OflAL ISEW-VOBKEB. 
DEC. S2 
®|f djumsl. 
A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 
BY MART ITOWITT. 
Of all the days throughout tlie year, 
The gladdest flay and beet, 
(;omes fn the heart of winter, 
When nature ie at rest. 
Wien tho days are at the shortest. 
And the nixht.M are dark and long’. 
And only of the singingbirda 
The robin pij'Cs his song. 
When not u flower is on the hill, 
Nor a green leaf on the tree. 
And only the holly and try 
Are beautiful to see. 
Then cometh the best day of the year. 
The lileModcst day of all, 
Wien Jesus Christ, tho Saviour, 
Whs born in the oxen's stall. 
Not amidst gold and purple, 
In pomp nml wordly pride. 
With chancellors and archbishops, 
Aud ladies on every side ; 
But all amongst the oxen, 
Those plodding and patient things. 
Was born in the depth of winter, 
Tho King of earthly kings. 
And the aiwplo country sheperds. 
Keeping their flocks by night, 
Beheld the glory of heaven 
Shining round in golden light. 
And a grand, majestic angel 
That spake Jike music clear. 
Of the Joy fullest glad tidings 
That earth or heaven could boar— 
Of tho Christ, the promised Saviour. 
Who on that blessed morn, 
In the city ol great King David, 
Of huiublo folk wins born. 
Then chorusing ic-n thousands 
Their songs of praise began, 
Glory to God. In the highest. 
Peace and good will to man ! 
And down the. stream of. ages 
lias flowed, without surcease, 
In ever-increasing fulness. 
As human wants increase, 
This great, good gift ol blessing. 
Tins Joy from heaven above; 
A river whose measureless fountain 
Is God's eternal Love! 
GOLDEN MAXIMS. 
Deo. 22 . Every passing moment Is furnishing- 
the records of heaven, and filling up the pages of 
our history with good or evil, ftgahast the (lay of 
Judgment.—BurM (/. 
Dec. 23. God brings us Into straits that he may 
bring us on our knees. Urgent trials should 
awaken fervent prayers.— Brotrn. 
Dbc. 24. A man may go to heaven without 
health, without riches, without honors, without 
learning, without friends; bus lie never can get 
there without Christ.— Di/er. 
Deo. 25. Let us present to Jesus the “ myrrh” 
ot repentance, tho “ franlrlhoonBO” of faith, and 
the “ gold” of our supremu love.— Jabez Burns. 
Dec, 2 S. lie that waits Tor an opportunity to do 
much at once, may breathe out hla life In bile 
wishes, and regret, lnlthe last hour, his usless to' 
tentions and barren zeal. 
Deo. 27. Be much with God, and your face will 
shine : let all men see the new creation.—JSrawi- 
well. 
Dec. 2 S. it fs the host of all blessings to die 
well, and get safely home to heaven.— D. Sumer. 
A Poor Cnit.n op Gov Comported with the 
Hopes of Heaven.—I t whs a comfortable speech 
which the emperor used to Oalba to his childhood 
and minority, when he Took him by the chin, and 
said, " Thou, Galba, shall oao day sil upon a 
throne.” 
Thus it cheeretut.be salats of God, how little, 
how mean soever to t he eyes of the world, that 
they shall one day reign with Christ, and be in¬ 
stalled wjth;ntm, mid receive, as It were, n seat 
In the choir, and a volco in the chapter or that 
blessed temple which Is above, whilst the whole 
world shall cry with those, » the Lord and Ills 
Christ hath grit, the victory, the Lord and His 
saints do reign forever more.” 
——--»*-■» — -- 
Pair SEPonoHRBs ank Dead cobpses.—asUmso 
that build fair sepulchers for their dead corpees, 
whereas it- should be a warning to them that they 1 
must, die, and thereupon cause them to reject ail 
ambition, pride, aud vanity, yet thereof they take 
occasion to vaunt and boast: so likewise, whereas 
our garments should be a Continual memory of 
sin, to humble us, yet wo, as 11 we should, even 
spite God, do procure sumptuous and gorgeous 
apparel, to testify our ambition aud pride. 
nroH-MWDEi) Men.—A s the hawk is then lost 
when, trusting to her wings, she rlseth and 
inounteth too high: even so do vain and proud 
men then fall from Cod when, with their own wit, 
reason, and wisdom only, they will understand 
the deep mysteries ot God; a9 though thie coun¬ 
sels and wisdom of God’s eternal majestw might 
and could he comprehended with the rca: »n and 
wit of man. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Brittle Hoofs In Horses. 
Name lost. —My horao’a hoofs are brittle and 
pieces chip off now and then. Will the Rural 
please tell tho cause and remedy ? 
Ans.—A brittle condition of a horse's hoofs 
is duo to tho same cause aH sand or quarter 
crook ; either to rasping the walls of the hoof 
and otherwise mutilating tho foot in shooing; a 
habit some horses have of standing unevenly on 
their foro-feet, thereby causing tho hoof to 
crack by undue pressure on one side; straining 
under heavy loads ; digging the point of the too 
into tho ground or stamping it on hard pave 
mont; contraction of the parts from narrow- 
heeled shoes; disease drying up the natural 
moisture; hereditary tendency, marked by short 
and upright pasterns, with chubby, prominent 
hoof’s; or any work or treatment that tends to 
lesson tho natural amount of moisture in the 
hoof. 
With a brush rub well into the hoof, two or 
three times ft week, equal parts of tar and cod- 
liver oil or any fish oil. In severer cases, to pre¬ 
vent or cure Band crack, cut down tho hoof back 
of the crack, bo that that part cannot come in 
contact with tho shoe; with a lilo or rasp cut 
across the end of tho crack to prevent it from 
extending; put on a bar-shoe, throwing the 
pressure entirely on tho frog; cut down the 
edges of tho crack along its whole length to the 
quick, and stimulate tho growth of that part of 
tho hoof with a good ointment, such as ono com¬ 
posed of equal portions of tar, lard, and turpen¬ 
tine ; keep the part clean and allow tho animal as 
much rest as conveniently possible until a euro 
is effected. 
To Curo Warts In Horses. 
8. Jl .—Can you. or any of your readers, toll mo, 
ttirough the Rural, what will remove the warts 
from nay hoi-BO P 
Ans. —Take arsenic, ono drachm, hog's lard, 
four drachms; mix, anrl make an ointment. 
Rub in and around the excresenoc, once a w ools, 
a Hinall portion of tho Balve. It will soon fall off. 
Another way r First pick off the rough outer 
surface, bo as to make the wart bleed, and then 
with a stiff brush, rub in some yellow orpiment, 
commonly known as King's yellow, wetted with a 
little water. This will caitRC some inflammation, 
j but in a few days the wart will drop off, leaving 
a scar that soon heals. If the whole wart does 
not como off on the first application, repeat tho 
treatment. 
; Inquirer, Hillsboro, Fa.—The company is 
trust worthy, aud tho belts have tho endorsement 
or such prominent medical men that we think 
they must be a valuable article. We have never 
seen or used one personally. 
Norris Collier, Broome Co., N. 1".—Have 
you for sale the book entitled *■ Langstrolh on 
tho Hive and Honey Bee ?" 
Ans.— We publish only tho Rural New- 
Yorker. The Orange Juno Co. publish the 
book in question. 
Communications receiver for tiie week ending 
Saturday Dec. lsth. 
R. W. II.—W, H.-E. S.—C. R. A.—Mrs. W. C. G 
—G. M.—A. F.—F. S. L.-n. II.-S. B. P.-G. S.— 
— W. It. W. — Secretary — Subscriber — J. S. 
—S. C., "A subscriber to the Rural.”— A. L. T. 
-W. D. D.—C.-B. I. K.—A. G. B.—M. B. B.-1I. L. 
J., thanks—W. J. B.—N. R.—R. C. J., thanks for 
all such information—Mrs. M. O.—S. W. M.—M. 
W. F.—C. N. O.-T. B. M.—I. T. B.—M. F. Me. C.— 
Ivy-G. W. D.—H, B. P.-F. JL B—to L. P — G. (1. 
1, 2, 3,-S. R. M.-W. J. 15—Mollle —K. IC. 8,—L. 
D.—M. B. IJ.-E. S.—Dr. G. 
Heins of ijic ®wk. 
HOME NEWS PARAGRAPHS. 
The subsidy projects before Congress aggregate 
$035,000,000. 
“ He swore like a savings bank depositor,” says 
a Chicago newspaper. 
Winter begins Dec. 21, 1677, at 11.43 A. JL, and 
la3ts 59 (lays, 0 hours and 52 minutes. 
Spring begins March 20,1S78, at 0.34 P. M., and 
lasts 02 days, 20 hours and 21 minutes. 
Summer begins June *1,1878, at 3.58 A. M., and 
lasts 03 clays, u hours and 23 minutes. 
Autumn begins Sept. 22 , 1873, at ll.is P. M., 
and lasts so day8, is hours and 15 minutes. 
Vermont has 215,700 cows, valued at $5,255,300, 
calling the average value of each cow $ 20 . 
Seventy thousand hop poles from CanacXa have 
been shipped over the Utica and Black River 
railroad. 
The Governor of California to his message rec¬ 
ommends legislation to prevent Chinese Immigra¬ 
tion to the United States. 
The pay roll of the city officials of Galveston 
amounts to $80,265 per annum. The mayor re¬ 
ceives $3 ,000 of the amount.. 
At the plow trials or the Worcester (Mass.; 
South Agricultural Society hereafter, all com¬ 
petitors must use swivel plows. 
Forty San Francisco men have fortunes exceed¬ 
ing lour millions of dollars each. Forty others 
have from one to three mtllions apiece. 
Tho agricultural products of New York, this 
year, are valued at $135,625,200. The principal 
crop, Indian corn, produced 21,000,000 bushels. 
The grand total of grain of all kinds olloat In 
barges and canal boats, and In warehouses In 
New York, on Dec. 11th. was 7LOTS,996 bushels. 
Commissioner Le Due has reported favorably 
on the Texas bat guano, varying to value from 
$15 to $10 per ton. Large quantities can be ob¬ 
tained. 
Secret ary of Wax JIcCrary, to bia annual report, 
favors feeding all the Indians, now furnished ra¬ 
tions by tho Government, entirely through the 
War Department. 
The Georgia election, Dec. 5th, resulted In the 
adoption of the hew Constitution and tho contin¬ 
uance ot Atlanta as the capital—the majority 
being 10,000 to 80,000 to both cases. 
Stragglers from the Sioux and Nez Pcrces have 
fraternized near the Canadian border, and arc 
supposed to bo showing each oilier new passes 
and trails, with a view to future action. 
The Georgia supreme Court has compressed an 
unusual amount of common sense to the brief de¬ 
cision that a murderer, “ to bo too drunk to 
form the intent to kin, must ba too drunk to form 
the intent to shoot.” 
Farmers in some parts of tho country are very 
properly organizing to protect themselves against 
the depredations of tramps and hunters. Many 
of the Agricultural Societies, Farmers’ Clubs and 
Granges might, do something in the same direc¬ 
tion. 
Tho population or Richmond, Yn., has doubled 
since Urn war, and her manufactories now num¬ 
ber 3C1, The sales in 1875reached the sum or $ 22 ,- 
•124,890, her wheat and corn mills producing 12,857,- 
000 , her forty-ono tobacco factories $12,03S,S00, and 
her iron works $2,032,780. 
Congressman smalls of S. v., who nas appealed 
his case, resumed his seat in tho House, Monday, 
Dec. 10, and will remain until required to appear 
In Columbia tn March, lie says he docs not ex- 
pcct protection from tho House, and proposes to 
fight his own casein the State courts. 
Goldsmith Maid was pur. up at auction in Kan¬ 
sas city recently, under an assumed name, by 
some Jokers. Tho wise horsemen examined her 
carefully, and when bidding was begun offered 
$ 30 , but no more. Tho owners bid her to and took 
her bock to the stable, enjoying the joke hugely. 
The imports at New York, for Novembor, reach¬ 
ed over twenty-three millions worth of merchan¬ 
dise, against seventeen and 0 half millions the 
previous November. The exports for tho month 
reached, exclusive of specie, thirty and one-half 
millions, against twenty-five and one-halt during 
the previous November, 
In a German paper wo note a hint given by Dr. 
Schaal, with reference to the taking of cow's milk 
by persons who have a weak stomach. He says 
he has always succeeded n avoiding any evil 
effects by eating a little salt on bread, either be¬ 
fore or after taking the milk. When ho omits to 
do this, a single glass of milk will produce diarr¬ 
hoea, whereas with salt lie can lake a whole litre, 
or somewhat over a quart 
The complete re'uruB ol the Canadian harvest, 
represents t he yield of all kinds of grain as large¬ 
ly to access ot the produce of any previous year, 
and although the harvest has been late, it has re¬ 
sulted la a very heavy crop. Thirty million bush¬ 
els of wheat, ten million bushels ot, barley, and 
forty-eight million bushels ot other kinds of 
cereals are, as nearly as can be calculated, the 
resulls or the present year. 
Tho growing of clover seed for export has as¬ 
sumed large proportions. It Is grown in every 
State to the Union. Tho States growing the larg¬ 
est, amounts are as follows:—Pennsylvania, 200 ,- 
679 bushels; Ohio, 102,155; New York, 93,887; In¬ 
diana, 61,765; Michigan, 49,918; Maryland, 35,043; 
New Jersey, 26,306; Virginia, 71,267; Illinois, 
10,468; Tennessee, 8,564; South Carolina, 5,fi$0; 
Maine, 6,255; West Virginia, 3,939; Wisconsin, 
2,906. England takes about one-half tho export 
quantity, the most of the balance going to Ger¬ 
many and Scotland. 
FOREIGN NOTES. 
The Russians took Kars to 1S2S, 1S34, 1855, aud 
now again to 1877, 
The unclaimed dividends now lying In the bank 
of England amount to $17,030,267. 
There have been fourteen fatal cases of hydro¬ 
phobia to London so far this year. The usual 
death rate is four annually. 
It is sale! t hat the Duke of Norfolk’s wedding 
day cost him a little short of Sioo.ooo gold—nearly 
a couple of mouths' Income. 
There is to be a small box attached to each 
omnibus to Paris tor the transmission of small 
parcels trorn any one omnibus station to another 
at a very smaH cost. 
Dr. Faick, the Prussian Minister of Public Wor¬ 
ship, has emphatically declined in the Diet to re¬ 
open the question of the ecclesiastical laws with 
the view to their repeal. 
A new industry Is said to be extending In Paris. 
It consists to the manufacture of a cloth, much 
lighter and warmer than wool, from the feathers 
of domestic and other birds. 
The Morning Post has authority to contradict 
to the most distinct and positive manner, asser¬ 
tions recently made, or the approaching retire¬ 
ment of Lord BeacouslJeld from office. 
Paris covers an area of thirty square miles, 
has 530 miles of streets. 62,000 houses 27 bridges, 
76 churches 7S palaces, 85 theatres, 18 hospitals, 8 
large libraries, 2600 schools and nearly 2 . 000,000 
inhabitants. 
A contagious disease, the nature of which Is at 
present a matter or speculation, has recently 
been raging at the Royal Paddocks, Hampton 
Court., near London, resulting to the death of 
three brood mares. 
Since the beglntdng of the harvest, Austria has 
exported 3,000,006 cwt. (Zollcentner) wheat, as 
great a quantity or barley, boo.ooo cwt. of flour, 
and 7,000,000 cwt.. oilseed, nigutne. &c., all to all 
for about so, 000,000 florins. 
A new scheme Is proposed for supplying London 
with water. It is to supply hi* million gallons 
dally, for domestic and other purposes, from wells 
and borings In toe country round the metropolis, 
and the cost Is estimated at. $35,000, 000 . 
The German Postmaster-General lias given di¬ 
rections for a number of telephonic stations to be 
established to the empire. Telegraph officials 
have already arrived al Berlin from the places 
selected to receive Instructions In the new serv¬ 
ice, which is vt ry simple, 
——-■*-»-*- 
VARIOUS. 
One grain of sulphate of lime will render 2,000 
grains or soft water hard. 
Kalamazoo, Mich,, Is pluming Itsolf on tho pros¬ 
pect of possessing a female lawyer. 
At the starch works at Vincennes, Ind., three 
thousand head of cattle will bo fed. 
Corn-fed cattle will soon be a new article of ex¬ 
port from Texas, some Bell County farmers are 
about to try the experiment. 
’Tls said that forty different trades are repre¬ 
sented In the building of a wooden vessel, and out 
of the total coat or construction ninety-five per 
cent, is for the labor expended upon it. 
The average annual ylold of a tea plant Is about 
twenty ounces. The plants live from twenty to 
thirty years, and when old are frequently cut 
down and a young shrub grafted Into the old 
stock. 
Of animal food, beef, mutton and venison are 
the best meals ror weak stomachs, for though 
voting meats are more tender, they are less 
digestible lhan old ones, soup und broth are not 
»>o digestible as properly dressed solid meat. 
Ono pound of corn, oats, or barley Is equal, as 
regards tho real food it furnishes, to pound 3 
mangels, 10# pounds swedes, 11 # pounds white 
turnips or to s.q pounds potatoes, 1 # pounds hay, 
s>; pounds straw, s pounds parsnips, B?* pounds 
carrots or S# pounds cabbage. 
Tho Chinese think that the Inventor of Ink was 
oue of tho greatest men that ever lived; that he 
enjoys a blessed immortality, and Is charged 
with keoplng an account of the manner to which 
all Ink Is used hero below, and for every abuse of 
It he records u black mark against the offender. 
A Belgian writer has lilt upon a most effectual 
means for preventing hares and rabbits from 
gnawing off the bai k of apple and pear trees to 
severe winters. Last November he besmeared 
1 lie trunks of the trees on two separate occasions 
with dog's dung, and the effect haa been that 
tho hares and rabbits ;have gone elsewhere for 
their food. 
Educational statistics show 260,000 teachers to 
all the various grades and classes of schools to 
the United States. The whole number of schools 
Is about 150,000 and the number of pupils who an- 
nualy attend them Is about s, 000 , 000 , The total 
school population is i5,ooo,uoo ; leaving a balance 
of c,ooo,ooo that do not. attend school at all. 
What an immense number of recruits coming on 
to swell the vast, array of Ignorance, ‘.already 
nearly 6,000,000 strong! 
Corn loses onc -11 ah by drying and wheat one- 
fourteenth. From this the estimate Is made that 
It Is more profitable lor the farmer to sell unshell- 
cd corn to the fall at 75o, than at $1 a bushel to 
the following summer, and that wheat at $1.25 in 
December U equal to $1.66 m the succeeding J une. 
In case of potatoes—taking those that rot and are 
otherwise lost. — together with the shrinkage, 
there is little doubt that net. ween October and 
June, the loss to t he owner who holds them, Is 
not less than thirty-three per cent. 
-♦♦■»-- 
The wonderful success of « Brown’s Bron¬ 
chial Troches,” to supplying a much needed 
remedy for coughs, colds and throat difficulties, 
has led to many counterfeits. Unscrupulous deal¬ 
ers have attempted to palm off worthless imita¬ 
tions by adopting tho name In pari, and Imitating 
as closely as possible tin- well-known wrapper of 
these favorite Lozenges, whose merits have won 
for them a sale well-nigh throughout the world. 
In purchasing, be careful that you have the genu¬ 
ine article, which alone lias the fac simile signa¬ 
ture of the proprietors, John I. Brown & Sons. 
. .... .. . 
Happy tidings for nervous sufferers, and those 
who have been dosed, drugged and quacked. Pul- 
verrnacher’s Electric Belts effectually cure pre¬ 
mature debility, weakness aud decay. Book and 
Journal, with information worth thousands, mail¬ 
ed free. Address Pulvekmacher Galvanic Co., 
Cincinnati, Ohio. 
