The  Competition,  Sorosis,  and  John. 
WE  trust  that  those  who  have  been  interested  in 
the  competitions  will  possess  their  souls  in  pa¬ 
tience  for  a  season.  There  will  necessarily  be  a  little 
delay  in  deciding-  on  the  merits  of  the  articles,  and  ar¬ 
ranging-  them  for  the  publication.  At  the  present  writ 
ing-,  as  the  limit  of  time  has  not  expired,  many  of  the 
articles  are  still  to  come  in.  Judging  from  present  indi¬ 
cations,  cookery  absorbs  the  attention  of  the  major 
portion  of  This  R.  N.-Y.  feminine  readers.  Nearly  every 
article  now  in  hand  deals  with  the  cooking  problem. 
We  hope,  however,  that  the  last  days  of  the  time  given 
— which  usually  bring  about  half  or  three-fourths  of 
the  articles — will  change  these  indications  materially. 
*  *  * 
From  being  for  many  years  a  butt  and  a  by- word, 
Sorosis  has  at  last  attained  to  dignity  and  honor — so 
much  so  that  the  regular  meetings  are  reported  in  the 
daily  papers,  even  to  the  speeches  made  thereat.  Hut, 
alack-a-day !  in  what  direction  do  the  signs  of  the 
times  point  when  these  reports  of  clubs,  Sorosis  being 
the  mother  of  them  all,  include  (as  lately)  a  descrip¬ 
tion  of  the  costumes  of  the  fair  disputants  of  the  de¬ 
bate  ?  For  instance  : 
Mrs.  B.  wore  an  elegant  toilet  of  black  silk  with  tan-colored  panels 
and  a  garniture  of  lace  and  jet.  Mrs.  A.  W.  wore  a  pearl-gray  satin 
en  train,  with  elaborate  cut  steel  trimmings.  Mrs.  C.  E.  B.  wore  a 
black  velvet  toilet.  Many  of  the  ladles  were  attired  in  gowns  of  no¬ 
ticeable  elegance.  Mrs.  It.  E.  L.  wore  heliotrope  silk  with  a  Russian 
coat  of  rich,  dark  heliotrope  velvet  and  bonnet  and  gloves  to  corre¬ 
spond. 
It  is  but  a  brief  space  since  Life  expressed  its  opinion 
of  Sorosis  thus : 
The  ladles  of  Sorosis 
Will  talk  you  high  and  low 
Of  ’ologies  and  ’isms, 
Of  Schopenhauer  and  Poe; 
But  Marjorie,  the  rose  bud, 
Is  willing  just  to  dance 
And  ride,  and  walk  (a  little), 
And  wear  a  frock  from  France. 
Can  it  be  that  the  “frock  from  France”  will  even 
yet  prove  victorious  over  the  “  ’ologies  and  ’isms  ”  of  the 
stronger  minded  ?  #  *  *. 
Is  there  a  Woman  in  this  country,  who  has  ever  read 
any  paper  with  a  household  column,  who  doesn’t  know 
“John?’  We  trow  not,  for  he  is  ubiquitous.  Here¬ 
tofore,  he  has  been  unfathered  and  unmothered;  like 
Topsy,  no  one  could  assert  more  of  him  than  that  lie 
“growed”  mushroom-like,  too,  in  a  day  or  a  night. 
Hut  just  of  late,  Marion  Harland,  common-sense 
Marion  Harland,  has  confessed  that  she  was  the 
original  author  of  “  John.”  And  since  making 
this  bold  public .  confession,  she  has  followed  it 
by  making  a  public  speech  about  him,  for  the  special 
benefit  of  Sorosis.  One  of  her  first  points  regarding 
him  is  so  indisputable  that  we  venture  to  say  that  all 
our  readers  will  agree  with  the  talented  speaker: 
I  stand  here  to-day  as  “  John’s  ”  advocate  and  best  friend,  but  I 
cannot  withhold  the  admission  that  he  has  some  grave  faults,  and  one 
or  two  Incurable  disabilities.  Grappling  forthw’ith  with  the  most  ob¬ 
stinate  of  these  last — I  name  it  boldly— John  1b  not,  he  never  can  be, 
and  would  not  be  if  he  could,  a  woman. 
Under  the  caption,  “  Marion  Harland’s  Views  of 
John,”  m;iy  be  found  a  few  other  points,  as  reported 
by  the  Recorder.  To  whom  did  it  ever  before  occur 
to  notice  that  there  are  more  blood  relations  in  every 
community,  who  do  not  speak  to  one  another,  than 
there  are  divorced  couples  ? 
The  South  Through  Northern  Eyes. 
SOME  SOUTHERN  WAYS. 
URlNG  my  visit  in  the  South  I  have  fully  realized 
what  the  Southern  reputation  for  hospitality 
means.  The  welcome  of  a  stranger  among  the 
people  is  certainty  cordial.  If  it  is  understood  that 
one’s  visit  is  to  be  a  short  one,  they  hasten  to  call,  and 
so  it  happens  that  one  has  received  in  two  or  three 
days  more  calls  than  could  possibly  be  returned  in 
person  during  a  short  visit.  If  it  is  known  that  the 
visitor  is  to  remain  some  time  among  them,  they  are 
none  the  less  cordial,  but  they  wait  a  little  longer 
before  calling.  Nevertheless  one  is  kept  as  busy  as 
one  cares  to  be  in  returning  calls  for  it  would  be  as 
discourteous  to  neglect  to  acknowledge  a  call  as  it 
would  be  to  neglect  to  call  upon  a  stranger.  Those 
who  have  just  moved  into  a  place  are  welcomed  with 
the  same  cordiality  that  visitors  receive.  We  who  live 
near  New  York  where  people  are  continually  moving  do 
not  think  so  much  of  welcoming  the  new-comer  as  people 
do  here  where  removals  are  not  frequent.  Their  kind¬ 
ness  is  not  put  on  for  strangers  only,  but  among  them¬ 
selves  exchanges  of  courtesies  are  frequent.  In  trouble, 
sickness  or  death  they  are  exceptionally  kind.  A 
napkin-covered  tray  inclosing  flowers  or  some  delicacy 
for  a  sick  one,  borne  by  a  messenger  through  the 
streets,  is  not  an  unusual  sight,  and  one  almost  wishes 
to  be  siek  in  such  a  place.  In  such  a  case  one  would 
hope  not  to  be  like  one  hapless  young  man,  who  when 
sick  had  so  many  good  things  sent  to  him  that  he  could 
by  no  means  eat  them  and  who  would  not  let  any  one 
else  partake  of  them.  One  would  rather  even  be  like  the 
one  who  when  seven  trays  of  dainties  were  sent  in  one 
day  called  in  his  sister  to  assist  in  the  disposal  of  them. 
If  night- watchers  or  other  help  are  needed  in  sick¬ 
ness  there  is  no  need  to  seek  any  one  ;  some  one  has 
already  offered  the  needed  service.  Not  only  for  a  day 
or  a  night,  but  for  weeks  if  need  be,  some  one  is  always 
on  hand  to  assist.  In  some  cases  there  is  no  need  even 
for  any  cooking  to  be  done  in  the  house  ;  for  kind 
neighbors  take  care  that  when  meal  time  comes  the 
care-worn  ones  are  supplied.  Floral  offerings  are 
made  not  only  in  sickness,  but  on  all  occasions. 
The  fashion  of  sending  valentines  made  of  fancy 
paper  and  a  bit  of  sentimental  poetry  is  dying  out  and 
no  one  regrets  it;  but  if  we  could  all  follow  the  cus¬ 
tom  of  the  young  people  here  one  would  wish  that  its 
observance  might  not  cease.  They  have  a  custom  of 
sending  a  box  or  a  tray  of  flowers  or  some  dainty  gift 
to  those  for  whom  they  care  most.  Of  course,  the 
children  still  delight  in  going  after  dark,  tapping  at 
doors,  leaving  a  comic  valentine  or  bit  of  paper  and 
then  running  off.  You  go  to  the  door  knowing  what 
to  expect,  so  it  is  all  taken  in  good  part  and  no  one  is 
angry  because  of  finding  some  horrible  caricature. 
A  phrase  that  attracted  my  attention  here  was,  “  I 
must  hurry  home  and  give  out  the  dinner:  I  didn’t 
have  time  to  do  so  before  I  came  out.”  It  seemed  odd 
to  me  that  the  cook  should  not  know  enough  to  get  the 
dinner  herself;  but  I  soon  found  that  all  eatables  are 
kept  under  lock  and  key  and  given  out  only  at  the  time 
necessary  for  preparation.  These  Southern  house¬ 
keepers  are  very  cautious  about  putting  any  temptation 
to  take  “  just  a  little  tea”  or  “a  little  sugar”  in  the 
way  of  their  help.  Might  it  not  be  well  for  some  of 
our  Northern  women  to  take  a  lesson  from  this?  Of 
course  in  the  North  where  servants  sleep  in  the  house 
the  temptation  to  pilfer  is  not  so  great;  here  no  help, 
except  a  nurse,  sleeps  in  the  house.  The  servants  go 
to  their  own  homes  at  night,  coming  in  the  morning 
in  time  to  prepare  breakfast.  As  a  result  of  this,  some 
rather  amusing  incidents  occur.  One  night  a  gentle¬ 
man,  desiring  to  leave  home  by  the  five  o’clock  train 
next  morning,  told  the  cook  to  come  at  four  to  get 
breakfast.  Shortly  after  midnight  he  was  aroused  by 
a  rap  at  the  door  and  on  going  down  he  found  the  cook. 
She  had  no  clock  so  “  guessed  ”  that  it  must  be  time  to 
come. 
Light  bread,  as  raised  loaf-bread  is  called,  is 
not  in  great  demand — at  least  here.  These  women 
seemato  have  a  prejudice  against  using  compressed 
yeast;  the  old-fashioned  way  of  making  yeast  with  a 
piece  of  old  dough  is  preferred.  Hiscuits  and  muffins, 
without  which  a  Southern  table  is  scarcely  complete, 
are  not  the  only  things  Southern  housekeepers  excel 
in;  but  salads,  oysters  and  meats  are  also  prepared  in 
ways  delightful  to  the  palate,  Heing  far  away  from  a 
Horton  and  “  Horton's  Ice-Cream,”  they  are  also  un¬ 
excelled  in  making  creams,  sherbets  and  ices. 
The  isolation  of  the  Southern  kitchen  from  the  main 
house  takes  my  fancy,  through  the  fact  that  the  morn¬ 
ing  caller  cannot  tell  from  the  pervasive  odors  what  is 
intended  for  dinner.  Then  there  is  no  danger  of  every 
chance  caller  knowing  just  what  is  going  on  in  the 
kitchen  should  the  door  be  left  open  for  a  moment. 
Some  say  “  It  is  so  inconvenient  having  the  kitchen  off 
from  the  house.  It  is  very  well  for  those  who  have 
help,  but  not  for  those  who  have  none.”  Even  then 
it  is  a  good  plan,  for  an  arrangement  can  be  made  to 
have  the  dirtiest  work  done  and  dinner  prepared  in 
the  outside  kitchen  ;  then  fcr  getting  breakfast  and 
tea,  an  oil  stove  may  be  placed  in  a  nook  somewhere 
near  the  dining  room — it  might  be  an  inclosed  corner  of  a 
back  porch.  This  is  done  in  some  Southern  households. 
The  oil  stove  is  not  used  when  there  is  help ;  but  help 
is  here  perhaps  more  fickle  than  in  the  North,  and  even 
Southern  housekeepers  are  sometimes  compelled  to  do 
their  own  cooking.  Then  the  oil  stove  comes  into  use, 
and,  if  the  work  is  delayed,  one  need  not  be  afraid  of 
being  surprised  in  a  disorderly  kitchen,  for  even  neigh¬ 
bors  running  in  and  out  will  seldom  seek  the  house¬ 
keeper  in  this  retreat.  lillie  b.  mendell. 
Equal  Rights  on  the  Farm. 
[Read  before  an  Ohio  Farmers’  Institute,  in  January,  1892,  by  Mrs. 
Phoebe  Kinder.] 
O  introduce  my  subject  I  will  repeat  a  single  verse, 
which  I  lately  found  in  a  farm  journal : 
A  farmer’s  trade  is  one  of  worth. 
He’s  partner  with  the  sky  and  earth, 
He’s  partner  with  the  sun  and  rain, 
And  no  man  loses  for  his  gain. 
It  seems  to  me  there  is  a  great  deal  in  these  four 
lines.  A  man  with  four  good  partners  ought  to  get 
along  in  almost  any  trade  ;  especially  when  three  out 
of  the  four  expect  no  pay  for  their  work.  Hut  scrimp 
mother  earth,  take  everything  from  her,  giving  nothing 
in  return,  and  she  will  soon  yield  a  poor  return  for 
work  expended  on  her. 
Hut  has  the  farmer  these  four  partners  only  ?  Isn’t 
there  a  fifth  partner  ?  One  as  important  as  the  others 
— the  farmer’s  wife  ?  She,  as  well  as  mother  earth, 
thinks  herself  entitled  to  a  fair  share  of  the  profits  or 
she,  as  well,  will  often  prove  a  poor  investment. 
How  are  the  profits  of  the  farm  too  often  divided  in 
the  partnership  entered  into  by  the  farmer  and  his 
wife,  to  say  nothing  of  those  silent  partners  mentioned 
in  the  verse  at  the  beginning  ?  (I  hope  none  will  mis¬ 
take  that  last  sentence  for  an  attempt  at  wit.  I  would 
not,  for  the  world  intimate  that  woman  could  not  be 
a  silent  partner  also  on  occasion).  The  farmer  and  his 
wife  often  commence  life  on  a  rented  farm,  upon  a 
very  small  capital — incredibly  small  sometimes.  They 
are  life  partners  in  the  toil  and  privations  incident  to 
the  making  of  a  home.  Hoth  are  economical  and 
saving,  and  after  battling  long  years  with  poverty  and 
debt,  they  finally  find  themselves  possessors  of  a  com¬ 
fortable  home  and  farm.  That  is  to  say,  the  man  owns 
the  farm.  He  not  only  owns  and  controls  his  wife’s 
share  in  the  assets  of  the  partnership,  but  his  own 
also.  The  other  partner  begins  to  think  that  possibly 
she  may  have  “missed  it,”  in  a  pecuniary  way  by 
going  into  this  partnership.  Perhaps  her  partner 
wasn’t  a  good  manager  in  his  department,  and  she 
finds  by  doing  a  little  figuring  that,  had  she  worked 
daily  for  as  many  years,  in  some  other  kitchen  than 
her  own,  and  received  the  regular  price  for  such  work, 
she  could  oftentimes  buy  the  home  which  it  has  taken 
them  both  20  years  to  earn. 
Women  may  blame  themselves  for  being  generally 
regarded  as  dependents  upon  their  husbands’  bounty. 
They  must  know,  if  they  will  only  think  a  little,  that 
they  have  just  as  good  a  right  to  have  their  fingers  on 
the  family  purse  strings  as  any  other  member  of  the 
family.  Women  generally  make  good  use  of  money, 
though  occasionally  there  is  a  spendthrift  among  them 
as  well  as  among  men.  The  men  have  this  excuse  for 
any  prodigality  on  their  part:  that  they  have  a  right 
to  do  as  they  please  with  their  own  money.  If  a  wife 
spends  foolishly,  she  is  wasting  her  husbands'  money, 
of  course;  she  has  none  of  her  own.  A  true  woman 
has  a  horror  of  debt,  and  will  manage  every  way  to 
keep  within  her  means.  A  bad  manager  will  ruin  the 
business  in  any  partnership,  and  if  one  partner  is  sus¬ 
pected  of  being  dishonest,  and  impoverishing  the  firm, 
steps  are  taken  to  bring  the  offender  to  justice  and  he 
is  compelled  to  make  good  the  deficiency. 
In  the  life  partnership  there  is  no  such  redress. 
Whether  the  wife  ruins  the  firm  by  her  wastefulness 
and  extravagance,  or  the  hu>band  by  his  expensive 
habits,  in  either  case  the  ruin  is  usually  complete  and 
involves  both.  After  the  farm  is  paid  for  and  the  firm 
is  on  a  good  financial  basis,  then  every  inmate  of  that 
home  should  have  a  share  in  the  profits.  They  have 
shared  in  the  work,  in  the  privations  and  discomforts 
occasioned  by  the  load  of  debt  under  which  they  have 
struggled,  and  then  is  the  time  for  the  wife  and  house¬ 
keeper  to  begin  to  draw  her  back  pay.  It  will  be  best 
to  use  judgment  in  making  these  payments,  and  not 
proffer  the  money  too  suddenly  or  unexpectedly.  I 
read  of  a  woman  down  East,  who  was  paralyzed  by 
her  husband  giving  her  $10  without  her  asking  for  it. 
Any  person  who  has  ever  canvassed  for  a  magazine,  or 
paper  devoted  to  woman’s  interests  only,  cannot  help 
being  impressed  by  the  general  bankruptcy  of  farmers’ 
wives.  I  once  called  with  a  popular  magazine  at  the 
home  of  a  well-to-do  farmer.  The  mistress  of  the 
house  seemed  extremely  well  pleased  with  the  periodi¬ 
cal,  but  said  she  could  not  take  it,  however  well  she 
would  like  to  do  so.  She  said  her  husband  had  to  have 
When  you  ask  your  grocer  for  Java,  he 
does  not  offer  you  Maracaibo  and  say  it 
is  “  just  as  good.” 
When  you  ask  your  druggist  for  Scott’s 
Emulsion  of  cod-liver  oil,  if  he  is  honest, 
he  will  not  try  to  sell  you  something  “just 
as  good.” 
Why  do  you  want  it?  The  answer  is 
in  a  book  on  careful  living  ;  we  send  it 
free. 
Scott  &  Bowxe,  Chemists,  132  South  5th  Avenue,  New  York. 
Your  druggist  keeps  Scott’s  Emulsion  of  cod-liver  oil— all  druggists 
everywhere  do.  $1. 
