336 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
licaimifj for t|r |oung, 
CLEANLINESS, 
Whatever IhinpH are scarce and dear, 
Water is plenty everywhere, 
And therefore 'tie a great disgrace 
To go with dirty hands or face. 
A cleanly jierson, all will find, 
Ib good for body, soul, and mind; 
For cleanly habits all should strive. 
The dirty are but half alive. 
Though many sigh they are so plain. 
This is a beauty all may gain, 
For cleanness is a beauty still 
That every one may have that will. 
Ev’n humble, unpretending puss 
This lesson seems to teach to us; 
With busy paw, we oft have seen, 
How she is fond of being clean. 
If but the mtnd i» pure within. 
We shall not choose a dirty Bkin; 
For most uncleanly habits rise 
From sloth, or ignorance, or vice. 
Then in myself and in my dress, 
Still let me study cleanliness; 
And may my outward cleanness be . 
A sign of inward purity. 
A MONKEY STORY. 
BY N. S. EMERSON, 
A BOY from Venezuela, In South America, had 
come to the old farm-house to see Chakue and 
Howard and Fred, Ills name was Nicholas 
Quevedor. They had lots of tun together, four 
merry, light-hearted boys, and all the sports were 
new to the young South American, who spoke 
Spanish very fast and fluently, but stumbled over 
his English In a queer, amusing way that, made 
the Yankee boys laugh, in spite of themselves. 
I wish l oould write fur you the pretty Spanish 
accent and broken, mispronounced words that he 
used. But one rainy day, when they had ran¬ 
sacked the house and found nothing new, How¬ 
ard suddenly said: 
“ By .Jingo, we have forgotten all this time to 
Introduce Nick to Jocko.” 
“ That 1b so I" said Chakue and Fred, both in 
one breath. " Lot’s go down to the store for him 
now, and make them acquainted.” 
“ Who Is Jocko ?” asked Nicholas. 
The other boys laughed gaily, and said, “ You 
will soon see who he Is.” 
So they all went to the grocery' store together, 
and when Nick saw Jocko he gave a little cry of 
Joy, and said, “ Oh, you splendid old monkey, I 
have not seen such a friendly-looking face since 1 
left home.” 
“Do you have monkeys at your home?” asked 
the boys. 
“ Well, l should think so j" was the eager reply. 
“We have swarms of them —whole droves of 
them—that go scouring over the country; and 
the way they steal corn—oh you should see them. 
They come out of the thicket—the wood—and 
they put two or three big, sharp-voiced lellowa on 
guard In the high trees; then the whole troop 
come along, silent and swift, toward the corn¬ 
field, over walls and fences, over hedges and 
ditches. Sometimes, when a ditch Is wide and 
the little ones cannot Jump It, two old apea stand 
on the opposite sides, facing each other, and, sud¬ 
denly falling forward, throw their long arms over 
each other’s shoulders, and so form a bridge over 
which the little, trembling things scamper swift¬ 
ly, but cautiously. 
“ You have all heard, or course, how the mon¬ 
keys make a bridge over a river ? No ? Well, It 
is very eunnlug and funny in them—or I mean It 
Is very wise a nd strange. But this Is the way 
they manage It, They find a pluee where the 
stream Is narrow, the banks high, and trees grow¬ 
ing on both sides. Then one monkey goes out on 
a branch of a tree that grows out over the water, 
laps his tall tight around the branch, and drops 
down. Another monkey goes out there, folds his 
tall around the first one’s body and drops down 
still lower, while the first monkey puts Uls arms, 
with a strong grip, around the second monkey’s 
waist.. Another and another do the same way, 
until the twisted rope ot monkeys reaches so far 
down that the lowest one can touch the ground 
with the tips of his Ungers. Then he runs along 
a little way on his hands, holds up his arms and 
swings back, runs along again, and swings further 
back, and so keeps swinging to and fro until he 
reaches the trunk of the tree on the opposite 
shore. Then up he goes, fastens himself securely 
to a branch, the monkey rope hangs down In a 
long loop over the water, and the bridge is made. 
Then over go the monkeys, cautiously but very 
quickly, for they know how it makes the slender 
arms ache to build a bridge. The mother mon¬ 
keys take the little ones on their backs, and some¬ 
times a gray old grandslre goes pulling a trem¬ 
bling, half-grown youngster along by the hand, 
hitting him a smart rap on the head If he stops 
or comes near tailing from fright. 
“ When they are all over, the monkey who first 
started the bridge drops down, swings lilmself 
across, and the bridge breaks up. Then they set 
sentinels in the tallest trees to watch if any big 
monkeys wearing strange harness and carrying 
‘ ban S sticks ’(I suppose that Is what they call men 
with guns) come out to molest, them. The senti¬ 
nels are usually well-grown young monkeys, with 
quick eyes and sharp, loud voices. The troop ot 
monkeys goes on, swiftly and silently, to the 
corn-field. Here they gnaw or bite the stalks of 
| corn until they fall down, because they cannot 
reach the ears when the stalks are standing. 
Then they break off the ears, and strip off more 
: than half tho husks, so as to make them as light 
as possible to carry- 
“Next they turn back the remaining husks, 
and by some swift,, queer motions with their slen¬ 
der little fingers, they twist the ends of the husks 
about each other and make a sort of braided knot, 
that holds two ears of corn together so that they 
can hang them around their necks. You would 
hardly believe It, but 1 have seen an old mother 
monkey fasten as many as six or eight ears onto 
her young one, and then make the little creature 
cling around her neck, and off she trots with long, 
sweeping strides. You Hge the reason they do not 
take the corn in their hands Is because they must 
have hands and feet to climb with. A good big 
flock of them will clear a corn-field In about ten 
minutes, without a breath of noise,—none of that 
chattering and yelling and laughing that you hear 
when they are In their own homes, and out of 
danger.” 
“ And what, do the sentinels up In the trees do, 
If any one Is likely to disturb tho monkeys?" 
asked Howard. 
“ Oh, they give a cry," said Nicholas, “a shrill, 
sharp cry, that every monkey In monkey-land 
knows as soon as he hears It. Then the flock 
scatters, Just like a heap of brown leaves that the 
wind blows over. They go In as many different 
ways as there are different, monkeys. only the 
mothers always take their babies along with 
them. But if any danger or trouble comes to 
them and the sentinels do not give the warning 
cry,—If a man gets a shot at one, or lilts one with 
a club,—then all the others go for the sentinels, 
and beat them nearly to death. But I did not tell 
you how wc catch them sometimes with the Tor- 
Lumas ?" 
“No! what Is a Tortumas?” 
“ It Is a kind of fruit with a hard shell, and I ex¬ 
pect the name comes from 1 Tortugas,’ a Tortoise, 
because of the shell.” 
“ But how do you catch the monkeys ?” 
“ Well, first.-’’ 
“There comes Uncle Fred.” 
“ And the now velocipede.” 
“That’s so, by Jolly!” 
And away the boys rushed, forgetting all about 
tbe monkeys until another day. 
--- 
A PUNCTUATION PUZZLE. 
jfii'B following article forcibly illustrates the 
necessity of punctuation, ft can bo read In two 
ways, making It n very bad or good man, the re¬ 
sult depending upon the manner In which It is 
punctuated. It Is well worthy the study of 
teacher and pupils: 
He Is an old and experienced man lnvlcoand 
wickedness he Is never found in opposing the 
works of Iniquity be takcsdellght In the downfall 
of his neighbors he never rejoices In the prosper¬ 
ity of any or Ills fellow creatures he is always 
ready to assist In destroying the peace of society 
ho takes no pleasure In serving the Lord he Is un¬ 
commonly diligent in sowing discord among his 
friends aud acquaintances ho fakes no pride in 
laboring to promote the cause of Christianity he 
has uot been negligent In endeavoring to stigma¬ 
tize all public toughers he makes no effort to sub¬ 
due UlB evil passions he strives liard to build up 
Satan’s kingdom bn lends no aid to the support 
of the gospel among the heathen he contributes 
largely to t he evil adversary he pays great heed 
to the devil he will never go to heaven he must 
go where he will receive the Just recompense of 
reward. 
-♦♦♦ — - 
LETTERS FROM BOYS AND GIRLS. 
Look Out Boys 1 
Dear Cousins :—l see you are at home to-day, 
so If you haven't any objections, 1 am coming In 
to have a little chat with you. First on the pro¬ 
gramme Is this Slayekofconckit .trying to take 
the conceit out of every one but. himself. I think 
if he would take a caretol survey of lilmself (not 
In a mirror lor very likely he does that without 
being told), he would work rather more lively at 
home, before going out to offer ills Uineand labor 
to his cousins. You speak, sir, of “ n ogs and a 
mud-puddle.” A puddle there may be (though 
not of mud) but as to tho frogs l think you are the : 
only one that, has been seen since the friends you : 
spoke of jumped out, so If you don’t find yourself 
comfortable In the society of ladles and gentle- ■ 
men, you can follow your friend’s example and 
Jump out too. 1 
W. T. wants the hoys to “ Muster up and give i 
It to us good.” Well, girls, we have seen these j 
courageous young men m uster for a battle before, J 
and as their words generally come in one ear and ] 
go out of the other, I think we have nothing to 
fear, although they have a new leader. He calls 1 
tor muster now, but I think the call will be 
changed to one for camphor before he gets 1 
through. Come boy, now muster, we are ready 
and waiting.— A dele W. 
Early and Late Industry. 
Dear Rural:—1 like to read letters from the 
Boys and Girls In the Rural. 1 go to school and 
study Ray's Third Part In Arithmetic, McGuffy’s 
Fourth Reader, spelling and Geography. 1 live 
on a farm about ten miles north of Elmwood. I 
expect I will not go to school much next summer. 
My chores In the morning are feeding five calves 
oats, and six horses corn, getting wood in the 
house to burn through the day, and preparing 
klndllng3 tor the fire the next morning. My tem¬ 
per Is a little •• riled" when the women burn my 
kindlings through the day. My chores In the even¬ 
ing are feeding five calves and six horses, helping 
to tie up the cows, getting wood, and sometimes T 
gather the eggs, but most always I forget them. 
I have a wagon that my older brother made for 
| me, on which I haul wood when mere ts no snow 
on the ground. 1 use my sled when there Is snow. 
—Charles W. 
Clad to Cet the Rural. 
Dear Editor :—T have once before written to 
the Rural, and as you published my letter, I 
thought. 1 would write again. We did uot take 
the Rural last year, hut,you maybe sure that 
we were glad to have It come back to us, as 
brother and I so much enjoyed reading It,, es¬ 
pecially the girls’ and boys’ lett ers, I was very 
much Interested In the letter written by Vkb. t 
sbould like to have seen that Swedish school- 
house. 1 think that Score Bov does pretty well. 
I am eleven years old aud larger than brother 
Eddie, who Is older than I arn, but do not quite 
come up In Rlze with Lillian. 1 am 4 feet lox 
Inches In bight, and weigh lOti pounds. I attend 
school, and think very much of my teacher. Ed¬ 
die and I have tapped a few maple-trees and 
have made several quarts of maple-sirup.—J er¬ 
ry T. 
f uglfr. 
GEOGRAPHICAL PUZZLE. 
I was going on a journey, ro I went to prepare 
for It. First. I bought a mountain of Oregon, a 
mountain of Pennsylvania dress, and a river of 
Louisiana ribbon. I asked the island of the North 
.Sea the price. He said It wus a division or Africa. 
I started, and I saw a river of California with a 
cape of Maine, and a boy throwing a small range 
of the Alleghany Mountains at a country or Eu¬ 
rope. i went to another store and bought a moun¬ 
tain of Oregon pin, a sea of Europe sacque, a 
mountain of North America cloak, and a river of 
Mississippi-colored silk dress. I had a cape of the 
United states that. It, would bo a cape of Califor¬ 
nia, so T hurried home and packed a box of pro¬ 
visions. The box was made of a river of Minne¬ 
sota; It contained a lake of Utah, a river ot Idaho, 
a cape of Massachusetts, a river ot Montana, a 
river of Vermont, a bay of Massachusetts, an 
Island of St.. Mary’s River and a river of Michigan. 
It began to a lake of California off, so I bade rny 
friends a cape of Greenland, and taking a city of 
France wuich was In full bloom, for a friend, l 
departed. 
Answer in two weeks. l. w. 
-- 
CROSS-WORD ENIGMA. 
Mr first la In molten but, not in Are, 
My second Is in brother but not In sire; 
My third Is in bowl but not In gravy. 
My fourth Is In soldier but not In navy; 
My fifth Is In dial but not In sun, 
My sixth Is In love but not In fun. 
My whole are three cities of the United stat es. 
I*” Answer in two weeks. w. c. 
- I M 
SYNCOPATIONS. 
1. SvNcorATK a relative pronoun, and leave a 
tumor. 
2. A grain, and leave a small bit. 
3. To droop, and leave humor. 
4. Apparel that has been used, and leave sorrow. 
5. To twist round, and leave part of a canary. 
6. To stumble, and leave the very edge. 
T. A snare, and leave a light rap. 
8. Rent, and leave fashion. 
i>. A number, and leave a pronoun. 
10. An animal, aud leave a row. 
11. A prong, and leave to fasten. 
12. A pronoun, and leave part of a fork. 
13. Coloring matter, and leave a hard breath. 
14. A body of water, and leave part of a flower. 
15. A slender stick, and leave a poet. 
16. A bard, and leave a kitchen article. 
17. A sharp end, and leave a measure. 
t#~ Answer In two weeks. Dr. 
■ - - 
HISTORICAL ENIGMA. 
1 am composed of 62 letters: 
My l, s, 4,5, io, 6 a pope of Rome. 
My 8, 24,34, 33, 49, 39, 51 a Turkish emperor. 
My 9, 35, is, l, 84, 21 , 24 a Mexican rebel. 
My 14, 12 , 34, la, o, l mother of Constantine. 
My 38, 20 , 42, 6 a Dutch admiral. 
My 27, 34, 48, 2, 22. 10 a queen of Carthage. 
My 25,17, io, 7,29 au English navigator. 
Aly 31, -47, 37, si the English governor of Maryland. 
My ll, 39, 34. 46, 51, 23 son ot Gratlan. 
My so, io, 34, 41, 43, 52, 50 a French general under 
Henry VIII. 
My 28,24,49,15,19,44 a lord chancellor of England 
In 1652. 
My 32, io, 36, 36, 34, 20, 45 the lieutenant-governor 
of Java In 1811. 
Mi' whole shows that each sweet must have Its 
bitter. 
»!T Answer in two weeks. Md. 
->♦> 
DOUBLE ACROSTIC. 
1. Two hundred. 2 . Adorned. 3. To undo. 4 . 
Lump of metal. 5. A man’s name. 6. A mechan¬ 
ical power. 7. Two. 8. To ruin. 9. A number. 
Initials, a Bible man: finals, his office. 
tzr Answer In two weeks- Port Crane. 
■ ■ ’ » — ■ — 
PUZZLER ANSWERS.-May 12. 
Classical Enigma.— Prosperity wraps talents in a 
napkin, but adversity shakes them out. 
THE ANGEL’S VISIT. 
BY MRS. EVA EDGEBTON. 
A little child lay down one night 
In her white-curtained bed; 
She saw through window twinkling stars, 
She saw the moonlight’s silvery bars, 
And wondered, in her little head, 
What made it all so bright. 
" If I but had a ruamma now," 
She whispered to herself, 
“ Like Flossie Rat, she’d tell me all. 
The meaning of the robin’s call. 
And much besides,” says little elf. 
As slumber smooths her brow. 
An angel robed iu glistening white 
Tfcr dreams brought from tho sky; 
The lovely angel dropped a tear 
And breathed, " Be not impatient, dear! 
Moet plain will bn the reason why, 
In distant realms of light." 
The angel left a radiance soft.. 
And music ftlied the air; 
The waking child “ Oh, mamma!” cries, 
’’ Take me with you tip to the skies !” 
But echo only heard the prayer, 
As spirit soared aloft. 
DEMAND VIRTUE FOR VIRTUE. 
Girls, listen to this, and with virtuous resolve 
demand, as your right, a pure love: 
Young men of bad habits and fast, tendencies 
never like to marry a girl of their own sort, but 
demand a wife above suspicion. So, pure,' sweet 
women, kept from the touch of evil through girl¬ 
hood, give themselves, with all their costly dower 
or womanhood, Into the keeping of men who, in 
base association, have learned to undervalue all 
that belongs to them, and then find no repentance 
In thB sad arter years! 
There is but one way out of this, and that Is for 
you to require In associations and marriages, pur¬ 
ity for purity, sobriety for sobriety, honor for 
honor. 
There is no reason why the young men of this 
land could not be just as virtuous as its young 
women, and. if the loss of your society is the price 
they are forced to pay for vice, they will not pay 
It* 
This is plain, sensible talk, and Just such as 
ought to be heeded by all our boys aud girls, till 
the much-needed reformation Is fully established. 
Too much of the happiness or misery of our chil¬ 
dren depends on this for it to pass without pro¬ 
ducing deep reflection and action In the matter In 
the right direction. 
--- 
BESETTING SINS. 
The restraints of divine grace are frequently 
rendered Ineffectual by the Indulgence of some 
besetting slu. It Is the sad experience of many 
of the people of God that some habit, which has 
grown upon them until it has become a tyranny, 
clings to them in their most sacred acts and exer¬ 
cises, and renders inoperative all r.he sacred 
means of grace. This besetting sin robs them of 
the eye of their faith, and, no longer able to dis¬ 
cern the hedge with which their path is provided 
for their restraint, they are speedily going astray. 
Dearer to them than light and peace Is this 
bosom slu, be It what it may; and like a plague- 
spot It. taints their spiritual life. Oh, who lias 
not felt the terrible power ot a besetting sin! 
Who has not groped ills way In darkness, while 
cllnglDg to the cherished evil with an Infatuation 
scarcely less than madness! Its desolating Influ¬ 
ence upon tho soul cannot be described. It 
withers all the precious blossoms of piety that 
would otherwise bloom In loveliness and frag¬ 
rance. It breaks down all the barriers which 
grace bad raised. How truly slugs that quaint 
poet, but fervent saint, good George Herbert, of 
the inefficiency of pious restraints when opposed 
to the force of besetting sin: 
"Lord ! with what care hast thou begirt us round 1 
Parents first season us: then schoolmasters 
Deliver us to tho laws; they send us bound 
To rules of reason, holy messengers, 
Pulpits aud Sundays, sorrow dogging- sin; 
Afflictions sorted • auu uisti of all sizes; 
Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in: 
Bibles laid open; millions of surprizes; 
Blessings beforehand; ties of gratefulness; 
The sound of glory ringing iu our ears; 
Without, our shame: eternal hopes and fears; 
Yet all these f&nceB, and their whole array— 
One cunning bOBOtn sin blows quite away!” 
-- 
“They feared not the Lord, therefore the Lord 
sent lions among them.”—2 Kings, 17th chapter, 
24th verse. 
is not the Lord as able to send vermin to de¬ 
stroy our crops, as He sent wild beasts because 
they feared Him not ? What we understand by 
fearing tbe Lord Is to keep Hts commandments 
and to fear to do evil. If we profane God’s name 
and violate bis Sabbath, etc., need we not fear 
tbe displeasure of the Lord to come upon us? 
God Is the same now and forever, visiting the 
wicked with judgments as of old. The remedy is 
simple, it is reform. Read Leviticus, 26th chap¬ 
ter, 23d and 24tU verses; also, the corses for evil 
doing.— G. Taplin. 
•- 4 4 » 
Give your heart to your Creator; pay due rev¬ 
erence to your superiors; honor your parents; 
give your bosom to your friend; be diligent in 
your calling, let your condition of life be what It 
will, give an attentive ear to good advice, and 
be liberal to the poor. 
