M? 
DEC. 24 
The rural 
“wise.” We either have not the money or 
the leimre, or we forget about the nnnimlly- 
recurring event which puts a large part of the 
Christian world in a state of excitement until 
it is fairly upon us. I long ago came to this 
conclusion, which every Christmas time tom Ls 
to confirm, that the sweet saying of Christ, 
“ It is more blessed to give than to receive,” 
is rapidly losing its significance. I see so 
many hundreds of women driven half dis¬ 
tracted at holiday time in their efforts to make 
one doPar do the work of ten; so many hun¬ 
dreds of shop girls, too, nearly “ worked to 
death” in the crowded shops in an endeavor 
to answer the demands of the eager shoppers, 
that I weary at the sight, and deplore the gift¬ 
making mania that makes Christmas anything 
but a joyous holiday. A great many people 
spend more on gifts than they can afford to 
spend, and m moy is often put into purchases 
that are of no use to the recipients of them. 
People who have plenty of money have * no 
difficulty in choosing their gifts; the products 
• of thousands of deft fingers, the world over, 
are temptingly arrayed in the small and great 
shops of every large town. But with people 
whose means are small, it is often difficult for 
them to choose. They are usually concerned, 
too, that their offerings possess the merit of 
utility, which is an important factor in gift¬ 
making. The taste and condition of the persons 
to whom the gifts are to be given must also 
lie taken into account. A standard gift is 
books, but from my own experience I should 
say that no gift-making is so hazardous as 
that of books. How many people look at 
their book shelves and sigh at the sight of 
: some of the volumes. Unless I knew that 
my friend wished such or such a book, I 
. should not waste my money upon it. There 
rare eertain standard books that people with 
rgood literary taste always find satisfactory, 
ras Shakespeare, Plutarch’s Lives, Motley’s 
IRise of the Dutch Republic, Green’s History 
off England, and certain leading poets of the 
they, as Emerson, Longfellow, Tennyson, 
Whittier, Lowell, etc. I should not 
vdhvine .novels as gifts, except in rare iu- 
s 'wwies. Jteople seldom read a novel more 
thj Vi oaiQeair it.y'ice. « There are a few that are 
reiU V gjns&ftr.wtd .Sna Y be re-read many times 
with i toftb jplofcsprt) and profit. One of these 
is the W*niestul!£ tAqftf, Vicar of Wakefield, 
by Olivei* l&Oldimrith. fctme people are very 
fond of J ^iC&ens’j* novel*; ,other like Haw¬ 
thorne’s. A> volume of Buiarson’s Essays is 
delightful to «!*' better do* qjf ,readere. Of 
biographies, \to>sveUs Life of John¬ 
son Ls a faun »» iftnd very inter*ftt^book. 
Trelawney’s Lj <of Lord Macai^y *inry 
good, Trollope’s Lute of Cicero is ,fcp be tvtv 
mended to the odious people have a 
liking for the hist *>>’ of famous people in the 
times gone by, j T iA friend's birthday hap¬ 
pens to come on Um'istm/is or New Years, 
nothing is more fit r a than the 
Longfellow, or Erne, V»tb* or "Whittier Birth¬ 
day Book. The gift <. 1 year’s subscription 
to a good journal like * tlbc RURAL, lor ex¬ 
ample, is one of the bast of S'fLs, as it brings 
down upou the head of tlrt; ! giver fifty-two 
blessings a year. 
A good picture is always or.'Acceptable gift. 
But unless you* are a col ty?t-uvt .judge of 
artistic work, don’t put yc *r iHoney' into a 
chromo. There are a few g tot? ifiVroMps in 
the world, and thousands that >cioM*ly 
bad. It is much safer to cl, »■'«* [PriL'ts, «« 
photographs, lithographs, L rtlifltypw au d 
steel engravings. Avoid coloi Kt i prints, /Wl- 
less, as I say, you are a jud V? .pf .wbftt iW 
g'Kxi. The heliotyes from the ctftt- i unitors, 
published by Osgood & Co. of iBorton, are 
very lino, and they cost but fifty »?<»»!* apiece. 
A catalogue wilL be sent gratuit »i-sly on ap¬ 
pearance to them. A good stool i Xjgravingiis 
costly. but it is a thing to hist for g l > wratiop^, 
if well framed ami well cared for. .Sfitne of 
the art publications contain in e trin .issue 
three or four good eugraviugs or otcl. *nj^s, 
Emerson says something to the ell Rctf that 
a gift should be of one’s self, the vork* of 
• one’s hands or braius. If you paint a • ctip*..or 
vaso, or a picture, or embroider a 1 t<lj, 
make a mat, cushion, or quilt, you five, oft 
yourself, of your handiwork, und the si uipAst 
• of such gifts possesses a specific valu fc A 
copy of the Revised Edition of the Ne\ * Tes¬ 
tament would bo acceptable to almost 1 
adult who is not already provided wit’ k enue. 
Very good copies, with the old and nev » ver¬ 
sions on opposite pages, can bo had for * til'ty 
cents. To a housewife interested in ec ok cry 
cook book would form a pleasant gift. 
e Bhr- 
liiftoen 
mao of 
L nice 
vege- 
jr p*>- 
-a 
One of the best of the now ones is Mi; 
loa’s. A thermometer costs from 
cents up. Everybody does not have 
those. A thrifty potted plant forms 
gift. A basket of apples, of nuts, or of 
tables to such as have none, with man 
pie would not come umiss. 
Children suffer most, probably, at C 
mas from the foolish giviug of friends 
would more properly be styled “cue jnes." 
■ Candies, raisins and such sorts of sweet yieats 
are abominable to give a child. Kinder^ turUm 
blocks and building blocks form endless 
amusement for the little folks. Avoid all 
colored blocks, unless they are in oil. colors, 
A box of paints, tools, tin cars, things which 
can be used to fashion into other things, to be 
talked about, over which the Imagination lin¬ 
gers, are all good. A stout lead pencil, with 
a quire of writing paper to scribble on would 
delight some children. Things to go into the 
stomach have an evanescent value, except to 
the poor whose hunger is uppermost of all 
wants. And in Christmas giving it ts better 
to remember the poor in the neighborhood 
than your “ relatives.” They feel neglect so 
keenly, and it is far harder for “ Santa Claus” 
to remain away from the homes of the poor 
than the rich. People who are in comfort and 
health enjoy Christmas, whether it brings 
gifts or not. To fully enjoy the day it is bet¬ 
ter to expect no gifts, and not to overburden 
one’s self in trying to make them. A happy 
face and cheery words are the brightest and 
best things any Christmas can be blessed 
with, and one can give expression to good 
wishes, that cost nothing and may be worth 
much. With people of limited means it is 
better to confine gift-making to one day in 
the year. Among married people there is 
the yearly anniversary of the wedding day. 
The birthdays of the children it Ls well to cel¬ 
ebrate in some way, and most children take 
great delight in celebrating the birthdays of 
their parents. The “ blessedness ” of a gift at 
any time is its spontaniety. There is nothing 
“blessed” in giving because you think you 
“ought” to give. If you can’t give with 
pleasure, why then do not. “Compulsory” 
gift-making is a nuisance either at Christmas 
or at a wedding. 
P-omfstic (Economy 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY MAPLE. 
CONCERNING HOUSEHOLD SERVICE. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
lirLst- 
V w ho 
There are certain sorts of household ser¬ 
vice for which it is next to impossible to pro¬ 
cure proper persons. For instance, if I wish 
my table set for a small dinner party, flow'ers 
arranged, closets aud rooms put in my re¬ 
quired order, my child’s health intelligently 
looked after during my absence of a day «r a 
week, the mending of clothes, the temperature 
and ventilution of rooms justly attended to, 
and the thousand und one things connected 
with housekeeping that require good common 
sense, taste and intelligence, I should not know 
^.hither to turn to find such a person male or 
female. There are hundreds of women, in ill 
health or burdened with the care aud wan s 
of a .large family, to whom such help would 
be iuvjulqable and for which service they 
would gludiiy pay wages ranging from to 
$5 jaw WGfc'k, and still for this demand there is 
no £Up0y. Between mistress and cook there 
to ft gap so difficult to fill that many families 
break, up housekeeping in order that the wife 
and motftar may be relieved of the burden she 
is obliged to* carry as mistress of a house. The 
sort of help required goes under the name of 
1 ‘house-maid,” but die i» so rarely well equipped 
for her office in this country, that the name it 
self is almost a misnomer. 0 ro wn up daughters 
and dependent relatives often perform these 
services for the mistress, but there are thous¬ 
ands <>f families iu which there are no such 
“spokes" In the family wheel. 
My object in alluding to this matter is to 
e*Jist, if it be possible, the interest of country 
girto in this kind of work. It is an employ- 
i quent (Jjat is healthier, more respectable and 
better-paid than that of factory or shop girls 
and I believe I may truly add, more profit¬ 
able than dress or bonnet making or any sort 
of sewing, and to my miud, quite as res|*x'ta¬ 
ble. I honor all workers who do their work 
well, no matter what it may be. save that it 
be honest, useful work. And so does every¬ 
body whose respect aud esteem are worth hav¬ 
ing. If there is any reason why “ hire-girls” 
are imbued with the idea thut their occupa¬ 
tion is regard* d as very inferior, it is solely 
beeau’6 they have been so outrageously igno¬ 
rant, unskilled and unfit for the josition. 
Almost any servant whom I might wish to 
jkhre to do my housework would demand fro;a 
.to $4 per week for her services and still she 
• wmJtluever be able to see whether or not she 
I laid it le rugs straight on the floor or whether a 
jpkftivne frame was left askew after she had 
.dusted it. 
My husband had occasion one time toadver- 
tise for a maid for me to do very light work, 
but she must be trustworthy, and her wages 
were.to be a week, “ a good home and kind 
treatment." There came upwards of 40 appli¬ 
cants for the situation, aud among the number 
were s*woral shop girls. I remember one 
in particular; she was a very a nice-looking 
youiLg woman who had been a clerk for seve¬ 
ral years in a Philadelphia dry goods house at 
. a salary of $6 a week. She found that bar 
expenses consumed all her earnings, that she 
lived shabbily in a boarding house, that she 
had not really good society and that being so 
much on her feet and oftentimes in an impure 
atmosphere was killing her. She was heartily 
tired of it, and looked forward to a quiet 
home, in a quiet family, with a great sense of 
relief. Then, too, in such a position she would 
have no exposes but for her dress, and at the 
most she could put half her earnings every 
year in bank. 
Employers know, if employees do not, that 
domestic service is the best paid, comparative¬ 
ly, of any sort of work, and it is a matter of 
wonder, as well as of surprise, that so few 
American girls fit themselves for sneh work; 
and of regret, too, as the quality of the deft¬ 
ness and intelligence of American girls is 
much superior to that of those of foreign 
birth and training. Now why is it that coun¬ 
try girls who have their own way to make, 
turn aside from housework to seek other em¬ 
ployment! Wherein lies their dislike of it, 
their repugnance to it? I wish some of them 
who may read this would frankly tell why. 
I know of no occupation that is not. attended 
with some unpleasant features, and it should 
be remembered that, the unpleasant features 
of household service are ofteu more than 
over-matched by disagreeable features in 
other occupations that they know nothing 
about because they have never experienced 
them. For instance, I have known “ hired- 
girls ” of mediocre intelligence, who for the 
life of them could not earn over 50 or 75 cents 
a week beyond their board, refuse to work in 
families where they were not admitted to the 
family table like a member of the family. 
“ I am just as good as they are,” they angrily 
argue, while it Ls not a matter of “ goodness” 
at all; neither of social equality, for that mat¬ 
ter, but simply a matter of family privacy. 
Employers hire help to do work; they don’t 
hire them for their “society,” delightful as 
such society may be. or otherwise society is a 
gratuitous sort of article that nobody likes to 
have imposed upon him against his will, 
which he floes like to have when he seeks it. 
but which is not always to be bad for the 
seeking. It is not at all of a commercial char¬ 
acter, ami the persons unquestionably whose 
society is most bouored and courted are those 
who have the least of the spirit of caste. 
Caste, which is the brief expression for “ I-nm- 
dec j i ledly- rat her! .ette r-tha n-y on-are, ” is most 
marked in the lower grades of society and di¬ 
minishes as one rises in the social scale. Great 
men and women never feei it and uever think 
of it in connection with themselves, but they 
certainly do care for family privacy and will 
have it at all cost. 
ECHOES FROM EVERY-DAY HOUSE. 
ANNIE L. JACK. 
During u week's absence from Every-day 
House, with seldom two meals at the same 
table, I had opportunity for noticing the dif¬ 
ferent methods and manners of serving dishes 
practiced by various housekeepers. In one 
family, where everything in the parlor is 
dubbed “lesthetic,” the bone of yesterday’s 
leg of mutton was put upon the table in all its 
bareness. Plenty to eat there was, but it 
lacked the little touches thut go so far to make 
food appetizing. Cold mutton was the sub¬ 
stance of unother lunch, but it lay iu thin 
slices on a large platter, with a few pickles 
here and there around the edges, and a few 
sprigs of parsley were an added decoration. 
At another bouse, w here chicken had been 
the dinner of the day before, we were served 
with what the French call VoUau-vent, a sort 
of patty of light crust, filled with hashed 
chicken. These, besides being a nice relish, 
were meant evidently to help out the dinner, 
otherwise rather short for unexpected guests. 
One morning at breakfast l noticed that the 
children, who were of rather dainty appetite, 
passed their plates several times for a dish 
of what looked like peculiar doughnuts. Af¬ 
ter they hud goue to school L found that their 
mother moistened all the stale bread first in 
milk, then in the yelk of eggs Lai ten lightly, 
afterward sprinkling each piece with pulver¬ 
ized sugar, and frying it crisp. It was very 
palatable. One afternoon for tea a l’riond 
treated me to cheese cakes, and when I praised 
them as something 1 had never relished before 
since my childhood days, she laughed very 
pleasantly, and gave me the following recipe, 
which the amateur cook intends soon to try 
at Every-day House:—Potato Cheese Cakes.— 
Two cups of mashed potatoes, half a cup of 
cream, four eggs, one-fourth of a cup of cur¬ 
rants, one-lnilf a cup of butter, one-hal i a cup 
of sugar. Mash the butter, eggs aud cream 
with the potatoes hot; stir till scalding hot, 
remove from the fire, and stir in the washed 
currants and sugar. Fill your patty pons, 
after lining them w ith puff paste, and bake in 
a steady oven ten or twelve minutes. 
At one pleasant fireside where 1 spent a day 
I felt the influence of a woman’s dainty touch 
and innate refinement at every meal. Going 
in after the table was set, and no guest expect¬ 
ed, I found the table linen spotless, the glass 
shining, and if flowers were few, they were 
interspersed with sprays of trailing green that 
added to their beauty. Fancy bits of pottery 
held the different articles of food, and though 
not rare or old. they were in exquisite taste 
and of pretty design. The cooking was al¬ 
ways done to a turn and seasoned to delight 
an epicure, and all with the assistance of one 
girl. But I observed that everything was con¬ 
venient—the rooms on one floor, so that no 
extra steps were required. Tbe children had 
been taught that there was a place for every¬ 
thing, and the boys expected to help in many 
litt.o ways in the household as well as the 
girls. The “help" was strong and capable, 
with a contented look that only comes frem 
being well treated and cared for in a pleasant 
home. 
What a diversity of character one meets in 
a few days’ travel, each intent on his or her 
own round of duties;aid pleasures. The habit 
of observation is developed by seeing new 
faces, and we are sure to draw conclusions 
and make comparisons that become memories 
when once more we are settled down to the 
routine of home life. 
WAS IT INDEPENDENCE? 
MAY MAPLE. 
“I AM going to earn the money wherewith 
to purchase my Christmas gifts, and I am de¬ 
termined that whatever I get for my husband 
it shall be something really elegant,” said a 
young wife, and her snowy fingers drew the 
needle back and forth through the dainty 
wool, stitch by stitch adding to the pretty fab¬ 
ric that would shape itself into a warm, com¬ 
fortable hood. It was still early Autumn; 
but when the winds and snows of Winter 
should make their appearance these becoming 
hoods would have increased to a goodly num¬ 
ber, and then she would bring them forth for 
sale; and this was the way the fair little 
woman was .to earn her pin-money for the 
Christinas holidays. “ Of course," she contin¬ 
ued, “he gives me all the spending money I 
need for inyseir and the baby, and would give 
me more if I wanted it, but I won’t take his 
earnings to buy presents for himself. I like to 
lie independent.” 
At first thought, this pretty independence 
seemed very laudable, and I almost envied her 
the leisure so much at her disposal; yet 1 could 
but wonder how- she would gain time enough 
from the little family cares to make very ele¬ 
gant presents. To be sure her family was 
small—herself aud husband and a six-months- 
old baby (but that really needed a great deal 
of care, as the child was far from well), and 
then her husband was a professional man, and 
there was always more or less eompuny. So 
the cares of the little household were necessa¬ 
rily numerous. 
But the child-wife (for after all she was but 
little else, notwithstanding her yeur and a-half 
of married life) soon informed me that she had 
become worn out with doing the work, and so 
her husband had hired a girl to do the kitchen 
work, and she was so glad, for she did dislike 
the drudgery. But then, too, she hated to eat 
from dirty dishes, and she had l>een half 
tempted to turn the girl away for her slovenly 
habits; and then came the usual flow of gossip 
concerning servant girLs, which the little 
woman had learned to perfection. 
Presently her husband came in desiring an 
early supper, as he had business in another 
part of the town requiring his presence. There 
was neither bread nor meat in the pantry. 
The girl had just come in from an afternoon 
visit, and could do nothing till she changed 
her haudsome gown for an all-work affair; 
and then she could not possibly build a lire, 
make warm bread and get the supper ready 
on such short notice, so, with a contemptuous 
“ Pshawthe husband sent a street boy to 
the bakery for bread and cake and to the 
butcher’s tor meat, while he built a fire in the 
kitchen stove. Meanwhile “the girl” made 
slow preparation to prepare the evening meal. 
The white table linen was all soiled or in the 
basket of unironed clothes, and the mistress 
was obliged to use colored napery, much to 
her dissatisfaction. 
While all this hurried commotion was going 
on in the domestic department I began to 
wonder which the husband would most ap¬ 
preciate, an elegant Christmas gift from his 
wife, purchased with her own earnings, or a 
well-ordered house, whose pantry could give 
f jrth an abundance of well cooked food at a 
moment’s warning, and a simple token of love 
for the holidays. Would the gift shy proposed 
to purchase bo her owu independent earn¬ 
ings wheu, to do the work proposed, she must 
take the time that should be spent in oversee¬ 
ing the work in every department of her 
home f Was it true independence to do fancy 
work to please the eye aud replenish the purse, 
and at the same time purchase bread at the 
bakery, when one kept a hired girl to do the 
housework for a family of three or four per¬ 
sons ? 
