178 
THE RURAL fJEW-YORKER. 
Inner part of the sidewalk when one approached 
and my heart seemed to leap up Into my throat 
when they descended to the sidewalk, from the 
feeling that a frightful accident was Impending. 
But gradually my sense of danger grew less as I 
became more familiar with them, and nothing oc¬ 
curred to Justify my fears, tilt 1 Anally grew bold 
enough to take a ride In one. But of this In its 
place. 
Great trucks, loaded with merchandise were 
bowling along the pavement, propelled by that 
wonderful genius of the country, pblllego. Each 
was guided and controlled by a Blngle man, who 
•sat upon a platform In front of the truck, and with 
a foot, lever and two hand-levers managed the ap¬ 
paratus* for producing motion, which was situated 
directly under him. and connected with ibe for¬ 
ward wheels. It was wonderful to see how easily 
and completely the driver controlled his truck. By 
the simple pressure of Ms foot he could start it off 
at a terrible speed, and by withdrawing the pres¬ 
sure he could reduce Its speed to the barest move¬ 
ment. By the. two hand levers he was able to 
guide It. to i he right or left, at will, or turn It about 
In a space but little more than Its length. I stop¬ 
ped many t imes to look atthese trucks being back 
ed Into the sidewalk for the delivery of goods; for 
It was rea lly surprising to see how quickly and ac¬ 
curately this movement could be performed. The 
best trained horsc3 In my country were nothing In 
comparison. 
Express wagons and other business vehicles 
were propelled m the same manner. In tact, the 
horse as a beast of burden was entirely supersed¬ 
ed in this country by that most useful and power¬ 
ful slave of ibts advanced people, pblllego. Having 
been elevated in the scale of being in a corres. 
ponding degree with hla masters, hts docility and 
Intelligence oaused him to he treated as a pet, and 
no dog ever displayed a greater affection for his 
master, or willingness to do Ills bidding than the 
horses of this count ry. Hence It was I hat so oioeh 
conndence was placed in their fidelity and intelli¬ 
gence that r.cli ner bit nor rein was ever used to 
guide or conrrol lliem. A single word would urge 
them on, or cause them to slacken ihelr speed, or 
perform every required movement with the uL 
most 8atety. 
It was really quite frightful to me to see these 
noble animals careering along without any appar¬ 
ent control among the various pblllego vehicles, 
with which the street was crowded, and winding 
In and out. among the pillars of the elevated rail¬ 
ways. But they showed an Intelligence Utile less 
than human m managing the vehicle which they 
drew, Thtlr notions of space and distance In re¬ 
lation to It was most accurate, so that they never 
attempted to go where there was not room for It, 
and they always kept off far enough from any ob¬ 
ject with which it might collide, to insure safety. 
There was another thing about these horses 
which excited my surprise, and that was the want 
of clatter. with which they traveled. Their feet 
camedoivn wlLh a thud upon the pavement as 
though their shoes were made 01 rubber lustead 
of steel. I afterward found that they were made 
of a substance which possessed some of the prop¬ 
erties of rubber, but which was greatly superior 
to it in toughness and durability. Every vehicle, 
indeed, had Its wheels hooped with this material, 
so that the noise of the street was a dull low rum¬ 
ble, instead oi the clank and clatter to which 1 
had been accustomed tn the great cities of my 
own land. 
Another thing which greatly contributed to 
lessen the noise of the street was the wonderful 
smoothness of the pavement, it the city had been 
chiseled out of some great marble plain, its streets 
could not have presented a more unbroken appear¬ 
ance. Not a single Joint could I discover in the 
material ot the pavement, though T carefully ob¬ 
served It for several blocks. Even between the 
side-walk and the street, though there was quite a 
depression to form a gutler, nothing like a Joint 
was discernible. Indeed, the very houses seemed 
to be a continuation of the material of the street, 
without a Joint from base to roof. Stoops, pillars, 
porches, balconies, even the very window' frames, 
to the gio ives tor the sash, all had the appearauce 
of being chiseled out of the solid rock. And such 
wondrous sculpture 1 had never seen attempted 
in any material as was displayed In the external 
ornamentation ot many of the houses. 
The material of the street and side-walk was of 
a gre eisu cast, and somewhat coarse In lexture. 
Tliatot i he houses was very tine grained, hard i 
and susceptible of a htgh polish, so that In walking 
along the street one’s Image, reflected from the 
houses, accompanied him as a continual presence. 
This people possessed the art ot giving to t he 
material of their houses any coloring which they 
desired, so that It seemed to be a part of their 
nature. I hus, some oi the houses were beaulliul- 
ly mottled like surpentlne. Others had the various 
and fantastic coloring ot agate, others were red 
like Jasper, aud others had ihe purple hue of 
amethyst, in short all the most beautiiu) miner¬ 
als were represented In me material of the houses. 
No two houses adjoining each other being alike, 
there was yet a tasteful regard paid to the har¬ 
mony of their coloring which greatly hlghtened 
the effect which Individually, they were so well 
calculated to produce. 
The streets ot the Golden City, It appeared to 
me, could not presents more beautiful appearance 
than those of Good-will-to-Men. Apparently lo¬ 
cated on a vast level plain or marble, from which 
Its hundred feet wide streets were chiseled with 
mitliemut leal precision, and from which Its build¬ 
ings rose to tneir loftiest domes and pinnacles as 
one unbroken piece of polished marble, variegated 
aud beautified by an art which rivaled nature. 
With one continuous park ot majestic elms, shad¬ 
ing exquisite statuary, delightful bowers and 
sparkling fountains, running through the centre 
of every street, wUh ihe pavement laved dally by 
the water or the fountains, so that it was as pure 
and clean as the floors ol the dwellings. With 
delightful parks at requent Intervals throughout 
the city, where nature fostered by art presented 
one continual least of pleasure for human enjoy¬ 
ment. With a people in whose physically perfect 
bodies a mind of unspotted purity, goodness and 
commanding Intelligence found a babltailot). 
surely, thought I, the Golden City Itself could 
furnish noi blng more or external beauty to dellgbt 
the soul or man. 
Musing thus. I wandered on along the crowded 
thoroughfare, indifferent to the gaze of those l 
met; tor my soul was so elevated by the beauty 
and excellence of all l saw that I quite lost con¬ 
sciousness of my great Inferiority to this noblo 
people; and this Inferiority I was compelled to 
believe was the source or the curious attention 
with which I was regarded. 
To be continued. 
-- 
BEIC-A-BRAC. 
niece had her washing on the line, we concluded 
not to stop; for washing day Is not a good day to 
call on one’s friends. In the distance we got a 
glimpse or the Sta'o Capitol, w hich has already 
cost, nearly as mu mas the National, but Is not to 
be compared to It in architectural design or artis¬ 
tic adornment and magnificence. To some, how¬ 
ever. the one at Albany may seem all excellent, but 
I observe that, one’s comparative Judgment de¬ 
pends upon what opportunities they ha/e already 
had for observat ion. 
On and on we went, ruaUlng by the school where 
Cadet Whittaker did or did not snip off his ears. 
With the stars twinkling overhead and the lights 
beneath, with bonfires occasionally sending up 
lurid flames, the hurrahing of victorious politi¬ 
cians, shouting of car-drivers and hackmen, we 
reached the metropolis. 
Hk aster her jf eliiCd marry him, 
He tiald “ I eann.a tell. 
But If you'll larkspur round awhile, 
Ami pansy out. right well. 
I’ll be your 1 ad> -in-tho-m 1st, 
Your hearte-niiee and your pet, 
And should fortune nuile on you, 
I’ll zmxri-poUf, you bet.” 
--Modern Muse. 
At dinner she had a doctor on either hand, one 
of whom remarked that they were well served, 
since they had a duck between them. “ Yes,” 
sbe broke In- her wit la of that sort that comes In 
Hashes —*• and I am between two quacks.” Then 
silence fell. 
A blushing maiden or forty Summers entered 
t tie town clerk’s office In Wheeling, West Virginia, 
recently, and asked tu a voice trembliug wit h agi¬ 
tation, for a license. The clerk took down the 
name and address of the visitor, “ Name and 
address of the other party?” asked the olerk. 
“ Faltbrul, and he lives with me,” replied the fair 
one. The clerk looked at. her for a moment, and 
blushlngly completed the UillDg of the document 
which he handed to the lady. He was astonished 
at her conduct. She gave one glanop at the license, 
hoarsely whispered “ monster:” and swept majes¬ 
tically out ot the office. The olerk had presented 
her with a marriage license, when It was a dog 
license she wanted. 
Jot omra, 
CONDUCTED BY MISS RAY CLARK. 
MORN AND EVE. 
I see her at my cottage door, 
A little child, with sweet blue eyes. 
Where linger yet, like niornimr's mist, 
The look she brought from paradise. 
And by her side an old man aitr, 
And dreams of days lougsim-e gone by, 
While overhead a rohiu slugs, 
And sunset glories light the sky. 
Along the paths her feet have trod, 
Hopes fairest,, brightest blossoms spring; 
She hears no mournful undertone, 
But sweet and clear life’s Joy l/olls ring, 
She laughs to hear the joyous song 
The; sweot-voiced robin gayly trills, 
Bui he, with faded, wistful eyes, 
Watches the sunset o’er the hills. 
And then, sol t sighing, whispers low, 
“ My day, like this, draws near its close, 
And uight comes slowly stealing on, 
The night which brings me sweet repose." 
OUR TRAVELS. 
VKI.ENA. 
The “gudeman” and 1 had concluded to view 
the metropolis; visit the (Juaker city and see 
Washington. A little Axing up being quite cssen- 
ttal, a dressmaker was employed; ail would have 
gone well had not said woman stopped off and 
got married. However, the dress was at last 
finished and the feet shod; then the head came 
in for ns due attention. The pouy and phaeton 
were brought around and we rode Lo a mltUnery 
establishment; entering, i said to the proprietor 
that 1 desired a bai, hood, bonnet or cap. what¬ 
ever might be the style, becoming to me and suit¬ 
able for traveling. Then came tne trial: bonnets) 
too young, too old, too flaring, too close, too som- 
bre or too gay ; all very Hue and very becoming, 
but not to me—were brought forth. At last a eom- 
promlae was affected; t he outside black, face old 
gold and ruby—two colors never worn by the writer 
before and much less bi coming than those she 
had worn, and we rode home through a drizzling 
rain. The 2nd day of November came. After re¬ 
minding the Professor of his rights, saying to a 
prominent man who had come all the way from 
Washington to vote, ‘'do not forget to vote before 
the polls close,” and asking a >oung man who 
waB to vote for the first time if he had forgotten 
to put In his vote, we took a drawing room car 
(cost, extra, three dollars and fifty cents) and 
when the wheels went round, the Protessor, David 
aud I were traveling eastward. We rode through 
valleys, by hlila and past smalt towns until utlea, 
with Its insane Asylum and woolen mills was 
reached. Here, an emigrant train had unpeo¬ 
pled Itself; its Inmates with their queer dresses 
and queer baskets were sunning themselves, de¬ 
liberately walking to and fro or Ailing their lunch 
baskets at a neighboring eating house. They 
were men women, and children from Germany, 
going to the far West. 
Upon leaving Utlea, we were carried along by 
the Iron steed past a romantic place where a 
winding stream among the rocks aped on Its way 
most graceful ly. Looking back to get a last 
glimpse of Ibis lovely spot, we were carried out of 
Its sight all too soon; on and on the locomotive 
hurried, with its trelght of humanity following 
close In Its rear. 
Having arrived at Albany, and seeing that our 
CHILDREN’S FUNNY BOOKS. 
A heart must, oe very cold which does not feel a 
responsive thrill as It listens to the merry laugh of 
children over the treasures of a Christmas tree. 
Bui do we ever tbltik that It Is really an important 
matter what they laugh about ? Books and pic¬ 
tures form a large share of The gifts at the holiday 
season. There la a class gotten up for the little 
ones, in gaudy colors, with superb bindings, which 
contain caricatures as senseless as they ate coarse, 
while the wit In them Isonlyol the orr er to be 
found tn the comic valentine, or on the boards of 
the negro minstrels. 
Are they of the kind to elevate our children’s 
tastes or refine their characters? Is not the 
tendency the other way; do rot. children drink In 
this coarseness as they would water, and fill their 
bruins with i be clownish, vulgar trash, to the ex¬ 
clusion of anything better ? What a pity it la that 
children In lovely homes, surrounded by all that 
sUould lend to elevate and purify their nature, 
should be so degraded by the careless Kindness of 
friends, who, to amuse them for a moment, do so 
seriously mar their moral and intellectual nature. 
There Is an abundance of rare, dellolous fun, of 
sweet tender sentlraei t, In books, that. Is all right, 
which children enjoy quite as well, w ithout going 
over to the enemy’s ground and [ lucking those 
poisoned sweets. 
Many'a mother has found it expedient to com¬ 
mit lo the flames a book which she found was 
undermining her child's better nature, even though 
bound In crimson and gold. Do not spare for the 
binding It It is hurtful to the lad. no, nor for the 
giver, even though it was his "very best auntie.” 
Your child’s real good is above all such considera¬ 
tions. 
Children cannol discriminate between the good 
and bad, themselves. You must do the choosing 
for t hem. Hence t he great responsibility that rests 
upon you. Always make It a rule to choose some¬ 
thing Innocently amusing rather than something 
coarsely grotesque, no matter now taking it 
may be. 
A gentleman once snid he would about as soon 
introduce a viper Into his household as one of the 
old comic almanacs which used to be so much In 
vogue; yet they were mild compared with much 
of the literature prepared tor children this and 
every year. Olive. 
At kino the BEDS.-Itmust be a false Idea of 
neatness which demands that beds should be made 
soon after being vacated. Let It be remembered 
that more than three-fifths of tjje solids and li¬ 
quids taken into the stomach should pass off 
through the pares of the skin,—seven millions In 
number,—and that this escape Is most rapid dur¬ 
ing the night, while warm In bi d. At least one- 
half of the waste and putrid matter (from twenty 
to thirty ounces In the night) must become more 
or leas tangled In the bedding,—of course polling 
It.—and a part of this may become re-absorbed by 
tbeskln, if it la allowed to come in contact with 
It on the next nlglit, as It must If the bedding is 
not exposed for a few hours In the light. We may 
well Imitate the Dutch example of placing such 
bedding on two chairs near the window In the 
sunlight, or In the window, ihat the best purifier 
known, the light of the sun, may dmipate their 
Impurities, or neutralize them. At least three 
hours, on the average, is as short exposure as Is 
compatible with neatness.—Congregationalism 
-+ ♦ » 
CORRESPONDENT'S CORNER. 
Will you please give me directions In your col¬ 
umns for making a bundle of everlasting flowers 
ornamental? Aud oblige A Rural reader. 
Wk should be pleased to have the above quest Ion 
answered by some of our sisters. r. c. 
-♦ ♦ ♦- 
That Indigestion or stomach gas at night pre¬ 
venting rest and sleep, will disappear by using 
Hop Bitters. 
•ilomcstic (fcnmomg. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY MAPLE. 
BREAD RISING. 
BY CHIEF COOK. 
Ip we understood the principle upon which 
any household operation is performed, we 
would have the ability lo vary ils mere manip¬ 
ulation to suit our conveniences or our meaus. 
If all the bread makers were scientifically 
learned, the average health of the human race 
would, in lets than a generation, be improved 
seventy five per cent. Filling the stomach 
with food intended to nourish, but which is 
inherently unable to do bo, is a drag upon all 
human advancement greater than can be easily 
imagiued. Good food, good blood, good body, 
good brains are natural sequents. Tbe act in 
bread making, called rising, is the mere ex¬ 
pansion of a gas created in tbe dough itself, or 
introduced there after being produced else¬ 
where. Common beer yeast, hop yeast, 6oda 
and sour milk, soda and tartaric acid, baking 
powders, ail create a gas in the dough by the 
action of the chemical antagonisms of which 
they are composed. This gas, after being 
thoroughly and minutely mixed through the 
mass I y kneading or stirring (in the case of 
batters), wonid never make light bread with¬ 
out the agency of heat. It is one of the econ¬ 
omies of domestic operations, that beat is 
necessary to cook the dough into an eatable 
condition, as tbe eame heat expands tbe minute 
invisible globules of gas, so as to force the 
particles of dough apart, leaving It when baked 
in the spongy condition called “light." This 
gas which is highly exhilarating if taken into 
the system in quantity, is also perfectly harm¬ 
less, though in every case, the two substances 
which by their being mixed together produce 
this gas. are highly injurious, ai d in sufficient 
quantity, either Is fatal to bnman life. If in 
mixing together soda and acid, both deadly 
poisons, we put more of eillter than the 
other can render inert in forming the gas, the 
excess remains in the bread and is eaten, and 
every one who eats of such bread is at once 
poisoned. The list of diseases which this 
wholesale mode of poisoning, either produces 
or renders the system liable to, is too large to 
be intruded upon the pages of this journal. 
The excess of 6oda is seen, lasted, smelled 
and felt, in tbe yellow, acrid, pungent char¬ 
acter given to the bread or biscuit, and its 
effect upon the stomach and head. An excess 
of acid is detected by sourness of the bread. 
It is of the first importance, then, that the 
proportion of the two should be exactly right; 
two-thirds of add to one-third of soda i-i cor¬ 
rect, if both are pure; but if either is weak 
from any canse, more roust be put in. Egg- 
rising is quite another affair; it is always 
pure, Bafe and perfectly wholesome. Beating 
eggs into flour merely carries bubbles of air 
into the batter, no gas here, no possibility of 
being poisoned; baking expands the bubbles 
of air, the batter rises, tbe heat fixes It at the 
right point and holds it there in the form of 
the most wholesome and roost nourishing 
bread knowD, peculiarly fit for infants, or in¬ 
valids, upon whose systems “cooks’poisons” 
would run riot. 
But the best and most wholesome rielDg is 
frequently ruined by bad baking. Heat ex¬ 
pands the little bubbles of gas or air; but if 
this expansion is carried on in too cool an 
oven, they burst into the atmosphere of the 
oven; the dough is still soft, and the bread 
“falls” or collapses. The heat must be a 
rising one, so that at the moment the dough 
Is just porous enough to he light, the heat 
bakes it Into bread, and all danger of heavy 
bread is passed ; thorough baking after that is 
a mere question of time. 
The study of this subject and the expert and 
certain application of it in making our "daily 
bread.” are paramount with the value of health 
and long life. 
■-♦ ♦ ♦- 
HOLDERS. 
I wonder if evei y lady of the Rural knows 
what nice things holders are for either a 
kitchen, sitting-room or parlor stove. I was 
in a neighbor's house, tbe other day, and, as 
true as Gospel, one of tbe yourg ladies used 
tbe skirt of her cashmere dress to open the 
stove door; and wheu we went out to tea, she 
took her pocket handkerchief to lift the tea¬ 
pot from the stove to the table ; and her other 
sister took a plate of hot biscuit from theovea 
with her apron. Now, they are “ real ” nice, 
smart giris, aud know bow to work ; bat I was 
sorry to see them use their clothes for holders, 
because It is not economical or tidy. It, is but a 
few minutes’ work to make a holder; have it 
of Ihree or four thicknesses of old flannel, 
make a cover of cloth that will wash ; sew on 
a loop or ring to hang it up by aud you will 
find it pays for itself a dozen times a day. I 
hope the girls won’t think grandmother is al¬ 
ways scolding, but 1 cauuot bear to see girls 
brought up slack aud Bbiitless, aud 1 would 
rather make a holder aud give it to a girl than 
see her grab up a nice dress with which to 
take hold of a hot stove door. It makes me 
press my lips tightly together lo keep from 
speaking about it, But, there ! Girls will be 
girls, aud I presume they never thought a 
tbiDg about it. But I hope they will learn as 
they grow older; and as I have spoken of it, 
perhapB Borne of them will go right to work, 
and make holders for every stove in tbe house. 
If I thought they would, I would tell them that 
round holders bound with bright colors, look 
really pretty to bang up near a sitting-room 
stove, while a holder made in the shupe of a 
butteifly, with Ihe wings worked with bright 
worsted, is quite ornamental in a parlor. But 
square ones are the beat for a kitchCD, and 
ironing table. The next time the girls want 
some now fancy work I would advise them to 
tiy their bund at making up a batch of holders. 
Grandmother. 
