The papers have recently told of an 
actress giving up an engagement to play 
the principle role in ‘‘The New Woman.” 
She said that while she had been ex¬ 
tremely anxious to secure so good an en¬ 
gagement as the one offered to her, the 
satire on her sex conveyed by the rSle 
she was to play, was such that she could 
not bring herself to accept the charac¬ 
ter. This young woman deserves com¬ 
mendation for sacrificing her own inter¬ 
ests rather than her principles. It is 
business, more often than pleasure, per¬ 
haps, that interferes to prevent us from 
doing what conscience and principles 
dictate ; and he who makes business con¬ 
form to principle, and not the reverse, 
is, in this respect, an example to the 
rest of mankind. 
We recently read a symposium on the 
question, “ At What Age Is a Woman at 
Her Best ? ” It was hardly an impartial 
discussion, as women only, gave their 
opinions. They differed, which proves 
the truth of one opinion expressed : “It 
depends very much on the woman.” Ages 
ranging from 18 to 50 were given. Such 
a wide range probably is due to the view 
taken by the writer as to whether men¬ 
tal or physical perfection were required. 
Both were included in the question ; but 
it seems impossible for a woman to reach 
the highest degree of perfection both 
mentally and physically, at the same 
time in life. Physical charms may al¬ 
most have vanished before mental pro¬ 
gress ceases. We will quote the wisest 
saying on the question, from Julia Ward 
Howe: “ The woman who keeps the 
simplicity of her girlhood, its generous 
impulses and quick sympathies, and who 
adds to her natural gifts the enlargement 
of study and the crown of experience, is 
always at her best and never past it.” 
KITCHEN COMFORTS. 
WHERE LITTLE EXPENSE MIGHT AFFORD 
MUCH HELP. 
GREAT deal is being said lately 
about the deplorable lack of 
simple conveniences and comforts in the 
domestic workshop of the home. This 
is especially true in country homes 
where our mothers and grandmothers 
lived before us and spent much of their 
uneventful lives toiling in inconvenient 
kitchens with pitiably few helps in their 
toil. These old houses were not built 
for convenience, it would seem, though 
one wonders why not, considering the 
vast amount of work that was expected 
to be performed in them, and was per¬ 
formed, from early cock-crowing till 
early candle-light. The wood usually 
has to be “ lugged in from the most in¬ 
accessible quarter ; the milk taken down 
cellar through devious passages, and 
the water brought from a far-away 
pump or, worse still, well. And no one 
complains or wonders over it all. Why 
not that way ? That was good enough 
for the dear mothers and grandmothers, 
and why not for us ? 
It is not the house-father that is alto¬ 
gether to be reproached, either. The 
patient, busy little house-mother needs 
to be scolded a bit for being so patient 
and contented. A few vigorous words 
from her would work wonders, and no 
domestic trouble be the result at all, so 
without thinking anxiously of an empty 
water pail! And it is so easy a matter 
to bring the water into the house, and 
so economical, too, in the end—and not 
at all expensive in the beginning. That’s 
the provoking part of it !—going for 
years and years without something that 
“might have been” so easily, long ago, 
if we had only had the courage and am¬ 
bition to do it. 
Not many rods away from me live a 
worthy couple climbing up the shady 
side of life. And how wearily they climb 
and how patiently, when they might be 
having so much more comfortable a time 
in their old age if they only had some of 
these simple comforts about them. Every 
drop of water in use in their domestic 
economy, is wound by a creaking wind¬ 
lass out of a well—the heavy bucket tip¬ 
ping and lurching all the way up—and 
carried “ round Robin Hood's barn” to 
the kitchen. The well is on the farther 
side of the house, and one must cross in 
front of the house and ’round the corner, 
along the ell, up steps and over floors, 
and presently return with an empty pail 
for more ! This arrangement has sufficed 
for years, though there has been “ talk” 
all along of sometime laying a pipe into 
the house. Think of it—growing old 
and feeble before one’s time for the want 
of an iron pipe and a kitchen pump. 
Often we find soft water in the kitchen, 
brought up from a cistern down cellar. 
Good ! But why not the drinking water, 
too ? It is so easy to do it and so hard not 
to do it. 
There are plenty of other comforts we 
crave for our friends who are so much of 
their time in the kitchen, and comforts 
that are not out of harmony with a 
slender purse, either. There is the dumb 
waiter in the pantry, to save the toil¬ 
some journeys upstairs and downstairs 
all the year ’round, but especially in the 
summer when they are hardest to take. 
It is not a difficult contrivance to make 
—the dumb waiter—when there are tools 
and a modest amount of skill in the 
family. A carpenter could do it easily 
if the skill is lacking. Think of the 
nervous and muscular “ wear and tear” 
it will save for better uses ! 
But the rest of the comforts must wait. 
These two will make a grand beginning, 
and pave the way for the others by and 
by. ANNIE HAMILTON DONNELL. 
EMPLOYMENT FOR THE EVENINGS. 
ONG winter evenings on isolated 
farms” sounds so desolate and 
woe-begone that I would immediately 
suggest cutting the evenings short in the 
first place. The trees and the plants all 
go to sleep in the winter, and I really 
believe that the Lord intended His 
children to indulge in a little more sleep, 
a little more slumber, a little more fold¬ 
ing of the hands to rest, particularly on 
farms during the winter. So we will 
make the evenings but three hours long 
—from six till nine—one hour for read¬ 
ing, one hour for music, one hour for 
games and refreshments, and, lo ! the 
evening is done. Winter evenings ought 
to be spent in storing up intellectual 
food and entertainment for summer 
evenings. 
Macaulay’s History of England is 
written in an entertaining style. Dick- 
bits that please you, to memory. It 
may please some one else some day to 
hear a bit quoted. 
It is pleasant to study some language, 
German for instance. German love stor¬ 
ies are simply delicious. And make it a 
point to give the study a certain amount 
of time every evening. Without a 
teacher ? Well, the great Macaulay used 
to pick up a language (by giving it 10 - 
hours a day) and get along very well 
without a teacher. He would begin by 
reading the Bible in the new language. 
Shorthand, too, is a wonderfully in¬ 
teresting study when two begin it to¬ 
gether. No matter though the pro¬ 
ficiency of a reporter never be attained, 
you will learn how hard they have had 
to “saw wood,” and that is something 
some people think other people never 
have to do. 
In regard to music, too much cannot 
be said in its praise. It is a joy forever, 
and no home is complete without it. If 
half a dozen friends or more in the same 
neighborhood sing, let them form a club, 
meet at one another’s homes, say, every 
two or three weeks, and let them not be 
too chary of inviting non-singers in to 
participate in the evening’s enjoyment. 
DOCIA DYKENS. 
DEEP BREATHING. 
HE benefits to be derived from deep 
breathing are many. Harper’s Ba¬ 
zar says that the most obtuse person who 
chooses to attempt alleviation of any one 
of a dozen common complaints by a series 
of deep, regular breaths, will be con¬ 
vinced of their efficiency. As in the case 
of every other natural remedy, its ad¬ 
mirers claim too much for it, but the most 
conservative who try it honestly, will ad¬ 
mit that he can do a great deal. 
We all know that fear is a prolific 
source of disease. A very large propor¬ 
tion of the cases in an epidemic are com¬ 
puted to be caused directly by nervous¬ 
ness. Almost any man, if told that he 
looks ill, is likely to be seized with what¬ 
ever malady happens to be most preva¬ 
lent. The grip has done much of its 
deadly work upon those who were too 
frightened by the thought of it to do any¬ 
thing to resist its approaches. In a state 
of fear, as is well known, the breath 
comes faintly and iD short catches. When 
the cause of the terror is removed, one 
draws a long breath. The mind-curists 
have enriched us by at least one excel¬ 
lent adage. It is : “ Do not allow your¬ 
self to think that you are ill. Keep on 
breathing deeply and regularly, and do 
not give way to fear.” 
After exposure to cold, steady, deep 
breathing, often holding the lungs full 
of air for a full minute or more, has fre 
quently broken up a chill. In seasick¬ 
ness, the same treatment, taken as the 
ship rises and falls, will often prevent 
nausea. Sleeplessness may sometimes be 
overcome by careful breathing. 
One prolific cause of malaria is the foul 
exhalations from the lower lungs, which 
a too shallow breathing fails to carry off. 
The breath should penetrate to the re¬ 
motest labyrinths of these great sewers 
of the system in order to cleanse away 
their poisonous gases. It goes without 
saying that the looser the clothing, the 
more thoroughly this vital work can be 
accomplished. If it be not thoroughly 
accomplished, there is bound to be 
trouble sooner or later. 
Anaemia, consumption, dyspepsia, some 
forms of heart disease, and many other 
maladies, are especially benefited by deep 
breathing. One distinguished physician 
once remarked that he attributed his 
own excellent health largely to the habit 
which he had acquired of taking, when 
coming to a street crossing, a deep breath, 
and holding it until he had gained the 
other side. In this way he increased his 
chest measurement four inches in two 
years. Any one who wishes to increase 
his chest capacity, cannot employ a more 
efficacious and natural method than this. 
SCHOOL LUNCHES. 
WAS a teacher for several years, and 
have been more or less interested in 
school matters ever since I can remem¬ 
ber. From close personal observation, I 
have come to the conclusion that in no 
one small point do people show their in¬ 
dividuality more than in this matter of 
school lunches. I once taught in a log 
house in a backwoods district in Wis¬ 
consin, and boarded with a woman in 
straitened circumstances, who sent 
two girls to school. During a three- 
months’ term, I think we did not have a 
cooky, or piece of cake, and very rarely 
any pie. Our dinner, covered by a snowy 
fringed cloth, caine in a bright tin pail. 
There was a small loaf of bread that was 
never “ dry,” sweet, fresh butter in a 
teacup, and a quaint china pitcher full 
of delicious maple syrup of their own 
making, with now and then a pickle or a 
slice of cold meat cut in very thin, trim 
slices. Everything was so dainty, fresh 
and clean that one could not help enjoy¬ 
ing the dinner. 
In another district one scholar was 
a slender, ambitious girl of 14, much 
troubled with nervous headaches. One 
frosty winter morning, she ate but little 
breakfast, and at noontime, faint, but 
not hungry, she leaned her head on the 
desk and tried to sleep. Soon a delicious 
smell aroused her. She sat up to see be¬ 
fore her a saucer of hot soup, the offer¬ 
ing of a shy “ new scholar,” a girl of her 
own age. A family had lately moved 
into the district from Chicago. They 
were all unusually fond of soup, and the 
one girl who attended school declared 
that she should not go without her share, 
when she walked a mile to school each 
morning beside. So she had taken some 
soup and, at 11.30, had obtained permis¬ 
sion to place the small tin pail contain¬ 
ing it on the back of the stove, there to 
heat in readiness for the dinner hour. 
Any one who saw the good effect of that 
nourishing hot soup on the pale, tired 
scholar to whom it was so kindly given, 
would never again ridicule that idea. 
In my own family, three of whom at¬ 
tend school, there is a great difference in 
tastes; so much so, that the boy has a 
separate dinner pail with his own favor¬ 
ite lunches. One girl does not care for 
butter, but prefers instead, sauce of 
some kind; better yet a little jar of 
strained honey, and even some nice sor¬ 
ghum syrup for a change. They are all 
fond of pickles or onions, lean meats; 
and sometimes cold boiled turnips, beets, 
raw cabbage, and often they carry a 
bottle of morning’s milk. A cake, 
frosted, not too rich or sweet, but blessed 
long as the words were well chosen and ens and Thackeray portray character so 
in season. Perhaps of all the burdens vividly that one can hardly resist read- 
most burdensome in a kitchen, is the 
need of running out of doors for every 
drop of water one needs—for the tea¬ 
kettle or dish pan or tub. Rain or snow, 
shine or shiver—the water must be tug¬ 
ged in from the pump, and then one 
must practice economy so that another 
trip need not be taken too soon. Who 
wants to economize water ? It is too in¬ 
nocent a delight to splash and splatter 
in a comfortable abundance of water, 
ing passage after passage aloud, and in¬ 
troducing their real people to the family 
—if the family will permit it. It seems 
to me a great deal more cozy and pleas¬ 
ant to have “readings” at home than to 
rush off to some entertainment, and 
listen to professionals. Don't always 
ask the best reader of the family, either; 
but encourage the others to use their 
voices, and let no one object to kindly 
criticism. Then read poetry and commit 
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