Advance !  is  the  Word. 
NE  afternoon  last  week  a  young  lady  and  a 
gentleman  from  two  of  New  York’s  busy  offices 
chanced  to  occupy  the  same  seat  in  the  cars  as  they 
sought  their  homes  20  miles  distant  from  the  great 
city.  The  gentleman,  thinking  to  help  relieve  the 
tedium  of  a  trip  which  grows  so  monotonous  when 
taken  twice  daily  for  months  and  years,  handed  his 
companion  a  copy  of  The  R.  N.-Y.  to  look  over.  As 
she  dipped  into  it  here  and  there,  he  noticed  that 
the  woman’s  pages  were  turned  without  even  a  glance, 
and  he  said,  surprisedly:  “Aren’t  you  interested  in 
the  Woman’s  Department?  I  supposed  that  was  just 
the  part  that  you  would  care  for.” 
Now  the  girl  was  pretty,  and  ladylike,  yet  she  did 
yield  to  the  tendency  of  the  times  and  say  “  Oh!  that’s 
nothing  but  a  chestnut;  how  to  wash  dishes,  and  make 
beds,  and  cut  down  stockings,  and  crochet  edgings  that 
can  be  bought  more  cheaply — all  things  that  every 
woman  has  known  how  to  do  all  her  life.  They’re  all 
alike,  these  women’s  columns.  They  have  to  be,  be¬ 
cause  there  isn’t  anything  new  to  say.” 
Still,  as  if  in  deference  to  her  seatmate’s  expectation 
as  to  what  she  ought  to  do,  she  turned  to  the  previ¬ 
ously-slighted  pages,  and  began  to  read.  Presently,  a 
gleam  of  fun  crossed  her  face,  and  the  gentleman  said, 
teasingly:  “  What,  you  aren’t  laughing  at  some  ‘old 
chestnut  ’  are  you?”  My  young  lady  admitted  that  she 
had  really  found  something  new  and  interesting,  and 
read  on.  A  little  later  she  said,  as  if  involuntarily: 
‘  ‘  That  pudding  recipe  does  sound  as  though  it  would  be 
delicious,”  and  The  R.  N.-Y.’s  friend  began  to  feel 
satisfied. 
Courage,  friends  of  the  Woman’s  Department !  Al¬ 
though  it  may  be  true  that  there  is  little  to  say  that 
is  absolutely  new,  there  are  new  and  more  forcible 
ways  of  saying  the  old  things,  and  there  is  always  a 
new  “crop”  of  young  housekeepers  who  are  anxious 
to  hear  the  things  that  seem  old  to  the  more  experi¬ 
enced.  Since  The  R.  N.-Y.  can  thus  succeed  in  inter¬ 
esting  a  woman  who  is  avowedly  satiated  with  house¬ 
keeping  lore,  are  not  the  makers  of  this  department 
doing  good  work  ?  But  there  is  still  this  to  be  said  : 
While  steadfastly  refraining  from  that  form  of  egotism 
through  which  far  too  many  papers  cheapen  them¬ 
selves  by  loudly  and  persistently  proclaiming  them¬ 
selves  the  only  really  worthy  ones  of  their  sort  in  ex¬ 
istence,  the  best  that  ever  were  or  are,  or  will  be  pub¬ 
lished,  The  R.  N.-Y.  Woman’s  Department  strives  to 
encourage  its  helpers  by  showing  them  where  they 
have  met  a  need,  and  where  help  is  still  needed.  Let¬ 
ters  of  encouragement  and  praise  are  constantly  com¬ 
ing  in  ;  but  what  shall  we  say  when  we  receive  one,  as 
last  week,  suggesting  that  no  changes  be  made,  as  the 
department  has  continued  to  grow  better,  till  now  it 
is  ‘  ‘  good  enough  ”  as  it  is  ?  Of  course  we  feel  thank¬ 
ful  for  the  pleasant  words  which  were  intended  as  the 
highest  praise  ;  yet  should  we  hug  this  thought  to  our¬ 
selves,  from  that  moment  the  department  would  begin 
to  deteriorate.  It  is  so  everywhere  in  life.  Only  by 
placing  the  standard  higher  than  the  possibilities  of 
present  attainment  can  we  improve  in  any  direction  ; 
only  so  can  we  work  out  the  best  that  is  in  us. 
Chairs  and  How  to  Sit  in  Them. 
TO  sit  in  healthful  and  graceful  poise  is  an  accom¬ 
plishment  which  few  Americans  possess.  Look 
over  any  assemblage  in  drawing  room,  church  or  lec¬ 
ture-hall  and  note  how  few  are  sitting  with  muscles 
energized,  shoulders  well  back  and  the  spine  in  its  nat¬ 
ural,  graceful  curve.  The  most  of  the  men  are  sure  to  be 
sitting  so  far  forward  upon  the  front  edge  of  the  chair 
that  their  backbones  have  the  appearance  of  a  bent 
bow:  while  the  young  ladies  are  limp  and  lackadaisical, 
and  the  older  ones  are  fallen  into  a  promiscuous  heap. 
The  kind  of  chair  usually  occupied  has  a  marked 
influence  upon  the  sitting  poise;  for  this  reason,  the 
dressmaker  and  the  bookkeeper  with  all  others  who 
sit  most  of  the  time,  should  see  to  it  that  their  chairs 
are  calculated  to  help  them  to  sit  erect  and  that  they 
are  of  proper  height  for  comfort. 
Dr.  J.  H.  Kellogg,  of  the  Battle  Creek  Sanitarium, 
gave  a  parlor  talk  on  the  proper  sitting  position,  and 
as  he  proceeded  it  was  quite  amusing  to  glance  about 
the  room  and  see  the  general  straightening  up  as  each 
one  took  on  a  look  of  physical  rectitude  and  applied 
the  homily  to — his  neighbor,  after  the  usual  manner. 
Permit  me  to  quote  briefly  from  my  shorthand  notes  : 
“  To  sit  properly,  you  must  sit  squarely  back  in  the 
chair.  If  you  sit  forward,  it  leaves  the  small  of  the 
back  contracted  and  you  will  fall  into  a  slouching 
position  which  destroys  the  natural  curve  of  the 
spine.  It  is  just  as  necessary  for  human  being-s  to 
have  this  curve  in  their  backs  as  it  is  for  horses.  When 
you  see  a  horse  with  its  back  humped  where  it  should 
be  concave,  you  know  at  once  that  it  is  a  poor,  weak, 
diseased  animal.  Sitting  forward  means  not  only  a 
breaking  down  of  the  natural  spinal  curve,  but  it  means 
weakness  in  the  stomach  and  abdomen.  If  you  sit  well 
back,  it  is  difficult  to  get  into  a  bad  position.  The  use 
of  rocking  chairs  and  other  easy  chairs  is  very  per¬ 
nicious  in  that  they  give  support  to  the  whole  length 
of  the  body.  In  England,  Germany  and  Continental 
Europe  in  general,  rocking  chairs  are  almost  wholly 
unknown.  They  are  an  American  invention,  and 
great  sources  of  disease.  We  would  be  a  great  deal 
better  off  if  they  were  all  banished.  Notice  the  per¬ 
son  who  throws  himself  into  a  rocking  chair.  He 
tumbles  into  a  heap  at  once  and  relaxes  all  his  mus¬ 
cles.  The  ribs  settle  down  and  all  the  organs  beneath 
them  are  forced  out,  giving  a  protruding  abdomen  and 
a  flattened  chest  so  that  natural  breathing  is  out  of 
the  question.  Watch  a  person  sitting  in  this  way  and 
you  will  observe  that  every  sixth  or  seventh  inspiration 
is  a  little  deeper  than  ordinary  ;  and  about  once  in  10 
minutes  he  will  heave  a  deep  sigh.  This  means  insuf¬ 
ficient  breathing  all  the  while,  and  the  occasional  deep 
breath  is  called  for  by  the  center  in  the  brain  which 
controls  respiration,  because  the  system  is  becoming 
surcharged  with  poisons.  It  is  Nature’s  signal  for 
resisting  the  enemy. 
“It  is  necessary  for  health  that  the  muscles  of  the 
body  be  energized  when  sitting,  and  old-fashioned, 
straight-backed  chairs  are  a  great  deal  more  conducive 
to  healthful  position  than  any  of  the  luxurious  modern 
chairs.  To  sit  well,  one  must  have  the  body  in  good 
poise,  the  shoulders  back  and  the  chest  well  up.  A 
very  excellent  gymnastic  exercise  to  bring  the  body 
into  proper  sitting  poise  is  to  sit  well  back  in  the  chair, 
make  firm  the  hands  at  the  back  of  the  neck  and  then 
unclasp  them ;  bring  the  palms  forward,  elbows  ex¬ 
tended,  and  still  holding  the  hands  up  and  the  palms 
facing  outward,  drop  the  elbows  slowly  to  the  sides. 
This  will  insure  a  graceful  and  dignified  sitting-  pos¬ 
ture,  quite  in  contrast  to  the  lackadaisical,  tumbled- 
into-a-heap  expression  so  often  noticeable.  It  is  just 
as  necessary  to  have  forcible  carriage  of  the  muscles 
when  sitting  as  when  walking  or  standing  ;  and  when 
one  has  been  careless  in  these  particulars  he  should  be 
constantly  on  guard  that  he  does  not  allow  himself  to 
fall  into  a  state  of  innocuous  desuetude.  Corx-ect  sit¬ 
ting  posture  will  help  greatly  in  strengthening  the 
muscles  of  the  waist.”  Helen  l.  manning. 
A  Well-Rounded  Education. 
IN  a  previous  issue  of  The  Rural  New-Yorker  a 
writer  asks,  among  other  questions,  ‘  ‘  Is  there  any 
practical  way  to  lessen  the  gulf  which  exists  between 
the  people  of  our  farming  communities  and  those  in 
our  villages  and  cities  ?  ” 
The  men  and  women  who  went  out  to  earn  their 
daily  bread  on  farms,  when  this  country  was  first  set¬ 
tled,  were,  for  the  greater  part,  people  without  educa¬ 
tion,  not  to  mention  culture.  “  Rude  were  they  in 
speech  and  little  blessed  with  the  set  phrase  of  peace.” 
Their  children  were  not  much  of  an  improvement  on 
the  parent  stock.  Shrewd  of  brain,  perhaps,  and 
strong  of  sinew,  but  their  education  did  not  pass 
beyond  the  province  of  the  “three  R’s,”  and  they 
knew  little,  if  anything,  about  culture  or  refinement. 
They  waged  so  fierce  a  fight  with  Nature  for  their 
daily  bread  in  youth,  that  in  mature  years  they  were 
unable  to  break  the  chain  of  circumstances,  and  thus 
went  down  into  their  graves  Without  having  known 
the  charms  of  learning.  Many  of  them,  however,  were 
blessed  with  this  world’s  goods,  and  they  realized 
what  a  broader  outlook  might  do  for  their  children  ; 
so  they  sent  them  out  into  the  higher  institutions  of 
learning  when  they  showed  a  disposition  to  know  more 
than  could  be  taught  in  the  “  deestrict  skule.” 
These  youthful  pioneers  soon  found  that  there  was 
a  barrier  between  them  and  their  schoolmates,  who 
had  spent  their  lives  in  towns :  and  here  comes  a 
strange  truth.  These  country  boys  and  girls  could 
easily  outstrip  their  companions  in  school  work  so  far 
as  the  text  books  went.  The  health  and  vigor  gained 
in  their  free,  untrammeled  life,  told  in  plenty  of  brain 
force,  but  there  was  a  .something  not  laid  down  in 
books  which  they  could  not  readily  acquire.  Associa¬ 
tion  had  polished  off  the  rough  edges  from  the  youths 
who  had  been  brought  up  among  people  to  whom 
manner  meant  something.  The  farmer  boy  forgot  to 
take  off  his  hat  as  he  shuffled  into  the  school  room. 
The  town  boy,  if  he  had  been  blessed  with  any  degree 
of  observation,  lifted  his  hat  from  his  head  and  his 
feet  from  the  floor,  without  even  a  thought,  for  he  had 
always  been  taught  to  do  so.  The  country  girl,  longing 
to  dress  as  tastefully  as  her  town  sister,  bought  goods 
which  she  considered  a  close  imitation  of  those  belong¬ 
ing  to  her  companions  and  made  them  up  after  a  pat¬ 
tern  which  had  been  enlarged  time  after  time  to  cover 
her  growing  form,  till  there  was  neither  fit  nor  fit¬ 
ness  about  the  dresses,  and  she  became  a  caricature  ; 
and,  poor  girl !  she  knew  it,  and  morbidly  withdrew 
from  her  companions,  and  the  laugh  which  might  have 
been  with  her  had  she  been  brave  enough  to  keep  it 
so,  was  turned  against  her,  and  she  became  more 
nervous  and  awkward  and  self-conscious  every  day. 
But  do  you  think  that  boy  and  girl  lived  to  grow 
up  and  have  children  without  realizing  the  nature  of 
the  rock  on  which  their  social  life  had  split  ?  It  may 
have  been  the  unkind  remark  of  some  enemy  which 
opened  their  eyes  to  the  fact  that  their  unpopularity 
was  owing  to  their  own  fault  and  not  to  the  hauteur 
or  lack  of  sympathy  of  those  with  whom  they  daily 
met.  But  even  when  their  eyes  were  opened  the  evil 
could  not  be  overcome  at  once.  When  one  is  self-con¬ 
scious  or  inclined  to  pity  one’s  self,  the  feeling  is  hard 
to  subdue.  It  is  easy  to  say,  “  Forget  all  about  your¬ 
self  and  think  only  of  your  neighbor  but  just  when 
one  feels  that  the  lesson  is  fairly  learned,  a  great  wave 
of  awkwardness  is  likely  to  strike  one  and  he  is  washed 
off  his  feet  almost  before  he  is  aware. 
It  is  just  this  monster  of  egotism  and  self-conceit,  or 
the  lack  of  conceit  with  one’s  self  which  is  only  another 
form  of  egotism,  which  builds  two-thirds  of  the  barrier 
which  separates  country  people  from  their  town  neigh¬ 
bors.  To  be  sure  they  call  it  by  another  name.  They 
think  it  is  a  sensitiveness  to  slights,  a  fear  lest  town 
people  “  feel  above  them.”  Can  it  be  imagined  that 
the  world  cares  where  we  spend  our  days  if  we  speak 
the  Queen’s  English  pleasantly  and  understandingly 
and  entertainingly  withal  ?  If  our  manners  are  good 
and  our  habits  cleanly  ?  The  world  does  not  like  to 
hear  its  neighbor  say  “  I  be,”  neither  does  it  admire  an 
undue  parsimony  in  the  use  of  g  as  a  terminal  letter  in 
a  certain  form  of  the  verb,  therefore  it  is  wise  to  be 
careful  about  these  little  matters.  The  rising-  genera¬ 
tion  feel  no  barrier  between  them  and  their  mates 
when  they  enter  the  town  schools.  Education  has 
broken  it  and  there  is  no  vestige  of  it  left— an  educa¬ 
tion  which  is  so  well  rounded  that  it  teaches  fitness  of 
manners  and  fitness  of  dress,  as  well  as  fitness  of 
thoug’ht  and  of  expression. 
Oh  !  wad  some  power  the  giftie  gie  us 
To  see  oursel’s  as  ithers  see  us. 
It  wad  frae  mony  a  blunder  free  us 
An’  foolish  notion. 
S.  A.  LITTLE. 
There  is  ease  for  those  far  gone  in  con¬ 
sumption — not  recovery — ease. 
There  is  cure  for  those  not  far  gone. 
There  is  prevention — better  than  cure 
— for  those  who  are  threatened. 
Let  us  send  you  a  book  on  careful 
living  and  Scott’s  Emulsion  of  cod-liver 
oil,  even  if  you  are  only  a  little  thin. 
Free. 
Scott  &  Bowse,  Chemists,  132  South  5th  Avenue,  New  York. 
Your  druggist  keeps  Scott’s  Emulsion  of  cod-liver  oil— all  druggists 
everywhere  do.  $1 
