UOV. 28 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Jjutics' §oi[t-<Jolio. 
MIEIAM CLAIEE. 
BY FLOY H. 8EWAR1). 
The winds, sweeping on in their moaning How, 
Shake the loaves downward upon my hair. 
And forms that were lost in the long ago 
Come to me now through the aoontod air ; 
But oh, tho dearest that wanders to me 
From tho dim aisles ol the years ugone, 
—The gleam of her beautiful hair you see. 
As shadows creep to me, one by one. 
You would say ’twos the sonsUJne’s dying glow, 
—I know, full well. ’{is her amber hair, 
And perhaps you think her whisperings low 
Are but sighing* of tho perfumed air; 
1 know she will come with the twilight gray— 
They say she Is In her mossy tomb, 
But her form is never from mo away. 
When shadows tilt, softly through my room. 
Ah, Miriam Claire! wltli thy golden hair. 
And thy love-lit eyes with their axure gleam ! 
I hear tho low sweep of thy garments rare, 
And know ’Us no shade or fevurud dream ; 
For musio is thrilling upon the air. 
Swept from the harps of that Unseen Band, 
And soon I shall moot thee, Miriam Claire, 
Loveliest One of tiio Angel hand ! 
-- 
COUNTRY HOMES. 
BY LESLIE HOWARD. 
There are many happy homes scattered all 
over our land ; some are princely abodes in tho 
city; others beautiful suburban residences. 
But among them all there are none more homo- 
like and peaceful than those quiet, farmhouses 
we find among the green hills and holds of I he 
country; and none seem more appropriately 
called by that dear word “ home.” 
In them we find tho conventionalities of soci¬ 
ety are laid aside, and there Ls nothing to dis¬ 
turb the harmony of domestic life. Free from 
the wearying round of fashion, the wife and 
mother finds lime to devote herself to her chil¬ 
dren, and, by her example and influence, im¬ 
press on their minds those principles which 
will govern their whole after life. 
'The fanner, too, is happier than are many 
richer men; fbr Since ho can rightfully call his 
own a portion of God’s green earth, ho has a 
feeling of independence and security which 
many millionaires know nothing of. While the 
rich man is disturbed by fours that his ships 
liavo gone down at sea, that tho bank whore his 
gold is stored may break, or bis factory burn, 
the farmer feels seen re of what lie has, and so 
goos on serenely with Ids work; gathering each 
year the banquets spread by tho seasons; ex¬ 
tending his broad urn s; and by the wealth his 
honest toil brings him giving ids children an 
education. 
So, while living a happy, honest life, the years 
roll on, until at last he sees Ids little ones grown 
up around him, and then he and his wile (his 
true helpmate) sit down to enjoy tho golden 
harvest of their life. 
This is a happy life in truth; but 1 am speak¬ 
ing of those farmers who spurn no pains to 
make their homes beautiful, and their children 
happy; and those women who do not let their 
daily household cures make them grow indiffer¬ 
ent to their children. 
Too often farmers, through a mistaken sense 
of duty, will save and hoard every dollar, 
thinking it la only wealth their children need; 
so they give them an indifferent education ; al¬ 
low them hid lew amusements; and by con¬ 
stant restraint make them long to leave home 
and euter into the outside world. Frequently 
mothers will allow their daily life to be occu¬ 
pied by tho unvarying round of work, work, 
work! They will attend to the DoUlly wants of 
their children, forgetting all the while thecrav¬ 
ings of their young souls, until their children 
grow to see only a careworn, weary woman, 
whom daily care makes peevish, instead of a 
fond mother, with loving smile and ready ear. 
There are many mothers who complain that 
their children Invariably leave the farmhouse, 
and turn their footsteps to the city’s gay ban n ts, 
or enter a life on the wide ocean. They think 
such conduct ungrateful. But Oh, toil-worn 
Marthas, 16 it their fault alone? If their home 
had been made attractive with books and pic¬ 
tures; if their mother had been with them, 
their daily friend and companion, encouraging, 
advising and counselling them; and if they had 
been allowed 1 o go beyond their native hills 
and see a little of the great world outside 
would they have been so eager to leave their 
home? No, they would not. But if they did 
go, it would be with sorrow; and In after life, 
when they were world-weary men, the memory 
of these early years spent, in a farmhouse, 
mingled with the loved tones of u mother's 
voice and the memory of her smile, will come 
down to them like a long gone, happy dream. 
It is a good thing for children to bo brought 
up in the country. They will be happier in the 
sunshine and free Irtish air, surrounded by 
broad, open fields and shadowy woods, than 
they would bo If shut up in the. prison walls ol’ 
that great brickory wo call tho city, and com¬ 
pelled to inhale its poisoned atmosphere. 
Doubtless, those little ones—pale, hot-house 
Powers that nourish In the city—are contented 
enough in their palace-like homes. But when¬ 
ever I see them in the city streets and parks, 
daintily dressed and led by a French nurse, I 
cannot help thinking how much happier and 
prettier they would be if allowed to roll and 
x 
388 
tumble about on the green knolls of the coun¬ 
try i dressed in simple clothes which they are in 
no danger of soiling, and with their now pale 
faces all brown and ruddy. 
It is as pleasant for grown folks as for chil¬ 
dren to live far away from the city’s crowded 
thoroughfares and ceaseless roar, in a home 
made beautiful by green hills and valleys, the 
low rippling of water and the song of birds, 
whore at their dally work they can watch the 
seasons In all their glory come and go. 
But it is not nature alone that, gives beauty 
to these farmhouses. Art and culture have 
lent. I heir graces to make them at tractive. Tho 
majority of our tanners now lniild pretty cot¬ 
ta ?cs, or wide, handsome mansions, uud their 
wives and daughters make them as beautiful 
within as nature Inis made their hills and fields 
without beautiful with books, and pictures, 
and the numberless devices a woman's mind 
can frame; and beautiful with her softening 
Inti uenec. 
Such homes as these are, t doubt not, the 
happiest in the land ; for though our city man¬ 
sions may surpass them in costly upholstery 
and fashionable elegance, they cannot boast of 
tho same charm—that nameless something— 
which makes home, in every sense of the word, 
a Home. 
--- 
A FATHER’S ADVICE TO A BRIDE. 
Said a young husband whose business specu¬ 
lations were unsuccessful" .My wife’s silver 
tea-set, the bridal gift of a rich uncle, doomed 
me to financial ruin. It.involvodn hundred un¬ 
expected expenses, wliioh, in trying to meet, 
have made me the bankrupt t am." His expe¬ 
rience is the experience of many others, who, 
loss wise, do not know what is the goblin of the 
house, working Its destruction, A sagacious 
lather, of great wealth, exceedingly mortified 
his daughter by Ordering it to be printed on her 
wedding cards - u No presents, except those 
adapted to an income of $1,000.” 8 «id lie, “ You 
must not expect to begin life In tho style lam 
able, by many years of labor, to Indulge; and I 
know of nothing which will tempi you to try 
more than the well-intentioned but pernicious 
gifts of rich friends." Such advice is timely. 
If other parents would follow the same plan, 
many young men would bo spared years ol' in¬ 
cessant toil and anxiety; (hey would riot find 
themselves on the downward road, because 
• Heir wives had worn all ol their salary, or ex¬ 
pended it on the appointments or the house. 
The late of the poor man who found a linch¬ 
pin, and fell, himself obliged to make a carriage 
to fit it, is tho l’ato of the husband who finds his 
bride in possession of gold and silver valuables, 
and no large Ineomo tosupport tho owner’s gold 
and sil ver style. Kfrhn nyc. 
--- 
WHY AMEEICAN WOMEN AEE DELI¬ 
CATE. 
Another reason of the delicacy of our women 
is the far greater style affected by all classes in 
dress, and the wearing of corsets during early 
youth. Naturally, if one has attained a full 
and fine physical development, tight corsets, 
heavy skirts, close-fitting bools and weighty 
chignons cannot Injure to the same extent ns 
when those appliances of fashion arc put upon 
the soft and yielding muscles of u young and 
growing girl. The noble ladies of England ex¬ 
ercise many hours daily in I he open air. They 
do not disdain to don heavy oalf-sldn shoes ami 
colored petticoats, in which to perform this 
duty. This of course would not alone make 
them as healthy as they are, were not their con¬ 
stitutions strengthened by a proper physical 
education before I hey arc eighteen years ol 
age, but it suffices to retain them In a good de¬ 
gree of health. Our l'ulr Americans early in the 
day attire themselves in charming morning 
costumes, with while skirts, and liien they are 
averse to soiling these by exercise, and the least 
dampness deters them from a promenade. 
American ladles think far more of dross and 
fashion, and spend more money and time on 
their toilets, than any women In Europe, not 
even excepting the French, from whom all our 
fashions come. 
—-♦♦♦- 
As a result of the Illinois Liquor Law the 
following is said to be common in Illinois pa¬ 
pers “Notice—All women who do not wish 
their husbands to frequent my houso for tho 
purpose of drinking, will obfige me by leaving 
a note at the postoflice, box 83. (Signed.) 
It is very difficult for a married man to get 
his "tod” without the following "permit" 
from his wife“ Permission is hereby grunted 
by me, the lawful wife of , and I declare and 
witness, by my own signature, that my husband 
has the perfect right and liberty to drink, and 
as often as ho chooses to drink, mul wlmt he 
chooses to drink, and I hereby relinquish all the 
claim arising therefrom." 
- »4 ♦ ■ ■ 
A Cleveland, ()., paper tells of a female pe¬ 
destrian who has made a recent visit to that 
city. She was the mother of four children, 
vuryiug from two and a half to eleven years of 
age, all of whom she laid with her, tho older 
three on foot and the youngest In her arms. 
She had walked from Buffalo (all but. about 
twonty-ltve miles), and is on her way to Mem¬ 
phis, where she hopes to find a brother who will 
give her and her children a home. She is of 
Irish descent and possesses all the pluck neces¬ 
sary for the accomplishment of her pedestrian 
teat,and is determined to keep up her tramp to 
Memphis if the Juvenile walk Isis can stand it. 
msdhtg f 01 ! tfa Holing. 
GEANDMAMMA’S BIETHDAY. 
There uro red young lips on a wrinkled cheek, 
Counting out grandmamma’s Birthdays there. 
Eighty, the years that the kisses speak— 
And now thorn's a hand on tho snowy luilr. 
“ Why ! grandmamma, really It seemed to me 
I never, never should reach tho end ; 
How awfully tired you must be 
To have had the eighty years to spond!’’ 
“So I have been thinking, my little son, 
The years seemod never so long before 
As when, In eountlng them one by one. 
Your lips touched lovingly at fourscore. 
“ Bat Gud has given me strength for all— 
All tho way to the eightieth stair ; 
I’m resting on it, ready to foJi 
Softly asleop on tho breast of Prayer." 
[Charlotte F. It, dot, 4a Our Young Folks. 
-♦♦♦- 
EVENING CHATS. 
BV UNCLE CHARLES. 
What It Is to be Brave. 
Jimmy came homo to-night with his eyes as 
bright as two stars. 1 looked into his frank, 
open face inquiringly, as If I would ask "wliut. 
has happened now ? " Ho 8<ui> the questioning 
look. It is queer, boys, how you and I cun 
sometimes toll what people are going to say be- 
fore they Bay it, isn’t it ? Well. Jimmy knew 
that I saw he was excited and wanted to know 
what it meant and lie wanted to know what it 
meant, and lie walked up to me in an eager, 
manly way uud said, 
" What Is it to ho brave, Uncle? ” 
Why do you ask that question ? 
“ Because a gentleman told mo I wns a brave 
lad, and I knew that meant something good; 
but I did not. know exactly what it meant." 
Why did he say that to you ? 
“Because ho asked Johnny which road lie 
should take to go to Dr. Stephenson’s, and 
Johnny, to be mischievous, told him Urn wrong 
road. .lust afterwards I eainc along and John¬ 
ny told me what he had done, and Uuighod 
about it as a good joke. I told him ho had done 
wrong, and 1 ran after the man and shouted 
and made him hoar and stop and fold him ho 
was going wrong—that Johnny had misdirect¬ 
ed him. Thou ho turned around and said, 
‘ You’re a bravo Jad, and perhaps you saved an¬ 
other boy’s life.’ Now, what is it to be brave. 
Uncle?" 
There are many kinds of bravery, my boy. 
It is, ns a rule, a brave thing to do right and a 
cowardly thing to do wrong. If is brave to do 
what you believe to he right, although you 
know your playmates will laugh at you, or 
think you mcan.oravold you because you spoil 
their fun. Ho you spoiled Johnny’s fun; but 
you did him a great kindness; for suppose he 
should learn hereafter that, lids sick boy died 
because ho played tlds trick or told an untruth 
to this gentleman ; tie would suffer aJI his life 
if ho is really as good a boy as 1 think him ; in¬ 
stead of laughing with JOHNNY and enjoying 
his fun as he probably thought you would, you 
did a bravo thing toso promptly undo the wrong 
ho had done. The gentleman was right to call 
you a bravo lad. 
Again, I was passing tho school 1 ho other day, 
and I saw Ihree or four hoys taunting and 
sneering and laughing at a playmate because 
he was not dressed quite as well as I hey, or be¬ 
cause he did not seem to know quite as much ; 
and I saw another boy go up to him, take him 
by the arm and go off and play with him and 
try to soothe him because he felt the insults of 
the other hoys. I admired the little fellow, foi 
I suw that he did not hesitate to show tho other 
boys that he thought them cowards, as they 
were, lie was a brave boy; and I think he was 
tho same one who ran after the gentleman of 
whom you speak. 
And so it, was; and I told Jimmy I would tell 
him more about bravery some other time, and 
I will. 
OUE LETTEES FEOM BOYS AND GIRLS- 
How to Smooth Ribbons. 
We have taken your vuluublo paper for near- i 
ly twelve years, and like it very much. I have I 
read tho boys’ and girls’ letters in the Rural 
with much interest, and would like to join their 
circle if they are willing. Of course all the 
little girls wear ribbons, but I wonder if they 
ullkuow howto smooth them when rumpled. 
My plan is as follows: Take a moderately hot 
ilatiron, set it on the ironing board, then place 
the rihbon on the left side of the iron amt pull 
it carefully through underneath the iron. If 
the ribbon Is not pulled too fust, and the iron is 
the right warmth, this will be found to bo a 
much better way than simply rubbing the iron 
over the ribbon. 1 learned tho above from a 
milliner.— Majiv W. Cook, Mari/lanil, 
Life in Florida. 
I live in Florida. My pa came here from 
Memphis, Tenn., three years ago for his health. 
We have plenty of fruit, peaches, quinces, tigs, 
grapes, oranges and bananas. There arc nice 
mocking birds singing every day in tho orange 
trees, t am raising some chickens this year, 
but they are not doing very well. 1 had one hen 
that hatched fen chickens jpid Iqst them all but 
throe by sores about their heads. I had two 
hens killed on their nestsbyabig oppossum, but 
when ho came after another one a few nights 
after, my pa, aided by tho dogs, captured him 
and made a finish of the big old rascal. If any 
ol the girls and boys that read the Rural want 
to know anything about Florida I will answer 
their questions. Irene Turner. 
Christmas is Coming. 
I have boon wanting to write to you ever 
since I came homo from (’lies. Co., Pa. I am 
very much interested in reading the boys’ and 
girls’ letiers, and since you are so kind as (o 
publish them l thought I would write too. I 
attend school, and it is about four miles to the 
school house. Sometimes it is pinching cold 
riding so far but I soon get warm after 1 arrive 
home. Well, Christmas is coming on pretty 
soon. We are ex peeling to havo a tnorry Christ¬ 
mas tree; wo are also learning some certain 
pieces to speak, &c. Wo love music very much. 
Perhaps If this appears in the good, old Rural, 
I shall be encouraged to try agaiu. So I will 
now close,—l'. c. it. 
A Young Printer. 
The city in which I live is a very pleasant one, 
being situated in tho central part of Michigan, 
on tho Kalamazoo river, (Marshall). I am now 
busily engaged learning tho printer’s trade, and 
may some day stick type in the Rural office. 
I am working In tho Statesman office, Burgess 
& Lewis proprietors, I f you will send me post¬ 
ers and specimen copies, I will post them, and 
see what I can do toward increasing the circu¬ 
lation of your valuable paper, Pica Quad. 
SCItc filthier. 
PROBLEM,—No. 8. 
The Ilirco perpendiculars or a triangle, Inter¬ 
sect each other at a point within tho triangle 
situated 30, 40 and 50 rods respectively from its 
several angles. Required, the sides ol’ the 
triangle. 
B 
Seale of figure 40 rods to the inch. A P -50 
rods; B P — 30 rods; C P—46 rods. 
___ . . . , B» P. Burleson. 
1 Answer ui two weeks. 
-- 
CEOSS-WORD ENIGMA-No. 7. 
My first is in May but not. in Juno, 
My second’s iri morning but not in noon; 
My third is in large but not in small, 
My fourth is in rise tint, not in fall; 
My fifth is in country but not in town, 
My sixth is in laugh but not in frown; 
My seventh’s In walk but nol in run, 
My eighth is in pistol but not in gun; 
My ninth is in hug but not in kiss, 
My tentli is in Master but not in Miss; 
My eleventh’.-, in snber but not in foil, 
My whole is tillage of our soil. Franz. 
{2/“* Answer in two weeks. 
MECHANICAL ENIGMA.—No. 1. 
i am composed of la letters: 
My 4, 15, 7, 8, 6 is a great mechanical power. 
My 13, b, 3, 14 is an agricultural implement. 
My 11, 4, 13, iff, 7 is a weapon of warfare; 
My 12, 9, 3 is much used by editors. 
My 10, 2, 1 is what printers cannot do without. 
My whole you will get if you read the Rural 
New-Yorker. p<t 
Answer in two weeks. 
DROP-LETTER PUZZLE. No. 1. 
N.w g.ll.nt S.x.n h id th.n .wn! 
N. m..d n’s h nd s r..nd tb.. thr.wu, 
Th.t d.sp.r t gr.sp thy fr.m. m.ght f. .l 
Thr. gh b.rs f br.ss nd h.pl. st..l. 
Answer in two weeks. Enigma. 
-- 
PUZZLER ANSWERS.—Nov, 9. 
Botanical Riddle No. 2 . - 1 , Nightshade ; 
2, Bread; 3 , orange; 4, Olive; 5, Trumpet; i)i 
Lime; 7, (to bo supplied by some reader); 8 , 
liox; it, Dog; 10, Thyme; 11, Rose; 12, Sloe; 1:)’ 
Plane; II, Tulip; 15, Spruce; 111 , fl-Elm; 17 , 
Sycamore; IK, Poplar; 19, Sou Hi wood ; 20, ivy ; 
21, Spindle; 33, Burning Bush ; 23, Mulberry 21 ’ 
Lilac; 35, Elder. 
Miscellaneous Enigma No. 5.-The wicked 
(ICCtli when no man pursueth. 
Illustrated Rebus No. 1(1. - Capital corn- 
cake answers a radical want often. 
Square-Word Enigma No. 2.— 
NECK 
EVEN 
CERE 
KNEW 
