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PRIZES! PRIZES! 
E are now ready for the next con¬ 
test. The conditions remain as 
stated March 16 : “ All manuscripts en¬ 
tered in these contests will be retained 
by us.” Some of the writers did not 
remember that condition, and inclosed 
stamps for return of manuscript, and are 
perhaps charging us with delay in com¬ 
plying with their requests. The rules 
given indicate the way to success. 
$5, $ 3 , $2 
prizes will be given for the best short 
essays on the subject given below. They 
must be mailed before June 15. They 
must be short and pointed. The prizes 
are increased to $5 for the best, S3 for 
the second best, S3 for the third best, 
and for the next best a year’s subscrip¬ 
tion to Tub It. N.-Y. 
Hake them short—not much over 50 lines. 
Give your own experience. 
Don’t deal in theory. 
Don’t sermonize. 
Boil it down. 
fly Best Teacher. 
What school teacher did most to help 
me form helpful habits of thought, study 
and observation ? W hy was that teacher 
successful—was it because of superior 
book knowledge or strong personality ? 
Judging from my own experience, what 
sort of a teacher and what methods of 
teaching would I select for my own 
children could I have the choice ? 
IN MEDIUM IS SAFETY. 
BOW TO USE THE GOOD THINGS OF DIKE. 
T has often been a disputed point 
whether it is better policy always to 
pick out the specked apples for use, thus 
always using specked fruit, or to select 
perfect apples and let the others spoil. 
A certain farmer years ago cleared land, 
built a home for his gi’owing family, and 
gathered slowly around him some of the 
luxuries of life. These were considered 
too good for every-day life, and the best 
bed, the good dishes, the choicest in the 
house, were carefully hoarded and used 
only for occasional company. At last, 
when far on the down-liill side of life, 
the father and mother were persuaded 
to take for their own use, the pretty 
bedroom set they had so cherished, and 
begin to receive some comfort from what 
they had toiled to secure. Rut, alas, 
’twas only a short time before the wife 
and mother was called to leave home 
and fi’iends, and in a few years almost 
everything that had been so prized was 
scattered to the four winds. 
A lawyer’s family in a certain city 
consisted of seven. The father received 
large fees for his services, and money 
was plenty. The young people kept 
“open house,” and never was the six- 
o’clock dinner without its extra plate 
for the unexpected guest. There were 
gay trips to different parts of the coun¬ 
try, music and books were in abundance, 
and every one who knew them said, 
“ What good times they have at home.” 
Yet, when the father suddenly died, the 
affairs were not found in so prosperous 
a condition as was hoped. The family 
had lived high and made but little prepa¬ 
ration for a rainy day. The home was 
sold and, in five years, but one of the 
family of seven remained alive to care 
for the tiny remnant of past luxury. 
Which is better, this or that ? Is it 
wiser always to save for others ; or to 
use up what one has as he goes along, 
and then be without ? “In medium is 
safety,” is the best plan. If one will use 
specked apples, he will always have 
spoiled fruit to use ; and if the specked 
fruit is not cared for, it will waste other 
good fruit. So, while it is right to be 
prudent and careful of what one has, it 
is just as right that those who toil to se¬ 
cure life’s comforts, should have some 
pleasure themselves from their use. See 
to it, son, daughter, when your father 
and mother begin to be worn and gray, 
that they have the best the house affords; 
’twill not be too long they may enjoy 
them. Father, mother, make home pleas¬ 
ant for the children. Do not save the 
best for guests, but mark the holidays 
and birthdays with the choicest of the 
china and silver, and show your children 
that they are dearer to you than out¬ 
siders ; else you may be like the man 
who, 60 years ago, had a fine sleigh 
made, but would always use the old one 
for fear of hurting the new one. He and 
his wife have been dead these many 
years, and others who will never care for 
it as he did, will have the good of his old- 
fashioned sleigh. MOLLIE WIGGINS. 
A WOOD CARRIER. 
T HE illustration—Fig. Ill—shows a 
very convenient article for house¬ 
hold use, where wood must be brought 
into a sitting-room for fuel. This carrier 
may be filled, carried in and placed be¬ 
hind the stove until the wood has all 
been used, thus obviating the necessity 
for a stiff-looking woodbox. It may be 
A WOOD CARRIER. Fig. 111. 
made as ornamental as one’s taste dic¬ 
tates, a plain form being suggested as 
one most easily made. The legs are 
closet coat hooks, screwed upon the 
under side of the carrier. These hooks, 
by the way, make excellent feet for 
fancy ottomans, etc., being ready for 
use in black, or they may be gilded, if 
desired. a. h. d. 
LIFE IS WHAT WE MAKE IT. 
UCII is being said of late in the 
various papers, of the hard life of 
the farmer’s wife ; and a great deal of 
sympathy finds its way into the home 
departments of different papers. Much 
of this is due to the fact that so many 
farmers’ wives themselves tell, through 
the press, such doleful tales of their 
hardships and burdensome trials. Per¬ 
haps I should not attempt to give my 
opinion in matters pertaining to farm 
life, as our live stock consists of only 
one cow and calf, about 20 chickens and, 
as I often laughingly remark, seven 
children. I have lived in the city, in 
town, and in the country. My happiest 
years, those most free from care and 
worry, have been spent on the farm. By 
making the most of our circumstances, 
we are very happy and contented. With 
plenty of good papers, we need not be 
behind the times, but can keep pace with 
the outside world. Nowhere more than 
on the farm, can we see, day by day, im¬ 
provements going on that especially 
benefit ourselves. No doubt, a small 
family with plenty of money, may get 
along easier in town than in the coun¬ 
try ; but with a large family of small 
children, give me the country every time, 
especially if money is scarce. 
It matters not what kind of a husband 
a woman has, it is her own fault if she 
works too hard. Any man will respect all 
the more, a woman with a little will of 
her own. There is such a difference in 
women we know ! Some settle down in 
one rut and seem perfectly willing to 
stay there, eating, sleeping, working, 
day in and day out, until life ends ; and 
we fail to see the good they have ac¬ 
complished. Others, no matter how much 
they have for which to be thankful, 
or how beautiful their home and sur¬ 
roundings, are never content, but are 
continually grasping for more, and long¬ 
ing for what they have not; not only 
making themselves unhappy, but sowing 
the seeds of discontent wherever they 
go. Others, again—and I would there 
were more of them—have so much sun¬ 
shine in their lives, that they make the 
cloudiest day seem-bright; they cheer the 
faintest heart. Instead of mourning their 
lack of talents, they improve what they 
have. Their homes are earthly Edens, 
because contentment reigns supreme. 
They may have their little clouds, their 
hours of sorrow and sadness, but ’tis not 
their nature long to repine. Long after 
they have passed over the river, their 
good works do follow them. 
MABEL II. MONSEY. 
MISS WILLARD AND THE BICYCLE. 
WELL-NIGH universal conversion 
to bicycle riding by women within 
the next few years, is what Miss Francis 
E. Willard looks confidently forward to. 
Sure to be found with the advance guard 
in all that makes for the freedom and 
well-being of w omen, Miss Willard has 
herself mastered the alluring wheel. 
Her delight in the exhilarating exercise, 
finds expression in such breaths of en¬ 
thusiasm as this : “I began to feel that 
myself plus the bicycle equaled myself 
plus the world upon whose spinning 
wheel we must all learn to ride or fall 
into the sluiceways of oblivion and de¬ 
spair. That which made me succeed 
with the bicycle was precisely what had 
gained me a measure of success in life— 
it was the hardihood of spirit that led 
me to begin ; the persistence of will that 
held me to my task, and the patience 
that was willing to begin again when 
the last stroke had failed.” 
“Gladys” is Miss Willard’s name for 
her wheel. She tells how she began 
with a patient study of Gladys’s structure 
and general make-up, finding the whole 
philosophy of life in the wooing and the 
winning of her bicycle. “ To my mind,” 
she says, “ the infelicities we see so much 
of in life, grow out of lack of time and 
patience thus to study and adjust one to 
the other, natures that have agreed in 
the sight of God and man to stand by 
each other. They will not take pains, 
thejr have not enough specific gravity to 
balance themselves in their new environ¬ 
ment.” p. p. 
LEARNING TO THINK. 
IIE ability to think and to contrive 
ways of doing things, ought to 
be cultivated. Too much help in solving 
problems at school, cripples the child. 
The teacher who kindly and tactfully 
withholds assistance, encouraging the 
child to exert its own powers, does more 
to educate than one who answers every 
call for assistance. It is a simple thing 
to divide a number of apples among 
three persons, but ask any child not 
advanced in arithmetic beyond long 
division, to divide a basket of apples 
equally among three persons, without 
first counting the apples. This will 
puzzle some who are much farther ad¬ 
vanced, and it will furnish an excellent 
test of the thinking power of children. 
In school, if the question is answered 
orally by the first one who masters it, 
all others are deprived of the benefit of 
the exercise. Let the answers be written 
after the question has been carefully 
sta ted. 
Here is a more difficult problem for 
older children ; it involves no difficult 
principle, but many children who have 
had occasion to use the principle in¬ 
volved, have not profited by it, because 
a kind hand has been extended to help 
them over the rough places: The Fahren¬ 
heit thermometer has the freezing point 
marked 32 degrees, and the boiling point 
212 degrees ; the Centigrade has these 
two points marked 0 degrees and 100 de¬ 
grees. At what temperature will the 
two thermometers show the same mark? 
The following is not difficult for child¬ 
ren who know the number of days in 
each month : May 1 was Wednesday. 
Tell, without reckoning the number of 
days or consulting a calendar, on what 
day October 1 of next year will fall. 
A boy who can handle hammer and 
saw, ought to answer the following : A 
man wishes to cut six pieces of board 
from material one inch thick, for the 
sides, ends, top and bottom of a box one 
foot long, wide and high, outside meas¬ 
ure. What will be the length and width 
of each piece ? How many cubic inches 
will the box hold? w. w. s. 
JEREMIAH’S IDEA OF WOMEN. ■ 
Scene: Farmer’s kitchen. 
Jemimah : “Jeremiah, I see by the 
paper that they’re talkin’ of givin’ women 
the right to vote.” 
Jeremiah : “ Shoo, Jemimah ! Don’t 
you pay attention to such things ! ” 
J. : “ But then, Jeremiah, I don’t see 
why I shouldn’t ! ” 
J. : “ Because, Jemimah, woman is the 
weaker vessel.” 
J. : “ Humph ! ” 
J.*: “Your housekeepin’ with the calves 
and chickens, is enough for you to 
tend to.” 
J. : “I can’t see how men have the 
time. The plowin’, tendin’ and gatherin’, 
along with cattle feedin’, would be 
enough.” 
J. : “Man is the strong oak, and woman 
is the dingin’ vine.” 
J . : “ I guess some vines are dingin’ 
to saplins.” 
J. (ignoring the remark) : “ Handlin’ 
the ballot is too weighty a matter fer her 
delicate nerves.” 
J. : “ That small slip of paper ain't no 
more weighty than the marketin’ 1 help 
lift in the wagon every market day.” 
J. : “Oh, come now, Jemimah; it ain’t 
that I think you couldn’t handle the bal¬ 
lot ; but then I want to shield you from 
the hardships of life 1 ” 
J. : “I ddn’t see that it’s more of a 
hardship to handle that small slip of 
paper than to handle the marketin’.” 
J. : “You must not be unreasonable. 
I couldn’t load the marketin’ myself.” 
J. : “ Sakes alive ! If the strong oak 
can’t load it himself, how does he expect 
the dingin’ vine (too weak to handle a 
small slip of paper) to help him ? ” 
J. : “1 didn’t mean that you wasn’t 
strong enough physically.” 
J. (hotly) : “ So you call your wife an 
idiot, do you? Think me mentally weak ! 
Well, to-morrow mornin’, and every other 
mornin’, the strong oak loads the wagon 
himself ! ” L. l. 
iBSOUUTEI.V PURE 
Highest of all in Leavening Power.—Latest U. S. Gov’t Report 
