The manuscripts for the prize con¬ 
tests are coming in. We note with pleas¬ 
ure that some of the men-folks are try¬ 
ing their hands. It is only fair that they 
should, since the feminine portion of The 
It. N.-Y. family not only entered the con¬ 
test for prize symposium subjects last 
fall, but carried off half of the prize 
money. So now’s your time, gentlemen, 
to prove the absolute equality of the 
sexes. See that your side of the house 
produces its share of prize winners. 
* 
Dr. Cyrus Edsox recently wrote an 
article about “ nagging women,” and 
made them responsible for all of the un¬ 
happiness found in some homes. While 
he told a good deal of truth, he went a 
little too far in placing on the wife’s 
tongue, the responsibility of the hus¬ 
band’s brutality, profanity and drunken¬ 
ness. So Lady Henry Somerset, Harriet 
Prescott Spofford and Marion Harland 
have come forward in the North Ameri¬ 
can Review with arguments and criti¬ 
cisms that leave the blame a little more 
equally portioned than Dr. Edson would 
have it. It is good to .see that there are 
women ready to use every opportunity 
to champion their sex. Woman has been 
woman's enemy too long. It is time that 
she should be her defense. And the most 
admirable defense is to bestow on a sis¬ 
ter. praise or justice, which in no way re¬ 
flects glory on one’s self. While it may 
be true that “ a fellow feeling makes us 
wondrous kind,” it’s a sort of kindness 
that we admire but little more than the 
“ honor among thieves.” As there isn't 
the slightest suspicion of self defense in 
these articles, we shall quote a few lines. 
Mrs. Spofford says : 
Everything of which Dr. Edson’s arraignment 
accuses wives, is equally true of- husbands. Hay 
not the time-honored jests concerning the mother- 
in-law and the mother’s cookery, be summoned as 
witnesses ? 
Says Lady Somerset: 
Any discussion of the nagging woman that fails 
to take into account the fact that she lives in a 
house instead of in the open, as we say in Eng¬ 
land; that she breathes a vitiated atmosphere 
most of the time—I mean the average woman; 
that she bears the strain of wifely and motherly 
cares minus the compensation that results from 
mingling with the daily life of the world and com¬ 
ing in touch with its multifarious and inspiring 
interests, is to my mind unscientific. Take the 
average man and put him in similar surround¬ 
ings, incase him in the same restricted garments 
that women wear, and the words, “ a nagging 
woman,” would but feebly describe his condition, 
for he would be likely to become either mildly 
lunatic or altogether imbecile. 
SPRING HOUSEWORK. 
/jo not make a bugbear of housecleaning by 
crowding it all into one week. 
u \ T OW is the winter of our discontent 
IN made glorious” by the approach 
of the time when Nature and women be¬ 
gin the annual task of renovation. The 
columns devoted to home affairs in many 
of the periodicals, have words of advice 
as to the method of “charge and ad¬ 
vance,” which women should apply to 
their generally dreaded duty. Who does 
not remember the compositions on Spring 
which have announced its coming, speak¬ 
ing so brightly of the merry birds, green 
grass, sweet blossoms, and beautiful sun¬ 
shine of Nature's housecleaning? Can 
we not learn a lesson from the spring 
time, and keep sunshine in the home at 
this season, so that the men folks need 
not hate the time of housecleaning ? 
The first preparation for the siege is 
to lay in an unlimited stock of patience. 
Next in importance is an abundant sup¬ 
ply of food. If meals are regular, and 
food plentiful, the men will not feel 
neglected ; and if ever the busy house¬ 
wife needed good fare, it is at this time. 
Let the cooky-jar be filled, the cake box 
not forgotten, bread and pies baked, 
meats cooked to be eaten cold, and with 
tea, cocoa or coffee, eggs and baked pota¬ 
toes, a meal “fit for a king,” may be 
easily and quickly prepared. On the 
farm it is well to begin early in the sea¬ 
son to work at such parts of the house as 
can be done without exposure to cold, 
because, before the busy time out of 
doors comes on, the farmer and his sons 
can lend a hand at the heavy ends, which 
helps so much ! If the work is mostly 
out of the way when the warm days of 
May come, the housewife can be out in 
the garden to look after the flower beds, 
and drink in the fresh air and sunshine 
which so steady the nerves, without feel¬ 
ing that she is neglecting work indoors. 
Keeping the cellar clean is a man's 
work. The sorting of vegetables, apples, 
etc., may be done when other work is not 
pressing, and thus nothing decayed 
allowed to remain to menace the health 
of the family. The Shakers, who are 
noted for their spotless neatness, never 
have a “set time” for house cleaning, 
but clean whenever it is needed. This 
would be a good rule for the farmer’s 
cellar; when there are signs of needed 
work in that part, do it and keep clean 
as well as make clean. 
Now for a few practical helps ! Wood 
ashes sifted into whitewash until it looks 
gray, will whiten the smokiest wall. 
Holes in plastering may be easily filled 
by using Paragon plaster, which needs 
only the addition of water to be fit for 
application. This does not harden so 
quickly as Plaster Paris, and is more 
convenient than mortar. A kitchen 
floor which is rough, or will not hold 
ordinary paint, can be successfully cov¬ 
ered with glue paint, which will stand 
constant wear for three years. To three 
pounds of yellow ochre, add pound 
dry white lead, mix together with a 
knife, crushing well the white lead. 
Dissolve two ounces of ground glue in 
three pints of water, stirring till smooth 
and nearly boiling. Thicken the glue 
water with the paint as mush is made, 
so that it will spread smoothly on the 
floor, applying with an ordinary paint 
brush. This will dry in a few hours, 
when a coat of boiled linseed oil must 
be given with a clean brush. This 
amount will cover 100 square feet. The 
floor should be warm enough to prevent 
the oil from gumming. The paint can 
best be washed with hot suds and will 
not spot easily. molrie wiggixs. 
FARMER GREY’S CHANGE OF HEART. 
HIS was some years ago, and Nel 
lie (that’s Tom’s wife) has be¬ 
come so much my own child that when a 
stranger asks, ‘ Your daughter-in-law, 
sir ? ’ 1 find myself looking around won- 
deringly. But it might thus never have 
been, for I was always set in my own 
ways, and when the other young men 
around (with well-to-do fathers like my¬ 
self) begun, one by one, to get a top car¬ 
riage, our Tom naturally thought of one, 
too. But the square-box wagon, newly 
painted and cushioned—the one I had 
taken his mother out driving in as a girl, 
and afterwards as a bride, and had kept 
in good repair ever since—1 thought good 
enough for any boy of mine. Tom didn’t 
say much, but 1 could see that he 
wasn't feeling right over it, and I knew 
mother didn't think it right, either. But 
after we talked it over once, she said no 
more about it. 
“ Well, late in the summer (haying 
done) the young folks got up a drive to 
young fellow she sat by was every bit as 
good in his way as our Tom. I hoped 
that the boy had not seen them, but on 
going to the house a few minutes after, I 
heard him talking. ‘ I don’t blame her 
a bit, mother,’ he said, ‘ I did not say a 
word to her about going ; I couldn’t, you 
know, with all the others in their car¬ 
riages. I had too much respect for my¬ 
self, and certainly too much for Nellie to 
ask her to ride as I rode.’ I turned sharp 
away and didn’t hear any more, and 
somehow I wasn’t hungry for dinner 
when it came noon. 
“After supper 1 walked over to the 
post-office, got my paper, and sat down 
on the bench outside to rest. The riding 
party came by after a while. ’Twas too 
dark to see them, but I could hear the 
steady roll of wheels and bits of talking 
in low tones. Then, two voices some¬ 
where near me in the dark began talk¬ 
ing. ‘Young folks getting home, I 
guess.’ * Yes.’ ‘ Had a nice day for it. 
Yours among them I suppose ?’ ‘ Oh ! 
yes ; children will be children you 
know. I was sorry not to see Tom Grey 
with the rest.’ ‘ Yes, too bad ; Nellie 
was there?’ ‘Yes; George took her.’ 
‘ I am afraid neighbor Grey is making a 
mistake, and I don’t believe he sees it, 
and Tom won’t say a word. He is just 
like his mother.’ ‘Exactly.’ ‘There isno 
better neighbor than Grey, but I am 
afraid he don’t see just clear now what 
he is doing’ ; and the voices grew fainter 
as they walked on. 
“ I went home, too, pretty soon. Never 
mind what 1 told myself on the way; 
’twasn’t compliments. It does a man 
good to hear his neighbors talk once in 
a while. But human nature is human 
nature, and everything went on as usual 
for two weeks. Then Tom and 1 went 
to town one morning and drove two 
wagons ; I managed that. Mother stand¬ 
ing in the doorway late in the after¬ 
noon, saw us coming over the hill, I 
driving the two-horse lumber wagon, 
and Tom just behind me in his top 
carriage; and maybe it wasn’t a nice 
one ! I drove right past mother, and on 
to the wagon house ; but Tom stopped— 
holding out his hand. ‘Step in mother,’ 
he said, ‘ no one shall say my best girl 
didn’t try the carriage first one.’ And 
they went to the corner and turned. I 
watched them coming back, faces so 
alike (as the neighbors had said that 
ni«ht). Had she, too, wanted things all 
these years, I had not given her ? And 
was wanting them yet ? Little comforts 
she had been accustomed to in the old 
home, and was missing in mine ? It was 
not too late yet. I would watch and 
see.” EMIRY T H. STEEDMAIT. 
THE STAY-AT-HOME RUT. 
WISH, for the benefit of the mothers 
of the rising generation, that The R. 
N.-Y. would get the opinions of the 
thoughtful farmers on the question, “ Is 
it better, more healthful, morally and 
physically, for the women to stay closely 
at home ?” 
Of course more labor will be per¬ 
formed, the houses will be kept cleaner, 
more mending done, more pies and cake 
baked. Also, women will be more intro¬ 
spective, more morbid, more sensitive, 
less cheerful, less satisfied, in a word, 
more nervous. 
When I removed to a western State six 
years ago, I censured women who com¬ 
plained of their husbands and other 
members of their families to outsiders. 
1 said “ When I speak of my domestic 
affairs eomplainingly, then I will separ¬ 
ate from my husband and tell those who 
have a right to know, the reasons of my 
actions.” Since then, I have met so 
many women who are shut in their homes 
and yards or ranches, for five days out of 
the seven, and have seen their hunger 
for friendly converse and frequent 
change of scene, that now, instead of 
wondering why they so morbidly dwell 
on their personal affairs, my surprise is 
that they are not in the lunatic asylum. 
The children go to school, meet com¬ 
panions of their own age, get new 
thoughts, fresh ideas, and when at night 
they return home, it is another change 
for them. The man goes to work and 
meets and chats with neighbor A at this 
end of the furrow, and at the other end 
neighbor B drives by and stops to ex¬ 
change ideas or “swap lies.” But the 
wife stays home and washes the same 
old dishes at the same old sink, sweeps 
the same old carpet whose pattern she 
can trace with shut eyes, and sees the 
same old faces at the table. Husband 
goes away on business and stays over 
night, comes home and says, “ I tell you 
it is good to get home; you need to go 
abroad to appreciate your home. You 
should be thankful you live here.” And 
the wife says audibly or mentally, “ 1 
hate this place.” 
I have known my husband to be at 
work in our ?0-acre orchard and to meet 
a different neighbor at each point of the 
compass and chat with each one the 
same day. But I may work five days 
without seeing Mrs. North, or Mrs. 
East, or Mrs. West or Mrs. South. 
A high-tempered, sensitive woman 
moved into these parts and was snubbed 
all around by her neighbors. She “lived 
it down” and now is on good terms with 
every one. An intimate friend said to 
her : “ How is it that you stand all this 
so sweetly, with your quick temper ?” 
“ Oh !” said she, “ if you had lived, as 
I have, in the mountains where you saw 
a woman’s face once in six weeks, like 
me, you would creep in the dust to have 
a woman speak to you.” 
Women need women friends. For 
humanity’s sake, let’s teach our hus¬ 
bands to tell us to visit our neighbors, 
get all the ehange of scene we can. 
Good women will not neglect home or 
children, but will return more cheerful, 
brighter and better satisfied. If they 
send us to market or post-office, they 
say, “ Now, don’t be gone long, come 
right home ; I want that horse !” If our 
afternoon’s work done, we take our 
sewing and go into a neighbor’s, we are 
“ always gadding,” or “out gossiping.” 
MRS. W. H. P. 
BONNETS AND BANGS. 
'T' 1 HEY tell us that by another season, 
1. we shall all be wearing the hair 
parted and smoothly brushed down over 
the ears. Shall we also be wearing bon¬ 
nets larger than our heads, with wx-eaths 
of laces and flowers encircling the face ? 
Some impartial observation of the next 
10 women one meets, as to their head 
covering and what it does for the face 
beneath it, will be likely to foster the 
conviction that too many women of 40 
some lake. I wondered whether our 
Tom was going. I knew he would want 
to take Nellie Lee, one of the prettiest 
of the gii’ls, and the nicest. All the boys 
had their carriages but Tom, and I 
wasn’t sure he’d go without one, and I 
was pretty sure, too, that he didn't want 
to see any one else take Nellie. It was 
a nice day ; I was mending fence along 
the road when they all drove past—a 
pretty sight—but one carriage spoiled it 
all for me. Nellie was there, and the 
Highest of all in Leavening Power.—Latest U. S. Gov’t Report 
