THE PRIZE DIALOGUES. 
FTER due consideration of every 
merit, the judges have awarded 
the prizes as given below. In such a con¬ 
test, the writers are likely to think that 
the effort is all on their part. Hut if 
they could be among the judges for once, 
they would realize that after everything 
is written, there remains quite a formid¬ 
able task before the contest is ended. In 
making these offers, we have outlined 
certain conditions which must be com¬ 
plied with if the manuscript is to be con¬ 
sidered. These rules are not merely to 
restrict the writers, but to help them by 
defining what we desire. In awarding 
the prizes, the judges bear these rules in 
mind, and it is to the writers’ interest 
that they should be guided by them. We, 
therefore, wish to mention one of the mis¬ 
takes made in this cmtest, that in future 
it may be avoided. Articles not suitable 
for the Woman's Department, cannot be 
considered in these contests, no matter 
how meritorious they may be. We also 
ask that a little more promptness be 
shown in sending manuscripts. We give 
a time limit, and abide by it ; but let it 
be borne in mind, that the date we men¬ 
tion is the latest and not the earliest day 
on which manuscript may be submitted. 
It is to our mutual benefit that time and 
effort be not wasted. Delay in receiving 
manuscripts has caused us to delay the 
second prize offer which will be made 
next week. 
Summer Refreshments. 
FIRST PRIZE. 
Scene: A July day, the vine-shaded piazza of an 
old farmhouse. Mrs. Planner and daughter Nellie 
comfortably seated, the one with her knitting, the 
other with her crochet and the latest magazine. 
Nellie: ‘‘There comes Mrs. Shifty, 
walking up the road !” 
Mrs. Planner : From town ! How 
hot and tired she must be ; run down to 
the gate and ask her in to rest !” 
Mrs. Shifty : “ Yes, it is an awful hot 
day to walk to town, but the men and 
horses are all busy, and 1 forgot to send 
for some needed groceries last night. 
Cinda has a dressmaker, so 1 had to go. 
My ! how comfortable you do look in 
your cool dresses ; 1 hadn’t a thing to 
wear but this black cashmere, and the 
dust has just ruined it !” 
Mrs. P. : “Nellie and I did our sum¬ 
mer sewing last March, when we could 
do little else, and our cotton dresses 
come in good now.” 
Nellie after giving Mrs. S. a fan and 
rocking chair disappears, and presently 
returns with a napkin covered server on 
which is a saucer of ice cream,' some 
blocks of sponge cake, and a glass of 
water. 
Mrs. S. : “Ice cream ! Land saltes ! 
IIow could you make it this hot weather? 
The boys said last winter when they 
were working so hard filling the ice¬ 
house, that they would expect lots of ice 
cream this summer to pay for it; but 
they haven't had it but once. We made 
some the Fourth, and it was such a job ! 
It most spoils my enjoyment of this 
when 1 think how hot somebody got 
making it.” 
Mrs. P. : “ Nellie didn’t suffer a bit, 
did you, dear ?” 
N. : “No, indeed! I rather enjoyed 
it.” 
Mrs. S. : “ Enjoyed it ? I would like 
to know how you could do that !” 
turned the crank. Nothing very hard 
about that, was there ? Hut I wouldn’t 
mind a little discomfort, for we all like 
frozen coffee so well. Father says 
there’s nothing ‘ just touches the spot’ 
as that does on a hot day.” 
Mrs. S. : “Well, I don’t wonder he 
says so, if it is always like this. I hate 
to leave this nice, cool place, and get all 
heated up again ; but somebody’s got to 
make soda biscuit, and stir up a ginger 
bread for supper, and Pa always expects 
meat and potatoes, too.” 
Mrs. P. : “Indeed! Why, we never 
have hot suppers in the summer, and yur 
men do not grumble.” 
Mrs. S. : “ What do you give your har¬ 
vesters ?” 
N. : “ To-night we have a big dish of 
cold, boiled rice, milk, bread and butter, 
chipped, dried beef, raspberries and 
sponge cake, that's all ! No, there is a 
bowl of Dutch cheese besides, and when 
the men coine, I shall light the oil stove 
and make tea for those who wish it.” 
Mrs. P. : “Sometimes, we have cold 
corned beef, potato salad and brown 
bread. The men always like that, and 
we try to have a change often.” 
Mrs. S. : “Two suppers fit for a king, 
and so easily got. I mean to try some of 
your ways ! That cream was just deli¬ 
cious ! 1 must be going !” M. m. 
Canvassing a Neighbor. 
SECOND PRIZE. 
Lady Agent : “ The top of the morn¬ 
ing to you, Mrs. Matt Foote ! Husy at 
work, as usual ; but what under the sun 
are you going to do with all of that hot 
water and rags ? ” 
Mrs. Matt Foote: “I was just going out 
to wash the buggy. It was so cold for my 
hands that 1 thought 1 would warm the 
water a little. Mr. Foote has to speak 
at a farmers’ institute, 20 miles off, to¬ 
morrow, and the buggy looks just 
awful.” 
L. A. : “ Why doesn’t he wash it him¬ 
self ? ” 
Mrs. M. F. : “ Frederick ? Why. he 
hasn't time ! Since he has got to writing 
for the papers, and telling at the insti¬ 
tutes how to make gilt-edged butter and 
cheese, and everything, he hasn’t time 
for anything else ! ” 
L. A. : “Hut 1 thought that you made 
the butter.” 
Mrs. M. F. : “I do; but, you see, I 
couldn’t tell a crowd about how I did it, 
if 1 tried. So Frederick watches me do 
thiugs, and then sets it all down on paper, 
lie's real smart about such things, though 
he can't stand hard work : and he doesn't 
need to with such a brain as he has. He 
is in the parlor now writing on ‘ How 
to make hens lay.’ 1 ought to go in this 
minute and tell him how I changed their 
feed this morning.” 
L. A. : “ Well, I won’t detain you 
much longer. 1 have a ladies’ paper here 
which 1 would like to show you. I think 
you will be highly pleased with it; only 
$1 per year ! ” 
Mrs. M. F. : “I don’t believe it will 
be worth while looking at it. I haven't 
much time to read; and times are so hard! 
Frederick has to have his papers, being a 
public man as he is ! ” 
L. A. : “ How many does he take ? ” 
Mrs. M. F. : “ He has nine just now ; 
you see, they help him about his writ¬ 
ing. He has to keep up with the times. 
The Neighbor’s Well. 
THIRD PRIZE. 
Mr. Thompson, having an errand at his neigh¬ 
bor, Mr. Jameson’s, and being unable to find any 
one about the house, shouts to him. Jameson 
answers in a voice that sounds muffled at first, 
but grows clearer as Thompson descends the bulk¬ 
head steps, and seats himself on a barrel. 
Thompson: “ Jameson ! Jameson ! 
Hullo!” 
Jameson : “ What is it ? ” 
T. : “ Where are you ?” 
J. : “Here—down cellar.” 
T.: “What are you up to—or down to?” 
J.: “I'm digging a well right under 
where I’m going to have a copper pump 
in my kitchen.” 
T.: “What under the sun—why, you’ve 
got a good well, and a wooden pump 
already, not 30 feet from your kitchen 
sink ! ” 
J. : “Exactly, and my wife has aver¬ 
aged to bring in from it six pailfuls of 
water a day, for the last 10 years. You're 
good at figuring; tell me how many 
pounds weight she has carried in that 
time ? ” 
T. : “ Wait a minute till I can find a 
scrap of paper. Let's see—call a pailful 
of water 25 pounds—that would be 150 
pounds a day, 1,050 a week, 54,600 a year, 
and — good gracious!—273 tons in 10 
years ! ” 
J. : “Just so. Now, how many miles 
has she carried that 273 tons ?” 
T. : “ Thirty feet would be 60 feet each 
trip ; six trips, 360 feet a day ; call it 
half a mile a week, that would be 27 
miles a year, 270 miles in 10 years ! ” 
J. : “ Near enough. So you see that 
my wife has traveled 270 miles, carried 
273 tons, and, as the sink is five feet 
higher than the platform under the 
pump, she has lifted the 273 tons that 
number of feet—all because I was too 
mean and stingy to lay out $20 and a few 
days' work ! ” 
T. : “ Humph—guess you'll find it will 
cost more'n that.” 
J. : “ Reckon it up. Ten feet of block- 
tin inch pipe, $4 ; 10 feet of lead, tin- 
lined pipe, $3 ; copper pump, $6 ; two 
clasps, 60 cents ; plumbing, $2.50 ; and, 
say, $1.50 to somebody to help me stone 
up the well.” 
T. : “Seventeen dollars and sixty 
cents, is that all ’twill cost ? ” 
J. : “ Every cent except my woik, and 
harvesting is done, so I’ve not much else 
to do now.” 
T. : “ Well, well ! I’ve a good mind to 
put one in my house ! ” 
J. : “ It'll be the best investment you 
ever made ! ” 
T. : (Thinks for a minute) “ I vow I’ll 
do it! ” l. R. 
Consistency. 
FOURTH PRIZE. 
Scene: A farmhouse room. Persons: Father, 
Mother, Ben (the son), Ruth (the daughter). 
Mother : “ Ruth, where is the butcher 
knife ? ” 
Ruth : “ In the knife box, I suppose ! ” 
M.: “ No, I’ve looked there, and nearly 
everywhere else, and I can’t find it! ” 
R.: “Oh, I saw Hen have it yesterday 
in the back room ! ” (Runs out and gets 
it and brings it in). “Here it is with 
the point broken off, and the handle 
loosened ! ” 
Hen : “ I was fixing my gun, and could 
not find the screwdriver ; so I used the 
butcher knife. 1 forgot all about it and 
left it out there ! ” 
Father (rather severely) : “ This is 
a pretty looking knife ! Go and get the 
hammer right now, and I will fix this 
handle.” (Ben goes in search of the 
hammer, and after a long while returns 
without it). 
B.: “I can't find it in the tool box 
where it belongs, or anywhere else ! ” 
M.: “Ruth, didn’t you have the ham¬ 
mer out on the horse-block cracking nuts 
this morning ? ” 
R.: “Oh, yes! I’ll run out and get 
it! ” (Brings it in and reluctantly shows 
the handle broken close up to the ham¬ 
mer head). 
M.: “ Why, Ruth ! How did the handle 
get broken ? ” 
It.: “I was cracking nuts, and I 
pounded my thumb awfully. I threw 
the hammer down in the wheel track 
and ran in. I suppose the loaded wagon 
ran over it.” 
F. (severely): “I wish you children 
would put things back where they be¬ 
long, every time you use them. Things 
get lost and broken, and spoil also, by 
not doing so. ‘ A place for everything and 
everything in Us place,’ is a good rule, and 
I wish you children would remember it.” 
B. (rather cautiously): “Father.” 
(Slight pause). 
F.: “ Well, what is it, Hen ?” 
B.: “ How about the mowing machine 
down in the back lot ? Is that in its 
place ? It’s been down there ever since 
last haying time. It’s awful rusty, too.” 
R. (shyly): “ And the scythe hangs out 
in the old apple tree, right where you 
put it last summer, after mowing the 
yard.” 
F. (impatiently): “ See here, you chil¬ 
dren are getting too smart altogether ! 
Ruth, you go about your housework ; 
and Hen, you go and split up a lot of 
kindlings!” (Hen goes out but returns 
after awhile). 
B. “1 can't find the hatchet !” 
R. “ I saw mother using the hatchet 
yesterday out by the flower bed ! ” (Runs 
out and brings it in, showing several 
large nicks in the edge). 
M. (in some confusion): “I was sharp¬ 
ening some stakes to drive around the 
flower bed, to keep the hens away, when 
the hatchet went right down on a stone 
and made those nicks.” 
(Father looks at mother and winks ; 
mother smiles, Ruth laughs, and Ben ha, 
ha, ha's.) 
F. “ Weil, I think we may all of us 
learn a profitable lesson from this morn¬ 
ing’s happenings. It is much easier to see 
the mote in another’s eye, than to pluck 
the beam out of your own. We must 
remember that ‘A friend should bear a 
friend's infirmities,’ and that consistency 
is indeed a priceless jewel.” .mbs. a. r. p. 
Taking a Ride. 
Scene : A country road. Auntie riding with her 
nephew, Jack. He strikes the horse. 
Auntie: “Why, Jack! What made 
you strike Dolly so ?” 
Jack : “ Because she stumbled ; she’s 
got no business to stumble.” 
A. : “ Who fell down last night with a 
pail of milk ?” 
Jack hangs his head, hesitates, and 
finally answers, “I did.” 
A. : “ Suppose some one had given you 
a sound whipping for it; w r ould you have 
thought that right ?” 
J. : “No sir —ma’am, I mean.” 
N. : “ Why, 1 just made some extra Most of bis farm papers have a whole 
coffee this morning when 1 got break- page for women, so 1 don't feel as though 
fast; afterwards strained what was left, we could afford to take one just for me ; 
added twice as much sweet cream, and 1 know Frederick wouldn't look at it. 
sugar enough to make it very sweet. He makes a deal of fun of women writers; 
Then I added one tablespoonful of gela- he thinks they step out of their sphere 
tine dissolved in a little water, and froze when they get to tninking they are as 
the mixture. The boys left a piece of smart as men, and begin writing and 
ice under the grape arbor when they editing papers.” 
filled tbe creamer, and 1 packed my L. A. : “ Well ! well ! I—I really must 
freezer out there, so that it made no be going. Good morning, Mrs. Fooxmat!” 
muss, and then 1 read a story while I P. K. 
Highest of all in Leavening Power.—Latest U. S. Gov’t Report 
jlBliOLUTELY PURE 
