488 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



as to the cause of the ghost. He got the house 

 at a reduced rent, and several capital rabbit pies 

 made of the ghosts' bodies Into the bargain. — 

 Buckland/s Curiosities of Natural History. 



SHUN AFFECTATION. 

 There is nothing more beautiful in the young 

 than simplicity of character. It is honest, frank, 

 and attractive. How different is affectation ! The 

 simpleminded are always natural. They are at 

 the same time original. The affected are never 

 natural. And as for originality, if they ever had 

 it, they have crushed it out, and buried it from 

 sight, utterly. Be yourself, then, young friend ! 

 To attempt to be anybody else is worse than 

 follj'. It is an impossibility to attain it. It is 

 contemptible to try ! But suppose you could 

 succeed in imitating the greatest man that ever 

 figured in history, would that make you any the 

 gi-eater ? By no means. You would always suffer 

 in comparison with the imitated one, and be 

 thought of only as the shadow of a substance — 

 the echo of a real sound — the counterfeit of a 

 pure coin! Dr. Johnston aptly compared the 

 heartless imitator — for such is he who affects the 

 character of another — to the Empress of Russia, 

 ■when she did the freakish thing of erecting a 

 palace of ice. It was splendid and conspicuous 

 while it lasted. But the sun soon melted it, and 

 caused its attractions to dissolve into common 

 water, while the humblest stone cottages of her 

 subjects stood firm and unmarred ! Let the fabric 

 of your character, though never so humble, be at 

 least real. Avoid affecting the character of an- 

 other, however great. Build up your own. Be 

 what God intended you to be — yourself, and not 

 somebody else. Shun affectation. 



of hyperbole is so common among women that a 

 woman's criticism is generally without value. 

 Let me insist upon this thing. Be more econom- 

 ical in the use of your mother tongue. Apply 

 your terms of praise with precision ; use epithets 

 with some degree of judgment and fitness. Do 

 not waste your best and highest words upon in- 

 ferior objects, and find that when you have met 

 with something which really is superlatively 

 great and good, the terms by which you would 

 distinguish it have all been thrown away upon 

 inferior things — that you are bankrupt in ex- 

 pression. If a thing is simply good, say so ; if 

 pretty, say so ; if very pretty, say so ; if fine, say 

 so ; if very fine, say so ; if grand, say so ; if sub- 

 lime, say so ; if magnificent, say so ; if splendid, 

 say so. These words all have a different mean- 

 ings, and you may say them all of as many dif- 

 ferent objects, and not use the word "perfect" 

 once. That is a very large word. You will 

 probably be obliged to save it for application to 

 the Deity, or to His works, or to that serene rest 

 which remains for those who love Him. — Tii~ 

 comb's Letters to Young People. 



LADIES' DEPARTMENT. 



TALKING IN ECSTATIC8. 



And now that I am upon this subject of talk, 

 it'Vill be well to say all I have to say upon it. 

 It is a very common thing for young women to 

 indulge in hyperbole. A pretty dress is very apt 

 to be "perfectly splendid ;" a disagreeable per- 

 son is too often "perfectly hateful ;" a party in 

 which the company enjoyed themselves, some- 

 how liecomes transmuted into the "most delight- 

 ful thing ever seen." A young man of respecta- 

 ble parts and manly bearing is very often "such 

 a magnificent fellow !" The adjective "perfect," 

 that stands so much alone as never to have the 

 privilege of help from comparatives and superla- 

 tives, is sadly over-worked, in company with 

 several others of the intense and extravagant or- 

 der. The result is that, by the use of such lan- 

 guage as this, your opinion soon becomes value- 

 'less. 



A woman who deals only in superlatives de- 

 monstrates at once the fact that her judgment is 

 subordinate to* her feelings, and that her opin- 

 ions are entirely unreliable. All language thus 

 loses its power and significance. The same words 

 are brought into use to describe a ribbon in a 

 milliner's window, as are employed in the en- 

 deavor to do justice to Thalberg's execution of 

 Beetlioven's most heavenly symphony. The use 



domestic beceipts. 

 Important Hint in Washing Clothes. — 

 The American Agriculturist asserts that the great 

 secret of the success of nine out of ten of the 

 washing fluids, mixtures, and machines which 

 have been sold over the country for many years 

 past, is not owing so much to the inherent qual- 

 ities of the articles themselves as to the process 

 of soaking, which they invariably recommend. 

 If people pursuing the old-fashioned system of 

 washing will simply take the precaution to throw 

 all the clothing to be washed into water ten or 

 fifteen hours before beginning operations, they 

 will find half the labor of rubbing and pounding 

 saved in most cases. Water is of itself, a great 

 solvent, even of the oily materials that collect 

 upon clothing worn in contact with the body, 

 but time is required to effect the solution. Every 

 one is aware of the effect of keeping the hands or 

 feet moist for a few hours — the entire external 

 coating of secretion is/lissolved. The same ef- 

 fect is produced by soaking for a few hours 

 clothes soiled by the excretory matter of the skin. 



Home-Made Figs. — Will you encourage home 

 manufacturers so far as to publish these recipes ? 



Pare and core pears, peaches, or quinces, (or 

 tomatoes :) make a syrup, flavored with lemon 

 peel. Boil the fruit till done, then drain it 

 through a colander, and spread on dishes ; place 

 in the sunshine, or in a moderately heated stove, 

 till nearly dry ; sprinkle with loaf sugar ; dry a 

 little more ; then pack them in boxes, and put in 

 a cool place. Figs made in this way are consid- 

 erdS superior to real imported figs. When to- 

 matoes are used, they should be the straw-col- 

 ored fig tomatoes. — Lilly, in Zion's Herald. 



Erysipelas. — A correspondent of the Provi- 

 dence Journal says, that in ninety-nine cases out 

 of every hundred, cranberries applied as a poul- 

 tice will effectually cure the erysipelas. There is 

 not an instance known where it has failed to ef- 

 fect a cure, when faithfully applied before the 

 sufferer was in a dying state. Tavo or three ap- 

 plications generally do the work. 



