gradually adopted by Americans. One word 
abcut sewing machines and I am done for 
this time, Remember that an hour spent 
running a machine harms you quite as much 
as ten hours’ hand sewing. Women who put 
five times as much work upon garments be¬ 
cause they have, a sewing machine had better 
put it in the fire. There is no kind of work 
in the whole domain of the household so ex¬ 
haustive and injurious to a woman os run¬ 
ning a sewing machine. Unless one is used 
with caution and moderation, its possession 
becomes a curse instead of a blessing. Be¬ 
ware of it. It is a machine to be run by 
horse, steam, water or man power—not by 
faded and old ; I’ve had my day ; let the girls 
have their chance.” No woman has “had 
her day” until she entirely ceases to be of 
use. Madame de 8tael wrote that “ the 
noblest creature is he who has the “ most 
duties.” 8he had a faculty for striking key¬ 
notes of truth, and that is one ; and who has 
more or higher duties than the mother ? The 
office of motherhood should be respected, if 
not the mother. But this renunciation by 
mothers in favor of their daughters is often¬ 
times motived (perhaps unconsciously) by an 
outlook toward matrimony. Men who are 
caught by the things that any girl can buy if 
she has money enough are not worth the 
bait. The most attractive, convincing and 
eloquent recommendation that any girl can 
furnish to a man of sense and judgment is a 
handsome, dignified, elegant mother. He 
has before him an illustration of what the 
daughter will be _ 
twenty, —thirty ffi ii ifi 
years hence, and 
the prospect is cer- \ § 
tainly very entic- JfrSk 
ing. The fond love Jp 
a mother has for her Jffi M . | j * 
child ren inclines Mk; 
her to carry self- fljfv WgBk-, 
sacrifice to excess, $r’ ; v 
when it becomes a \ 
positive injury,—a mmy W || : # \ [ 
very real unkind- K E' \ 1 < 
ness. It becomes flj& M B \ \ 
just this when she M. M j ' [ 
allows herself to he | 1 . mm v\ 
in any sense a sec- % m /;§ j m 
ondary eonsidem- w —nm M x 1 
Mon in the family, if "m !' M |j 
In almost any A ’ : ®| 
place where one ' (f' 
may look about one / / jl' ;# > 
sees that promi- I M ^ 
Dence in social mat- I M Wm \ 
ters is given to IM mm IB| x > 
young women over ■; 
married ones of Ip Jim 
double their years, 
which is wrong for 
various reasons. In 
matters of experi- j 
ence, intelligence, charm of manner, matur¬ 
ity of feeling and richness of thought, a 
woman of fifty ought to be worth twice as 
much as one of twenty-five. Half the wo¬ 
men who marry—yes, nine-tent hs of them— 
drop at the marriage altar their individual 
ity and become so swallowed up in their 
new relations as to destroy the idea of their 
any longer giving direct service to human¬ 
ity. Music, drawing, painting, conversa¬ 
tion, reading, tasteful dress, etc., are par¬ 
tially or entirely abandoned during the very 
few years of a woman's life when she has 
most need of them, and in most cases the 
arch reason given for all this is lack of time l 
This brings me back to the beginning—to the 
subject of chil- — 
dren’s dross, upon 
which hundreds 
and hundreds of Mjjf 4 
mothers are wast- m: 
ing their time and m: f 
their strenth in M& v 
stitching and iron- mffh' M « 
ing. And for what m 'Wm 
good? m ft I 
But three things M 
are essential to a R 1 ll Ss 4 v 
child’s wardrobe: Ifc WM m | ,'i 
comfort, simplicity R9|. W | l|f 
and cleanliness. To 1 Si $ |r 
buy what cannot be h MM >. 
washed is bad W m f '* 
economy. To be § 
obliged to iron from | W | 
six to a doz3n cot- " < A ; f 
ton dresses a week. / I' « 
intricate with puffs / >1 
aod ruffles and m 1 §„ 
tucks, makes an 
immense demand | | 
upon any woman’s V flL 
time and strength ; Nil. 
be she mistress or :J| 
servant, it is a most 
profitless business. 
To make, wash 
and iron that number of plain dress¬ 
es requires not more than half the time 
and consequently strength—an incalculable 
saving, as it saves mothers’ lives, as well as 
their moments. Fig. 2870 illustrates a Gabri- 
ello dress for a girl from eight to fifteen 
years of age (price of pattern, 41) cents) ; and 
Fig. 2780, a high-necked gored dress for a 
child from one and a half to five years of 
age (price of pattern, 20 cents). Brasses of 
this style are always fashionable for pfrls; 
they are simple, graceful, comfortable, and 
as easilly made, washed and ironed as an 
apron. They admit of ornamentation if one 
must have it ; if of gray or brown calico, 
flat bands of blue or pink calico or percale, 
stitched on, with a waistband or sash of the 
same. Children soon soil ribbon sashes, 
which are expensive, while those in cotton 
and wool are cheap, and look nearly as well. 
Bright Scotch plaid goods make very pretty 
ones. Fig. 2520 illustrates a Bailor Blouse 
Waist for girls from ten to fifteen years old 
(price of pattern, 20 cents). When worn with 
a plainly gored skirt in front and at the 
sides, it forms a very pretty, neglige costume. 
For smaller girls—those from three to ten 
years old—it is quite as pretty, and when 
made of dark gerge, or merino in blue, 
brown or gray, with collar, cuffs and sash in 
scarlets it forms a very picturesque costume. 
During the coming late winter and early 
spring months the body linen of the family 
must necessarily be made up for the summer 
wear. Next, to a 
bad dinner, nothing 
so converts a do- 
' lightful man into a 
cross bear as an ill- 
|V fitting shirt. The 
1 i 4 WL French say che- 
4m. Jim m/sc, which 1 think 
JIR^ a better word, be- 
i mH cause smoother in 
I mHL 'm H ° 11 11 a n ( * a. 
/ A WIK.smooth name for 
’ / § m the garment worn 
/ m 'm W * IB next the b o d y 
/ :W| Seems more fitting 
J m than a brusque one. 
have the in- 
« ll Ay • i dorsement of a very 
I- »'• [(•« 111 wise man on this 
lit' st ? ie — 
'‘ W 'm \\ with a yoke, open 
ffr; \\ > n the back, with 
1 -lap 11 detached cuffs, and 
«| ; 4 the graduated form 
of the bosom. Of 
111; K 'mjB course, it is more 
work to make a 
shirt with a yoke ; 
but it fits better so 
D 
J made. On the hand 
| —which should be not over two inches wide 
—of t he sleeve sew a button, on which the 
cuff may he buttoned, as it is not pleasant 
I rot h man to be obliged to shake down his 
arms at frequent intervals in order to bring 
a cuff in view below his coat sleeve. Most 
men prefer the use. of studs in their shirts to 
buttons, especially bachelors, who have no¬ 
body to look after their buttons. Price of 
pattern for shirt, open in front, or back, sack 
shape or with yoke, all sizes, 50 cents. 
A RoRAL-reading young woman writes as 
from Turin. N. Y., asking for suggestions 
about a wedding costume, but fails to men¬ 
tion any such essential matters as personal 
characteristics and limit of expenditure. She 
-. says she is to be 
^ married quietly at 
home, which shows 
™. T\ both sense and sen- 
”|i I f % timent ; she will es- 
* i ' Ik cape a deal of vill¬ 
i' tli liik ® ar star ' 1) s that 
||, must always have 
4 1|4 ? 4m place in a church 
tfes p ; which is public to 
M Jm, ‘ 111 everybody. Brides 
A’ inn; who leave at once 
! : ' h< % on a “tour” find it 
| 'I m -I convenient to be 
, ® M married in a travel- 
1 , v ’v, m -m ing costume, which 
A 1. ■ ijj maybe of cloth or 
| A \ ; \k \ silk, or both to- 
I P \ gethcr.of any of the 
V S T‘. shades of brown, 
SL V ^ 4 \ gray, or veiy dark 
1 vf S *?y \ green, blue, ma- 
X A \ roon . Pluui, etc., 
with hat, wrap and 
H 'C'C'' ^ I gloves to match ; 
H'tiie groom wears 
m : jk. sv Wr gloves to match the 
bride’s dress. If a 
ring is used iu the 
oy service, most wo 
men, to avoid the 
1 annoyance of removing the glove, rip an in¬ 
side seam of the ring finger and catch the 
edges together by a slender thread, whioh is 
readily broken, when the glove finger is 
slipped off and bent back on the hand ; after 
the ring is adjusted, the finger of the glove 
is replaced, but this more especially when 
white gloves, which are soon removed, are 
worn. The Germans many with two rings, 
one for the bride’s and one for the groom’s 
hand, so that a married man wears a wed¬ 
ding ring as well as a married woman, which 
seems a ver / equitable and common-sense 
view of the matter, and one, too, being 
RURAL CONVERSAZIONE 
ABOUT PATTERNS. 
In obedience to a thoroughly recognized 
want among thousands of readers of this 
Department, for patterns of the illustrations 
from time to time furnished, we have made 
an arrangement by which patterns of many 
of our cuts can be furnished upon applica¬ 
tion at this office. The price of the patterns 
will be given wdth the illustration. In send- 
a woman. Let the girls prepare the work 
and the boys do the stitching. If there is 
anything in “spheres," it is a man’s to run 
the sewing machine. Mintwood. 
ing orders, give age, if for a child, and for 
adults, the waist and bust measure, in inches ; 
the measure should be taken over the cloth¬ 
ing, ordinarily ; the bust measure is taken 
by passing a tape around the waist close un¬ 
der the arms. For pantaloon patterns, send 
the waist, measure only ; for a shirt, the bust 
measure and that of the neck, allowing for 
the latter l inch—that is, if the exact size be 
14 inches, use pattern markod 15 inches. 
Patterns for children especially are usually 
found to be over large, being arranged on 
the plan that ail children are “ large for their 
age.” Mothers will bear this in vnind, and 
NOTES AND QUERIES, 
A New Darrel. —A barrel with only one 
stave has been invented. The stave is pro¬ 
cured by turning a steamed log the length of 
a barrel against a knife of the same length, 
and cutting from the log a continuous sheet 
or vessel of the proper thickness. This sheet 
is cut into lengths of the circumference of a 
barrel, and by machinery is crozed or champ- 
e.red, and by means of a gang of saws, saw¬ 
ing slits into the ends of unequal lengths, the 
size of the ends is reduced for the heads and 
the proper bilge produced. The barrel, when 
bound with the usual number of hoops, ap¬ 
pears to be quite as strong as the ordinary 
barrel. 
Fuwh’s Steam Plow. —A not-well-informed 
writer in the N. Y, Tribune, discussing steam 
plowing in this country, makes the following 
remarks :—“ What might have been the 
before cutting the garment full-pattern size, 
including the broad margins always allowed 
for seams, hold the pattern up to the child. 
Due allowance should of course be made for 
the growth of children, in all garments de¬ 
signed for extended wear. 
While on the subject of children’s dress, 
we cannot refrain from a remark or two con¬ 
cerning furbelows. No girl under eighteen 
or twenty years of age has the slightest need 
or excuse to wear articles designed pure¬ 
ly for ornamentation. Jewelry, expensive 
adornments of any sort, on a young girl, are 
in very bad taste. Youth is like a rose ; to 
attempt to add to its sweetness and beauty 
is sheer folly. Fine laces, jewels, silks, vel- 
2709 
merits of Fawk’s steam plow, which received 
a premium from the Illinois Central Railroad 
of several thousand dollars, and which finally 
lay on its side a year or so in Champaign Co., 
is now unknown, but the cause of failure, in 
this instance, was the cost of supplying fuel 
and water.” If the writer of the above had 
known what he was talking about, he would 
have known that the I, C. R. R. did not pay 
Fawk, nor anyone else, “several thousand 
dollars ” on account of his steam plow. It 
is all bosh to talk so. 
2739 
vets, etc., belong to wives and mothers, or 
women old enough to be such. The custom 
among many mothers to dispense with orna¬ 
ments in favor of “ the girls ” is not wise, for 
if there is any one being in the family espe¬ 
cially deserving of what is finest, best and 
adornful, it is the mother. She is t he queen 
of the household, and should be crowned as 
such, and queens never grow too old for 
royal robes. Many mothers say, “ Oh, I am 
