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3 $ 
RURAL WIW-YORSCER. 
1 
Jfodtys' f|ci[tfolw. 
HINTS TO WIVES AND MOTHERS. 
ISIDORA. 
Were I the ocean, 
An ocean of love 1’d bet 
With a thousand arms I’d encircle thee. 
Were I the ocean. 
Were I the sky. 
All the stars I’d displace. 
You only heaven should grace. 
Were l the sky. 
Were I the sun, 
I’d extinguish light and warmth, 
Night should rest o’er land and sea; 
In my and thy heart only, 
There light and warmth should bo. 
THE LAND OF SONG. 
Tnr. land of song within thee lies. 
Watered hy living springs* 
The lids of fancy’s sleepless eyes 
Are gates unto that Paradise; 
Holy thoughts like stars arise, 
Its cloud* are angora wings. 
Look then into thy heart and write! 
Yes, into life’s deep stream! 
All forms of sorrow and deligh 
All solemn voices of the night 
That can sooth thee or affright, 
Be these henceforth thy theme. 
[Longfellow. 
-- 
HOW PHIL LOST JENNY. 
BY CORA E. NOURSE. 
« Pun, Hazleton 1b splendid, is’nt he, Aunt 
Mary? I think he is the moat agreeable man T 
ever s iw In myiife.” “Yes, Phil is very agree¬ 
able, Indeed," said her aunt; “I do not know 
any one that Bhities more in company." 
“ You spoilt as It he did not shine anywhere 
else,” said Jenny, who was somewhat chagrined 
by this rather limited approval of her favorite. 
“ I don’t think lie often thinks of letting Ids 
light shine anywhere else; but 1 do not mean 
to disparage Phil, I assure you, only it does 
vex mo sometimes to see his supreme self¬ 
ishness." 
".Selfishness! Is he selfish?” ashed the sur¬ 
prised girl, “ I did not know it." 
"No, that Is just the provoking part of it; 
nobody does know it, he is so charming and 
takes the best of everything with such a grate¬ 
ful smile, and such u graceful bow, that people 
resign their rights without, a suspicion that 
they are imposed upon. Everybody thinks it a 
matter of course that he should have w hatever 
he wants, and I am no exception myself, though 
I scold about it. I own that I consider It a real 
misfortune if the dinner 1 b net. dono to a turn 
wbon he is hero, or that the rooms should be a 
degree above or below the right temperature. 
He looks so Inexpressibly miserable when any¬ 
thing goes wrong with him, that it is Impossible 
not to pity him; besides, though 1 really cannot 
tell how he does it, he has the faculty of making 
y 0 u feel rcsponslole for his suffering, which is 
not pleasant, you know; »o it is one’s own in¬ 
terest to make things go smoothly." 
Jenny h id only known this young man a few 
weeks, and had been so delighted with his 
brilliant conversation and suave manners that 
her aunt's criticism took her quite by surprise, 
and she began to ask hcreclf whether it could 
be really true that this man could be anything 
but what Bhe had imagined him. “ How differ¬ 
ent he Is from my Idea or a selfish per.-on,” she 
Btt “Yes,"repliedAuot Mary, “selfishness does 
not always show repulsively In the life; it can 
wear a roost charming aspect sometimes. Did 
yon ever notice how readily some persons who 
have plenty of money give it to charitable oh- 
jecta if Home one else will take the trouble of 
any service that may be needed. Now, Phil 
cannot bear the idea, or sight, of suffering; he 
has no idea how it can be endured at all, aud it 
a beggar comes to him he will give him money 
to get rid of him; but he would not go ten steps 
out of hlft way to do anything for him. The 
truth Is, he is a sybarite whose rose leaves must 
be wit huut a wrinkle. If his surroundings are 
exactly suited to his exquisite taste, he is the 
most delightful companion in the world, but it 
Is in the power of any malicious musqulto to 
make him unhappy, and if he la miserable he 
feels entirely Justified in making everyone else 
so. Frank Manning says it is the world’s 
business to pet such men as they do rare birds— 
that they should be kept in gold cages,—but 
Phil is worth too much for that." 
" Why do you help t,o spoil him. Aunty ? " 
"As I tell you, I do not like to cross his 
humor, because he always makes you feel 
guilty In doing so. He has the faculty of 
putting one in the wrong as the Inevitable con¬ 
sequence of being opposed to him.” 
Jenny looked sober for a while, and then 
walked away singing 
"Young Love is a gay deceiver,” 
“ He cunningly hides his wings 
but when, alx months after, she was married 
to Frank Manning, PhilHazelton wondered 
how he lost her. 
-- -- 
Mrs. Rousby, a young woman even more 
beautiful and more given to wardrobes and 
jewelry than Mrs. Scott-Siddons or Adelaide 
Neilson, has arrived from England to star it on 
the American stage. 
Mr. Editor;—I have been an almost constant 
reader of your valuable paper for the past twelve 
year*, and have been very highly benefited by 
the talks of the " Dear Sister?,” “ Troubled 
Marthas” and *’ Tired Mothers,** I have been 
a housekeeper twelve years, have three children 
ancka family of six to do for (and T do it all 
myself), besides tiring a farmer's wife, which 
many think such a dreadful thing. I have 
learned many things by experience, which, 
although a good teacher. Is sometimes rather 
severe, and I have been thinking if I could have 
started in life with Just the experience and 
knowledge of a wife’s and mother’s work that 
I now h i ve, what a deal of trouble and anxiety 
it would have saved me. 
And then I thought of the many things I had 
learned from the dear sisters through the 
Rural, and I could but say “God bless the dear, 
good sisters, that are trying to help othersand 
then I thought “Cannot I help some one?" 
Many things come rushing to my mind at the 
present moment that I have learned by experi¬ 
ence, but have only time to add a little 40 W, 
and at another t ime (if this finds room in your 
paper) will toll you some more. 1 may as well 
confess that this Is the first time I ever wrote 
to an Editor in my life. I will only speak of 
the care of children to-night, for, above ail 
thing', I believe this to he of the highest value. 
I have learned by experience (for my first 
child was sadly neglected) that children should 
have regular habits , especially in eating and 
sleeping. Do not, as you prize their health, 
give them “ pieces ” between meals after they 
are two years old. Before that give them some¬ 
thing between the three meals, but let. It. be at 
regular times each day. It will give tired 
mothers more rest, for they will not be teasing 
for something to eat, and it will give your child 
far better health. 
Command or oblige your children to sleep 
once through the day, and insist upon its being 
at a particular l ime of day. If you do not let 
them miss the time for a “ nap ” for a few days, 
you will be surprised to seo how sleepy they 
will be just at that time, and how soon they 
will drop to sleep and how refreshed they will 
be when they awake. And you , tired mother, 
will have such a rest; and I would recommend 
that everv mother should lie down with her 
children Just a few moments. Certainly you 
would thereby be more refreshed for the labors 
the remainder of the day. 
Home, Nov. 24,1814. Mother. 
Reading for Ihg jifaimg. 
THE ARITHMETIC LESSON. 
[CHILI) STUDYING AT AN OPEN WINDOW.] 
Two times ’leven nre twenty-two; 
Kitty, don’t I wish twas you, 
’Stem! of me, had this to do ! 
Two times ’lovon are twenty-two. 
Three times ’leven are thirty-three; 
Robin, in tlin apple tree, 
I hear you ; do you hear me 
Three times ’leven are thirty-three. 
Four times ’leven are forty-four; 
How the sunbeams speck the floor 
Four times ’leven are—what a bore I 
Four times ’leven are forty-four. 
Five times ’leven are fifty-live. 
Swallows ! swallows ! skim and dive. 
Making all the air alive; 
Five times Mevon are flfty-flvo. 
Six times ’leven are sixty-six; 
Tip, for shame, sir ’ Pretty chicks, 
Don’t you mind his saucy tricks j 
Six times ’leven are sixty-six. 
Seven times ’leven nre seventy-seven ; 
There now, Kitty, you can’t oven 
Say the first —“ once ’leven is ’leven 5 ” 
Seven times ’leven are seventy-seven. 
Right times ’leven are eighty-eight; 
Some one’s pulling at the gate: 
Hark ! it’s Bessie, sure as fatn I 
Right times ’leven are eighty-eight. 
Nine times ’leven are ninety-nine ; 
Coming. Hossto! Ain't it line ? 
That's the last one In the line ! 
Nine times ’leven are ninety-nine. 
ment, then dropped safely down, without the 
least help from the mother. 
In most of the pictures that I have seen of 
Wood Ducks, the artists have left out some of 
the prettiest markings about, the head and 
wings of the male; so when you look In your 
Natural History for 11 description of them, re¬ 
member that besides the other beautllu! colors 
of their plumage, there should be abar of white 
feathers close to one of black, just in front of 
the wings. These are tipped with white, and 
when they are folded there is a distinct ltne of 
white nearly meeting the one on the breast, 
and also another one on the back towards the 
tail. On each side of the head there are two 
semicircles <>f white uniting at, the throat 
leaving a sort of crescent of dark gr..tn feathers 
between: and there arc narrow rows of wnite 
in the green tuft ou the top of the head. 
--- 
The Goon Mother, - “ 1 wish my mother 
was like yours,” said Harry Blake as he walked 
by my-Ido to school. ‘'-Then 1 believe I could 
bo somebody, and not, such a bad fellow as I 
am. Why, if 1 had a good mother. I'd do every¬ 
thing I. could to please her, wouldn’t], though I” 
I had nevor thought before what a precious 
mother I had, so good. «<> true, so God-tearing, 
so kind; or what a great blessing God had given 
me in such a friend. 
ABOUT WOOD DUCKS. 
What a Child can Do.—A little boy who 
attended a temperance meeting was asked by 
his father when beret,timed: “ Haveyou learn¬ 
ed anything, my boy?" “ Yes, father, I have. I 
have learned never to put strong drink to my 
lips; for it, has killed fifty thousand persons 
annually, and how do 1 know that it will not 
kill me?" 
-♦-*-«>-- 
Brave Little Sister.—W here is she going 
through this storm of snow? A mile to the 
village for the doctor. Her dear baby brother 
is sick, and love makes the little heart brave. 
MAKE OTHERS HAPPY. 
Which will you do—smile aud make others 
happy, or be crabbed, and make everybody 
around you miserable? You can live, as it 
were, among beautiful flowers and singing 
birds, or In the miro, surrounded hy fogs and 
frogs. The amount of happiness you can pro¬ 
duce is incalculable if you show a smiling face 
and a kind heart, and speak pleasant words. 
On the other hand, hy soev looks, cross words, 
a-ul a fretful disposition, you can make a 
number of persons wretched almost, beyond 
endurance. Which will you do ? Wear a pleasant 
countenance, let joy beam in your eyes, and 
love glow In your face? There arc few Joys so 
great as that which springs from a kind act, or 
a pleasant deed, und you may fed it, at night 
when you rest, at morning when you rise, and 
through the day wn en about your daily business. 
-- ♦ » - 
THE INVIISBLE CHILDREN. 
It is not when your children are with you; it 
is not when you see and hear them that they 
arc most, to you; it, is when the sad assemblage 
is gone; it is when the daisies have resumed 
their growing again in the place where the little 
form was laid; it Is when you have carried your 
dead out and said farewell,and come home agal 1 
and day and night are full < f sweet memories; 
it Is when Summer and Winter are full of 
touches und suggestions of them; It Is when 
you cannot look tip towards heaven without 
thinking of them, or look down towards your¬ 
self utul not think of them; it is when they 
have gune out of your arms, and are living to 
you only hy the power of imagination, that 
they are the most to you. The invisible children 
are the realest children — the children that 
touch our hearts as do hands of flesh ever 
could touch them. 
-- 
A TRUE LADY. 
I was once walking a short distance behind a 
very handsomely dressed young girl, and as I 
looked at her beautiful clothes, wondered if 
she took half as much pains with her heart as 
she did with her body. A poor old man was 
comingue tbewalk with a loaded wheelbarrow, 
and Just before he reached us be made two 
attempts to go into the yard of a house, but the 
gate was heavy, and would swing back before 
he could get in. 
“Wait." said the young girl, hurrying for¬ 
ward, “ I’ll hold the gate open.” 
And she held the gate till he passed In, and 
received his thanks with a pleasant smile, and 
she passed on. 
“She deserves to have beautiful clothes." I 
thought,, “for a beautiful spirit dwells within 
her breast.” 
-- 
A GOOD rule is to buy nothing you don’t want, 
and nothing you can’t pay for. No man who 
always lived up to this principle ever died in 
the poor bouse. 
nr RUTH LEE. 
One day, when Uncle Jonah was rambling 
in the woods, ho found a Wild Wood Duck’s 
nest in a hollow tree, near the banks of a large 
creek. This was a grand discovery for him, as 
ho had often tried to tame old ducks that were 
only slightly wounded, as well as half grown 
birds, but they had always pined and died. He 
thought ir those eggs could be hatched at 
home be might be more successful; so he put 
them under a good, motherly hen. This was 
rather shabby treatment of the duck, which 
had only left her charge long enough to look 
up hex ditiner; but then, If you could have 
known how well the old gentleman cured for 
all hlaTTets, you would not think it at all like 
robbing birds' nests just for the pleasure of de¬ 
stroying the eggs and hearing the mother birds 
cry. 
In about four weeks fourteen of the cunmng- 
est, downiest little ducks that you ever saw 
peeped over the edge of the nest, but staid 
under their new mother’s wings a day or two 
longer, when thoy hopped out and started for 
the nearest water. Roforo the day was over 
they were swimming around as lively as such 
mites of ducks could bo, catching flies and 
almost taking care <>r themselves, greatly to 
the distress of the old hen. She could do 
nothing but, hover near the water and call her 
strange brood till night, when, like little human 
chicks, they were glad to come back to home 
aud mother. 
They all thrived on the food they found In 
the water and lived to be very tame, beautiful 
birds. They were kept for several years; but 
after a time the foxes and minks caught them, 
one by one, and some of them that could fly 
were shot by city sportsmen, till not one was 
left. 
The yard looked so lonely without, their 
pTetty, green, crested heads, that, TTnele Jonas 
W ont ou another Wild Duck hunt in search of 
more, and had better success than he had the 
first time. Instead of finding more eggs, he 1 
came across sixteen young ducks that had just 
left their nest in a tall tree. Wa saw him com¬ 
ing home with a hand over each side pocket of 
his coat, and wondered what now treasures he 
had brought. When they were carefully emptied 
Into a large cask for the time being, the fright¬ 
ened little creatures began to creep up the 
sides, and some of them were out of it almost 
as soon as they were tn. Their toe nails are 
very sharp and they can climh nearly as well 
as a squirrel, ro they hud to be cut before thoy 
could be kept securely. For a few days they 
were very shy, and at night huddled together 
in a corner of their new pen, but soon learned 
to eat without, fear, and would go Into a box to 
sleep. When they were tame enough to stay 
with other ducks they were taken to the water, 
much to their delight, and the most of them 
lived to he old birds. 
gome Naturalists say the Wood Duck carries 
her young from the tree to the ground; but 
Uncle Jonas was sure that, he had seen them 
tumble out of the nest alone and walk off as 
spry as crickets. Whpn his own tame ones were 
old enough to lay, and wpre looking for a nest¬ 
ing place, he took a log, hollow in one end, cut 
an aperture in the side, set It upright, arid cov¬ 
ered the top with a board. One duck thought 
that, was just the place for her eggs, and when 
it was time for them to hatch, he watched her 
to see how she would get her little ones Into 
I the pond. Bhe flr«t. went to the nest, called 
j them, then flew to the ground, calling again, 
when the young ducks looked out for a mo- 
Timotrnn Life we build our#nonmnonts 
Of honor true, perhaps of fame; 
The little and the vast, events 
Are blocks of glory or of shame. 
Ipus&ter. 
TRANSPOSITIONS.- No. 1. 
1. Transpose a lubricating substance and 
leave a small animal. 
2. Transpose a fish and leave a punctuation 
mark. 
3 . Behead and transpose what young ladles 
desire and leave to wander, 
4. Transpose a kitchen utensil and leave a 
short sleep. 
5. Transpose part, of a house and leave a smell. 
(1, Transpose a bird and leave dishonest per¬ 
sons. 
7 . Transpose a vegetable and leave a body of 
water. 
8 . Transpose a fruit and leave a protuberance. 
Answer In two weeks. 
-M*- 
MISCELLANEOUS ENIGMA.—No. 2. 
I am composed of 11 letters: 
My 6 , 5, 40,14 is a marine animal; 
My 7, 5,10, 4 is to raise 
My 1, 10. 8,11 ifi a kind of hammer; 
My 1, 8 ,2,9 is a native of Africa. 
My whole should be in overy house. 
Answer In two weeks. d. w. n. 
DOUBLE ACROSTIC-No. 1. 
1. A New England river. 2. A city of Hin- 
doostan. 3. A city of India. 4. The Egyptian 
term for father. 5. An island In the Mediter¬ 
ranean. 6 . A city of Japan. 
My initials and finale both form birds. 
■pgr* Answer in two weeks. Little One. 
ANAGRAMS OF ANIMALS-No. 1. 
L Help neat. 2. Is rice a mob, Ann? 3. I 
arm a doll. 4. H1I stop up a mop. 5. Rose or 
inch. 6 . A tempole. 7. Clean home. 8 . Fare 
fig. 9. Or at » gill. 10. Few real old. 
Staerkston, Ont., Dec,, 1874. J. M. Sherk. 
Answers in two weeks. 
CHARADE.—No. 1. 
My first is always. My second is durable. 
My whole is without end. 
PUZZLER ANSWERS.-Jan. 2. 
Illustrated Rebus No. 1.—The keys of St. 
Peter are still held by the Pope. 
Biographical Enigma No. 1-— “ Honorable, 
intelligent and industrious agriculture is the 
most certain source of wealth, health, and a 
long life.’’ 
Diamond Enigma No. 1 — 
z 
PAR 
GANTS 
VIRGINS 
ZANGUEBAR 
SEVENTY 
REBEL 
PAR 
R 
Decapitation No. 1 .—Majesty. A jest. 
