i89i 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
743 
ing they know whereto get it, and three of 
them are hoys too ; the only girl is a baby, 
and the boys can get me anything 1 want 
from baby’s drawer, which I consider a 
saving of time and steps. mbs. John o. 
SHIFTLESSNESS t 
HAT constitutes a shiftless house¬ 
keeper ? I had supposed the word 
meant h zy, improvident, and was a term of 
peculiar opprobrium, when applied to 
homekeepers. But one good sister rises 
right up in meeting, and says we are 
all shiftless if we do not iron both sides of 
our pillow slips. Well I iron only one side; 
and many other pieces are slighted in the 
same manner. But then I have the care 
and personal oversight of a 820-acre farm, 
have made and tended a large garden, and 
have not only supplied the table with an 
abundance of summer vegetables, but se¬ 
cured a goodly quantity to lay aside for 
winter. In addition to this. I have done 
the housework and most of the sewing for 
a family of five. I can assure the good sis¬ 
ters that when sleep refuses to weigh down 
my eyelids, it is not because of the wrinkles 
in my pillow slips. 
I think that “Castle in Spain” much too 
complicated for the woman who does her 
own work. Our new house was planned by 
a famous New York architect, and was a 
model of beauty, but it required a great 
many steps to do the work. In rebuilding 
from the ruins, I am doing my own plan¬ 
ning, and will have far more convenient 
work rooms than before, (if ever finished.) 
My advice to every woman is, to plan her 
own house. It is one of the things in 
which she is justified in having hor own 
way. 
Mr. Terry’s dish of strawberries reminds 
me of old times. Strawberries are a great 
success in Nebraska. I wonder that farm¬ 
ers do not pay more attention to their cult¬ 
ure. Despite the drought of last summer, 
up to June 22, we had sold $20 worth of 
cherries and berries, canned 18 quarts, and 
used them in great abundance on the table. 
On that day we sat down to the dinner 
table with an abundance of luscious vege¬ 
tables and fruits; when night came we 
had no place to lay our heads, and what 
had beeu a lovely home garden and fruit 
orchard, was a dreary waste. All through 
the long, weary summer and winter our 
table was set without fruits or vegetables. 
Can the good sister wonder that I think 
more of my trim garden beds, and of re¬ 
storing my strawberry vines and fruit 
trees, than of a few wrinkles in my pillow 
slips ? And does she not think that possi¬ 
bly she may lack just a little of that charity 
that the apostle tells us is so essential to 
the make-up of a perfect character ? Are 
we not too apt to measure other people by 
our own standard, forgetting to take into 
consideration their circumstances and sur¬ 
roundings ? 
“ W. C.” touches the right chord In com¬ 
menting on “Home Making in Dakota.” 
An immense amount of money is spent 
every year to keep the Indians in idleness 
and in good fighting order, while the white 
man, who is battling with the hardships 
and perils of frontier life, may lose all he 
has by blizzards.cj clone, floods or droughts, 
and no helping hand is extended. It should 
be the business of the government, or a de¬ 
partment of it, to look after the well being 
of its children. I think there should be a 
reserve fund for the purpose of restoring 
property lost by storm instead of allowing 
those so visited to suffer or be dependent 
on private charity. mhs. J. l. goff. 
Nebraska. 
IS WRITING EASY WORK T 
THINK some of those people who con¬ 
stantly harp on the theme of the world 
being over run with writers, because it is 
such easy work to write that every one 
turns to it naturally, will find out their 
mistake if they ever try to write. 
A writer’s path isn’t strewn with flowers. 
Margaret Harvey says : “A literary life is 
SftitfJtU&tttfliMi guivntijsittfl. 
In writing to advertisers please always 
mention The Rural. 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Caatorla, 
When she was a Child, she cried for Caatorla, 
When ahe became Mias, she clung to Caatorla, 
When she had Children, ahe gave them Caatorla. 
a series of hairbreadth escapes with a com¬ 
posed face and no bragging.” This is so 
true, that I don’t think any person will fol¬ 
low such a life long unless it is one who 
loves to write well enough to run the risk 
of the “ hair-breadth escapes.” It is those 
people who write a letter perhaps once a 
month, and then find it a great undertak¬ 
ing, who think it easy work to write. They 
imagine a whole magazine or newspaper is 
written and made up In a few hours without 
any effort; and they criticise each article, 
calmly imagining all the time that if they 
“had a mind,” as Wordsworth said, they 
could write as well or even better. 
As for bragging, every writer knows that 
articles written by himself are apt to ap¬ 
pear flat and stale when he reads them in 
print. The best test I know is that pro¬ 
posed by O W. Holmes, in his advice to 
the young poet. He advises that you put 
your articles or poems away and afcer a 
year has passed look them over; if they 
seem good then, you may think there Is 
some merit in them. You will often feel 
more inclined to sigh than to brag, and you 
will wonder how yoa could have thought 
them good at the time of writing. 
It is with “ a composed face ” you sit 
quietly by and hear a miss of 12 or 14 years’ 
experience criticise some of your articles. 
One learns very soon to despise all criticism 
excepting that which comes from the edi¬ 
tors. I am Inclined to think t at editors 
are the kindest of critics. Perhaps the 
reason is because many of them wrote just 
such stuff when they stood at the foot of 
the ladder. But they climbed up one round 
at a time, at every upward step learning 
something new until it seems to us who 
stand on the lower rounds that they must 
have been born at the top; they appear so 
well adapted to their position. 
It has been recently stated that only two 
per cent of the English people are musical; 
and I think on making inquiries you will 
find that not two per cent of our farmers’ 
wives and daughters write for a living; and 
some of those who might write acceptably 
are far too busy with the frying pan to have 
time for pen work. Writing takes time 
and some brains. Every paper and maga¬ 
zine represents to a person who has ever 
written anj thing for publication, hours and 
days of painstaking work by experienced 
writers. A few new ones may be admitted 
to the ranks yearly, but their work must 
stand comparison with that of older 
writers. It would never do for editors to 
allow the public to know that they are 
reaching down to assist some inferior writer 
to climb higher. Like the passengers on 
Mr. Bellamy’s “coach” those who start are 
continually falling off along the way, and 
it is only a very, very few who succeed, and 
those are not made but born writers. 
ALICE E. PENNEY. 
CAUSES OF DISEASE. 
HE opinion expressed by May Maple 
on page 390, that one can see on every 
hand men, women and children living in 
violation of every known sauitary and 
hygienic law, and yet in robust health, 
while people who try to live aright are 
sickly, is most erroneous. If she is correct, 
then all sanitarians are wrong; then 
science, which says that disease is a result 
of known causes, is all wrong. But the 
truth is that she is mistaken. She has not 
seen what she thinks she has often ob¬ 
served. 
The dirty, overcrowded hut may be a more 
healthful habitation than a palace, and I 
am inclined to think there may be more 
pure air, (or less foul air) in the average 
hut than in the home of the well-to do per¬ 
son. The corn-meal mush, pork and pota¬ 
toes of the child of poverty may be better 
for its growing tissues than the dainty bits 
of the child of wealth ; one hour’s play on 
the ground may be worth more than a 
whole day’s “ airing.” The child of pov¬ 
erty may inherit a better constitution than 
the child of wealth. There is nothing more 
certain than this—that every disease has 
its cause, and these causes can generally 
be detected. 
It is an error that the children of the poor 
are more generally healthy than those 
of their wealthier neighbors. Let me 
make a startling statement : nearly one- 
third of the children born in the United 
fetates die under 10 years of age ! And yet 
it is possible, if no diseases or weaknesses 
are inherited, to rear to manhood or 
womannood every child born into the 
world. It is possible; children who die, die 
through the Ignorance or carelessness of 
their parents. For the ignorance we are 
not always blamable ; but we are blam 
able when the children die of foul air, foul 
food, want of sleep; of avoidable contagious 
diseases, of the lack of sunlight, of damp, 
or improper food, or of a hundred other 
avoidable causes. We build air-tight houses, 
run sewer pipes into them, heat with steam 
pipes, with no means of ventilation, over¬ 
feed, underclothe, and otherwise abuse 
children, and then lay It to Providence that 
they sicken and die. 
I will not quote statistics, but they will 
show that the lower in the scale of human 
life we go, the higher the death rate. 
Pardon me for a personal reference ; we 
have five children and they have never 
had colic, cramp, diarrhea, croup or chil¬ 
dren’s diseases of any kind. "Second sum¬ 
mers” have been entirely unknown. Scarcely 
an hour’s sleep has been lost by father or 
mother. I may add that their mother is a 
sanitarian and gives her whole time to her 
children. [dr ] geo. g. giioff. 
It is said that at Hardanger, Norway, 
there is a law forbidding the marriage of 
any girl until she is proficient in baking, 
spinning and knitting. Being able to 
manufacture things to eat and to wear, 
what needs she any further accomplish¬ 
ments ; or any enlargement of her manifest 
sphere ? 
She knows nothing of philology or even of cosmology. 
For though she’s been to school she never passed 
through any college. 
Hut her husband thinks her splendid, for she keeps 
his stockings mended 
And no one can approach her In culinary knowledge. 
Some one’s brilliant mind has achieved a 
new fad in substituting a “memory jar” 
for a merely common potpourri. The jar is 
intended to hold souvenirs, especially flow¬ 
ers, though it is perfectly proper to drop iu 
anything that is very precious. A senti¬ 
mental maiden who is of this new follow¬ 
ing, tells the brief story of her beginnings 
thus: “ This golden rod is part of a bunch 
that he picked for me one royal day last 
September when we were in the country. 
T. is faded maple leaf was picked up in 
Longfellow’s yard. The pansies are some 
that Belle sent me commencemeut day; the 
fresher ones came from mamma a few 
weeks ago. That unromantic looking twig 
came from a tree that Edgar A. Poe plant¬ 
ed. I got it in Fordham one day when I 
made a pilgrimage there. The four-leaved 
clover was put in one of my favorite books 
by a friend who is detd. Everybody ought 
to keep a memory jar. Mine is becoming 
very interesting already.” 
The Convenience of Solid Trains. 
The Erie is the only railway running 
solid trains over its own tracks between 
New York and Chicago. No change of cars 
for any class of passengers. Rates lower 
than via any other first-class line.— Adv. 
If you name The R. N.-Y. to our adver 
tisersyou may be pretty sure of prompt 
replies and right treatment. 
For Boils, Pimples 
carbuncles, 
scrofulous sores, 
eczema, and all other 
blood diseases, 
take 
Ayer’s Sarsaparilla 
It will 
relieve and cure 
dyspepsia, nervous 
debility, and that 
tired feeling. 
Has Cured Others 
will cure you. 
IF YOU HAVE 
no appetite, Indigestion, Flatulence, Kiek- 
Headcahe, “all run down” or losing llesh, 
you will find 
tuft’s Pills 
Just what you need. They tone up the weak 
stomach and build up the llagging energies. 
—GRAPEVINES 
IOO Varieties-"'"Small Fruits. Trees,Ac - n '" 1 
TOvtcd stock. Genuine, cheap. sample vines mailed for 1 •!<•. De¬ 
scriptive price list free. LEWIS ROESCH, Fredonl*. N. Y. 
T. V. MUNSON, DENISON, TEXAS. 
Headquarters for Pnrker Earle Strawberry. Bril¬ 
liant, Campbell, Kommel and llerinnn Jaeger 
Grapes. Descriptions and Prices on Application. 
BERRY plants, sar-Bss: 
■ m. ■ a. ■ Small fruit plants. Large stock. 
Low prices. Catalogue froo. WR. STAHL, Quincy, III. 
TREES 
PEACH Specialty 
A full selection of nil the lending varieties. 
A correct descriptive I Alsoa full line of PLANTS and 
and finely Illustrated ORNAMENTALS. Plant* 
Catalogue FltEK | and Trees by mnil. Address 
JOS. H. BLACK, SON 4 CCL, 
OOO ACRES. 
13 CREENHOUSES, 
TREES an! PLANTS 
We offer for the Fall trade a large and lino stock 
of every description of Fltl/IT and Orniuneiitiil 
TRICKS, Shrubs, Rosea, Vines, SMALL 
FRUITS, Hedge Plants, Fruit Tree Seed, 
lings and Forest Tree Seedlings. Priced Cata¬ 
logue, full of 1891. mailed froo. FMablithed, 1852. 
PHOENIX NURSERY COMPANY 
Boec«a«or» to S lit NICY TUTTLK & < 0 ., BLOOlllNUTOA, IU* 
GOLD MEDAL, PARIS, lbVb. 
W. BAKER & CO.’S 
Breakfast Cocoa 
from which the excess of oil 
has been removed, 
Is absolutely quire and 
it is soluble. 
No Chemicals 
are used in Its preparation. It 
lias more than three times the 
strength of Cocoa mixed with 
Starch, Arrowroot or Sugar, 
and is therefore far more eco- 
I nomica], costing less than one 
| centacup. ItiHdelicious,nour¬ 
ishing, strengthening, easily 
DIGESTED, and admirably adapted for lnvalidr 
as well as for persons in health. 
Sold by Grocers everywhere. 
W. BAKER & CO., Dorchester, Mass. 
DBTWT VftTTB have money: 
llllill IUUil Make money printing 
for others ! Type set- 
ting easy ; printe In¬ 
st rue Ions. Se< d two 
OWN CARDS 
PRESS $3.00 
Circular Size $8*00 
Proas for a aniall 
nonspupvr *14. 
ta ps for Catalogue 
of Presses, Type, 
Cards, Paper, &<:., 
to i he Kectory. 
KELSEY & CO. 
Merlae , Conn, 
Suppose the “Pittsburgh” 
gives more light than 
any other lamp and 
is a hundred times 
cleaner; in fact, 
almost takes 
care of itself 
— what lamp 
will you read by this winter? 
Let us send you a primer. 
Pittsburgh, I'a. PITTSBURGH Brass CO 
IK WKxlTII. Canvasse 
wanted to sell the "New Mo 
el Hall Typewriter.” Wl 
will people buy a slUO macho 
when »8o will purchase a belt 
Send for illustrated cal 
and terms to count 
Address, N. Typi 
writer (Jo., BohIop. Mush. 
GENERAL ADVERTISING RATES 
Xlie Rural New-Yorker. 
Standing at the head of the Agricultural Press, goes 
to every Inhabited Section of North America, and Its 
rcuders are the leading men In their communities. 
Iif~ They are Buyers. 
ADVERTISING RATE 9 . 
Oid Inary Advertisements, per agate line (14 
lines to the Inch).8Ucents. 
One thousand lines or more within one year 
from date of first Insertion, per agate line, 25 “ 
Yearly orders, occupying 10 or more liner, 
per agate line. .25 “ 
Heading Notices, ending with •'ndv.,’’ per 
line, leaded... ?5 •• 
No Advertisement received for less than Ml.00 
for each insertion. Cash must accompany 
all orders for transient advertisements. 
tif~ ABSOLUTELY ONE PRICE ONLY. 
Terms of Subscription. 
The subscription price of the Rural New Yorkkh Is 
Single copy, per year.$2.oo 
Great Hritain, Ireland, Australia and 
Germany, per year, post paid. #8,04 (12s. 6d. 
France. 3.04 (16;* fr.) 
French Colonies. 4.08t.29>fc fr. 
Entered at the Post-Office at New York City, N. Y., us 
second-class mall matter. 
T1IE RURAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
Times Building, New York. 
