3o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Jan. 1 
JANET THORN'S TEMPER. 
MRS. F. M. HOWARD. 
Chap. I. 
(Continued.) 
“My land! my land!” Mrs. Thorn 
sank into a chair quite in a tremble of 
surprise. 
“ Of course you’ll take it, father?” 
Janet’s black eyes were shining 1 , and a 
re i spot of excitement glowed on each 
cheek. There was a prospect of a change 
quite beyond her wildest expectations. 
“Ask the cat if she’ll take cream when 
she can get it,” whispered Abel, rubbing 
his hands jovially. 
“ But what shall we do if we sell the 
farm?” asked Jimmy. 
“ Go West, young man, go West an’ 
grow up with the kentry.” 
Janet’s eyes sparkled anew at this 
witty rejoinder. The West with its 
boundless opportunities had long been 
the goal of her ambition, and the sudden 
prospect of seeing her hope realized, 
coming as it did upon her morning of 
petty trial, was a bewildering revul¬ 
sion of joy. 
“ Oh, father, I’m just too happy for 
anything,” she exclaimed, throwing her 
plump arms around his neck and kissing 
his wrinkled cheek with fervor. It took 
a powerful impetus to impel Janet to 
affectionate demonstration toward her 
father, and that amiable gentleman 
opened his faded eyes wide in surprise 
as he replied, “ Wall, wall ! I’m glad 
you’re pleased J’net. Now le’s have 
dinner.” _ 
Chap. II. 
The farm was sold, and the stranger’s 
eyes had a gleam of triumph in them as 
he paid over the money and took the 
deed from Abel Thorn’s hand. 
Abel on his part was equally pleased, 
believing that he had made a shrewd 
bargain, and only fearful that the keen¬ 
eyed stranger would discover how he 
was being cheated. If Abel had set his 
own price, he would have thought $4,000 
an extravagant figure, but for once he 
had grafted a little of worldly wisdom 
upon his naturally easy-going methods, 
and “ played sharp.” 
“Told him I didn’t care no great about 
Bellin’ anyhow,” he explained to his wife 
with a chuckle of satisfaction at his own 
shrewdness, upon being pressed for par¬ 
ticulars of the marvelous transaction. 
It was curious to observe the dignity 
and importance which the successful 
move had imparted to him, straightening 
the indolent slouch of his shoulders, and 
giving his eyes an unwonted luster as he 
planned, not always wisely or well, per¬ 
haps, for the new venture in the West. 
“ I reckon Iowy’ll be about as far out 
on the frontier as we’ll care to get,” he 
said, his hands in his pockets, while 
Janet and her mother separated such 
articles as they wished to pack from 
those which were going into the sale. 
They were to give possession in a week, 
and everything not available for removal 
would go into the auctioneer’s hands, 
with the cattle and farm “truck.” Janet 
was fairly exultant over this phase of 
the matter—the getting rid of the accu¬ 
mulation of dilapidated furnishings 
which had tried her progressive soul so 
long—and she breathed not one sigh of 
sentiment as the old table with the 
cracked leaf, the chair with the broken 
rung, and kindred objects were set aside 
to furnish material for the auctioneer’s 
art. 
“ I’ve heard tell about Iowy, that it’s a 
mighty purty soil out there. Not a stun 
to be seen an’ the dirt as black as your 
shoe.” Mr. Thorn picked a loose sliver 
off a board, and nibbled at it reflectively. 
“ That’ll suit me.” Jimmy lounged upon 
one of the boxes with an important air. 
“ I’ve picked up stones enough to last me 
to a pretty decent old age if I should 
never see another.” 
“ Well, there’s one comfort: we sha’n’t 
have to put on no great o’style out there,” 
sighed Mrs. Thorn, with an air which in¬ 
ferred that she had been a victim of ex¬ 
cessive and burdensome style in the past. 
“ Well, I guess not. I reckon the 
fashions don’t travel fo far as that.” 
Jimmy looked down at his new suit with 
great satisfaction. “You ’n’ me will 
show ’em a thing or two ; won’t we, 
Janet ? ” 
“ Perhaps, if we don’t get shown some¬ 
thing ourselves,” Janet replied drily. “If 
you should do a little more work and a 
little less talking, it might be fully as 
profitable.” 
She had a lively suspicion that the West 
was not upon so low a plane of civiliza¬ 
tion after all, and had little hope of sur¬ 
prising the natives with her Eastern 
accomplishments, but Jimmy and her 
father had formed the most absurd ideas 
possible in regard to that much talked of 
region, the West, and made very little 
distinction between Iowa and Pike's 
Peak in their mental estimates of the 
great country beyond the Mississippi. 
There was a mortgage upon the farm, 
which, in the hands of a man like Abel 
Thorn, proved to be an accumulative 
decoration. After this had been paid, the 
balance in hand was not so great, and the 
money seemed like a bird on the wing, 
flying hither and yon, here a little and 
there a good deal, until Abel remarked, 
with a wry face, when his wife asked 
him for money for some needful expense 
for the journey: 
“ We’ll have to hurry out o’ this, ma, 
or much as ever we’ll have enough to get 
away with.” 
The bird which had seemed so large in 
the bush dwindled rapidly in the hand. 
It was a journey of wonders to the 
simple family who had scarcely been out 
of their own county. Jimmy’s eyes had 
been growingwider and brighter as they 
approached the city of marvelous growth 
and enterprise, Chicago, and though he 
had failed to discover the boundary line 
between the superior culture of the East 
and his fancied inferiority of the West, 
he had become conscious of a new atmos¬ 
phere, clear, incisive and sparkling with 
energy. There were push and enterprise 
in the very air and even Abel, slow in 
thought and motion, felt this to be the 
case and remarked to Jimmy, “Seems 
like somethin’ was a pushin’ me an’ a 
hurryin’ me up.” 
They were beyond the city now, out 
among the wide prairies of Illinois, and 
men talked of improvements, and of large 
movements in business and achievement, 
and the younger man involuntarily held 
his head higher, and felt himself more of 
a man among men. 
As for Janet, her eyes were sparkling, 
her cheeks glowing with the interest of 
it all, and she looked eagerly out at the 
flying landscape, noting the great fields 
of corn, from which the ripened ears had 
not yet been plucked, the wide stretches 
of field and prairie, carrying their im¬ 
pression of a vastness of operation which 
was both new and fascinating. There 
was plenty of room here, and her ambi¬ 
tious soul seemed to expand, to open out 
in eager anticipation of what this won¬ 
derful new country might bring to her. 
“Great country, isn’t it, miss?” A 
gentleman in the seat behind her had 
noticed her absorbed interest, and with 
Western informality, addressed her ; he 
was a Western man and intensely at¬ 
tached to, and proud of his locality. 
“ Yes, sir.” Janet turned, and seeing a 
kind, fatherly face in which there was 
only friendly interest and pride of coun¬ 
try, pursued the conversation without 
fear. ‘ ‘ This is my first glimpse of the 
West, and I am greatly pleased.” 
“Coming here to live ? ” 
-“ Yes, sir, we intend to settle in Iowa.” - 
“Splendid State, Iowa. Folks don’t 
know just how to appreciate it until 
they get out of it. Look at her farming 
country now ; a man that can’t make a 
living on Iowa soil couldn’t make it any¬ 
where on earth, and her school system! 
Why, ma’am, nearly every little village 
all through the State has its brick school- 
house, with the American flag a-flyin’ 
from the cupola of some of them. We’re 
a-bringing up our boys and girls on the 
essence of patriotism, instilling the love 
of country with their A, B, C’s.” He 
brought his fist down with energy upon 
his knee. 
“A very commendable idea, I’m sure,” 
murmured Janet, while the enthusiastic 
gentleman paused for breath. 
“And then her enterprise!—she’s a 
rusher—Iowa is. Busy as a bee and 
gathering in honey every day.” 
(To be continued.) 
ODDS AND ENDS. 
Had Samples With Him. —Persons 
who have unexpectedly taken hot food 
that looked cold into their mouths will 
appreciate this story from The Cider 
Maker: 
A clergyman was going to the moun¬ 
tains for his summer vacation, and, being 
very fond of a certain brand of pickles, 
he took some with him. They are ex¬ 
tremely hot and should be sparingly used. 
Arrived at an hotel, he placed the bottle 
on the table and took one or two of them. 
A party sitting opposite got his eye on 
the pickles. 
“ Stranger, pass the pickles, please ? ” 
The clergyman said: “ These are pri¬ 
vate property but you are welcome to 
them!” He passed the bottle across the 
table, and the party emptied half the 
bottle into his plate and stirred them 
well up with his spoon. Then he took a 
big mouthful, but they were not long 
down when he drew a long breath and 
said : 
“Look here, stranger, I guess you are 
a parson ! ” 
“ Well, I am a clergyman, and I preach 
the gospel.” 
“Look you here,” said the party, “I’ve 
heard them preach about fire and brim¬ 
stone but you are the first one I ever met 
who carried a sample bottle ! ” 
Why Fruits Crack. —There is a law 
relating to the transmission of fluids 
through thin membranes, called endos- 
mose, where the transmission is from 
without inward, and exosmose, where 
the movement is from within outward. 
Upon this principle may be explained 
the cracking of fruits. Endosmose, prop¬ 
erly understood, is a sufficient explana¬ 
tion of the process, says the California 
Fruit Grower. But, in order to illustrate 
the principle, we may say that if a blad¬ 
der, for example, be filled with syrup 
and immersed in a vessel of water, the 
water will, after awhile, become sweet. 
The syrup passes through the membrane 
of the bladder in the water, and corre¬ 
spondingly the water passes into the in¬ 
terior of the bladder. But this inter¬ 
change is not an equal one ; the light 
liquid, the water, passes in many times 
more rapidly than the heavier liquid, the 
syrup, passes out. The consequence will 
be that the bladder will be distended to 
its utmost and at length burst. A ripe 
tomato, cherry, orange or plum may be 
considered in the condition of the blad¬ 
der of syrup. The rich juices of the fruit 
correspond to the syrup, and the thin 
membrane, which forms the skin of the 
fruit, represents the bladder. When the 
ripe fruit is kept constantly wet by a 
rain, endosmose takes place, and the 
water, passing through into the fruit, dis¬ 
tends the skin, which, not being very 
strong, is soon ruptured. 
IN writing to advertisers please always mention 
The Rural. 
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■ ^HARTSHORNS. StUDEROLLERSy 
Beware of Imitations. J) .. 
NOTICE ,, (U 
AUTOGRAPH // i^LABEL 
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In writing to Advertisers, mention The R. N.-Y. 
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In shipping farm products correspond with F. 8. 
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