One of our readers sends some short 
items with this explanation : “ They are 
bits of real experience which the sug¬ 
gestive pages of the Home department 
have brought to mind.” Would there 
were more who would take the time to 
jot down the thoughts which it is their 
duty to give to others. How many good 
thoughts, bright plans, and helpful sug¬ 
gestions are lost because some of us 
think that we haven’t time or ability to 
prepare them for the paper. 
* 
Tiik conceited man or woman can 
hardly be just toother people. And we 
like our friends not only to be just, but 
generous. This is the reason why some 
of these modest, unassuming people are 
such favorites. They are not always 
eclipsing their associates by the bright¬ 
ness of their own talents. Where is the 
conceited person who is a success ? The 
one who comes the nearest to it is he 
who can skillfully flatter. A good many 
of us have too little conceit to flatter 
ourselves, and just enough to accept the 
flattery of others. 
* 
From our office window we get occa¬ 
sional glimpses of the progress of the 
race, not to mention more frequent 
views of its backsliding. That men 
are becoming domesticated, we have 
proof, in the weekly spectacle of one 
of them hanging out the washing on the 
roof. That his family does not consist 
of himself alone, the garments testify ; 
but as to how the feminine portion of 
the family is engaged, we are unable to 
say. The case is interesting enough to 
be given a closer investigation, and if 
our hero of the tubs perseveres, perhaps 
the Chief Cook will call on him. 
* 
“I iuvk duties that I cannot meet,” 
said a mother recently. What is wrong 
that such a state of things can exist ? It 
is not in God’s plan that auy one should 
have duties that he cannot perform. Yet 
there are many responsibilities which 
men and women are free to assume or 
not. And many careless ones take upon 
themselves that which proves to be, 
when an awakening to duty comes, more 
than they can perform. There are 
many, also, who allow fancied obliga¬ 
tions to take the place of serious duties. 
Let these so-called duties give place to 
the real ones. 
SHALL WE DRUDGE 
WHEN WE MAY DO BETTER? 
( Concluded .) 
S to the matter of cleanliness, that 
ever recurring battle with dirt is 
as hopeless as Mrs. Partington’s attempt 
to sweep the Atlantic Ocean from her 
door with a broom. It is too one-sided. 
The dust and the flies are too plentiful 
in Colorado. Yet it must not hold do¬ 
minion over us. We must seek a happy 
medium, and keep to it, avoiding either 
extreme. It is better to return the linen, 
fresh and sweet from the sunny line, to 
the beds unironed, than to work until, 
to our overstrained nerves, the blessed 
prattle of the little ones seems some¬ 
thing we can hardly bear. 
Then there is the sewing. How many 
talents rust, lie folded away in a napkin, 
while we strain our eyes, and round our 
shoulders, over the pretty, useless, fas¬ 
cinating fancy work. Shall we let the 
sewing machine stand idle while we sew 
“ over and over” the seams of our sheets 
and pillow-slips, or shall our machines 
do the work for us, and we thereby gain 
time for the reading of a new book, the 
learning of a new song, the writing of 
an essay, or a ride in the open air ? 
While we are hesitating, our children 
are growing up. They are making 
greater strides in school work than it 
was possible for their parents to make 
in their schooldays. Shall they outstrip 
us entirely ? Shall we not be an author¬ 
ity to them on a few subjects, at least ? 
What to them are spotless paint and 
dainty desserts, compared to a mother, 
who is not too weary or too busy to help 
them with their lessons or music; a 
mother who reads and enjoys with them 
the new books ; a mother, whose earnest 
efforts to make the most of her own op¬ 
portunities at home and in the club, 
prove how deeply she feels what she 
daily impresses upon their minds, the 
need of self-improvement ? 
In spite of the slurs that in times past 
were cast upon women who aspired to 
be scholarly or literary, the opportunity 
for study at home for work-encumbered 
women, has broadened and given a won¬ 
derful impetus to self-culture, in the last 
20 years. Women who desired opportu¬ 
nity, set their ready wits to work and 
made it. It came more easily to the wo¬ 
men of the cities. Then they tried to 
help their isolated sisters, and nobly has 
the work been carried forward. Socie¬ 
ties and clubs all over the country show 
how eagerly the work has been taken 
up, and many a busy housewife, in 
endeavoring to secure the advantages 
thus offered, has proved the truth of the 
old adage, “ Where there is a will there 
is a way.” 
Once upon a time, 1 knew a well-to-do 
farmer and his wife, who were noted for 
their hospitality ; they enjoyed enter¬ 
taining their friends, and they enjoyed 
visiting as well. They were Aunt Nancy 
and Uncle Jonathan to all the towns¬ 
people, and they seemed to take more 
comfort than fell to the lot of common 
farmer folks in those days. Their way 
of doing was freely criticised by some of 
their neighbors who did not entirely 
approve. 
One morning Aunt Nancy left home at 
sunrise, to attend the graduating exer¬ 
cises of a school where her son would be 
graduated that day. “ What should she 
care for that /” said one. “ About as 
much as you or I would,” said another 
derisively. “How can she leave home 
to go when they have so many work¬ 
men ?” asked a thoughtful, pleasant¬ 
faced woman. “She sat up half the 
night to heat her brick oven and do a 
baking in it!” was the reply. Child as 
I was, I could not see why they should 
censure Aunt Nancy—and I am just as 
unable to see it now as I was then. I 
think she was much wiser than another 
woman I knew who refused to go to a 
lecture with her husband, because the 
moisture wasn’t dried out of the nose of 
her silver teapot! 
In many respects the “good time com¬ 
ing” is already here. Our young women, 
thanks to “the gospel of fresh air and 
physical improvement,” are growing up 
stronger and better developed than were 
their mothers. No less an authority 
than Dr. Sargent, director of the Hemen- 
way Gymnasium at Harvard, says : “The 
stock of fine specimens of physical 
womanhood is steadily improving.” It 
has been commented upon in England, 
that the daughters are plumper and 
stronger than were their mothers. This 
augurs well for the next generation. 
The Sandwich Islanders have a proverb: 
“ If strong be the frame of the mother, 
her sons shall make laws for the people.” 
There is a hope that the coming wives 
and mothers will not only fall into line 
better equipped for the battle, but that 
they will also understand how to keep 
themselves so. Dr. Sargent also says : 
“ At the present time, women as a class 
have more leisure for self-improvement 
than men, and we must look to them to 
help on the higher evolutions of mind 
and body, not only for themselves, but 
in helping to pei-fect others.” 
Life is so full ; there is so much to 
live for and -work for, and individually 
we can do so little. Still the world 
grow s brighter and better. The faith¬ 
ful performance of the little duties near¬ 
est us, the work of each pair of loving 
hands, of each thoughtful mind and 
tender heart, are needed, and find a place 
in making up what shall some time be 
the beautiful, perfected whole, s. e. h. 
BEFORE WINTER COMES. 
ENJOY FALL PLEASURES AND AVOID THE 
DANGERS. 
HE thrifty housewife is busy laying 
in stores for winter food for her 
family. Let her not forget to lay by a 
store of health and strength, as a reserve 
against the severe winter weather. To 
do this, she must take time for excur¬ 
sions, not necessarily lengthy, premedi¬ 
tated, or expensive, to the woods and 
hills, and rest both eye and brain by 
enjoying Nature, bi’inging back little 
reminders of these trips either hung on 
“memory’s walls ” to be recalled when 
she chooses, or upon the walls of her 
home. 
A few days ago, I accompanied with 
great pleasure, the head of the family, 
on a little trip to the Indian Reservation, 
not far away. After reaching its bor¬ 
ders, we passed occasional houses, leather 
temporary looking affairs, though youth 
had long ago departed, leaving unful¬ 
filled the pi-omises of completion. The 
premises were all deserted, except by a 
lonely dog or two sitting forlornly on 
each doorstep, and a flock of chickens 
or a stray pig wandei’ing near, as the 
owners were all gone to an Indian dance. 
It is quite a lesson in contentment to see 
these Indian homes, and see how little 
it takes to make a family apparently 
healthy, strong and happy. There is no 
wearing one’s self out in youth and mid¬ 
dle age to make l-eady for the “ rainy 
day ” that may or may never come. In 
summer, they are mostly out of doors. 
In winter, if it is very cold, they just 
burn more wood, as it is to be had for the 
cutting. So they “ laugh and grow fat,” 
live to a great age, many of them, and 
nervous prostration is never heard of. 
After passing these houses, in order to 
reach a desired point, we took a cross¬ 
road which followed the creek for a dis¬ 
tance, and crossed a bridge made of bare, 
round logs laid side by side Under¬ 
brush was thick on either side. Elm, 
butternut, pine, sumac and many other 
kinds of wood were represented, and in 
places whole fields were grown up to 
tall weeds. Making a sharp descent we 
came to a hill like a steep mountain 
side. Here the wagon track ended ab¬ 
ruptly, and only a footpath was in view. 
We had come so far in hopes of gaining 
the short cut that we resolved to see the 
top of the hill, and ascended this path, 
which was a veritable Indian trail, a 
stairway cut into the edges of the hill 
among the roots of the trees, hemmed 
in, where dangerously narrow, by a rude 
rail made of saplings. Not a habitation 
in sight now, not a trace of civilization, 
unless the rustic fence could be called 
such. What a treat! What a i*est, after 
the accustomed sights and sounds, and 
living where everybody is going some¬ 
where with no time to be lost, or to do 
something without delay. 
It seems as though such places should 
be preserved as sanitariums for tired, 
nervous women, who need more of Na¬ 
ture’s rest and calm, and less excite¬ 
ment, hurry and medicine. Thus I 
meditated after gaining the top of the 
hill, while resting in sight of broad, 
cultivated fields, and our looked-for 
destination. 
Dress for the Weather. 
One cannot prize too highly these beau¬ 
tiful autumn days, with wealth of warm 
sunshine and gorgeous color, as Nature 
sits with lap o’erflowing with wondrous 
store waiting to be relieved of her bur¬ 
den. But we must prepare for sudden 
changes of weather and temperature, 
and dress accordingly. Because to-day 
was warm and a midsummer dress was 
comfortable is no sign that it will be 
needed tomorrow. Underwear of differ¬ 
ent weights, an extra coat or wrap, and 
an extra cover on the foot of the bed, so 
handy that one does not dread to use 
them, save many hours of sickness and 
suffering. I call to mind a rugged 
farmer whose broad shoulders could be 
relied on for almost any kind of a hard 
day’s work, who persisted in sitting on 
a breezy veranda through all sorts of 
weather until almost winter. He became 
so tortured with neuralgia and racked 
with rheumatism that he considered 
himself unfit for work and finally left 
the farm. 
Nothing gives more comfort at this 
time of year where there is no open fire 
or furnace, than a stove in the sitting- 
room, where one can have a little fire 
when needed ; it may be for only a few 
moments, or a couple of hours during 
the day. Open doors or windows will 
keep the temperature right. Delicate 
and elderly people should be sure to 
keep the feet warm, and mothers must 
look out for the little ones. Do not let 
them get chilled and do not shut them 
in for the first cold weather. Baby must 
have her ou ing suitably dressed every 
day, that she may become accustomed 
to the cooler days and not be more deli¬ 
cate than any house plant, and a subject 
for croup all winter. Neither should 
she be tucked under mother’s shawl ; 
but with a very warm cloak, etc., of her 
own, be comfortable on mother’s knee 
or by her side. I am sure none of us 
would enjoy, and could scarcely endure, 
a ride, if our arms were pinioned to our 
sides and we were made into stiff, 
straight bundles like so many helpless 
papooses laid on our backs and forced to 
breathe the same air over and over. 
Then let the babies have their rights ! 
Keep them well, and they’ll be happy 
and good. Clara t. sisson. 
FASHION NOTES. 
E W jackets have large sleeves which 
are new in cut and slightly differ¬ 
ent from last year’s in shape. The sleeve 
has more than two seams, one being 
directly in the center of the upper side 
of the arm. The widest and fullest part 
of the sleeve is not around the armhole, 
but somewhat below the shoulder, as 
the many seams allow a sloping toward 
the top which dispenses with some of 
the fullness which it was often difficult 
to dispose of in sewing the sleeve in the 
armhole. This new sleeve droops more 
fi’om the shoulder. The sleeve with more 
than one seam will be hailed with de¬ 
light by the dressmaker whom inclina¬ 
tion or necessity has led into paths of 
economy. The sleeves will cease to be 
the problem that they have hitherto 
been. The rest of the garment need no 
longer be made from “ what’s left after 
the sleeves are cut.” 
Something seen in dresses, over which 
we may rejoice, is the use of plaids as 
a trimming and combination. Entire 
sleeves of plaid are seen in waists of 
plain material. Plaid is more satisfac¬ 
tory when used as an aid to gown or 
waist than when it forms the whole of 
either. 
It is a season of color in every depart¬ 
ment of dress, and the combinations 
seen are bewilderingly beautiful, quite 
enough to confuse the choice of the 
woman who must make one dress answer 
many purposes. But usually the prices 
of the newest materials are such that 
they very quickly decide the economical 
woman’s choice. 
Black is very much in favor, no doubt 
