OUR 1I0:\IES. 



10 



ova. HOMKS. 



i;y a. I. HOOT. 



^^ERILVPS I ought to s:i3^ "Chapter VI," 

 fc£r and i^o ahead, but I do dearly love to 

 stop occasionally amid iny duties and have a 

 ■'•^alk." jMy sister once remarked to my -svife 

 durinjj; a visit after an absence of several 

 years, "Does he still persist iu having 'long 

 talks' iu the morning, with one stocking part- 

 ly on, before he puts on the other?" Chapter 

 V, lias brought mit so many good ideas from 

 our readers tliat v»e really are not ready for 

 Ciiaptei VI, just yet. Am! now I won't talk 

 any more, but will give place for somethin^j to 

 the point, from one of our much esteemed wri- 

 ters on bee culture. 



FRIEND NOVICE :— Your first chiiiiters, I thought 

 M iTi' .sproiifl a little loo far tor the i!ifovui:itiou ;i:ive;i, but 

 Viiieu the Dec. No. caiue to h:Mi(t, 1 couiil not help but 

 oll'er you my best wi.shos. Auil uiiiy (ioil bless your etiorts 

 in tlio direction of refonii — esju'ci^illy ujion tlie food ques- 

 tiou. Two years a'jro yoiu' Imnible serva'.it wns a m-i-s-e-r- 

 a-h-t-(! dysporitic. disa'-:n't';iblc to iumself and to his wlioJe 

 fainih. cross as fury, and Oli ! }io\v bhie — not a sj^ark of 

 Ohrisiiiuity for auythiu-.c. ^iivini;: everything and every- 

 body a ray. Even Novice got it through the A. B. J. 

 AVell, frisnd N., to make a long story .sliort, as the old Irish 

 women say, I got hold of "Oin- Digestion" by Dio Lewis, 

 and found out 1 iiad been eating loo much.' Vv'hal a big 

 fool 1 was of course not to know such a siuijilc thing be- 

 fore. I cut short my rations and set sail for the distant 

 old age harbor, by a hyi-'icnic course of living. But Oh ! 

 what a time of self d(!ni-il ; though I have conquered, not 

 only that, l)ut the well uieaniiig ])rotests of pu-rent.s, wife 

 and friends. For nearly two years my course has been 

 onward and upward. Health and spirits lui\c returned 

 and, do you believe it V avoirdujiois is gaining on me. 

 Though still far from lieiiig a Christian, my mind is in a 

 bettor frame for such iulluiMicos than ever before. 



Oatmeal is my main stay, and two meals per day du- 

 ling the winter, two meals and a light sujiiier in summer. 

 _ We need a great deal of ))re:icliiug to reform our aiipe- 

 tites. To deny ourselves the deUi-lit of putting everything 

 into our stomnchs that tastes g(x>d. is a great trial, and 

 but few can withstand the temi)tation. There is more 

 intemperance around our tables "than in the dram shojx 

 Just think of the intemperance on thanksgiving day. I 

 sat at the same ^abl^ with a Rev. gentleman wlio is a 

 leading temperance reformer, and has tins very evening 

 been aidi'essing an audience njion the e\^ils of King Alco- 

 hol ; slill this gentlemin got through a plate of "oyster 

 soup, a course of turkey, a course of chicken, dressings 

 with both, bread and butter, sauce, cakes, two kinds of 

 pie, and tvio cups of tea. 



There are thousands like him .sinning in ignor.aiice. 

 Millions of dollars arc thrown away upon oin- stomaclis. 

 The poor man has the power to become rich liy simply 

 denyimr self in this matter ; rich, not only in this' world's 

 goods, but in Iiealth and happiness. But'fricnd N., if vou 

 don't want long letters you should luA get ycau'self in 

 sympathy with your leaders. 1 have just received your 

 "House Apiary," th-mks for it. 



I remain fraternally yours on bread and butter as well 

 ashecs. Self Deniaj,. 



We would most earnestly advise the afflict- 

 ed, to read Dio Lewis' book, which we have 

 added to our book list, and we fear there are 

 A-ery few indeed who would not be profited by 

 his jovial and heavy blows toward the intem- 

 perance that exists in our own homes. Up 

 to this date — Dec. 3Sth— I am still making 

 baked apples and brown bread and milk, the 

 principal part of my diet, and I am more hap- 

 py than I can teil, to say that my healtJi was 

 nevier better. For the 'past four years, I had 

 been obliged, every few months, to take up a 

 diet of lean meat — "beef steak diet" as it is! 

 called — and of course I soon became so weary I 

 of it that I ate only enough to keep from starv- 

 ing, thus giving outraged nature ample oppor- | 

 tiinity to dispose of all "rubbish," and to get i 



her machinery into nice working ti'iiii, v.liich 

 she always did sooner or later; and I would 

 have "got mad" in a minute, had any one in- 

 timated that /was in the habit ot eating to') 

 much; "why, I often ate so littic that I be- 

 came iuingry and faint long befure diiinei- 

 time." I may be wrong, but it seems b; nu- 

 we can eat almost what we plea.se, if we only 

 take it in moderation, and avoiii too great a 

 variety at one time. It is astonishing huv,' 

 small a quantity of food will kee]) una in uui; I 

 health, after nature has once every tiiii..:^ 

 working nicely, audit is equally astonishihv; 

 how great a buautitj'^ inay be put down 11.. 

 throat of one who has clogged liis machinery 

 until it is all out of order, and even then the 

 poor soul goes hungry stiil. To i)e sure if you 

 are doing hard labor in the cool, open air, you 

 will need more food ; but it is those who an- 

 mostly indoors that are to be pitied, because 

 the}' have access lo all the dainties of our land 

 and then are "not happy." 



CHAPTER VI. 



"Take care of the pennies, cU\^^~Fr<t_nkUn. 



A school teacher of much experience once 

 made the remark that she did not like to have 

 her money iu small change because she was so 

 much more likely to pay it out — another per- 

 son of good strong sense and culture objected 

 to having a debt ])aid in little dribs, in butter 

 and eggs for instance, and gave as a reason 

 that "every body knew" that amounts received 

 in this way did not go as far, that it all went 

 one W'ay and another and the result was that 

 he should really get little or nothing for what 

 was uioney all in a lump. In mentioning this 

 matter I have been almost invaiiably met with 

 quite a universal opinion that any body would 

 be more likely to purchase little trinkets they 

 did not need, if they kept small change loose in 

 their pockets. Alas for humanity ! if they can- 

 not be trusted with their own money, their 

 own sugar, their own children, and with their 

 own tempers, how in the workl are they to be 

 trusted with any thing belonging to the neigh- 

 bors? Is not all this only a species of weak- 

 ness that we ought to be ashamed of? What 

 do you think of the man who dare not keep 

 the money, lie has, by hard scraping, saved up 

 to pay his rent, near him, lest he pay it out 

 for something else 'i Would it nut be a more 

 manly way to take into careful consideration 

 the salary received, and then coolly decide 

 just what we can lUlbrd to pay out, and make 

 ourselves conform to that decisieui V Among 

 your acquaintances, which are the most useful, 

 those who are always ready and able to t!o 

 just as they agree, or those who are continual- 

 ly being disappointed by some very peculiar 

 and nutbresoen combination of circumstances ? 

 ?ilany people have a liat)it of saving up their 

 "nickles," when they wish to make a purchase 

 without "feeling it," as they term it, and per- 

 haps it would be out of place to condemn such 

 a harmless way of cheating ones' self. Every 

 little while some customer brings us a heavy 

 box full of pennies ami nickles to be exchanged 

 for silver s])Oons, and if we take the probable 

 ground that tlie amount was saved up from 

 what would otherwise have been wasted, it 

 would be rather hard to decide the custom a 



