1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
3o7 
A  Sewing  School  as  a  Means 
of  Support. 
FOR  many  years,  my  grandmother,  a 
dear  old  Quaker  lady,  lived  in  my 
father’s  family.  As  there  were  seven 
children,  three  of  them  younger  than 
myself,  my  mother  did  not  have  much 
time  to  bestow  on  teaching  me  to  sew  or 
knit.  But  grandmother  took  that  task  off 
her  hands,  and  many  hours  have  T  spent 
in  my  little  chair  at  her  feet,  learning 
these  mysterious  arts.  I  sometimes  grew 
tired  and  wondered  why  I  must  he  so 
very  particular  ;  but  grandmother  always 
comforted  me  and  said,  “  What  is  worth 
doirfg  at  all,  dear,  is  worth  doing  well.” 
How  true  this  has  proved !  I  realize  it 
more  and  more  every  day.  Finally  I  be¬ 
came  a  good  seamstress. 
At  the  age  of  20,  Robert  Carter  won  my 
heart  and  we  were  married.  He  was 
killed  four  years  afterwards;  the  scaffold¬ 
ing  of  the  building  on  which  he  was  at 
work  fell,  injuring  him  internally.  He 
lived  only  five  hours.  His  wages  had  been 
our  only  support  and  now  that  that  was 
cut  off,  what  was  I  to  do  to  provide  for  my¬ 
self  and  two  small  children  ?  Our  house 
and  lot  were  paid  for  and  the  land  was 
well  set  with  small  fruits.  But  it  would 
not  furnish  enough  to  keep  us  two 
months,  to  say  nothing  of  the  other  ten. 
A  sympathizing  neighbor  called,  and  to 
her  I  told  my  pitiful  story  ;  and  asked  : 
“  What  can  I  do  ?” 
“You  seem  to  do  such  nice  sewing  and 
are  so  fond  of  children,  why  don’t  you 
start  a  little  girls’  sewing  school  ?”  she 
asked.  The  thought  almost  took  my 
breath  away.  Could  I  do  it?  Would  it 
prove  a  success  or  would  it  be  a  failure  ? 
However,  I  resolved  to  try  ;  and  the  very 
things  that  I  had  regretted  when  my 
husband  bought  the  home,  proved  to  be 
blessings.  The  house  was  next  to  the 
school-house,  and  I  had  feared  that  I 
would  be  annoyed  by  the  schoolchildren; 
and  the  front  room  was  very  large.  I 
had  wanted  it  smaller,  but  now  it  proved 
a  blessing.  At  a  very  small  expense  I 
fitted  it  up  to  accommodate  25  little  girls. 
Twenty-five  little  chairs  at  90  cents  each 
cost  $22.50  ;  two  long  pine  tables  at  $3 
each  cost  $6,  or  in  all  $28.50.  I  went  to 
the  principal  of  the  school,  a  widow  lady 
with  one  little  girl  of  seven  years,  told 
her  my  circumstances  and  plans  and  asked 
her  advice.  She  was  much  pleased  with 
the  idea,  and  said  she  would  help  me  with 
her  influence  and  would  also  send  her 
little  girl  to  be  taught.  She  wrote  to 
patrons  of  the  school  notes  of  recommen¬ 
dation  for  me,  and  before  the  end  of  the 
second  week  every  little  chair  was  occu¬ 
pied.  How  my  heart  leaped  with  joy  and 
gratitude  !  Each  little  girl  was  required 
to  bring  her  thimble  and  a  spool  of  thread; 
the  material  I  furnished,  and  the  articles 
made  by  each  child  were  to  be  her  own 
by  her  paying  me  the  cost  of  the  material. 
I  could  have  only  a  one-hour  session  and 
that  to  begin  at  4:15,  after  school  had 
closed,  except  on  Saturdays,  when  we 
had  two  hours — from  three  to  five  o’clock. 
The  tuition  was  50  cents  per  week. 
I  do  not  think  I  could  have  succeeded 
had  I  not  owned  the  house  and  been  able 
to  do  some  other  sewing  before  the  little 
girls  came  ;  but,  with  two  babies  and  not 
very  good  health,  I  could  not  do  very 
much  outside  of  my  class  duties.  I  began 
with  plain  muslin,  first  teaching  them  to 
sew  a  straight  seam,  then  a  bias  one, 
overcasting,  felling,  hemming,  back- 
stitching,  and,  finally,  to  make  button¬ 
holes.  Then  we  took  up  work  by  the 
piece,  first  plain  pillow-cases,  then  ging¬ 
ham  aprons,  quite  plain  but  very  neat; 
if  not  neat  the  first  time,  we  ripped 
carefully  and  tried  again.  I  shall  always 
When  Baby  was  sick,  we  gave  her  Castorla, 
When  she  was  a  Child,  she  cried  for  Castorla, 
When  she  became  Miss,  she  clung  to  Castorla, 
When  she  had  Children,  she  gave  them  Castorla 
renieixiber  with  pleasure  those  bright 
eyes  and  eager  faces.  How  nervous  I 
felt  at  the  beginning,  and  how  thankful 
when  I  saw  it  was  really  going  to  prove 
a  success.  And  though  dear  grandmother 
has  long  ago  been  called  home,  my  heart 
swells  with  gratitude  to  her  who  first 
taught  me  to  use  my  needle  and  thus 
enable  me  to  keep  the  gaunt  wolf,  Hun¬ 
ger,  from  my  wee  babies  and  myself. 
It  is  now  seven  years  since  I  began 
teaching  sewing.  Of  course  I  have  not 
had  the  same  class  all  this  time,  but  as 
one  girl  has  graduated,  another  has 
taken  her  place,  and  my  school  has 
almost  always  been  full.  I  have  had 
the  thanks  of  many  busy  mothers  for 
teaching  their  little  ones  to  sew.  The 
girls  always  remember  me,  and  it  is  a 
pleasant  life  to  live,  sarah  k.  carter. 
The  South  Through  Northern 
Eyes. 
A  GLIMPSE  OF  THE  SCHOOLS. 
THE  Teachers’  Institute  has  been 
held  here  during  my  visit,  the  town 
being  a  county  seat.  Having  myself  been 
a  teacher  for  a  time,  I  attended  at  first 
from  sheer  curiosity  as  to  Southern 
methods ;  but  after  the  first  session,  it 
was  not  curiosity  but  interest  that  held 
me,  for  at  every  session  the  superin¬ 
tendent  had  helpful  things  to  say  that 
one  would  have  been  very  sorry  to  miss. 
Not  only  teachers,  but  the  public,  were 
invited  that  they  might  be  aroused  to  see 
the  necessity  for  better  free  or  public 
schools  and  more  of  them.  Methods  for 
teaching  the  various  branches  of  study 
were  given  in  the  form  of  lectures,  which 
were  most  interesting  and  instructive. 
The  conducter  held  his  audience  so  well 
that  it  was  impossible  for  any  one  to  be 
distracted  by  any  possible  ill  conduct, 
sometimes  the  result  of  inattention.  I  re¬ 
gretted  not  being  able  to  take  notes ; 
still  the  prominent  facts  and  ideas  are 
fixed  in  my  mind  and  cannot  be  forgot¬ 
ten. 
Formerly,  one  institute  a  year  was  held 
at  Raleigh,  lasting  for  three  weeks ; 
then  the  State  was  divided  into  four 
parts,  and  the  meeting  was  at  some  cen¬ 
tral  point  in  each  for  three  weeks ;  but 
the  difficulties  of  travel  and  the  low  sal¬ 
aries  of  teachers  made  it  impossible  for 
many  teachers  to  attend.  How  to  make 
the  influence  of  these  institutes  more 
widely  felt,  and  how  to  help  the  teachers 
more,  became  a  rather  difficult  question, 
one  that  cried  more  and  more  loudly  for 
answer.  The  plan  was  finally  adopted 
of  conducting  an  institute  in  each  of  the 
96  counties  of  the  State  for  one  week  each 
year. 
The  teachers  in  the  country  districts 
are  brave  indeed — and  in  this  county  they 
are  mostly  women — to  teach  amid  such 
adverse  surroundings.  I,  who  had  com¬ 
plained  of  a  few  “  windy  ”  cracks  in  my 
schoolroom,  could  not  but  admire  one 
who  could  teach  in  an  unpainted,  almost 
windowless  building,  the  door  probably 
propped  shut  with  a  pole  ;  little  that 
looked  inviting  outside  and  still  less  in¬ 
side,  and  this  for  three  or  four  months 
in  a  year  at  not  more  than  .$25  a  month. 
Of  course  in  the  towns  the  conditions  are 
better  and  the  salaries  are  higher. 
You  may  ask  :  “Why  is  it  that  the 
school  system  here  is  so  deficient  ?  ”  An 
illustration  given  in  a  lecture  by  the 
superintendent  explains  the  situation. 
He  said  :  “  Here  are  two  children  before 
me  ;  both  are  starving.  One  is  my  own 
child,  the  other  is  not  and  he  has  a  black 
skin.  I  hold  a  loaf  of  bread  before  them, 
but  because  the  boy  with  black  skin,  as 
well  as  my  own,  holds  out  his  hand  for 
bread,  and  I  know  that  if  I  give  my  boy 
the  loaf  the  other  will  share  it,  I  refuse 
to  give  it  at  all.  That  is  the  position  of 
the  people  of  this  State  as  regards  educa¬ 
tion.” 
There  are  many  private  schools  in  the 
towns,  but  they  can  accommodate  only  a 
very  small  proportion  of  the  children  of 
the  State  ;  then  many  cannot  send  to  a 
pay  school  and  when  it  comes  to  a  ques¬ 
tion  of  a  more  advanced  education  than 
the  common  schools  can  give,  it  is  impos¬ 
sible  for  a  white  girl,  unless  possessed  of 
means,  to  win  the  education  desired.  It 
is  made  comparatively  easy  for  the  white 
boy  and  (through  Northern  philanthro- 
phy)  for  the  colored  girl  and  boy  to  get  a 
higher  education.  The  educators  of  the 
State  have  been  agitating  the  question  of 
a  State  university  and  industrial  school. 
How  far  advanced  the  project  is  I  cannot 
say.  The  State  officials  are  well  qualified, 
and  anxious  to  help  the  teachers,  but  the 
conditions  render  many  of  their  efforts 
futile,  so  that  the  schools  are  far  behind 
our  own. 
The  teachers  of  this  county  showed 
their  courage  by  attending  every  session 
of  the  institute  ;  coming  not  by  train,  but 
by  wagon  through  mud  hub  deep  ;  for 
the  country  here  is  not  intersected  with 
railroads  as  New  Jersey  or  New  York  is. 
The  only  railroad  leading  to  this  town 
comes  from  a  town  on  the  Roanoke, 
mostly  through  swamps,  there  being  only 
two  settlements  on  the  route.  One  of 
these  has  about  four  houses  and  the  other, 
one.  There  is  only  one  train  a  day  each 
way,  going  out  from  here  at  5  A.  M.  and 
returning  ostensibly  at  8  p.  M.  ;  but  sel¬ 
dom  on  time.  For  it  may  be  that  the 
engine  will  lose  its  train  and  have  to  go 
back  after  it ;  or  a  cow  may  get  on  the 
track ;  a  pine  tree  may  be  blown  across 
it  ;  it  may  take  an  hour  or  so  to  get 
wood  and  water,  or  something  else  may 
happen  ;  so  that  often  the  train  arrives 
one,  two,  three  and  sometimes  six  hours 
behind  time.  Through  the  swamp  it  is 
often  the  case  that  the  train  must  pass 
through  water  a  foot  or  two  deep.  The 
ground  being  therefore  so  soft,  it  gives 
under  the  weight  of  the  train,  making  it 
rock  like  a  vessel  on  a  rough  sea  ;  and  1 
have  known  people  who  have  traveled 
over  it  to  become  really  “  seasick.”  This 
road  is  known  locally  as  the  “Jigglerand 
Wiggler.”  LILLIE  B.  MENDELL. 
lx  writing  to  advertisers  please  always  mention 
The  Rural. 
FOR  THROAT 
AND  LUNG 
complaints, 
the  best  remedy  is 
AYER’S 
Cherry  Pectoral 
In  colds, 
bronchitis,  la  grippe, 
and  croup,  it  is 
Prompt  to  Act 
sure  to  cure. 
•Tuft’s Tiny  Pills* 
•  The  dyspeptic,  the  debilitated,  wlietli-  A 
er  from  excess  of  work  of  mind  or 
^  body  or  exposure  in  malarial  regions,  ^ 
will  find  Tutt’s  Tills  the  most  genial 
restorative  ever  offered  the  invalid. 
•••••••«•• 
Bartlett  Pear  Trees. 
A  few  thousand  Bartletts  In  surplus,  four  feet,  at 
10  Cents  each.  Other  kinds,  15  cents.  Large-size 
PeaCh  Trees,  $3.50  per  100.  Plums,  four  feet, 
Cents.  Rose  bushes,  three  feet  high,  $1.80  per  13,  $12 
per  100.  GREEN’S  NURSERY  CO.,  Rochester,  N.  Y 
First-class  Raspberry  Plants, 
Largo  Stock— Tyler.  Ohio,  Gregg,  Brandywine  and 
Outhbert.  $0  per  M.  C.  W.  GRAHAM,  Afton,  Che¬ 
nango  County,  N.  Y. 
FLOUR  OF  TOBACCO  &  SULPHUR. 
An  Insecticide  and  Fertilizer.  Will  destroy  lice  and  its  kindred  on 
plants.  Has  great  cleansing  qualities.  Used  extensively  in  green 
houses  and  poultry  houses:  sure  death  to  vermin.  Send  stamp  lot 
circular.  Packages  by  mail  25c.  Large  packages  by  express,  paid 
by  purchaser.  60c.  F.  O.  8TURTEVANT.  Hartford,  i'onn. 
BOILING  WATER  OR  MILK. 
EPPS’S 
GRATEFUL-COMFORTING. 
COCOA 
LABELLED  «  LB.  TINS  ONLY. 
The  ROCKER  WASHER 
has  proved  the  most  satis¬ 
factory  of  any  Washer 
ever  placed  upon  the  mar¬ 
ket.  It  is  warranted  to 
wash  an  ordinary  family 
washing  of  100  pieces  in 
One  Hour,  as  clean  as 
can  be  washed  on  the 
washboard.  Write  for 
prices  and  full  description. 
ROCKER  WASHER  GO., 
Fort  Wayne,  Ind. 
Liberal  inducements  to 
live  agents. 
Ufirr  SAYS  SHE  CANNOT  SEE  llOW 
Wire.  YOU  DO  IT  FOlt  THE  MONEY. 
<t*  |  0  I5uys  a  $<>.'». 00  Improved  Oxford  Singer 
y  I  K.  Sewing  Machine;  perfect  working,  reli¬ 
able,  finely  finished,  adapted  to  light  and  heavy 
work,  witn  a  complete  set  of  the  latest  improved 
attachments  free.  Each  machine  guaranteed  for  5 
years.  Buy  direct  from  our  factory,  and  save  dealers 
_  and  agents  profit.  Send  for  FKKK  UATALOGLK. 
OXFORD  MFG.  COMPANY,  DKP’T  B  02  CHICAGO,  ILL. 
ANCHOR  FENCE  POST. 
iiijmiu,  iu,  mi  kiuub  ux  who  nuu  -1  '.i 
metal  fencing,  for  farm,  stockyards 
or  ornamental  purposes.  Circular  on  application. 
ANCHOR  POST  CO.,  59  D.  W.  42d  St.,N.Y. 
West  Bloomfield,  N.  Y.,  January  15, 1892. 
“  We  make  the  most  sales  where  the  fence  Is  best 
known.  Six  years  experience  handling  the  fence  has 
convinced  us  that  yours  Is  the  best  fence  made,  as  it 
does  all  you  claim  for  It.” 
H.  P.  &  W.  HEWITT 
(These  men  buy  in  10-mile  car-lots.) 
PAGE  WOVEN  WIRE  PENCE  CO., 
Adrian,  Mich. 
8  per  cent  Semi-Annual 
Cherokee  County,  Kan.,  Real  Estate  Bonds. 
The  rate  Is  good,  and  security  in  southeastern 
Kansas  unquestioned.  Long  experience  and  no 
foreclosure.  Write 
BANK  OF  H.  U.  CROWELL,  Columbus,  Kan. 
KING  OF  THE  ROAD-MAKERS. 
Sectional  View 
FORSTER’S  PATENT 
ROCK  BREAKER 
FOR  MACADAM. 
Properly  cubed.  No  gear-wheels  to 
break.  Product,  10  to  200  tons  per 
day,  according  to  size.  Over  550 
In  use.  If  OK  COARSE  AND 
FINE  CRUSHING.  Hoes  the 
work  of  any  other  breaker  with  one- 
third  the  power  and  one-half  the 
expense  for  keepiug  in  repair. 
Mounted  on  iron  trucks  so  that  stone 
can  be  broken  just  where  needed, 
without  extra  handling.  Only  man¬ 
ufacturers.  Correspondence  solicited. 
TOTTEN  &  HOGG  FOUNDRY  CO.,  23rd  Street  and  Railroad  Avenue,  PITTSBURG,  PA. 
AGENTS 
WANTED 
um  i  liiohl  nttutn  co  uul  I  it h  l  un 
.Endorsed  and  used  by  the  best  Farmers  throughout  the  country. 
A  second  year's  trial  convinces 
General 
The  Weeder  has  come  to  stay ; 
DO  doubt  about  that.” 
T.  B.  TERRY. 
"  i  can  not  see  how  any  progress¬ 
ive  farmer  can  do  without  one." 
J.  8.  WOODWARD.  ,  VV.  1.  UHAMHKKLAIN 
The  V  eeder  keeps  the  laud  clean  and  mellow,  and  is  just  what  I  havi 
been  wanting  for  years."  WAI.DO  F.  BROWN 
— — - - - - - - - -  THE  UNIVERSAL  WEEDER  CO.  North  Wears  N  H 
Agents :  THE  GEO.  L.  8QTJIER  MFG.  CO..  New  York.  N.  Y.;  JOHN  FOSTER,  Rochester  N.Y 
me  more  than  ever  of  its  value." 
JOHN  GOULD. 
“It  fully  supersedes  the  hoe,  doing 
better  work  and  ten  times  as  fast.” 
W.  I.  CHAMBERLAIN. 
