A FEW MINUTES of any woman's time is well spent if she will read what Lydia E.

Pinkham's Vegetable Compound does for sick and ailing women.

"ONE OF YOUR LITTLE BOOKS"

"I took Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound for weakness and female disorders. I was so weak at times that I could not stand up. I had been this way for nearly three years, and the different medicines I had taken had not done me any good. I found one of your little books at my door one day and thought I would give your medicine a trial. I am now on my fifth bottle and it is wonderful the way it has helped me. I am feeling much better, have no weak spells, and can do all my work now. I am recommending your Vegetable Compound to all I know."

MRS. CASEY LEMERY, 176 Abbott St., Brockville, Ontario.

MOCK MEAT CAKES [Ill.u.s.tration]

Ingredients 1/2 cup dried peas or beans 5 medium potatoes 1/2 cup grated cheese 1/2 cup fine breadcrumbs 1 egg (beaten) 1 tablespoon melted bacon fat salt and pepper

Method--Soak peas or beans over night, then boil until very tender. Boil and mash potatoes. Add mashed beans, grated cheese, bread-crumbs, beaten egg, bacon fat and seasonings. When cool shape into cakes, dip into cornmeal and fry.

WHY ARE SOME WOMEN happy, beloved, and successful, while others drag out a negative existence, of no use to themselves or anyone else? Except in a few cases the answer is to be found in a state of freedom from the troubles known as "female." The well woman radiates cheerfulness and serenity, while the ailing one repels you with her despondency. It is not necessary, however, to harbor aches and pains, and the "blues," which make one a detriment to society. The use of Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound has brought relief to such women, and given them a new lease of life.

"A GENERAL RUN-DOWN CONDITION"

"I was in a general run-down condition, with a weak back and tired feeling, so that I did not feel like working. My mother was taking Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound and recommended it to me, so I have taken it, and my back is better and I am now able to do my work. I recommend the Vegetable Compound to my neighbors and you may publish this letter."

MRS. JOSEPHAT A. GRENIER, Hesketh, Alberta.

DRY BEAN CHOWDER [Ill.u.s.tration]

Ingredients 1 cup dried beans 2 slices bacon (diced) 1 can corn 1 can tomatoes salt and pepper cracker crumbs

Method--Soak the beans over night and boil until tender. Drain into a fire-proof ca.s.serole. Try out the fat from the bacon until it is perfectly crisp, care being taken that it is not burned. Then add corn, seasoning and tomatoes. Mix all and add to beans. Sprinkle cracker crumbs over the top and bake twenty-five minutes. Serve from the ca.s.serole.

IN THIS GENERATION it is 'the style' to be healthy. Our heroines no longer languish and faint. They are all healthy girls and women who do a day's work or play just as a man does. If some of us are not so healthy as this, we try to be and take Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound when we feel the need.

"I WAS A TOTAL WRECK"

"Before using Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound I was a total wreck.

I had terrible pains in my sides and was not regular. Finally I got so weak I could not go upstairs without stopping to rest halfway up. I saw your medicine advertised in the newspapers and gave it a trial. I took four bottles of the Vegetable Compound and was restored to health. I am married, am the mother of two children, and do all my own housework, milk eight cows and do a hired man's work and enjoy the best of health.

I also found the Vegetable Compound a great help for my weak back before my babies were born. I recommend it to all my friends."

MRS. HENRY JANKE, Marmion, Ontario.

COOKING HINTS [Ill.u.s.tration]

Never throw away the feet of a fowl as they are excellent for making soups, broths and jellies. You can buy extra feet from the butcher. Dip them in boiling water for a few seconds and they may be readily skinned.

Boil with the chicken until they fall to pieces, then strain the broth.

Before baking potatoes let them stand in hot water for fifteen minutes.

They will require only half the time to bake.

Pour boiling water on oranges and let them stand for five minutes. This will make the white lining come away from the skin and they will be easier to prepare for a pudding.

ANY HOSPITAL EXPERIENCE is painful as well as costly and frequently dangerous. Many women have avoided this experience by taking Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound in time, thereby relieving the present distress and preventing the development of conditions that might require an operation.

"THEY SAID I NEEDED AN OPERATION"

"I suffered from the time I was a schoolgirl until I had taken your medicine with pain in my left side and with cramps, growing worse each year until I was all rundown. I was so bad at times that I was unfit for work. I tried several doctors and patent medicines but was only relieved for a short time. Some of the doctors wanted to have an operation, but my father objected. Finally I learned through my mother of Lydia E.

Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, and how thankful I am that I tried it. I am relieved from pains and cramps and feel as if it has saved my life.

You may use my letter to help other women, as I am glad to recommend the medicine."

MRS. H.A. GOODMAN, 14 Rockvale Ave., Toronto, Ontario.

HINTS AND HELPS [Ill.u.s.tration]

The common nut-cracker makes a splendid little household wrench for cans and bottles with screw tops. Even gla.s.s stoppers will yield to it.

A pair of scissors in the pantry to cut up raisins, suet, citron, etc., is easier to use then the chopper. A metal shoe-horn that has a hole in the top to hang it up by, makes a good kettle sc.r.a.per.

Use a bicycle pump to clean such parts of the sewing machine as you cannot reach with a cloth or with an old tooth brush.

Save the sand-paper which comes on the match-boxes and use it for sc.r.a.ping, cleaning, etc.

Ammonia water will remove the cloudy appearance from the preserve jars in which vegetables have been canned.

THE BEST ADVERTISED MEDICINE in the world is the medicine which has the most friends.

"It HAS DONE SO MUCH FOR WOMEN"

"I took Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound for years, and it is the only patent medicine I ever recommend. I am a nurse, and if I find a woman is in poor health I always tell her to take it. Although you know doctors and nurses do not use patent medicines I must say that I think there is nothing better than your Vegetable Compound. When I first took it many years ago, I was that tired when I got up in the morning that I was weak and I could not eat nor sleep. My mother-in-law told me that Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound was just what I wanted, so I tried it, and only took two bottles when I felt better. Since then I have found that there is nothing that makes me feel so well, for it seems to build my system right up. I don't know any other medicine that has done so much for women."

MRS. W.H. PARKER, 19 Wellesley Ave., Toronto, Ontario.

DUTCH CHEESE [Ill.u.s.tration]

Ingredients 1 quart sour milk 1/3 to 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup sour or sweet cream (or 1 large tablespoon b.u.t.ter)

Method--The milk should be freshly sour to get the best flavor. This is best obtained by adding a little sour milk to five or six times the amount of sweet milk. It should be kept in a warm place (the back of the stove) until the curd of the milk is thick and smooth and the whey is watery and has risen to the top. Drain in a cheese cloth bag until dry.

Add cream (or b.u.t.ter) and salt. If the process needs to be hurried stir into the milk a cup full of nearly boiling water. Leave to settle before draining. As the cheese is very rich in protein it easily becomes tough by overheating. For the same reason it is very nourishing.

THE CONTINUED SUCCESS of a medicine depends entirely upon its merit. For nearly fifty years Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound has been demonstrating its worth among women as a valuable medicine for the treatment of female ills, and the tremendous volume of letters on file in the Pinkham laboratory at Lynn, Ma.s.sachusetts, from grateful women in all parts of the United States and Canada is ample proof of its merit.

"A LOT OF GOOD"

"I had female troubles for two years. I always had a headache and a pain in my side, and sometimes I felt so weak that I could not do my work. A friend advised me to take Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound and I have taken six bottles of it. It has done me a lot of good and I am still taking it. I will tell my friends of your medicine and hope they will try it."

MRS. CAMILLE DesROCHE, Miscouche, Prince Edward's Island.

CAKE-MAKING Success in cake-making depends on careful combining of ingredients, accurate measurements and careful baking. To make cake light and close in texture, thorough beating is necessary.

Baking--Small and layer cakes require a hot oven for 10 to 20 minutes.

Loaf cakes need a moderate oven from 40 to 60 minutes. In the beginning the oven should be hot enough to cause the cake to rise and then to form a crust which holds the gases. When the cake has risen to its full height decrease the heat so that the cake may finish baking without becoming too brown. If the oven is too hot at first a crust will be formed before the cake is risen. If not hot enough, gas will not be retained in the cake. Either of these conditions will make the cake heavy.

Testing--The cake is baked if, when pressed lightly upon the top in the middle, it springs back again. It usually shrinks from the sides of the pan. A deep cake may be tested with a clean straw.

Methods of work--First grease and flour the pans. Collect all materials and utensils needed and make sure that the oven will be ready. Do this before combining any materials.

WE READ a good deal about "Pre-Natal Care"--the care of the mother before her child is born--and we all agree that a healthy and happy mother is the one to have the best babies.