DEC. 4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
359 
faitus' portfolio. 
CONDUCTED BY MISS FAITH RIPLEY. 
A PROTEST. 
In about half of the letters I re¬ 
ceive, I am addressed as “ Dear Sir.” 
I beg to state, most emphatically, 
that by nature, education, and Incli¬ 
nation, I urn a woman, and that 1 hav ■ 
insuperable objections to being classed 
among the “men folk.” 
Faith Ripley. 
Mrs. A. S. B.—I will purchase a 
muff If you wish to have^me. Let me 
know the kind of quality of fur, also 
the price you are willing to pay. I 
cun get you a very pretty lynx muff 
for $5. 
Miss w mm—Fur tor lining circulars 
and sacques is sold in plates—It takes 
about 2X plates for a wrap, and costs 
$10 to $35 per plate according to kind 
of fur. 
8ali.ik B.—Pour boiling water on a 
small quantity of oatmeal (Say two or 
three table-spoonfuls), and allow it to 
stand until water Is nearly cool; use 
this Instead of soap Tor your face. It 
whitens and softens the sklu beside 
cleansing it quite as effectually as 
soap, and without producing the least 
rrltatlon. 
DECEMBER. 
air for the use of the members; wore It on to New 
York, across to Liverpool and up to London; Intro¬ 
duced It to t he bloody beauties of the Pore Gallery, 
and other things too tedious to mention; gave It 
over two weeks of airing In London fog, then wore 
It to Dover; gave It special opportunity for en¬ 
joying its passage across to Calais; showed It Co¬ 
logne. tho Cathedral, and the Chapel of St. Ursula; 
the river Rhine and the coal barges which make it 
picturesque; wore It to Lelpslc and most of tho 
six months 1 stayed there, simply alternating It, 
with a flannel wrapper and putting on a summer 
dress occasionally, out of respect to the Lelpslc 
opinion that the weather was warm. 
Late In August, old Kaiser William came to 
Leipzig with his Crown Prince, Von Multke, and 
other folks of that kind; and the King and Queen 
ol Saxony, with their Crown Prince and Princess, 
and ever so many people, with long handles to 
their names, came to meet them. It. seemed high¬ 
ly probable the good old Emperor had come up on 
purpose to see me, for he had not been there 
since he was a boy. I must needs afford him 
the opportunity of forming a favorable opinion of 
American costumes, and so pul on my dress to 
welcome him! Now the soil of Saxony la as yel¬ 
low as the hair of her children, and as adhesive 
as a porous plaster, and when stirred up, after a 
long drought, by forty thousand soldiers and t wice 
as many civilians, It showed a great power of dis¬ 
tribution. Then the Americanism of that dress 
asserted Itself, and forthwith it set about gather¬ 
ing mementoes of the occasion. 
Such an amount of Saxon clay as It did collect, 
and the tenacity with which It. held fust to lr.s real 
estate I Well, September brought, the time to 
come home, and I wus not going to bring a Ger¬ 
man farm to this country, so the only’ way was to 
rip up that, dress, once more, and give It another 
washing. This I gave It, then wore It back to 
London, showed It. Westminster, tho Parliament 
liousc, SydenUam, SrtnuntON, the Tower, Srnlth- 
lleld, and other places In which thpro are ample 
opportunities for culture; got to Philadelphia in 
time to give It the advantage of seeing tho Cen¬ 
tennial; wore It, pretty much all last winter In 
Pittsburgh, Washington and railroad cars; and, 
last March, brought It to Swiss vale, where It has 
seen a new phase of life, while I was having an 
old, log house screwed up; a story built under It; 
old oliUnueya and plaster pulled down; old floors 
and roofs taken out and off and replaced by new; 
swamps drained or filled up; watercourses chang¬ 
ed ; barn auJ fences built; orchard planted; crops 
put In; garden made, and other things of that Ilk; 
through which this dress and my flannel wrapper 
went, going up and down a ladder to gn to bed 
and to oversee workmen; seeing the lusldo as 
well as tho outside of life, and having more and 
better opportunities for coming into contact with 
heaps of brick and stone and lumber; oak logs, 
old shingles, sash, flooring hoards; far, Ume, 
sand, oil, paint, putty and soot, than over before 
a dress was favored with. When It was all over, 
that dross was like the sick girl In Scripture, who 
had had the oare of many physicians, and was 
'• nothing the better, but rather grew worse.” 
I was disgusted with It, and l had half a mind to 
give it, with my blessing, to soma worthy appli¬ 
cant for charity, when one day my conscience 
pricked me, and I concluded to give It one more 
chance. A boy had put on a washboller with 
some rain water and potash to clean the oil off a 
floor, then went off and forgot; and thinks 1 to 
myself now or never Is tho time to clean that 
dress; but. there shell be no more ripping. So I 
put It, linings and all, Into a tub, with plenty of 
the hot. water and lyo; took soft soap, and, with 
a washboard, gave that dress such a cleaning as 
It. had never yet had, rinsed It In alum water and 
hung It on the fence In a good, hot sun. Well, 
would anyone believe It. ATter that dress was dry 
It. was all clouded and blue, and I was In despair: 
but presently I bethought me, made a pot, of 
strong coffee spread the dress on a table, and 
with a piece of black muslin, gave It. a thorough 
sponging; but.uow It doca^not begin to look as 
well as It did six years ago. True It la quite a re¬ 
spectable dress, though 1 should not wear It for 
any groat, occasion. 1 conclude that, all this talk 
about American silks constantly Improving, Is a 
mere advertising dodge. No oue could do more 
for one than 1 have done for that dress of 
mine, and It has not Improved In the least. So 
there! 
-- 
A FORENOON AT THE FURRIERS. 
It looks at present, writing, as though tho 
beasts of the Acids would have to go without any 
overcoats this winter, for the windows or our 
fashionable stores show that, every fur-hearing 
animal (save only tho divinity of the hearth-stone 
—Miss Puss,) has beou skluued to maku luxurious 
and comfortable coverings for the human family. 
Not even tho dear little seal, he of the lovely 
brown eyes, has been spared. In fact, he has 
been the greatest sufferer, for seal-sklu wraps 
are more popular than ever, and to supply the 
demand, there Is, of course, a grout slaughter of 
these Innocents, 
1 was tempted, In this connection, to add some¬ 
thing poetical about “ the light being quenched 
In hundreds of bright eyes,” but remembering 
this article la a matter of busluess and not of 
sentiment, 1 refrained. 
Let me cake you this bright morning for a saun¬ 
ter through the store of O. G. Gunther’s Sons, 1S4 
Fifth Avenue, whoro a sight of tho latest and 
best In furs Is to be had. Of course, our first In¬ 
quiry Is for seal-skin, and the sight, of a beauti¬ 
ful Alaska seal sacque takes captive our feminine 
souls. But when the gentlemanly clerk displays 
dolmans, and paletots, and reaching nearly to tho 
trimming on tho dress, and tlnally produces an 
exquisite Shetland seal-skin sacque, we cease to 
ejaculate. No adjectives could do Justice to tho 
subject.. On inquiry, wc learu that, these gar¬ 
ments range In price from $!)» to $300. Prices vary¬ 
ing according to length or garment, quality, and 
amount of trimming. 
Thoso whose means do not admit of so heavy 
an investment In seat-skin there still remain the 
boa and muff at, from $s to $30 eaoh. Next to this 
prime ravorlte, there are Russian sable, and Hud¬ 
son Bay sable to be. seen. Prices lor theso In boa 
and muff—from $70 to $coo. Next, wo look at, the 
old-time favorite mink. Who of us does not re¬ 
member the delight of that Christmas morning 
which found us, for the first time, tho possessor 
of a [mink set7 They come la sets as low us $io, 
but, for about $35 a very handsome set cau ho 
bought; and an expenditure of $<W will secure a 
set so elegant that t he average woman would be 
overjoyed at the mere sight of It. in fancy rurs, 
the rox family Is largely represented. They are 
classified as black, sliver and blue rnx ; they are 
used for trimming as well as In seta, and are very 
beautiful. Chinchilla Is, however, tho favorite 
among fancy furs. It’B lovely shaded gray makes 
It a charming trimming for velvet suits, it Is 
mostly woru by young ladles, but not a few older 
ones have forsaken the Bober brown tinted furs 
for a season, and Invested In the dainty chin¬ 
chilla. The prices are governed by tho kind and 
quality. They Hell at $30 to $05, the muff selling 
at one-third less than me boa. 
Those wUose means will not permit 
them to Indulge in expensive furs can 
purchase good quality of black marten 
or Alaska sable for from $1« to $21 per 
set. Tho Brazilian lynx—same prices, 
and handsome muffs ot black lynx are 
$5.00 to $8.00. Fur trimmings aro very 
extensively used, chinchilla, silver fox, 
gray fox, sea-otter, stono marten, Rus¬ 
sian sable, black marten, aro the 
ravorltes. Prides vary from 75 cents 
to $»> per yard. In Childrens’ rurs, 
sealskin sacques, at $80 to $75, muffs 
to correspond, $0 to $12, boas from $3 
to $12, ermine chinchilla, and coney- 
Bkln are popular for little folks. Gray 
squirrel muffs come at $3 00 . There 
are also warm sacques for children 
madQ In this fur; they cost from $25 
to $40. 
Before leaving we will Just take a 
look at the carriage and sleigh robes, 
—buffalo robes, white polar bear, 
beaver, tox, lynx, genet, prairie wolf, 
and Japan goat, a large number of them 
furnished with beads of polar bear 
genet and wildcat—there’8 an assort^ 
went for you! And then the mats, 
no pen-sketch can convey any Idea of 
their beauty. Just. Imagine one of 
dfier-skin llulshed with border of An¬ 
gora goat-balr and lull-sized head of 
the animal, ton sorry that only one 
pair of eyes was gladdened with tho 
sight of all those beautiful things. I 
should have enjoyed escorting some 
or all of the Rural ladles on my tour 
of inspection this morning. f. r. 
- 4 - 
OUR GOLDEN WEDDING. 
BY CLAXJBE FLORANCE. 
I. 
" I’ve brought you a flower," a merry maid said. 
As she plucked out the rose tliat she wore in her hair; 
" You must ureas it to keep till the irulf of the past 
Shall sparkle its waves o'er the love that you swear. 
And perchance when you open tho pajro of the book 
Where this timid yountr flower shall withering lay, 
When the innocent blush from its cheeks shall have 
fled 
And its once gentle perfume been wafted away: 
It may bring back the thought of a too trustinR heart. 
Who had painted her love on the sands of the shore, 
And tho tide had crept in, and the tide had crept out, 
And the sands were still there, but tho picture—no 
more," 
n. 
This was fifty years post., Tho dancing Is o’er, 
And the reveliug (meats are all weary and yono. 
The lights were all dimmed in the old festal hall. 
And over the yrute wc were nittimr alone. 
Fifty years past, and to-night as we eat, 
Her soft dimpled hands in mine own lay at rest, 
Aud her bright hazel eyes thro' the tresses of white 
Were peeping at me, like a bird from its uest; 
And there wo wore reading that good, holy book, 
And wearily turning from page unto page, 
Aud each look’d to each aw I bent down the leaf 
Where this flower was hiding, all wither’d from age. 
in. 
And maybe the glow did not steal o’er her cheek, 
And maybe a tear did not creep from mine eye, 
And maybe the words that we spoke wore not sweet 
As I clasp'd her frail form to my bosom so nigh 
That heart unto heart could in unison beat. 
As wc fondled the flower that withering lay. 
Aud maybe no memories crowded around 
As wo folded tho volume and laid It away, 
For many aud many a idol tire we've traced 
On the sands of the share in onr hope and despair, 
And the tide has crept in and the tide has crept out— 
The pictures have fled, but the sands are still there. 
-» ♦ » -- 
THAT DRESS OF MINE, 
BY JANK GREY 6WISSHKLM. 
There Is much ado about this age of improve¬ 
ment, but It Is my opinion that the 
things which most concern mo do not 
always improve. For Instance, hero Is 
this dress which, after six yearn of 
such opportunities as seldom, if ever, 
were accorded to a dress. Is no hotter 
than the day on which its education 
began. Nay, It seems to me It has been 
going backward, deteriorating Instead 
of improving. 
I bought It—or rather the stuff of 
which It Is made—from Field & Lkitbk, 
down State street, In the old stable In 
which they took refuge after the great 
Chicago tire; bought It In November, 
1871; chose tho Chknky Brothers' 
brand of silk, because It. was said that 
this was always Improving! Alas for 
the Improvement t 
I made It. up immediately, and Its 
opportunities began. Made It long 
for tno platform, with strings to tie 
It up for traveling. I wore It that 
winter aud the next, In season and out, 
sometimes for two months straight 
along, Introduced It to more folks than 
ever dreHs of mine saw before or since, 
and won for It no end of compliments* 
It was treated with great considera¬ 
tion ; and yet the fact became appar¬ 
ent, in tho fall of '73, that that dress 
was soiled. 
I ripped It up, laid It, breadth by 
breadth, in strong ammonia water; 
washed It well with a sponge, then 
rinsed It In t he water, being careful to 
make no creases, and hung It up. 
When dry, It seemed all right. I made 
it up, but It soon became shiny, for I 
had neglected to put alum In the rinse, 
and so 1 sponged It with beer. 
That winter 1 gave It an eight weeks* 
visit to Philadelphia, New York and 
Pittsburgh, with opportunities of Im¬ 
provement that should have stimulat¬ 
ed It to exertion. The next winter I 
wore It In the West, a greater portion 
of the time; and, In April following, 
carried It out of our mountain homo 
when this was all ablaze and most 
things burned In It. Then I wore It 
out to Northern Minnesota and back 
to Pittsburgh; wore It for a street 
dress that summer and next winter, 
and In the spring of '78 concluded to 
go to Europe; but what was my sur¬ 
prise and Indignation on being told 
that my dress was “ not fit to be Been l ” 
that It was stained and brown, and be¬ 
ginning to fray around the pockets! 
That good-for-nothing dress—and after 
all 1 had done tor Itl 
Well, l ripped it up once more, gave 
It another washing tu ammonia water, 
and still did not think to rinse It In 
alum water; made It up; put patches 
around the pockets and made believe 
they were trimmings; wore it to Wash¬ 
ington, showed it the sights in the 
eapllol, from the Senate chamber gal¬ 
lery to the sewers which supply the 
House of Representatives with fresh 
e 
