (especially griddle cakes, to eat hot), rolls. "gems," etc.  For corn loaves, this recipe is given me by an American lady, who tells me that she practically lived upon it for seven months, gaining in weight and strength, in a cottage deep in the great American woods: Two-thirds wheat flour to one-third corn meal finely ground.  Sift the corn meal, and boil it for seven hours (if slightly burned it does not matter); add salt to taste; knead in the wheat flour to a stiff consistence, and bake in large loaves in a slow oven.  This, she says, is very sweet, and keeps well.  The State Chemist of Massachusetts found that maize cannot be thoroughly digested and utilised in the human system unless it is cooked slowly for several hours.

[The recipe for corn loaves sounds very strange - boil for 7 hours. "If slightly burned it does not matter" - but it could very easily be a lot more than slightly burned after 7 hours' cooking.]

Wartime Cookery Hints

From the Brecon County Times, 8th August 1918.

WAR-TIME COOKERY HINTS.

BY A PRACTICAL COOK.

BAKED COD.

The chief objection to fish for the busy housewife is that it is such a trouble to cook.  Frying fish not only takes a great deal of the now very precious fat, but it takes time, and unless all the members of the family are in to dinner together, it soon spoils.  Baked fish is quite as tasty as fried fish, and far less trouble, and it can be put on one of the top oven shelves while cakes or pastry are being cooked below.  Well grease a baking tin, or better still, a fireproof dish.  Cut the fish into slices about one and a half inch thick, wash, and dry them in a cloth, dust over with fine oatmeal, and place them in the tin or dish. Sprinkle on them a mixture of pepper and salt and dried herbs, and, if possible, a squeeze or two of lemon juice. A few mushrooms or tomatoes or cooked potatoes may be put in with them.  Bake till the fish is nicely browned and serve with a thick white sauce.

MUTTON CUTLETS.

This is an excellent way of using up cold mutton, a rather insipid dish at the best of times. Boil till well cooked two ounces of rice, mix into it, in a basin, half a pound of minced cold mutton, two small onions minced or finely chopped, a pinch of mixed herbs, a teaspoonful of celery salt, pepper and salt to taste, and enough milk or water in which the rice was boiled, to make it moist.  A chopped tomato or two or a few chopped mushrooms all add to the flavour. Shape into cutlets. Flour with oatmeal or rice flour, put into a well-greased pie or baking dish, and bake until a light brown colour.  If a gas stove is available the cutlets can be browned under the grill burner, or they may be fried in a frying-pan if the oven is not being used.  Cauliflower with white sauce and fried new potatoes are good accompaniments to this dish.

CAULIFLOWER MOULD.

The allotment or garden ought to be supplying plenty of cauliflowers just now, and as these can be used in so many different ways, delicious dishes can be made at little cost which will largely save the meat bill.  One of the many tasty dishes is cauliflower mould, made as follows:  Cook in a fairly large sauce-pan one cupful of breadcrumbs and one cupful of milk, and stir over the fire until they thicken.  Add two cupfuls of cooked cauliflower, broken up into small pieces, and a tiny piece of margarine.  When the margarine is melted, take off the fire, add pepper and salt and the yolk of a well-beaten egg.  Then whip the white of the egg to a stiff froth and stir it in lightly.  Rinse out a basin, piedish, or mould, then grease with a little fat and dust over with breadcrumbs or oatmeal, and pour the cauliflower mixture in. Bake in a moderate oven till it has swelled and feels firm.  Turn out on a hot dish with sprigs of parsley round it.  If preferred, fried mushrooms may be served with it, or a thick brown gravy.  Boiled mashed potatoes, rather highly seasoned, are very good.

SAGO JELLY.

During the hot days of summer a nice attractive pudding appeals much more to most people than hot joints, and several puddings of this kind on the dinner-table will often be enjoyed much more and do much more good than the usual meat and pudding course.  Many kinds of puddings can be made with pearl sago or crushed tapioca.  This is a way in which any little scrap of left-over stewed fruit be used to advantage.  If the ball tapioca is used, it should be soaked overnight, but with the pearl sago or the crushed tapioca, this need not be done.
If there is no fruit to use, stew gently one pound of gooseberries or currants with enough sugar to sweeten, till it is nicely soft and pulpy but not overcooked. Boil the sago till it is transparent, then mix in with the fruit. Stir them well together, and, if liked, add a few drops of vanilla flavouring. Boil all together gently for a quarter of an hour.  Rinse out a mould in cold water and pour in the mixture. Allow it to stand overnight, and when turned out it should be a firm, nice-looking jelly.  Custard may be served with it.

ECONOMICAL JAMS.

The jams that attract us most to-day are those which require the least sugar.  As so much of the usual fruit this year is absent, a good many housewives will have to make up with any kind that can be obtained. Rhubarb is grown in most gardens and allotments, or it can be bought fairly cheaply from the greengrocer's. Cut into two-inch lengths as much rhubarb as is required for the jam, and allow for every pound of fruit four ounces of sugar and a quarter teaspoonful of ground ginger.  A good plan is to cover the rhubarb with the sugar the night before. Put the fruit mixture either into a double saucepan or into a stone jar, and place this in a saucepan kept three-quarters full of boiling water.  The jam will need to be stirred very little, though the scum must be removed from the top as it rises.  It will take some time to cook thoroughly, though lengthy cooking will help to make the jam all the sweeter.
Another economical rhubarb jam can be made by allowing four and a half pounds of sugar to every six pounds of cut rhubarb and one ounce of whole bruised ginger, with the rind of a large lemon cut very thinly.  Place in a preserving-pan and bring to the boil.  Boil gently till it sets nicely.  Before putting into pots, the pieces of ginger and lemon-peel must be taken out, or there will be some rather unpleasant mouthfuls.  This jam is also excellent eaten with cold meat as a pickle.

Games And Sweaters for the Men

From The Times, 13th August 1918.

GAMES AND SWEATERS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—I  could make a good job out of a bad jumble if your readers would kindly look out for me all their old cigar boxes.  It is a question of issuing the men’s indoor games, puzzles, and what not for the coming long evenings in base camps and elsewhere without expense, in a practical and comfortable fashion to last the winter through.  I could do with 2,500 boxes at the moment—and, of course, if they arrive full of games or bursting with cheques, tant mieux.  Boxes are best, but bags will serve at a pinch, so perhaps ladies will let me have any remnants of the treasure bags they are all making for Lady Smith-Dorrien, in the form of strongly sewn little bags 6in. by 5in. or under.  My Hepzibah, critical of mind and recondite of speech, avers that “bags don’t cut to waste.”  She further sends her duty and thinks that many more ladies might ask for the sweater and other patterns after the “to-do of having them done in print and all.”  I confess I thought the issue astonishing, but from what I hear of the coming need, I agree.

Will your readers kindly address the boxes, &c., to Sir Edward Ward, D.G.V.O., 45, Horseferry-road, and applications for any knitting patterns to me here as below?

Yours faithfully, 

JOHN PENOYRE.

8, King’s Bench-walk, Inner Temple, E.C.4. 

[I think that 'Hepzibah' was John Penoyre's housekeeper, or something like that. There are several posts in this blog about Lady Smith-Dorrien's appeal for cloth bags to hold the papers and other belongings of wounded soldiers.]