11 



plished that would not even make an artistic dishcloth. In the 

 hall below, the farmer does not bring a bin of small potatoes or 

 two hundred baby squashes, or ears of corn with kernels that 

 mice would have to use a microscope to see ; he singles out his 

 finest, till we wonder at the earth's powers. Let the woman 

 heed the same impiilse that makes her husband ashamed to 

 place inferior vegetables or fruits in contiguity with his neigh- 

 bor's magnificent specimens. 



The rug and quilt department found many admirers. There 

 were a greater number than ever before, and an increase that 

 is most commendable, for comfort and usefulness speak from 

 their very textuies. We are glad to see the })atch quilt lose 

 none of -its prestige. The avidity for white quilts and many 

 blankets for bed wear is making inroads on this industry. 



The young housekeeper who runs up the few seams, to make 

 the comforter top of but a single kind of calico, and smiles 

 at the ancient custom of cutting it iuto small pieces and sewing 

 it together again, has the more forcible side of the argument, I 

 agree ; but she will ever hold in reverence the patch quilt her 

 mother gave her, and it will prove, in her da^^s of care, a 

 souvenir of a mother's goodness and exemplified patience 

 under like trials. There is sentiment in a patch quilt, though 

 so domestic in its make and so allied to the old homelv life. I 

 use the word homely, not in the sense of ugly, but as plain and 

 home-like, and full of c<^nif()rt. But, generally, there is an 

 utiliz ition »)f else worthless bits, and slumber is sweet under 

 one when we ourselves practice those economies of trifles of 

 time that she does who constructs one. 



The rugs were a study. " Wh}^ the}^ are almost as hand- 

 some as Persian rugs," a lady said to me. So they were ; the 

 shaded flowers upon them had brought the aesthetic from a 

 chaos of erst most prosy rags. There is a sense of comfort in 



