1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
527 
only of the trivialities of the hour. The 
people you will meet oftenest in the par¬ 
lor of your hostess are, of course, those 
having tastes similar to her own. Your 
opinion of the intellectual level of the 
whole village, has been founded invol¬ 
untarily upon a round of trifling but 
oft-repeated impressions. 
It is occasion for real sadness when 
we are forced to think less highly of a 
person than we were wont; the world 
becomes a cheaper, sadder place. That 
is the great fault that the newspapers, 
with their endless exposures of crime, 
folly and vanity, have to answer for— 
they leave one so little respect for his 
fellow men. But even the newspapers 
have mention of good deeds illumining 
their pages, here and there, like glints 
of sunshine, and experience ofttimes 
sweetens one’s judgment of people and 
events. We sometimes think the better 
of people the more intimately we know 
them, and the little village which you 
thought represented a rather low plane 
of thought, may one day reveal itself in 
another light, merely by a change of 
your own vantage point. You visit in 
another house, the window panes are 
broader, and the village takes on a new 
character. The maples above the roof 
speak of ample harborage for thought ; 
their myriad leaves would scarce furnish 
space whereon to write each suggestive 
hint and separate bit of satisfaction your 
mind gets from the people you sojourn 
among. The village loses its inane char¬ 
acter, and wherever you accompany your 
hostess, things are said worth listening 
to—a whole village changed for you 
through the personality of one woman ! 
Such impressions felt dui’ing a transient 
visit, reveal other related facts. We know 
how surely the housemother makes the 
home atmosphere. Do we realize that 
she also makes the outlook ? Do we 
think enough about having broad panes 
without quirks and films in our own 
mental dwelling place ? Might we not 
well be less desirous of having the literal 
plate glass in our parlor windows, and 
more anxious to get broad, true views of 
life and the world ? What matters the 
murkiest, twistiest little old window 
panes, if only the heart and mind are 
clear and fine ? prudence primrose. 
MY BEST TEACHER. 
H E was not a man of high educational 
attainments, but one of strong 
personality ; a man from among the 
people, one who had earned his knowl¬ 
edge by the sweat of his brow, and 
whose firmness of character would have 
insured success in any vocation. Never 
was his school disorderly ; but it was 
ruled by firmness, instead of the lash, 
and taught by example as well as by 
precept. 
Our daily lessons, when possible and 
practical, were supplemented by illus¬ 
trations made so interesting as to cause 
a desire for further knowledge of the 
subject. Soon we found ourselves search¬ 
ing elsewhere than in our text books for 
it. We were taught to observe the little 
things around us ; for instance, how 
many birds. Wees, or other plants of our 
neighborhood could we name, together 
with their general appearance and hab 
its ? Thus was 1 taught habits of obser¬ 
vation, which have never deserted me. 
I well remember this sentence from 
Michael Angelo, which I found written 
upon the blackboard when I entered 
the schoolroom one morning : “ Recol¬ 
lect that trifles make perfection, and 
perfection is no trifle.” Our teacher told 
us, then, about the great artist, and, 
how a friend when visiting his studio, 
watched him paint and questioned why 
he paid such strict attention to every 
small detail. The artist answered him 
with the words that appeared before us. 
We were left to reason for ourselves, 
why this sentence had been placed be- 
MOTHERS .—Be sure to use “Mrs. Wins¬ 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best.— AOw. 
fore us, and how we might'make it a 
part of our lives. 
Though long years have passed since 
then, yet to-day when lam tempted to 
slight sorpething “where it won't show,” 
the old schoolroom rises before me, and 
upon the board at the north end of the 
room, I can again see the quotation, and, 
ashamed of myself, I turn back and the 
trifles are made as perfect as my imper¬ 
fect skill will allow. 
Could I choose a teacher for children, 
I would choose one with firmness and 
decision of character ; one who was a 
living example of what they might well 
hope to become. Many highly educated 
persons are not gifted with the faculty 
of imparting knowledge to others. It 
seems to me that the gift of being able 
to impart knowledge, together with a 
strong personality, is more essential than 
a perfect knowledge of Greek. The best 
primary teacher I ever knew, was never 
able to pass a teachers’ examination, but 
she was so thoroughly endowed with 
other requisites of a good teacher and 
was so successful, that by common con¬ 
sent, she year after year taught in her 
native village. 
Could I choose methods, I would for 
small children, beginners, choose object- 
lessons, and, later on, the text books 
supplemented by illustrations, examples 
and experiments as the pupil advances. 
Above all, I would choose a teacher, who 
by strong principle, and firmness of 
character, makes it easy and interesting 
as well as profitable for the pupil to fol¬ 
low where he leads. lulu lane. 
SUITABLE CLOTHING AND EXERCISE. 
W ERE women arrayed in clothes re¬ 
quiring no thought whatever 
when they are once donned, in fabrics 
suitable to all sorts of weather, with 
hats fitting their heads and shading their 
eyes, and with some 20 or 30 pockets to 
dispose of personal belongings, we would 
hear very little about the need of help¬ 
ing them on and off of street-cars, giv¬ 
ing them seats to which they are not en¬ 
titled, in public places, and treating 
them generally like beings of a physic¬ 
ally inferior order, says Ellen Battelle 
Dietrick in The Arena. The single fact 
that wherever men and women are found 
little cumbered by clothing, there women 
display ability to work even harder and 
more steadily than men, is sufficient to 
prove that the weakness of women in 
Christendom is purely artificial ; though, 
of course, their indoor life is as great a 
factor in their present degeneration, as 
their unnatural costume. The women 
of Northern and Southern China well 
illustrate the difference between woman 
sensibly clothed, with limbs free, and 
engaged in healthful, open-air employ¬ 
ment ; the woman oppressed and en¬ 
feebled by trailing gowns, voluminous 
sleeves, bound and crippled feet, and 
wholly engaged in enervating domestic 
occupations. The peasant of Northern 
China is strong as a man ; she truly lives 
and enjoys life, and her children are like 
her. The aristocrat of Southern China 
is weak as a hot-house vine, and vege¬ 
tates like an exotic, suffering herself, 
and training her daughters to endure 
physical torture, while poets wax elo¬ 
quent over her “lily-like grace” and her 
“ golden feet,” rendered useless, through 
fashion, for the natural purposes of 
pedal extremities ! But as we look dis¬ 
passionately at the tortured waist, the 
compressed feet and the hampered 
bodies of the women of our own race, 
we discover that we are by no means in 
a position to throw stones at the aristo¬ 
crats of China. More outdoor life, in 
sensible clothing, is to-day the chief 
need for woman in all modern civiliza¬ 
tions. Hence her greatest benefactors 
are those who, instead of discouraging 
her by incorrect representations of what 
is womanly, will stimulate her to courag¬ 
eous use, both of bifurcated garments 
and bicycles, welcoming, instead of for¬ 
bidding, the divided skirt for every form 
of outdoor exercise. 
PRINTED PATCHWORK. 
“Peace then ! Fear not the coming' woman, 
brother ! 
Owning herself, she giveth all the more ! 
She shall be better woman, wife and mother 
Than man hath known before ! ” 
—Charlotte Perkins Stetson. 
-Haryot Holt Caiioon in N. Y. Re¬ 
corder : “We have been bringing up our 
daughters to match other women’s sons. 
The time is near at hand when we shall 
have to bring up our sons to match other 
women’s daughters.” 
....Henry Drummond: “ I would not 
rob a man of his problems, neither would 
I have another man rob me of my prob¬ 
lems. They are the delight of life, and 
the whole intellectual world would be 
stale and unprofitable if we knew every¬ 
thing.” 
....Geo. R. Scott in N. Y. Witness: 
“ America was the last and best conti¬ 
nent discovered, and was intended for 
only the best kind of people to reside in. 
All nationalities are invited to its shores, 
and all may ride in the American chariot 
of freedom ; but it should be plainly 
understood that an invitation to ride 
does not embrace the privilege of driv¬ 
ing.” 
....Tiie Watchman: “We are apt to 
overlook the fact that, from the higher 
point of view, life involves vastly more 
than existence in the flesh, and that, 
consequently, there are times when the 
owner of the body—the soul—may right¬ 
fully overwork it, and even take the 
risk of wrecking it. The soul, in requir¬ 
ing the body to sacrifice itself, exercises 
no more than its lawful sovereignty. 
The machine is run at a rate that may 
permanently disable it, because it is not 
of so much account as the special service 
that it is compelled to render.” 
IttisccUancoutf 
In writing to advertisers, please always mention 
The Rural Nkw-Yokkku. 
For Good 
Color and 
Heavy Growth 
Of Hair, use 
Purify the Blood with Ayer’s Sarsaparilla. 
Hair Vigor 
One 
Bottle will do 
Wonders. Try it. 
Leather gets 
hard and brittle—use Vacuum Leather 
Oil. Get a can at a harness- or shoe- 
store, 25 c a half-pint to $ 1.25 a gallon ; 
book “ How to Take Care of Leather,” 
and swob, both free; use enough to 
find out; if you don’t like it, take the 
can back and get the whole of your 
money. 
Sold only in cans, to make sure of fair dealing 
everywhere—handy cans. Rest oil for farm ma¬ 
chinery also. If you can’t find it, write to 
VACUUM OIL COMPANY, Rochester, N.Y. 
We publish a Catalogue of 
SEWING MACHINES. 
If you are ready to buy a 
machine, send for It. 
CHICAGO SEWING MACHINE COMPANY, 
CHICAGO, ILL. 
S END for CiitalogiK!of 
the Musical Instru¬ 
ment you think of buying. 
Violins repaired by the 
Cremona System. O. Story, 
2 G Ceutral St., Roston. Mass- 
ROAD LANDS 
The Illinois Central Railroad Company offers for sale 
on easy terms and at low prices, 100,000 acres of choice 
fruit, gardening, farm and grazing lands located In 
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. They are also largely 
interested in, and call especial attention to the (HMl.OOO 
acres of land in the famous 
Yazoo Valley of Mississippi, 
lying along and owned by the Yazoo and Mississlpp . 
Valley Railroad Company, and which that Company 
offers at low prices and on long terms. Special Induce 
ments and facilities offered to go to and examine 
these lands both in Southern Illinois and In the 
“Yazoo Valley,” Miss. Eor further description, 
map and any information, address or call upon 
E. P. SKENE, Land Commissioner, No. I Park Row, 
Chicago, Ill.; or. G. W. MCGINNIS, Assistant Land 
Commissioner, Memphis. Tonn. 
TO SUBSCRIPTION 
CLUB AGENTS 
If you are working' subscriptions business 
for any paper or contemplate doing so, we 
have something that will interest you of 
High Legitimate Character and Profitable. 
Send address to GIBBONS-PINKETT CO.. Cleveland, 0. 
References—A ny Rank or Commercial Agency 
Fruit Culture, and the Laying Out 
and Management of a Country Home. 
By W. C. Strong. Illustrated. A guide to the 
culture of fruits suited to the owner of a home 
Considers the choice of location, preparation 
of the soil, how and when to plant, and gives 
a short descriptive list of the popular varie¬ 
ties of each fruit. Instructions in pruning 
and cultivation, descriptions of diseases and 
insect enemies, with x*emedies, and a chapter 
on propagation, make the book complete for 
the amateur. Cloth, $1, postpaid. 
Canning and Preserving Fruits and 
Vegetables, and Preparing Fruit 
Pastes and Syrups. 
The experience of practical workers. The best 
methods by which the surplus fruits may well he 
saved for home use and for the large market de¬ 
mand. Hundreds of tested recipes from famous 
preservers. Also a chapter on evaporation of 
fruits. Paper. 20 cents. 
The Rural New-Yorker. New York. 
“A" tirade, lit. 
Write to-day. 
CARRIAGES, BUGGIES, HARNESS 
and Bicycles, at Factory Prices. Work guaranteed and 20 to 40 per 
cent saved. Our goods received the highest awards at the World’s 
Fair. Our 1895 Mammoth Illustrated Catalogue is free to all. It shows 
all the latest styles and Improvements and reduced prices It has 200 
pages and is the largest and most complete catalogue ever issued. 
Bend for Catalog. M. Alliance Carriage Co., Cincinnati, Ohio. 
“A" tirmd*. AG7.6,. 
Write to-d»j. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER IMP’D SEWING MACHINE. 
It is seldom that we find an article that we can so heartily indorse as we can 
this sewing machine. There are two of them in homes connected with The Rural 
New-Yorker, and we know that no 
better machine is made at any price. No 
reader of The R. N.-Y. should pay $45 or 
$50 for a machine. This machine is war¬ 
ranted and guaranteed in every way. We 
shall send it on 20 days’ trial, and if not 
satisfactory in every way, we shall take it 
back and return the money. It has all the 
attachments, and is warranted for 10 years. 
High arm, oak or walnut woodwork, and 
five drawers. As it is a staple machine, 
new parts may be secured at any time if 
needed. A complete set of attachments and 
instruction book accompany each machine 
Price delivered, east of Rocky Mountains, 
$19.50, or with one year’s subscription, $20 ; 
or we will send it, freight paid, and a club 
of 10 new yearly subscriptions for $25. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, New York. 
