Abergavenny Chronicle

II. THE MOTHER. It was in one of those tearful little villages on the Somme, where scarce one brick stands upon another, but where still, by 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 had come in from the line, and the out- going battalion had. told us that there was one civilian left—an old woman. We saw her scon enough. She came round the cook-Louses, humble, self-effacing, implor- ing, but oh, with an air! She asked but a few crusts ot bread when we should have finished our meal. We filled her a mess- tin with "gippn," and she thanked us vonderfullv, courtseving and smilin^ 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 li\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 lier garden ? I went in—that is to say, if you can call it going in when one o,tr a single wire six inches from the ground It must have been a beautiful L I I once. Xow, like that of Cb-M.-mi; h's schoolmaster, it was running wild in a profusion of weeds at:d flowers. Ore tiling pr,)fu-c;Ic)n (,,f ai,.c[ -s. 0 o t p'ot C, !it iiiv e?-e. t lie Iiii a bearing beautiful -oie red, one wmtc. I think she must have noticed me Ice-king at them. All," she s;tid, m'sieu admires the --s But they are sweet. Tliev ;vo the niv two sons—Alnhonso the red I P, ite. Good bovs they were, ni'sieu, and dutiful sons. Ea.-li week Imy sent. their old mother monev from I have not heard of t h^m. m'sieu, since Verdun. I know nut whether thev live or I iend lovingly their rose trees. If thev live, then the flowers shall be abloom when they come back to mo If thev are dead %vell, it is for France; and when at last the Boc-he is driven back across the Rhine, and there is peace once more. I shall take the roses and eek. my sons' graves. It, is not far, eidun, m sieu, when there is no war, and surely there will he someone to show mo the graves ? And then I shall plant them t here—the red above Alphonse, the white above Pierre. Tin then, see vou, m'sieu, I am happy in tending the roses." What could I say ? I could only wonder.

BY THE WAY. Random Jottings about Men and Things. Kind Herts. A lien belonging to Mr. F. Wilsher, of Iler tford, has laid 184 eggs in thirty-nine weeks. While such effort'; arc. Tint forth. there is little danger of this country coining I t1¡('r is litt!;3 dalJgf'l' -f cCluntry mIllillg Ull?ier the Gk?1.111?Ill A Rallying Point. There is a proposal on foot in c.?u?ctK.u with the 300th armiver- j s?ry of the death of ?ii-Wal?r Italehrh on October 29th. 1518. to 1 estalbdi a House in London, The house would be used to encourage schemes of a literary or scientific nature in which British Ltel'?il'V Or S(,Iellt'fiC li?it could ? 11 li i,-I-li B t i t i,, li ziti?j citi7k,its coti l d c -i a, e. Damas- cene BlacJcs. Although Damascus is sii]ip< sod J to be famous fur its ancient s-worcls, they were never made in that city. The Crusaders foand j them there, but the swoids were of tertian nmke. Similarly, Stilton chcesa i1- not made at the village of Stilton; in ths old coaching days the cheeses made many milii away were picked up by the coaches at .Milton, which is on the main highway to London. What is Fuel Wood? A million tons of fuel wood will be sold to the public during the winter at prices tixed by the local Committees. Many people have been asking what the exact meaning is of the term "fuel wood." Here ib the answer. Fuel wood is the waste lop and top of felled timber exce-eding two met es in diameter, and any other timber that is un.suiiable to be converted into sawn lumber or pit-wood. Fuel wood also means a to, waste produced in dealing with timber at a sawmill or a factory. How to Save Coal. One method of saving coal has L"en suggested by the managing elirector of a hat factory at Luton. "In our trade," he write s, it Jus been the custom to work from 9 a.m. t0 noon, from 1 to 4, and from 5 to 8. We are now working from 8 to 1, and from 2 i,, 6, rto ?, I 2 Íi, 6, with no off time for tel." 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 tlL" ad vantage of a full evening's recreation.

MAP=ENLARGING. Map-making requires a special) aptitude and '.raini ng; map-enlarging, on the other hand, is a thing that anyone can learn to do who can see with fair accuracy and can .MI officers in the British Army and a. large number of the X.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 c<f h gruuilcl which a-recf the greatest importance in infantry work. It cannot, for example, give a lie-dye, whioh might be sufficiently rrigll and thick completely to s.creen. the movement of troops, or a ditch, which might he an excellent natural firing trench, or smail rises in the ground, which, though they may be scarcely perceptible, are yet sufficient to hide numbers of men. It is the knowledge m advance of these things that enables troops to make the best use of the ground over which they are moving, and aves 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 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 completion that places which are really hundreds of miles apart are going to join, or that other places that are really neighbours are separated by 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 en larged is enclosed in a pencilled square or oblong, and this is divided up into !-inch 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 '.mods room for filling in small features. Thus, if the l'tinted map is on a scale of 2 inch to the mile, the squares of the enlargement will be eight times as large as the 4-inch squares into which the printed map has been divided—that is to say, they will be 2-inch squares. The making of this prelimin- ary framework is rendered very simple by j the fact that the Army pocket-books have their pages already printed with quarter-im h squares so that they can easily be divided up int.. squares of any size. fiOo this fiame-work the map is copied, the squares helping the eye to measure accurately. The enlargement m made is the :t skeleton" map. It is ready then for the real work to begin, the jj lling in from an examination of the ground itself of all the small features which are not shown on ti ma p. JI'1,t mn li a.-TO the same "conventional si^iis," as they are called, to represent the different features in the landscape— churches, windmills, trees, railway cuttings ami embankments, villages, brillges..But besides these signs for such natural and artificial features of the landscape, there are a number of signs, nut given on any map. to represent Lacticill featurf's. By the use of these, there is fdled in on the enlarge- ment hedges which give cuver from .view; hedges with ditches or banks, which not only give cover from view but. also cover from lire dead ground the extent of the held 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 circum- stances. The hardest thing is to have first trained the eye to see features and grasp at once their importance.

A PRESENT FROM PALESTINE. HE TURKEY — "I wetwler what Wilbelra said when be heard of thi^Ii"

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?

I A CAMOUFLAGED ROAD IN ITALY. [British offic[A This road has been decorated to conceal it from the Austriani, I

I THE WOMAN'S PART. t Strikers and Women's Wages. [B v MARGARET women strikers have been very success- ful this autumn. Omnibus conductors have won their claim to the same war-boifits as the nun with whom they aie work- ing, and are earning £ 3 8-. a week for six hours' work. The men of the j "Nehicle Workers' Union, to which the women belong, backed them in their claim, and the general public, in spite of the in- I convenience that they suffered, \\cre in favour ot tlie women's claim for "equal pay for equal [ work. If a woman bus cond uctor doe-* exact l y the same work a s a 111 a n and doe* i i" as well, fair play demand* that her pay shall beasg?ud as Ili, It as good. Now the women',IH:' Iriumphanl the men are saLsfiul; the public is pleased; and the employers do | not mind. Everything has worked splendidly, j But wou ld anyone be M> pleased if they looked a lit lie further forward ? It seems to a looker- on that severa things have been forgotten. Some Points to Remember. One qitile small point is this. Thp giris I struck for a bonus of 5s. a week. It will take I them between thirteen and fourteen weeks to make up the week's pay that me>st of them j lost, before they will feel any benefit from that 5s. at all. Another point is this. What exactly did the "incon- venience" to the genera l public come to? 'I o some extent it was waste of time fur those wdio 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 toe strike, and how much did this hinder, thent MI filling shells r;nd making fuses ? We shad «ever know. We shall never calculate how many days' or weeks'extra work it would take to make up for this was t e. But some u t it cannut be, made up, because people who are already working to the limit of their time and strength cannot do more. The country has lost this. There are drawbacks to even the most successful strike.. The Moral for Other Women. Very few women earn as mich a* the 'bus girls, and is a danger that those who do not will think that tliere is some magic in striking which will gt them, too, £3 8s. a week if they try it. 'Bus 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 8". by strikes. Not at alb They got high pay because they were wanted bdly, 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 he 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 dismissa l and compete with men conductors when there were not places enough for all, and that might brine; 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 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. I The Question of Competition. It is quite natural that any man should like to arrange for as little competition 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 their well-paid jobs he- cause other men don't like competition. He will say quite truly that, at the present price of food, he can't afford to keep them at home [Continued at foot of next column.]

I FOOD TOPICS. Items about Production and Rationing. I [Br t. SMALLHOLDER "1 I It is to be hoped tlfat a good deal of tha labour unrest recently prevalent in the min- ing districts may be pacified by the steps now taken for the establishment of national can- teens at the pitheads. There is undoubtedly a difficulty among the working population of the country, whose duties often cany them considerable distances from home, about their daily provisioning. Before the war it v. a3 comparatively easy for a man to carry h- mid-day meal with him from home, or obtain it from the hostelry nearest to work. The food-rationing scheme necess^- j hated by the war has made both these pro- cesses difficult, but there seems to be no reason why the system of National Kitchens, j which have so abundantly justified itself in j populous districts, should not also succeed in isolated areas where the number of customers may be counted upon as regular and' where hot food at moderate prices will be welcome ( ommunal treatment of the food problem tends to economy in many directions, e limina- ting at one stroke waste of time, waste of fuel, and waste of food, while the satisfaction j with the hot and comforting meals served is already pronounced. That it will be still more pronounced as the winter draws on goes | without saying, and it may be regarded as a practical certainty that both National Kirch- ens and Pithead Canteens will long outlast: j the war. 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 tll 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 re- gretted that the later instalments of a splendid crop have failed. However we an now entitled to plume ouiselves upon 'he fact that jam is coming into very general circula- tion. True, it is likely to be rationed, and probably the rationing will work out in favcr of the children, which is precisely as it should be. But there will be enough to go round and to satisfy the reasonably sweet tooth of the adult. What is likely to bo sharply checked is any tendency to profiteer- ing and hoarding. And that again is precisely as it should be. Safeguarding Flour. It is sometimes difficult for +1ie general public to appreciate the reasons for an Ord Vr' mad e by a Government Department. As i\n- instance we may quote the Flour and Brea d (Prices) Order, under which many licenced are issued far the supply and purchase ot flour for purposes other than the making of bread. Floir, for example, is used in numer- ous essential industries apart from that of food. It enters largely into the composition of sizing for cotton warps and yarns into the preparation of munition overalls; into the facing of moulds for castings into ad- hesives; into castings for Admiralty gun and torpedo gear; into paste for sealing packets and cartons of salt; into the filling of colliery brattice cloths into the dusting of cores in I brass foundries; and into other purposes that might astonish the ordinary citizen. I The ordinary paperhanger is an inveterate user of flour in his ordinary vocation, but ha may not obtain it nowadays without a licence. In fact, 60 strictly is the people's food supply safeguarded in these days of war that it is j j very difficult for any commodity suitable for human consumption to escape that destiny and to become diverted to any other purpose, j however urgent such purpose may appear to be. China Tea.-Solle 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 has been blended with some other tea that will follow later. The transport of this other tea depends upon tonnage being available.

[Continued from previous column.] doing nothing. Or rather he cannot afford to keep them at home in comfort, and, since they have been earning good wages they have become accustomed to comfort. The truth is that, after the ar, either everyone who can work must work or must be uncom- fortably poor. Our agreements between oti, selves and with employers and the Gover ment should aim at leaving people free to the work which they do best and at which ih earn most. If women ask for equal pay fo equal work, they should see to it that thev giv equal work for equal pay. And we must keep before our minds that, though strikes are 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 lie is "playing." it-a 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 more reckless than the old hands. In war-time it is not everyone for herself, but all for England I j CUT THIS OT'T. I MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES. I Braised Sirloin of Beef.—INGREDIENTS.— 2 lbs. sirloin, 2 tablespoonfuls dripping, outsidj leaves of a head of celery, 2 carrots 1 small onion, tablespoonful flour, salt, pepper. METHOD.—Bone and roll the sirloin, dredge with flour, salt and pepper. Slice the vegetablt-3 and fi-y in the di-ipp,itig. -Put in the nieat aii,i brown well on both sides. Drain off the fat, cover the bottom of the pan with boiling water, season, and simmer for twenty minutes. Put the lid on thø stew-pan and put the pan quickly into the hay-box cooker, and leave for three hours. Return to the fire for five minutes before serving. Mutton, veal and pork, boned and rolled, can be cooked in the same manner but veal and pork require 30 minutes' cookincr on; the fire and four hours in the hay-box, for a joint of 2 lb. Mutton requires sbghtly less cook- mg than beef, so that 2! lb. can be cooked in the time allowed for 2 lb. of beef. I Baked Fruit Pudding.-I.NGIZEDIEITS.-I lb. j mealy potatoes, t lb. cooking apples, 11 table- spoonfulg golden syrup, J teaspoonful ground j ginger, 1 egg, t teaspoonful baking powder. METHOD.—Wash, scrub and steam or boil the potatoes, peel and rub them through a sieve or colander. Peel and chop the apples finely. Mix the potatoes, apples, syrup and ginger, add the egg, 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 evenly if it is first mixed with t teaspoonful of flour. Put the pudding l in a greased pie-dJsh and bake in a moderate oven for an hour. Serve hot. Almost any kinci of fruit cam be used instead of applet HQ j