Johnny  Jones  for  President. 
THIS  year  we  shall  elect  a  new  President,  they  say, 
and  perhaps  we  shall  do  the  same  every  fourth 
year  for  a  long  time  to  come.  Now.  I  have  been  won¬ 
dering  how  Johnny  Jones  would  do  for  President — not 
now,  of  course,  nor  very  soon,  but  “  some  day.” 
You  laugh  at  that,  a  little  sheepishly,  don’t  you, 
Johnny  ?  You  think  it  is  a  fine  bit  of  nonsense,  and 
Jamie  Brown  agrees  with  you.  You  are  only  farmers’ 
boys,  and  not  very  big  boys  yet,  and  it  is  so  very 
ridiculous  even  to  mention  such  a  thing  ! 
But,  see  here,  Johnnie  and  Jamie,  do  you  know  how 
many  Presidents  we  have  had,  and  can  you  mention 
all  their  names  without  making  a  mistake  ?  Benjamin 
Harrison  is  No.  23.  The  list  is  longer  than  it  was  when 
I  used  to  say  them  over  at  school  in  sing-song  with  the 
rest  of  the  boys  and  girls,  “  George  Washington, 
George  Washington;  John  Adams,  John  Adams,”  etc. 
Now  you  just  think  them  over,  and  see  if  you  don’t 
find  that  although  there  haven’t  been  any  Joneses  and 
Browns  among  them,  there  have  been  three  Johnnies 
and  five  Jamies.  Of  course,  they  were  called  John  and 
James  when  they  became  men,  but  I’ll  warrant  their 
mothers  called  them  Johnny  and  Jamie  even  when  they 
were  Presidents. 
But  there  were  two  or  three  of  the  Presidents  who 
had  a  much  harder  task  in  governing  the  country  than 
the  others  had,  and  they  did  it  so  well  that  they  are 
called  our  greatest  Presidents.  Everybody  loves  to 
think  and  talk  of  them  more  than  of  most  of  the  others, 
and  that  is  the  very  reason  why  I  can  guess  that  you 
are  better  acquainted  with  them  than  with  the  rest, 
(except,  perhaps,  one  or  two  of  the  last,  whom  you  can 
remember.)  The  names  of  two  of  them  are  Washing¬ 
ton  and  Lincoln.  You  have  heard  of  them  till  you  are 
almost  tired  of  them,  haven’t  you?  But  did  you  get  it 
fixed  in  your  mind  that  they  were  farmers’  boys  like 
yourselves,  when  they  were  young  ?  And  there  was 
James  A.  Garfield  (one  of  the  Jamies)  who  was  shot  only 
11  years  ago;  he  hadn’t  any  father  to  send  him  to 
school,  but  he  was  a  farm  boy.  How  much  better 
chance,  Johnny,  do  you  think  these  boys  had  when 
they  were  young,  than  you  have?  YVhat  do  you  think, 
Jamie?  I  don’t  believe  you  can  answer  that  question, 
because,  I  didn’t  put  it  to  you  in  the  right  way.  If  I 
had  said:  How  much  better  chance  do  you  have  than 
Washington  and  Lincoln  and  Garfield  had?  you  would 
have  thought  I  made  a  mistake,  but  that  is  what  1  ought 
to  have  said.  What  do  you  suppose  makes  the  differ¬ 
ence  between  your  chance  and  theirs?  It  is  the  school 
more  than  anything  else.  Garfield  had  to  work  for 
something  to  eat,  and  go  to  school  between  times,  the 
little  he  could:  there  were  very  few  good  schools  when 
Washington  was  a  boy,  so  that  none  of  the  boys  had  a 
very  good  chance,  and  Washington  went  to  school  only 
until  he  was  16  years  old:  while  Lincoln’s  parents  were 
so  poor  that  he  had  but  a  few  months’  schooling  in  all, 
and  he  was  obliged  to  work  to  help  the  family  make  a 
living,  even  as  a  farm  hand,  or  “hired  man.”  Don’t 
you  see  that  your  chance  is  ever  so  much  better  than 
was  theirs  ? 
Then,  how  did  they  ever  gain  that  high  office  ?  By 
doing  just  the  best  they  could,  in  every  single  thing 
they  tried,  and  Johnny  and  Jamie  can  both  do  that, 
and  who  knows  what  may  happen  when  they  have 
become  men  ?  There  was  once  a  boy  who  told  Presi¬ 
dent  Lincoln  that  he  did  not  want  to  be  President,  and 
Mr.  Lincoln  said  he  was  glad  of  it,  for  it  was  too  hard 
work.  All  the  same,  every  boy  would  like  to  be  clever 
enough  to  be  President,  and  why  should  it  not  be 
Johnny  Jones?  Johnny  has  a  great  many  years  yet 
in  which  to  get  ready  to  be  President,  for  the  youngest 
man  who  was  ever  made  President,  General  Grant, 
was  47  years  old  at  that  time.  Wouldn’t  it  be  too  great 
a  pity  if  Johnny  should  neglect  some  of  his  chances, 
so  that  when  his  great  chance  comes  he  will  not  be 
ready  for  it,  and  some  other  one,  perhaps  Jamie 
Brown,  will  be  in  the  White  House  in  the  place  that 
ought  to  have  been  Johnny’s  ? 
Home  and  Comfort  Versus  Style. 
GIVE  a  man  wealth,  power,  a  beautiful  house,  and 
every  luxury  that  money  can  buy,  yet  without 
a  woman  at  the  helm  to  plan  and  direct  his  house¬ 
hold  affairs,  .even  if  she  is  no  more  to  him  than  an 
intelligent  housekeeper  working  for  wages,  he  cannot 
have  a  home.  She  is  necessary  in  order  to  give  his 
mansion  the  appearance  of  one. 
Home-making  belongs  to  women  exclusively,  al¬ 
though  all  women  do  not  possess  the  gift  of  making  a 
pleasant  one.  When,  therefore,  we  realize  how  depen¬ 
dent  the  men  of  the  nation  are  on  our  efforts  at  home¬ 
making.  we  ought  surely  to  do  our  best. 
A  man  may  provide  every  comfort  and  many  luxur¬ 
ies,  yet  if  his  womankind  have  not  the  faculty  of  home¬ 
making,  his  house  will  in  reality  be  only  a  place  to 
stop  at,  and  often  a  very  uncomfortable  place  at  that. 
How  many  such  homes  are  there  !  There  are  also 
many  of  which  a  man  will  say,  on  his  return  from  his 
day’s  work,  as  he  catches  a  glimpse  of  the  home  light, 
and  thinks  of  the  interior  in  comparison  with  other 
homes,  many  of  which  may  be  more  luxurious,  “  That 
light  looks  the  pleasantest  of  all.”  A  remark  like  this 
should  repay  a  woman  for  the  time  and  patience  she 
has  spent  in  making  the  home  pleasant  and  homelike. 
There  are  all  kinds  of  homes;  but  the  comfortable 
home  “  is  not  built  in  a  day.”  It  has  to  be  built  little 
by  little,  every  article  of  furniture  having  an  individ¬ 
uality  of  its  own,  from  the  comfortable  sofa  with  a 
pillow  not  too  nice  to  rest  one’s  head  on,  or  the  easy 
chair  which  is  not  too  stylish  or  too  handsomely  dec¬ 
orated  with  ribbons  or  tidies  for  a  man  to  sit  in,  to  the 
bouquet  of  grasses  or  flowers  on  the  old-fashioned 
table  which  can  be  drawn  out  into  the  room  when  the 
family  are  ready  to  sit  down  together  in  the  evening, and 
which  is  large  enough  to  accommodate  the  books  and 
work  baskets  of  all  the  members.  Such  things  make 
up  the  home  as  no  amount  of  style  or  elegant  furniture 
can  do. 
If  I  were  to  mention  one  prominent  thing  that 
spoils  many  homes,  I  should  say  style,  or  trying  to  copy 
after  one’s  neighbors.  Those  homes  that  are  real 
homes  are  all  made  up  on  a  different  plan,  and  each 
shows  the  tastes  and  habits  of  its  inmates.  It  is  very 
easy  to  see  when  one  enters  a  home  whether  the  family 
cares  for  books  or  pictures  or  curios.  One  home  may 
fairly  revel  in  mechanical  contrivances,  while  another 
will  show  a  taste  for  literature,  music  or  art,  even  if 
the  pictures  and  curios  are  of  home  manufacture. 
Another  will  abound  in  antique  furniture,  in  many 
cases  brought  down  from  the  attic  and  renovated  with¬ 
out  destroying  its  charm.  The  antique  style  seems 
particularly  appropriate  for  our  country  homes,  and 
when  our  city  cousins  are  paying  great  prices  for  high 
post  bedsteads,  rag  carpets  and  old  chairs  with  which 
to  fit  up  their  chambers,  surely  we  are  rich  if  we  have 
these  and  can  afford  to  use  them  :  not  that  country 
homes  are  any  pleasanter  for  being  modelled  after 
city  homes,  but  this  style  is  even  more  suitable  for  our 
plain  country  houses  than  the  more  modern  styles. 
Some  of  the  recent  modes  of  furnishing  are  totally 
unsuited  to  a  plain,  old-fashioned  farm  house,  and  the 
effect  is  often  more  ludicrous  than  pleasant.  It  always 
reminds  me  of  a  country  farmer  who  on  summer 
evenings  used  to  don  a  fancy  figured  dressing-gown 
that  some  of  his  city  cousins  had  presented  him  with. 
As  he  was  extremly  fond  of  going  barefooted  at  the 
same  time,  it  rather  detracted  from  the  dignity  of  the 
gown;  and  as  he  often  ran  in  at  the  next  door  neighbor’s 
to  make  a  friendly  call,  there  was  many  a  smile  at  his 
expense. 
“  When  you  live  with  the  Romans  do  as  the  Romans 
do,”  is  very  good  advice — always  safe  to  follow.  You 
need  not  go  without  shoes  or  eat  in  the  kitchen,  etc.  ; 
yet  a  sun  hat  is  more  appropriate  to  wear  berrying 
than  the  most  beautiful  opera  hat  would  be:  and  a  plain 
print  or  gingham  is  more  suitable  to  wear  while  doing 
kitchen  work  or  for  a  morning  dress  in  the  country 
than  embroidered  muslin  or  China  silk  ;  while  your 
friends  will  enjoy  visiting  you  better  if  you  meet 
them  at  the  door  with  true  country  hospitality  than  if 
you  keep  them  waiting  15  minutes  when  the  ther¬ 
mometer  registers  90  degrees,  because  your  city  cous¬ 
ins  have  taught  you  that  it  isn’t  good  form  to  hasten 
to  the  door. 
Don’t  put  on  airs !  When  you  live  in  the  country 
with  nature  all  around  you,  be  your  own  natural  self, 
and  be  comfortable.  As  Mrs.  Ruggles  says:  “It’s 
awful  bothersome  to  stan’  around  and  act  stylish.” 
Don’t  try  it,  girls !  It  only  spoils  you.  You  can  be 
intelligent,  polite  and  kind,  but  “for  pity’s  sake” 
don’t  try  to  act  stylish.  A  daisy  or  buttercup  or  violet 
is  quite  as  attractive  as  the  more  gaudy,  vile-scented 
golden  rod  which  some  fashionable  people  rave  over, 
and  can  bear  the  comparison  well ;  while  the  meadow' 
lark’s  natural  song  is  more  delightful  than  if  he  tried 
to  sing  an  opera  air.  If  you  are  a  country  girl  or 
woman  let  your  house  be  a  country  home,  a  place  of 
comfort  and  simplicity,  with  a  homey,  hospitable  air 
pervading  every  nook  and  corner,  the  kind  which 
will  rest  and  refresh  your  home  friends  and  be  a 
delight  to  transient  guests,  making  them  strong  to  go 
forth  and  battle  with  the  world  when  necessity  calls, 
yet  ever  drawing  them  back  to  the  home  fireside  in 
thought  and  memory;  and.  when  occasion  permits,  the 
home  light  will  shine  forth  brightly,  beckoning  them 
with  joy  and  gladness  toward  the  home  that  is  a  home. 
You  will  rejoice  as  you  hear  them  say,  “  That  light 
looks  the  pleasantest  of  any,”  for  you  know  that  be¬ 
hind  that  light  is  the  memory  of  happy  hours,  profitably 
spent,  as  well  as  the  present  kind  comfort  and  love, 
in  place  of  what  is,  (figuratively  speaking)  the  chaff 
of  life  which  never  satisfies,  style.  ALICE  E.  pinney. 
The  Girl  Who  Whistles. 
PROPOS  of  the  favor  given  to  young  ladies  who 
now  whistle  in  public  entertainments  or  in  pri¬ 
vate  drawing  rooms  to  add  to  the  pleasure  of  guests, 
Mr.  Charles  Dudley  Warner,  in  Harper’s  Magazine,  dis¬ 
cusses  the  whistling  girl.  Referring  to  the  old  couplet 
about  “  whistling  girls  and  crowing  hens,”  he  asserts 
that  the  whistling  girl  does  not  commonly  come  to  a 
bad  end.  Quite  as  often  as  any  other  girl  she  learns  to 
whistle  a  cradle  song,  low  and  sweet  and  charming,  to 
the  young  voter  in  the  cradle.  She  is  a  girl  of  spirit, 
of  independence,  of  character,  of  dash  and  flavor  ;  and 
as  to  lips,  why,  you  must  have  some  sort  of  presentable 
lips  to  whistle  ;  thin  ones  will  not.  The  whistling  girl 
does  not  come  to  a  bad  end  at  all  (if  marriage  is  still 
considered  a  good  occupation),  except  a  cloud  may  be 
thrown  upon  her  exuberant  young  life  by  this  rascally 
proverb.  Even  if  she  walks  the  lonely  road  of  life,  she 
has  this  advantage  that  she  can  whistle  to  keep  her 
courage  up.  But  in  a  larger  sense,  one  that  this  prac¬ 
tical  age  can  understand,  it  is  not  true  that  the  whis¬ 
tling  girl  comes  to  a  bad  end.  Whistling  pays.  It  has 
brought  her  money  ;  it  has  blown  her  name  about  the 
listening  world.  Scarcely  has  non-whistling  woman 
been  more  famous.  She  has  set  aside  the  adage.  She 
has  done  so  much  toward  the  emancipation  of  her  sex 
from  the  prejudice  created  by  an  ill-natured  proverb 
which  never  had  root  in  fact. 
But  has  the  whistling  woman  come  to  stay  ?  Is  it 
well  for  women  to  whistle  ?  Are  the  majority  of  women 
likely  to  be  whistlers  ?  These  are  serious  questions, 
not  to  be  taken  up  in  a  light  manner  at  the  very  end  of  a 
grave  paper.  Will  woman  ever  learn  to  throw  a  stone  ? 
There  it  is.  The  future  is  inscrutable.  We  only  know 
that  whereas  they  did  not  whistle  with  approval,  now 
they  do  ;  the  prejudice  of  generations  gradually  melts 
away.  And  woman’s  destiny  is  not  linked  with  that  of 
the  hen.  nor  to  be  controlled  by  a  proverb — perhaps 
not  by  anything. 
Waiting  on  Table. 
THE  expert  waitress  will  arrange  her  sideboard 
and  side  table  with  as  much  care  as  she  does  the 
table  itself.  These  two  accessories  should  hold  every¬ 
thing  that  may,  can  or  shall  be  needed.  The  side¬ 
board  may  be  left  uncovered  if  the  table  is  uncovered. 
If  the  table  is  draped,  a  suitable  cloth  must  be  laid  on 
the  sideboard.  A  side  table  should  always  be  draped. 
Use  this  for  hot  dishes  without  stands.  The  sideboard 
should  hold  in  readiness  extra  plates,  knives,  forks, 
spoons,  tumblers,  napkins,  fine  sugar  for  the  pearled 
oats,  a  pitcher  of  water  and  a  pitcher  of  milk. 
On  the  side  table  should  be  plenty  of  space  for  what¬ 
ever  hot  dishes  are  to  be  placed  upon  it,  including  the 
muffin  dish,  a  silver  tray  for  placing  and  removing 
everything  that  is  not  soiled  :  another  tray,  either  of 
silver  or  carved  wood,  for  removing  that  which  is 
soiled,  a  small  napkin  for  taking  up  quickly  anything 
that  may  be  spilled,  and  a  large  napkin  or  neat  towel 
to  be  used  in  an  emergency,  such  as  the  accidental  over¬ 
throwing  of  a  glass  of  milk  or  a  cup  of  coffee. 
When  she  thinks  that  all  is  ready,  the  waitress  should 
ask  and  answer  every  one  of  these  questions : 
Does  the  table  need  anything  more  ? 
Is  the  sideboard  perfectly  arranged  ? 
Consumption  carries  off  many  of  its 
victims  needlessly.  It  can  be  stopped 
sometimes  ;  sometimes  it  cannot. 
It  is  as  cruel  to  raise  false  hopes  as  it  is 
weak  to  yield  to  false  fears. 
There  is  a  way  to  help  within  the  reach 
of  most  who  are  threatened — careful 
living  and  Scott’s  Emulsion  of  cod-liver 
oil. 
Let  us  send  a  book  on  the  subject ; 
free 
Scott  &  Bowne,  Chemists,  132  South  5th  Avenue,  New  York. 
Your  druggist  keeps  Scott’s  Emulsion  of  cod-liver  oil— all  druggists 
everywhere  do.  *1 
•1 
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