663 
i89i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
kerosene, tea, coffee and spices—but it is 
not economy to purchase any perishable 
article in such quantity as to be obliged 
to consume more than necessary in order 
to save it. M. B. 
* * * 
There is a difference in the effect which 
economy has on the minds of different peo¬ 
ple. Some are ashamed of it and had as 
scon be caught stealing as saving. 
Economy is the mortar wherein we lay 
up the walls of home. If it be lacking or 
poor in quality the walls will crumble. I 
think the chief cook of a househould should 
have laws like those of the Medes and Per¬ 
sians which never change. X. 
* * « 
Comforters need not be washe 1 so often, 
if this plan is followed: Sew shirt buttons 
one foot from the top of the comforter, 
take calico the length of the end and 
sew strips on either side; in these work 
buttonholes and button this extra facing 
on the comforter. This can be quickly re¬ 
moved when soiled, and saves much hard 
washing in a family where there are chil¬ 
dren or hired men. H. L. P. 
CONTRIBUTED RECIPES. 
Mrs G.’s Cake.— One scant cup of sugar, 
one-half cup of buttermilk, one tablespoon¬ 
ful of cream, one egg, one an i a half cups 
of measured flour, one heaping teaspoonful 
of baking powder, and a pinch of soda. 
Apple Cake —One egg, one cup of sugar, 
juice and grated rind of one lemon, one 
tablespoonful of corn starch, half a teacup¬ 
ful of sweet milk, and a third of a teaspoon¬ 
ful of soda, flour to make a batter, bake in 
layers, and grate three large apples to put 
between them. 
Vinegar for Pickles —Four pounds of 
sugar, one quart of strong vinegar, one 
ounce of every kind of spice. MRS. B. C D. 
ONLY MY WIFE. 
I WAS visiting a friend the other day 
when her pastor called. After he had 
left she remarked, “ Did you ever notice 
with what respect Dr. Conway always 
speaks of his wife, and with what courtesy 
he treats her at all times ?” I nodded as¬ 
sent. 
My friend continued: “I suppose my 
husband is as good a man as ever lived, but 
his mother did not train him to be cour¬ 
teous to ladies. His sisters were his slaves 
and so he was spoiled for a husband in one 
great essential.” 
“ Perhaps he copied his father,” I sug¬ 
gested. 
“ Why, yes, that was it,” she replied. 
“I remember his father always took the 
easiest chair, the best place by the evening 
lamp, the most comfortable place by the 
window; always threw down his papers 
where he had read them ; never p ut away 
his slippers; treated his wife as though she 
were his valet and the rest of the household 
simply as servants to obey his orders.” 
“ But if he did all this quietly it simply 
made more work,” I said. “Sometimes a 
man will behave thus and worry everybody 
in the doing of it.” 
“ Well, I will say that neither James nor 
his father said much. They simply took 
the best of everything and let the rest of 
their little world divide the remainder 
to suit themselves. But”—continued my 
friend hesitatingly, as though perhaps it 
was something that ought not to be said— 
“ but there is James’s brother, Horace; he 
does all that and fumes and fusses besides. 
When Ellen married him she hung up on 
her walls ‘ I need Thee every hour’ and I’ve 
often thought it might do more good if 
she’d hung up John Wesley’s motto, ‘ I’d as 
soon swear as fret.’ 
“ I was down there last week and stayed 
over Sunday,” went on my friend, finding 
I was disposed to be silent. “ Oh, but it 
was horrid! The baby had kept Ellen 
awake all night and she had a sick head¬ 
ache by the time breakfast was ready. 
Horace came from his room when she called 
him after the children were all ud and 
■|tU;saUiuieottS( 
Readers of The R. N.-Y. will please the 
advertisers and benefit the paper by always 
mentioning it when writing to advertisers. 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castor la, 
W ben she was a Child, she cried tor Castorla, 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castorla, 
When she had Children, she gave them Castorla. 
dressed. He fretted at the coffee, grum¬ 
bled at the steak, declared the potatoes 
were half cooked, and wanted to know why 
they didn’t have baked beans and brown 
bread for breakfast. 
“Ellen replied that he said the Sunday 
previous that he never wanted to see baked 
beans again. Then he found fault with the 
doughnuts and wished he could get such 
as his mother used to make. In the midst 
of his breakfast he saw a pane of glass in 
the window that I knew had been cracked 
for a year, and he wanted to know ‘ how 
under the sun ’ that was done. He scolded 
the children, kicked the cat, ‘yanked’ a 
button off his clean shirt, and declared 
there was not a collar fit to wear. And if 
you’ll believe me, he then called the family 
together for family prayers! And all 
through the reading of some long chapter 
about the war with Gibson and through a 
longer prayer, Ellen, between quieting the 
baby and hushing the mischief of the boys, 
must have done more watching than pray¬ 
ing. I do hope poor Ellen got a chance to 
whisper, ‘Ob, my Father,’ and get the 
quick, loving response, ‘ Here, my dear 
child. I know all. I’ll give thee strength.’ 
As soon as that man rose from his knees 
he remarked, ‘ Well, you’ll have to hurry. 
It will be church time in half an hour I ’ 
“ My stars! ” exclaimed my friend with 
vehemence as her thoughts ran back over 
her sister-in-law’s life. “ I feel as though I 
could not stand it to have James’s own 
brother treat his wife in the way he does. 
If she were a dog he couldn’t speak differ¬ 
ently. The little, constant worrying thrusts 
that man gives! Why it blows northeast 
every minute he is in the house. Give me 
thunder, cyclone or earthquake! You can 
brace up for these but to feel as though you 
were always on a dynamite keg and might 
be blown up any minute! Perhaps I didn’t 
hear that man promise to love, honor, 
cherish that woman! Maybe I don’t know 
what those words mean, but if Horace 
does ‘ love ’ his wife, he certainly takes a 
queer way to show it! ‘ Cherish ? ’ Why, 
that means to * nourish,’ to ‘ nurse,’ to ‘ en¬ 
tertain,’ to ‘comfort,’ ‘ to treat with tender¬ 
ness and affection.’ And what a good 
woman, what an excellent wife Ellen has 
been! I don’t believe he ever told her so in 
his life. I would like to know if a man 
never thinks a kind and loving word to his 
wife would be just as sweet and acceptable 
as it was in the days before she took his 
name and began to be the helper and bur¬ 
den-bearer a true wife always is! Of 
course, in a certain sort of a way a man ap¬ 
preciates a good wife, but it might be in the 
same way he does his best Jersey cow or 
finest horse for all the good it does the wife. 
Such a husband usually keeps his good 
manners for some other woman. Upon my 
word, one day when we had company James 
accidentally hit my elbow and begged my 
pardon in a right and proper way, and—will 
you believe me?—when he saw it was ‘ only 
his wife,’ he apologized by saying he 
thought it was my sister Mary. If culture, 
education and refinement will help a man 
to be courteous to his wife, I shall pray that 
my daughters may all marry men who will 
know no other way to treat their wives than 
as they treat the grandest ladies of the 
lan i.” MRS. C. F. WILDER. 
R. N.-Y., and it will be a very great help to 
beginners in household work. 
It is slander to say that women do not 
change, and improve their ways. None but 
the ignorant or conceited think they know 
all there is to be known about their own 
business, and women ever look with a fav¬ 
orable eye on what their favorite paper 
says about things in which they are most 
interested. aunt rachel. 
A FARMER’S DAUGHTER AND PRES¬ 
IDENT’S WIDOW DEAD. 
NE of the remaining links between 
the earlier and the later periods of 
American history was severed by the death 
of Mrs. Sarah Childress Polk, widow of our 
eleventh President, on August 14, at the 
advanced age of 83. Indeeed. all the peo¬ 
ple of her time are gone—Simon Cameron 
and the historian, George Bancroft, the lat¬ 
ter one of President Polk’s cabinet, being 
the last to go before Mrs. Polk. So quietly 
have the more than 40 years during which 
she has awaited the summons to rejoin her 
husband been passed, that it is doubtful 
whether the great majority of the younger 
generation knew that she was still with us, 
and she had no children to keep the name 
in the public mind. Never, in all this time 
did she accept an invitation to visit away 
from home, although it is said that no one 
of distinction ever visited Nashville with¬ 
out paying his respects to her. 
In many ways Mrs. Polk was a rather re¬ 
markable woman. In the stir which Mrs. 
Hayes’s banishing of wine from the White 
House made, it seems to have been forgot¬ 
ten that she had an exemplar in Mrs. Polk, 
who not only banished wine from all except 
the high state dinners, but, being a rigid 
Presbyterian, proscribed dancing, also, as 
she considered it an improper amusement. 
Mrs. Polk was the daughter of a pioneer 
Tennessee farmer, was married at the age 
of 19, and was initiated into political life 
the next year by the election of her hus¬ 
band to Congress. So fully did she appre¬ 
ciate her position as wife of the President, 
later on, and so well did she fill it, that an 
English lady of the time averred that not 
one of the three queens whom she had seen 
could compare with this farmer’s daugh¬ 
ter in royal bearing. Yet with all her state¬ 
liness, her beauty and wit, and her reputa¬ 
tion as one of the best conversationalists 
and entertainers which the White House 
ever had, she, like its present mistress, was 
devoted to housewifely duties, and gave 
much time to keeping the nation’s fur¬ 
nished house in order. 
The bits of soap that so constantly accu¬ 
mulate may be utilized by placing them in 
a soft flannel bag, to be used as a bathing 
bag, though some will thus be wasted, more 
than Is needed being dissolved by the 
dampened cloth. A better way Is to dissolve 
the bits in a little hot water, and add fine, 
white sand. The mass may then be poured 
into tin boxes for forms. Cakes of excellent 
sand soap are the result, good for toilet, or, 
when fully hardened, for scouring purposes. 
When writing to advertisers, please 
mention The Rural New-Yorker. 
“THAT WOMAN’S CORNER.” 
SHOULD like to say a word about the 
woman’s domestic corner, which some 
unappreciating man thinks is so useless. 
During the last 30 years The Rural has 
been a weekly visitor at our house, read 
and pondered by old and young, and I have 
found in the pages given to domestic affairs, 
very many recipes and suggestions which 
have lightened and brightened the daily 
routine of farm work. 
Many new ideas strike us as reasonable 
to adopt, and we often wonder that we 
never thought of the same thing before. 
The old saying that two heads are better 
than one is true with respect to house¬ 
keepers. The experience of the army of 
women who take and read the domestic 
columns of The Rural must be worth 
more than that of any one, however wise 
that one may be. It is for each housekeeper 
to use her own j udgment, in applying every¬ 
body’s directions to her own affairs, and 
the result cannot but be beneficial. 
It would be a fine thing if every man 
were obliged to read the woman’s corner of 
The R. N.-Y., until he could comprehend, 
to some extent, the varied labor both of 
hand and brain which goes into the making 
of a well-ordered home. 
Let the woman’s page be filled with the 
best experienceof the women who read The 
That Your Hair 
may retain 
its youthful color, 
fullness, and beauty, 
dress it daily 
with 
Ayer’s Hair Vigor 
It cleanses the 
scalp, cures humors, 
and stimulates a 
new growth 
of hair 
Dr. J. C. Ayer & Co. 
Lowell, Mass. 
Tuff's Pills 
The dyspeptic, the debilitated, whether 
from excess of work of wind or body, drink 
or exposure in 
MALARIAL REGIONS, 
will find Tutt’s Fills the most genial re¬ 
storative ever offered the suffering invalid. 
VICTORY AT LAST! 
Self-threading Sewing Needles 
The Blind can use them. Invaluable for 
failing sight. finest needle made. Mill- 
ward’s Gold Eyes do not. cut the thre ul. 
Sample paper, 10c.; 0 for 25e.; 12 for 70c. 
iVcw England Novelty iVIfg. Co., 
24 Portland Street, Boston, Mass. 
The Man with 
a Long Face 
BEECHAM’S! 
PILLS 
trill euro * 
liis 15II- { 
loci* und t 
Nervous Disorders, J 
arising from a Weak * 
,Stomach, Impaired <» 
Digestion,Con*tlpn- J 
} tlon, or a Torpid Diver. One dose f 
* will oftentimes relievo sick 
j in twenty minutes. 
New York Trade Schools 
First Ave., 67th and 68th Sts., New York. 
Day Classes commence January -4, 1892, 
Three months’courses of instruction In Plumbing, 
Carpentry and Stone Cutting, 28a each; In Bricklaying 
and In House, Sign and Fresco Painting, $40 each. 
Attendance last season 584, the young men coming 
from 2* different States and from Canada. 
Circular, Illustrated with photo-engravings, mailed 
free on application. 
What to do with a trouble¬ 
some lamp? 
Have you an 
enemy? Make 
him a Christmas 
of it. Then get 
‘Pittsburgh.” 
Drop us a postal card; we’ll 
send you a primer. 
Pittsburgh, Pa. Pittsburgh Brass Co 
An Excellent Opportunity 
tor investment in the Orange Belt at RIVER- 
HIDE, CAD. Young groves for sale at bargains. 
Net profits, $500 per acre. Low taxes. Climate un¬ 
surpassed. For further particulars and terms address 
C. E. McBRIDE. Mansfield, Ohio, or 
J. H. FOUNTAIN, Riverside. Cal. 
UflCC SAY8 RUB CANNOT 8F.K ROW 
Wire NOU DO IT FOR TUB MOM;/. 
^ I n Buys a, $00.00 Improved Oxford 81ngcr 
VI / Sewing Machine ; perfect working all* 
able, finely finished, adapted to light anuheavy 
31 work,with a complete set of tho 1 atest Improved 
attachments tree. Each machine guaranteed for » 
years. Bnv direct from our factory,and save dealers 
. agents profit. Send for It’ilEK CATALOGUE. 
vSu mu. coatany, dlt’T u 82, cmuuo, ill. 
PAINTrooVs 
DIXON S SILICA GRAPHITE PAINT 
Water will run from it pure and clean. It covers double 
the surface of any other paint, and will last four orflvt 
timeslonger. Equally useful for any iron work. Sendfoi 
circulars. JOB. Dixon Cuuciblk Co., Jersey City, N, J, 
General Advertising Rates of 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
TIME8 BUILDING, NEW YORK 
The following rates are invariable. All are there¬ 
fore respectfully informed that any correspondence 
with a view to obtaining different terms will prove 
futile. 
Ordinary Advertisements, per agate line (this 
sized type, 14 lines to the inch).30cents 
One thousand lines or more, within one year 
from date of first Insertion, per agate line, 25 “ 
Yearly orders occupying 10 or more lines 
agate space.25 “ 
Preferred positions.25 per cent, extra 
Heading Notices, ending with “Adv.,” per 
line, minion leaded.75 cents 
No Advertisement received for less than Si.00 
for each insertion. 
Terms of Subscription. 
The subscription price of the Rural New-Yorkkr Is 
Single copy, per year.$2.00 
‘ “ Six months. L10 
Great Britain. Ireland, Australia and 
Germany, per year, post-paid. $3,04 (12s. fid.) 
France. 3.04 (lfi^S fr.) 
French Colonies. 4.08129}^ fr.) 
Agents will be supplied with canvassing outfit on 
application. _ 
Entered at the Post-ofllee at New York City, N. Y. 
as second-class mall matter. 
