474 
r THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JULY 46 
$ or M omen. 
CONDUCTED BY MISS RAY CLARK. 
IF ONLY MOTHERS KNEW. 
* If only mothers knew, she said, 
How hungry children are for love, 
Above each virgin little bed. 
A mother’s lips would prove 
How sweet are kisses that are given 
Between a rosy mouth and heaven. 
If only my mamma would kneel. 
As your dear mother, every night. 
Beside her little girl, to feel 
If all the wrujts are folded tight. 
And held my hands, her elbow-fair 
Between my cheeks and her soft hair. 
'And looking in my dreaming eyes 
As if she saw some lovely thing. 
.And smiling In such fond surprise 
On all my hopes of life that spring 
Like flowers beneath her tender gaze. 
I could not stray in evil ways. 
I would not wound the gentle breast 
That held me warm within its fold; 
My mother’s love would still be best. 
However sad, or plain, or old: 
And, even though the world forsake, 
I’d love her for her Jove’s dear sake. 
--- 
DESCRIPTION OF CUTS, 
Fio 34 ®,—The Olympk Hat, of Black Chip 
Straw, embroidered with beads Bouillon velvet 
edge. Two velvet draperies go round the crown. 
Bunoh of buttercups at the left side. 
Fig. 343 —Dress for Little Girl From Fite 
to Seven Years of Age. 
The dress is of pink checked cambric with trim¬ 
mings of the same. 
Fio. 344.— Home Dress. 
The dress is of sorrel-green veiling. The dra¬ 
pery of the polonaise Is bound with striped satin 
of two shades of green. 
Fig. 34(1.—Home Dress. 
The dress is of sand-colored beige. The skirt 
Fig. 342. 
Is trimmed with alternate blltlngs of beige and 
mahogany- colored surah; the tunic and jacket 
are trimmed with a cross fold of surah. 
Fig. 347.—Dress for Young Lady. 
The dress Is of beige, trimmed with guaglngs of 
the same. 
Fig. 345.—Netted Night-Net. 
This night-net Is particularly recommended to 
persons who suffer from headache, as It keeps the 
hair closely together without any pressure on the 
head. 
Materials required—crochet cotton No. 4, net- 
tlng-needle, and mesh about quarter inch wide. 
Commence with twenty-tw T o stitches, and net 
backwards and forwards fifteen rows, and then 
take out the foundation thread, draw It through 
Fio. :-:43. 
the middle of the oblong. Now work round and 
make one knot In each stitch of the preceding 
row ; there must be eighteen rows netted round, 
or more If not huge enough; then follows the 
broad row for the ribbon to pass through ; for this 
take a half-inch mesh, or put the cotton twice 
round the small mesh at every stitch. After this 
broad row work two rows over the first, mesh, 
then follows the narrow lace for the outer edge ; 
for this net one row over the broad mesh, making 
always five knotB In one stitch, pasrtng over the 
j Fig. 344. 
next stitch. Now take again the Bmall mesh, and 
pass over again In each row the same stitches 
that were passed over In the first row, whilst in 
the rest one stlich must, be made In each stitch of 
preceding row until there Is only one stlloh to 
work, and the next to pass over alternately. 
| This ends the lace. 
Draw a ribbon through the broad row of net¬ 
ting, and tie it at, the back (see design), and sew 
on the bow at the top. 
Fig. 34s.— The hat Is of Tuscan straw ; the 
brim bound with cardinal satin, over which Is 
placed a fancy Tuscan gimp ; It Is trimmed with 
satin, shaded feathers and gold comb ornaments. 
HUMANIZING LESSONS. 
Two of the most frequently quoted lines of Ovid 
are those m which he says that to have faithfully 
Fig. 345. 
learned the arts of reading and writing soltens 
the macnere aDd makes ferocious savagery im¬ 
possible. Modern experience proves that although 
these humantorei effea” are essential towards 
the forming of a gentle and good disposition, they 
are not the teal bey to the question, which has 
after all a very simple solution. Mr. Grlgorleff 
gives a hint of It in a paper lately read at a meet- 
lng of the st. Petersbui g Society of Gardening. 
He says, that the Japanese are all taught gar¬ 
dening In schools, and all have then lltlle plots of 
ground at home. The children are not only in¬ 
structed In practical horticulture but in the ar¬ 
tistic arrangements of flowers, and the culinary 
ueeB or vegetables and nultp. Nowhere else are 
gardens so universal or so sklHiully kept. There 
is a passionate love of the occupation everywhere, 
from the palace to the cottage. The dwarf oaka 
and other trees which they take euch pride in, be¬ 
come living heir-looms; one specimen often hav¬ 
ing the successive culture and care of three geu- 
eiatione. 
Now Miss Bird tells us in her Unbeaten Tracks 
in Japan that the most notable, and beautiful fea¬ 
ture of Japanese fife Is the universal kindness, 
gentleness and happiness seen in the manners of 
the children, and in the Intercourse between them 
and their parents. It seems as if long generations 
of courtesy and complaisance, had almost extin¬ 
guished the passions of anger, envy, spitefulness, 
and contrariness which break out so soon and 
rage so lnflammatorlly among the children ot the 
West. For MlssB. declares that she saw nothing 
but quiet and good-will among Japanese chil¬ 
dren, no scolding, no snubbing, no petulance or 
pouting; no disobedience or a younger to an older 
child, or to parentB or teachers ; no case of quar¬ 
reling, or any apparent need of correction. She 
saw no beating of a child in all her Journeying, 
nor anything to provoke or deserve It. 
PuttlDg M. Grigorten’s and Miss Bird's testimo¬ 
ny together, do they allow us to believe that human 
nature Is every where the same fundamentally 
or do they prove that the Japanese children, who 
behave in everyway like ours, excepting In prone- 
nesa to 111-temper, are yet of a radically different 
moral constitution 7 If we adhere to the firm, of 
these two views—the one generally held-must we 
not conclude that our BChool methods are defec¬ 
tive ; that we do too much violence to the child’s 
nature and to Nature Itself, In fastening the little 
beginners to desks and hooks; confining them, at 
the outset, to the hardest, most unreasonable and 
bewildering work or all their school life, that of 
mastering English spelling aDd reading; a task 
which adults fall In, but which we regardlessly 
force little children through by endless practice 
ot repetition, packed by time and threats and 
irresistible power. 
We give them at. this critical stage the poorest 
instead of the best of teachers, and instead of first 
exciting a desire to learn a word—which makes 
its learning easy and Its acquisition permanent— 
we poll-parrot It with a string of others. Into the 
dinned ears and brain, no matter whether It la 
understood and meets with a sympathetic chord 
of sense In the chambers ot the mind or not. Let 
us study nature and facts as well as books and 
Fig. 346. 
FASHIONS. 
Bonnets are pretty, and all the more becoming, 
because each lady seems to study her own style of 
face and figure In choosing one. On the whole, la¬ 
dles seem to cling more than ever to the small 
capote. This la now worn very far on the back of 
the hair, showing the hair, which la braided, 
Fio. 347, 
smooth, or waved In graceful ripples low over the 
brow. The fringe Is quite gone out of fashion, but 
waved bandeaux are In great favor, though low 
over the eyes they are brushed off the ear, and a 
low chignon of colls and plaits Is fastened at the 
hack. 
Fans are now shaded. They are made of well 
selected feathers, so beautifully arranged that 
half the fan la of the dark shade and the oilier half 
ot the light, and sometimes the edges are dark and 
the feathers shaded upwards to light colors In the 
center. 
Shirred walsta, with shirred yokes and belted in 
fullness at the waist line, appear among late nov¬ 
elties. 
Ombre or Bhaded Surah Is lu demaud for collars, 
cuffs and revers of Butts of sober or neutral tints. 
Many small tucks, much shirring and fine em¬ 
broidery are the adornments of mull muslin toilets. 
The Secret of Beauty.— The secret of beauty 
Is health. Those who desire to be beautiful should 
do all they canto restore their health If they have 
lost tt, or to keep It if they have It still. No one 
can lay down specific rules for other people in 
these matters. The work which one may do, the 
rest he must take, his baths, his diet, his exercise, 
are matters for Individual consideration, hut they 
must be carefully thought or and never neglected. 
As a rule, when a person feels well he looks well, 
and when he feels ill he looks ill. There are times 
when one can guess, without looking into the 
glass, that his eyes are dull and the skin is mot- 
take, ourselves, some lessons from the kinder¬ 
garten of Froehel, and from the genial methods 
of the Japanese. 
MRS. GARFIELD IN THE WHITE HOUSE. 
Mrs. Hayes never had a sick day In her four 
3 ears’ stay at Hie White Ilou&e, though the old 
house which she loved had all thB defects then 
which It Is declared have overpowered Mrs. Gar¬ 
field in two months. There was nothing more re¬ 
markable about Mr?. Hayes than the Dever ex¬ 
hausted stories ot her vitality and the splendor of 
her health. If Mtb. Garfield has erred it has been 
in attempting to do all tnac Mrs. IJayeB did. What 
was pleasure to Mrs. Hayes to the same ex¬ 
tent could only be a burden to Mrs. Garfield, 
solely through unequal strength. Mrs. Gaifield 
Is a womun of strong mentality, deep sweetness 
of nature, and the most fine and delicate fibre. 
Tho burden of crowds of •• shows,” or pomp and 
circumstance should never be laid heavily upon 
her. Mrs. Garfield Is not Mrs. Hayes, She should 
be Judged by her own standards and cared lor for 
her own sake. She should never bp compared to 
Mrs. Hayes nor to anybody else, but taken tor 
herself. For who t hat truly knows her can fall to 
say that a woman ever stepped higher lu worldly 
honor who more innately deserved It? Unassum¬ 
ing, gentle, ‘'moat womanly,” in thatold-faBhloted 
sense, ever dear to the world’s heart, our prayer 
to God Is that she may be tpeedlly restored to her 
husband and children, audio so much ot the proud 
world as she can lake without abuslug herself. 
Mary OJemmer In the Independent. 
[The above was selected before the occurrence 
Fig. 848. 
or the terrible blow to Mr?. Garfield, and the 
country, considering it still appropriate we In- 
sert with extended sympathy. Were she possessed 
of perfect health her situation would warrant the 
most heartfelt consideration, but under existing 
circumstances the fevef ot condolence should be 
allowed, if possible, to reach still greater high 1 
tied. This Is not a case for something in a pretty 
bottle from the perfumer s, or for a lotion that ad¬ 
vertisements praise so highly. To have a fresh 
complexion and bright eyes, even to have white 
hands and a graceful figure, you must be well. 
Health and the happiness which comes with it are 
the true secrets of beauty. 
