1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
93 
not have said in an hour, neither wi 1 he 
suspect how great a tax he is putting 
upon Bettie’s ingenuity and vivacity. It 
is right here that Bettie’s mother can im¬ 
pose her restriction with beneficial re¬ 
sults, instituting - a “ 10-o’clock rule,” 
and by so doing px-ove herself as truly 
his fi-iend as when she accords him a 
cordial welcome, and tactfully grants 
him a fi*iendly footing in the household, 
evincing a genuine interest in his wel¬ 
fare quite above the schemes and ma- 
neuverings of the designing mamma, 
tactics as offensive to most young men as 
they are to all high-minded women and 
girls. The most serious objections we 
can have to Bettie’s acceptance of Bud’s 
attentions, will vanish if we but do away 
with this nonsense of late hours. 
The 10-o’clock rule is, of course, but an 
impei-sonal household mandate requir¬ 
ing that young men calling upon the 
young ladies of the family, shall leave 
at that hour, parties and evening enter¬ 
tainments not being amenable to the 
rule. Public sentiment is not the same 
in all pax’ts of the country, but in the 
localities with which I am familiar, there 
need be no fear of depriving a family of 
girls of any real pleasure by such an as¬ 
sumption of authority. A little dignity 
enhances the standing of a family. Young 
men do not value most that which comes 
easiest to hand, or seek most assiduously 
what is to be had for the picking up. 
The hedge about the pretty blossoms, 
will but make them the fairer to admii*- 
ing- eyes. 
Not long ago, I overheai-d a young lady 
giving some advice to two school girls. 
Her ai-gument, though it did not appeal 
to that innate sense of maidenly reserve 
which should teach a girl to keep her 
favors for those really near and dear, 
struck me as a bit of shrewd sense, 
likely to commend itself to those in need 
of such wai-nings. “Be as cordial and 
affable to the boys as you know how,” said 
she, “but never let them kiss you or put 
their arms ai-ound you, because ” (and in 
the “ because ” lay the hope that those 
giddy young things would heed the ad¬ 
monition) “boys delight to boast of 
those things among themselves ; and you 
run the x-isk of being made a subject fox- 
ridicule.” PRUDENCE PRIMROSE. 
WHAT SHALL OUR PLEASURES BE? 
N an article headed as above in The 
R. N.-Y. of December 8, the idea of 
a woman spending precious time and 
strength upon intx-icate bed quilts, is 
deplored, and it is sug-gested that the 
farmers’ wives do something more valu¬ 
able with their time. I believe in letting 
every woman do that which best pleases 
her, providing it in no way harms her¬ 
self or others. I don’t want to piece 
bed quilts with thousands of pieces, but 
if somebody else does, I am willing that 
she should. I have seen women who 
delight in such work ; there could be no 
bit of art work that would suit them so 
well. They do not think it tedious to 
cut and sew these bits of bright cloth 
together ; but they take a delight in it, 
and this work is to them the best kind 
of a pastime. If you want to do patch- 
woi-k, do it; but if you could be just as 
well rested and satisfied to turn your 
attention to something- else, so much the 
better. It is tedious to me to think of 
the yards and yards of knit and cx-ocheted 
lace some women make ; yet these 
women enjoy the work. It is true that 
the thread often costs as much as a 
prettier trimming would, but that is not 
the point ; the mind that might grow 
unhappy and discontented if left to 
itself, will keep healthful and wholesome 
over a bit of patchwork or lace, that is 
being done to please some one else. 
Perhaps the mother is making quilts for 
her children, or the daughter is making 
a bit of lace for an apron for mother ; 
MOTHERS .—Be sure to use “Mrs. Wins¬ 
low’s Soothing Syi*up ” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best.— AG/v. 
and so love and unselfishness are fos¬ 
tered, and the heart fed the while upon 
happy thoughts, while the fingers are 
bxxsied with these seemingly trivial 
things. 
One shoxild not knit lace or make quilts 
to the exclusion of reading. I believe 
that the farmer’s wife is usually ready 
to help the needy, and with her needle 
is no less willing to aid in fashioning 
garments for needy childi-en. 
Not long ago, a fai-mer's wife said to 
me, “ I suppose you are doing lots of 
fancy work for Christmas,” and she 
spoke longingly of my pretty center 
pieces and such like, for the table. She 
couldn’t afford sxxch things, but she was 
working on a rug. She had bought new 
yarn, the best kind, to bxxttonhole end¬ 
less pieces for her rug, and she wanted 
a piece embroidered for its center. I 
asked her how mxich she had spent for 
her rug, I knew her so well, and I coxxld 
but remark that the same money would 
have boxxght material for a handsome 
linen center piece for her table, and the 
amount of bxittonlxoling spent xxpon the 
rug would have “ done ” an elaborate 
piece of “cut” woi-k upon the linen. 
All these things, trivial though they 
seem, do help to bi-ighten life. Thex-eax-e 
times when I am so tired of my ordinax-y 
occupations, when the thought of mend¬ 
ing is odious, and the idea of washing 
dishes intolerable. Then, I don't want 
my reading, but I can pick up a bit of 
silk embroidery and enjoy it while chat¬ 
ting with a fi-iend or neighbor. 
As long as hxxman beings are hxxman, 
as long as they ax-e diverse in make-up 
and circumstances, jxxst so long must 
their pleasures and recreations be vax-ied. 
Let us have oxir lyceums, our reading 
clubs, our evening merry making ; but 
let us also be tolerant of the tastes of 
others, and if we think we can lead them 
into pastures new, of i-arer pleasures, 
let us not be too selfish to lend ourselves 
to the work. We don’t want the farmer’s 
wife to die of an overdose of dishwashing 
or quilt-piecing, or the literary woman 
of too much writing. We want to keep 
them all with us, and, perhaps, the best 
way to do this will be to let each one 
take up her recreative hobby to sxiit her¬ 
self. ROSE SEELYE-MILLEB. 
CARE OF CELLARS. 
N the discussion on heating a farm¬ 
house, the one idea omitted in men¬ 
tioning fui-nace heating, is that it makes 
damp cellars comparatively di-y. This 
is the second winter in which we have 
heated our house with hot-water pipes, 
and we find a great difference in the air 
of the cellar. Of course we do not keep 
decaying vegetables there. Every farmer 
should have a cellar xxnder part of the 
barn, or a root-house where potatoes 
may be stored, for vegetables give out 
the most poisonous emanations, and peo¬ 
ple are made sick from breathing the 
air, and do not know what is the matter 
with them. 
The popular notion that spring is the 
time to look after the cellars, is a mis¬ 
take. By that time the seeds of disease 
may be sown, and the cleaning come too 
late. After the walls are well swept, 
and evei-y decaying fragment taken out, 
set a pan of coals on the floor, and throw 
on it a spoonful of sulphur; or, better 
still, a piece of stick brimstone. Close 
the windows and doors till it burns 
away, and it w ill destroy all germ dis¬ 
eases with which it comes in contact. 
In our family, if influenza comes—now 
called “grip”—we burn this in each bed¬ 
room, and have reason to believe that it 
is beneficial. Physicians say that typhoid 
and malaria are often broxxght on by 
breathing cellar air that is impregnated 
with the refuse left there, such as old 
meat bai-rels, decayed vegetables, and 
mold in various forms. Particular at¬ 
tention to this department of domestic 
work, will save doctors’ bills, and add 
materially to the health and happiness 
of the family. annie l. jack. 
ODDS AND ENDS. 
Surprise Lends Relish.— For a good 
school lunch, put up some slices of bread 
cut x-ather thin spread with good bxxtter, 
and over that spread some moist maple 
sugar, sxxch as we Vei-monters market in 
tin pails. For a change, use jelly in 
place of the sugar. Let this, with some 
good apples, constitxxte the main part of 
a lunch daily. Besides these, a slice of 
cake, or a cooky or sweet doughnxit 
fried without soaking the fat, and some¬ 
times a piece of pie, or a piece of baked 
meat is relished. Children like to find a 
few x-aisins or some other fruit, a small 
cake of maple sugar, or a little candy in 
the bottom of the pail or basket. If it 
is not put in daily, the sxxrpi-ise of it 
makes it “ taste good.” m. f. n. 
Ferns in the Winter. -If there were 
some pots of fex-ns gx-owing in the coolest 
corner of your shady poi-ch last summer, 
they might have been stai*ted growing 
again. After a sharp freeze, if taken 
into the cellar and left to thaw, then 
changed to a cool room, they soon 
begin to uncux-1 their little gx-een fists. 
Keep xxnder a table or a stand of other 
plants till growth begins, and always 
away fi-om stx-ong sunlight. They will 
px-ove a delightfxxl change from the every¬ 
where px-esent geranium. 
If you had no ferns last summer, do, 1 
enti-eat you, gi-ow some next. All it 
costs is a trip to the woods with basket 
and trowel—the butcher knife will do 
nearly as well—some day next spring as 
early as you can find the ferns; lift 
them carefully, distxxrbing the roots as 
little as possible. Discarded milk pans, 
with plenty of holes for di-ainage, an¬ 
swer nicely for pots. With shade and 
water, they thrive as if in their native 
greenwood, and are so cool and restful 
to look at when the mercury is climbing 
into the nineties ! It's almost as good as 
being in the woods to sit beside them on 
a hot day. i.inda wilton mcneil. 
FOR MIND AND HEART. 
Look up ! as one on dizzy heights 
Looks never downward, lest he fall, 
So thou, ’pon pleasures’ artful wiles 
Gaze not, lest thou should’st forfeit all. 
—Elliott Preston , 
....Anonymous: “What we keep we 
may lose ; but what we give we are sure 
to keep.” 
... .The Household : “Unexpected com¬ 
pany is a good test of a woman’s nex-ves 
and amiability.” 
.... Harper’s Bazar : “A conscientious 
child will often make mistakes, and do 
the wrong thing while he has the most 
sincere and unselfish desii-e to do the 
right one. Such actions in sxxch childi-en 
should not be scolded or condemned too 
harshly. For it is the motive that most 
matters. So long as the intention be 
right, the action .may be amended, and 
the child learn from his error to avoid it 
in future.” 
gulvatisinn. 
In writing to advertisers, please always mention 
The Rural New-Yorker. 
AYER’S 
CHERRY PECTORAL 
FOR 
THROAT 
and 
LUNG 
COMPLAINTS 
Cider Machinery.—Send for catalogue to Boomer & 
Boschert Press Co., 118 West Water St., Syracuse, N.Y. 
BREAK FA ST-SUPPER. 
EPPS’S 
GRATEFUL-COMFORTING 
COCOA 
BOILING WATER OR MILK. 
SOLD!**, 
UNDER A 
POSITIVE GUARANTEE 
to wash as clean as can be done on the 75,000 In fuse, 
washboard and with much more enso. This aim] ies to 
Terr fTs Perfect Washing Machine which wllFEe tent 
on trial at wholesale price; If not satisfactory money re- 
runded. Agents Wanted. Forexclusive territory, terms 
andpriceswrite PORTLAND .11 Kd. CO., Box 14,Portland, .11 hi,. 
Musical Instrument 
-you think of buying. Vio¬ 
lins repaired by the Cremona 
tins repaired by the CreiUoni 
System. C. STORY, 20 Central St., Boston, Mass. 
CARDS 
FOR 50 Sample Htylca 
AND LIST OP 400 PREMIUM ARTICLES 
FREE.HAVERFIELDPUB CO.CADIZ.OUIO 
A fine 1 ii gold 
plated watoh to 
i every reader of 
your full namo and address, and 
wo will send you one of these elo- 
Kant, richly jeweled, gold finished 
watches by express foiexamina¬ 
tion, and if you think it is equal 
in nppoaranoo to any $26.00 gold 
watch pay our samplo price, $3.50, 
and it is yours. Write at once as 
wo shall send out samples at this 
reduced price for 60 days only. 
Mention in your letter whether you 
want GENTS* OR LADIES’ SIZE. 
THE NATIONAL M’F’C 
& IMPORTING CO., 
331 Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill, 
Grant’s Household 
Repairing0utfit$2 
.TUS'l WHAT YOU 
WANT. 
Will pay for itself 
many times over dur¬ 
ing the year. 
The outilt consists 
of the Tools and Ma¬ 
terial shown in cut. 
Any one can do his 
own half-soling and 
mending of Hoots, 
Shoes, .Rubbers, 
Harness, Furni¬ 
ture, Etc. 
We also furnish 
Half Soles (cut to ex¬ 
act size! and Catches. 
Price for Outfit, $2. 
Send for Catalogue. 
JOHN II. GRANT 
342 Wabash Avenue 
Chicago, 111 
PATENTS 
Thomas P. Simpson, Washington, D.C, 
No attorney’s fee until patent ob¬ 
tained. Write for Inventor’s Guide. 
no/uoxmnu auu 
Monthly 
$1 $ year. Elsinore, Cal 
opment of the resources 
Slsinore, Cal. of Southern California! 
-p K R I V In the Beautiful, Healthful and Fertile 
Shenandoah Valley. Attractive Bargains offered 
by C. W. PEERY & CO., Middletown, Va. 
FOR 
Cheap lands in the famous fruit belt of the 
Peninsula. Address H. M. W RIG H T , 
Real Estate Agent, Seaford, Del. 
WANTED 
—Man to work on farm and 
his wife to work in kitchen. 
Reference required. Address 
V., care The R. N.-Y. 
i"ARM Tfl I FAQF -1 want t0 lease my farm 
I nil III I U LLnuL of 223 acres, on Hudson 
River to responsible party, with sufficient means to 
work same to advantage. Especially adapted to Po¬ 
tatoes, Corn and Cabbage. 
FORDYCE S. CALDWELL, 2 Wall St., New York 
YHF RFQT * arm Account Book on Earth. 3d 
I IlC DLw I Ed..containingmany improvements 
now ready, 5Ue. GEO. A. ROGERS, N. Andover, Mass. 
use in Dairies, 
1* or Cooking Feed, for 
— -,, Laundries, Slaughter¬ 
houses, Running Engines, Pumping Water 
by Steam and other uses. Addfess: 
j- K. PUKINTON, & CO., Dios Moines, Ia. 
uiirniinu d g. 
and Farnham. N. Y. 
TRENCH CO., Chicago, Ill, 
Mention this paper. 
GOD 01 )>kT3L WiiMEBu 
without steam power can save 
time and 'money by using our 
Foal ana Hans! Power piacliinery 
SEND FOR CATALOGUES— 
A—Wood-working Machinery. 
li —Lathes, etc. 
SENECA FALLS MFG. COMPANY, 
28 Water St., Seneca Falls, N._Y> 
