THE HEALTH OF THE FAMILY. 
WHAT MAY BK HONE TO SUPPLY THE DOC¬ 
TOR’S PLACE. 
O N the farm, often many miles from 
a reliable physician, what can be 
more necessary than that some one in 
the family should have a little knowl¬ 
edge of the use of common remedies, and 
the nursing of common diseases ? And 
the more that person knows, the better, 
for diseases in farmers’ families, as well 
as elsewhere, are sometimes vei’y uncom¬ 
mon, and unless immediately recog’nized 
as such, and a competent physician 
called, the result may be serious and a 
subject for life-long regret. Some people 
say, “I never know what to do when any 
one is sick.” Do not be one of that class, 
but try to be ready to do your best in 
any emergency, wherever you may be 
placed. 
It is not many years since the trained 
nurse was an unheard-of luxury, in case 
of severe illness, in the country, or small 
towns ; now we often hear of her employ¬ 
ment, and nearly every time the patient 
recovers and the nurse gets quite as 
much praise as the doctor. But for most 
cases, the wife and mother must depend 
on her own skill, be it much or little, 
and thankful is she if she feels that it in 
any wise equals the demands made upon 
it. Then we often hear her tell the 
doctor what a good nurse her husband 
is, and how handy he is with the child¬ 
ren when they are sick. 
Have Medicine On Hand. 
Simple remedies, where used in time, 
often accomplish wonderful results, and 
save much suffering, to say nothing of 
large doctor bills. These should always 
be kept in the house. Remedies for 
fever, indigestion and coughs, also tonics, 
all carefully prepared prescriptions from 
a competent physician, ready to the hand 
of one who can safely use them in time 
of need, have often been of untold value. 
They should be plainly marked with full 
directions, and placed where no inquisi¬ 
tive child will sample them, as some of 
them may be deadly poisons. But the 
absence of these prepared remedies, is 
no excuse for not doing anything in case 
of illness until the doctor comes, for 
many things which may easily be col¬ 
lected, should always be found in the 
farmhouse. 
Bloodroot dried, and chewed in very 
small quantities, is excellent for coughs. 
Catnip and hops are very useful in in¬ 
somnia, neuralgia, nervous headache, 
etc., the former to be drank as a tea, the 
latter in local applications of the tea or 
steamed herbs. Peppermint should be 
purchased as an oil, as the quality is 
better, the quantity needed less, and the 
alcohol left out. Ammonia is very use¬ 
ful, and the mustard box should never 
be allowed to get empty. These are a 
few of the things that may be used, until, 
if necessary, we can get something better. 
In case of severe chills and cold ex¬ 
tremities, a foot bath of hot water with 
mustard thrown in, will often ward off 
pneumonia. If it is desired to produce 
perspiration, the patient may then be 
tucked into a warm bed with hot water 
bags, or bottles, whichever are con¬ 
venient. In case pneumonia develops, 
the inustaM is invaluable to apply 
locally, either stirred with hot water, or 
mixed with a thin spreading of lard. For 
nausea, which occurs in many severe 
cases, mustard applied on the stomach 
and in the foot bath, has relieved w r hen 
physicians’ remedies could not be re¬ 
tained. Stiff neck, neuralgia and the 
pains that accompany influenza, will all 
yield to it if it be faithfully applied. 
Right Use of Knowledge. 
Children are taught physiology in 
school, and after good daily recitations, 
and a fine examination passed as a finish, 
we are amazed to see how little of this 
knowledge they apply to their bodies. 
They wish to keep good, white teeth, 
but sometimes forget to clean them, do 
not eat the foods that build bone, and 
indulge in much candy. They want 
strong, bright eyes, but the girls like to 
wear veils, and are so careless about the 
light on their books while reading, and 
the boys contract catarrh, and do not 
know what ails their eyes until they 
have consulted an oculist. They desire 
clear, beautiful complexions, but are 
careless about ventilation, diet and other 
aids. 
Here is another great responsibility 
that rests on parents, not only to care 
for the children until they are old enough 
to think to care for themselves, but to 
teach them how to apply what they 
learn, to take lessons from everyday ex¬ 
periences, and not to neglect little ail¬ 
ments, because they are little, until they 
are so serious as to produce great suffer¬ 
ing and sometimes are beyond help. 
Parents, better than anyone else, should 
know the hereditary tendencies which 
their children have to contend with, and 
should strive to build up what is lacking 
in them. When the time comes that the 
family is as carefully looked after in re¬ 
gard to the “ balanced ration,” which 
The II. N.-Y. tells of, exercise, etc., as 
the fancy stock which the farmer owns 
and more acceded that book learning is 
not the best or only education. The city- 
bred boy, quite likely, has not the physi¬ 
cal strength of the country boy. Physical 
strength means ability to apply one’s 
self to study, and the country boy will 
stand just as good a chance at college as 
the city boy, because he has an active, 
healthy mind in a healthier body. But 
the lack of a college education is no more 
common in the country boys than in city 
boys. 
Now that he has arrived at manhood, 
has the farmer’s son an equal chance, 
equal opportunies for making a home 
for himself and his family to be ? If he 
is suited to farm work, if he likes it and 
has not the talents that lead him else¬ 
where, let him stay on the farm and be 
content. 
It is a great mistake, this idea that 
farmers’ sons are not refined. True, 
some are not; but there are certainly 
just as many refined men in proportion in 
the country as in the city. Not every 
man can go to the city and make himself 
a financial king; not every man has 
talents for oratory, for mathematics, for 
mercantile life, etc. For the man who 
must depend for his subsistence upon 
his exertions as a day laborer, the 
country is far preferable as a place of 
residence. If the country-born boy has 
talents that lead him to a different field 
A FANCY BASKET. Fig. 84. 
is to-day, there will be more comfort and 
happiness for other people, and less 
business for the doctor and nurse. 
CLARA T. SISSON. 
THE COUNTRY BOY’S ADVANTAGES. 
How may farmers’ sons nearing marriageable 
age, be made to feel that their position is 
equal to that of other occupations, and to appre¬ 
ciate the advantages of farm life ? 
IIE idea of equality seems prepos¬ 
terous to me, when I think of the 
different people I have known in my life, 
of their actual inequality in mind, in 
physique, in education, in spirit. One 
would never for a moment think of call¬ 
ing an idiot equal to a man of well-bal¬ 
anced intellect and high culture. 
If two boys are born into the world, 
one in the city, the other in the country, 
both of commonplace parents, cominonly^ 
educated, commonly refined, commonly 
healthy, and in common financial circum¬ 
stances, the country-born boy stands a 
much better chance of growing up to a 
strong, healthy, well-developed man¬ 
hood, than does the city youth. The 
country boy has all Nature for a teacher, 
and he also has excellent teachers be- 
of work, then let him do that work ; but 
if his abilities are such that he can be 
content to settle down on a farm, there 
are few lives pleasanter than that of the 
farmer. There are a great many ad¬ 
vantages in country life, and it is a free 
and independent one, one to be desired 
above all common lives in the city. It 
may not be a broad road to wealth, but 
the average American citizen is not 
wealthy. There is no doubt about the 
hard work, but there is hard work every¬ 
where where there is work of any kind 
worth doing ; and sometimes it seems as 
though the people who are wealthy, and 
who appear neither “ to toil nor spin,” 
labor the hardest of all, for he who seeks 
pleasure will find his quest a sorry and 
laborious one. 
The city clerkships seem to be very 
much desired by a certain class of young 
men, but if our boys could only know it, 
they would be much happier, and much 
better off in the country. The life of a 
clerk is not an easy one, the wages are 
not large, and the expenses of city living 
are much greater than those in the 
country. Dollars are small enough in 
the country, but their size perceptibly 
decreases when they must be made to 
cover the expenses of living, even in a 
humble way in the city. 
Another point not to be overlooked. 
The man in the country, who is a man, 
is looked up to, is equal to any of his 
contemporaries ; he has real friends, real 
companionship, while the city man has 
no neighbors, or very few. The man 
who in the country, would seem a bright 
and shining light in the city would be a 
cipher. It is a hackneyed idea that the 
world needs the farmer, but it is a funda 
mental truth; and the crying need of our 
Nation to-day is for intelligent men on 
the farm—men who can understand the 
financial conditions of the country, and 
work some deeply needed reforms. Be 
not con tent with being “equal,” be super¬ 
ior, ye noble sons of a noble race of men, 
ye tillers of the soil, ye feeders of the 
world, be strong, be true, and more than 
all be men ! rose seei.ye-miller. 
WHAT A BOY THINKS. 
I A BOY of 17, would like to say a lit- 
? tie something regarding Florence 
Brown's manner of disposing of the 
beau question. I agree with her in 
thinking that it would be a good idea to 
go home a little earlier ; but there are 
few girls, when out at some social gath¬ 
ering with a young man, who have cour¬ 
age enough to go home ; and I don’t 
blame them for a lack of it. The boys 
generally have charge of the time for 
breaking up ; but they don’t go earlier, 
because some have just a slight fear 
(which they would not admit) of being 
thought sleepy by the girls, if they pro¬ 
pose going home earlier than usual. 
While at a small party a few evenings 
ago, I heard a young person remark to a 
friend that, “ Mamma told me to be home 
by 11, but I don’t believe I shall be.” It 
was then past 1 o’clock. That mother’s 
words were worse than thrown away. 
Miss Brown says that no true mother’s 
son would boast of “ taking liberties.” 
Perhaps not, but 50 per cent of those 
sons would tell of it, as a secret, to their 
nearest and dearest friends. I should 
say, however, that boys who have so 
little honor, are heartilydespised by those 
of their companions blessed with any 
common sense or, I might say, chivalry. 
The girls and boys here are generally 
friends and good comrades, but there is 
always between them a bashfulness and 
distrust, caused by continual teasing 
about beaux, etc., by their elders, a. s. 
A FANCY BASKET. 
A STANDING work basket is such a 
comfort when one sits down to 
mend or sew. First of all, because it is 
more capacious than the ordinary little 
basket. Then it is such an independent 
sort of an institution, being able to stand 
alone, that it quite relieves its owner of 
the many little attentions she must be¬ 
stow on the unpretentious small basket. 
A very convenient and attractive basket 
may be made at home, using two peach 
baskets as shown at Fig. 84. The lower 
one may be left unfinished inside, merely 
serving as a support. The upper one 
should be lined inside, and furnished 
with numerous pockets and a cushion 
or two for needles and pins. Cover the 
outside with pretty cretonne or silko- 
sides, for parents in these days generally 
recognize their responsibility, are ambi¬ 
tious, and labor to educate the children 
entrusted to their care, and give them 
the advantages they had not when they 
-were young. The city-bred boy will have 
better educational advantages in the 
graded school always well organized in 
the city. [? Eds.] But what the city boy 
gains from books, the country boy will 
gain from Nature, a knowledge equally 
fitting and helpful. It is becoming more 
Highest of all in Leavening Power.—Latest U. S. Gov’t Report 
AB&OMJTEEY PURE 
