always better to have them on one’s side. Btyalve, 
l want to hear something more trom you on 
books. I like to spend my leisure moments over 
some good book. But 1 do not have much time. 
We live on a large farm and It keeps us busy to 
do the work in the bouse. We might tell each 
other about fancy-work and send patterns to the 
Rural for each other. I am making a rug now. 
I have a toilet set completed, made of perforated 
card board. Should like to have some one tell ns 
how to make paper flowers. Well, V nclk Tunc, If 
you don't throw this In that horrible waBte bas¬ 
ket 1 will try again. 1 will try ana get enough 
subscribers ir I can to secure the “Crlket,”for 
I think It would surely be a household pet. 
Bitter Swekt. 
and l missed It greatly last year. We are having 
beautiful weather uow, or did have last week; It 
was quite like summer. Jennie E. V. A. 
Ft. Howard, Wls. 
SWING, CRADLE, SWING, 
THE OLDEST CHRISTAIN HYMN 
She Encouraged Him. 
Dear Cousins WU1 you admit me Into your 
circle ? I am a constant reader of the dear old 
Rim at,. I will gladly Join "Madcap Mollle” In 
her good work. A word to " Wtldflrc Come 
again, sir, and don’t let Miss Bertha drive you 
from the Held. 1 don't think " Slayerofconcelt” 
any more conceited than the rest of us. Come 
out with your better virtues and show the fair 
Cousins that you are not half so bad as they are 
trying to make you appear! 1, for one, am not 
against yon. Bt.uk Bell. 
Elm Point, Ill. _ 
Capital Advice. 
Cousins all l have Just finished reading 
this week’s Rural and feel as though I must 
have my say again, If my former letters did not 
make such a stir as some others. 1 want to speak 
a word in favor of "Slayerofconcelt.” If you 
have read his last letter you have found that It 
was straightforward and gentlemanly, showing 
that he really meant nothing discourteous, and I 
say that he was a regular trump to write It. 
Let us write such letters as Lillie Lee's last. 
I am sure they are more instructive aud will not 
make as gossips, hut a set of Jolly, old-fashioned 
cousins. Alice V. 
Baby is a sailor boy— 
Swing, cradle swing’! 
Sailing is the sailor’s joy— 
Swing, cradle, swing! 
Snowy sails aud precious freight— 
Swill#, cradle, swing ! 
Baby’s captain, mother’s mate— 
Swing, cradle, giving 1 
Never fear, the sails are set— 
Hiving, cradle, swing 1 
Stormy gales are never met— 
Swing, cradle, swing! 
Little eyelids downward peep— 
Swiug, cradle, swing ! 
Anchored in a cove of sleep— 
Swing, cradle, swing! 
[In Book III of Clement of Alexandria is given, (iii 
Greek) the most ancient hymn of the primitive 
Church. It is there (one hundred and fifty years af¬ 
ter the apostles) asserted to be of much earlier origin. 
The following version will give some imperfect idea 
of tho spirit:! 
Shepherd of tender youth 
Guiding in love and truth. 
Through devious ways; 
Christ, our triumphant Iting 
We come thy name to sing, 
And here our children bring 
To shout thy praise. 
Thou art our holy Lord ! 
The aU-subduing Word, 
Healer of strife ! 
Thou did'st thyself abase ! 
That from sin's deep disgrace 
Thou mightest save our race, 
Aud give us life. 
Thou art wisdom’s High Priest 
Thou hast prepared the feaBt 
Of holy love. 
And in our mortal pain 
None call on Thee in vain; 
Help thou dost not disdain 
Help from above. 
Ever be thou our Guide, 
Our Shepherd and our pride, 
Our staff and song. 
Jesus, thou Christ of God! 
By the perennial word. 
Lead us where thou hast trod. 
Make our faith strong. 
So now. and till we die, 
Sound we our praise on high, 
And Joyful sing. 
Infants, and the glad throng, 
Who to thy Church belong. 
Unite and swell the song 
To Christ our King. 
Again. 
Well cousins, I’ve come come again whether 
you welcome me or not. l have written two let¬ 
ters before. There seams to he a lull in the 
storm that raged so furiously for a while In the 
young folks' column, but It is getting dark again, 
so gl rls look on I. for auot her squall. "Miss Bertha” 
had best, be careful, or she may arouse the tem¬ 
per of “ Slayerofconcelt.” I tell you Yeung Bach 
there is a. chance lor you now. Carrie B. II. 
would like to arrange a correspondence with you- 
it Is probable that If you comply, you will never 
bo able to assume the name of Old Bach. 
M. P. it. would like to know how to prepare 
autumn leaves. I will tell you how I did miner 
First press them till they aro thoroughly dry, 
then dip them into melted becs-wax, removing 
them as quickly as possible. Care should he 
taken to keep the wax hot, or the leaves will 
not he smooth. When they are finished they 
look very much like wax*. They are very pretty 
twisted on wire, and arranged In vases. 
West Mlllcreek, Pa. Cousin Emma. 
LETTERS FROM BOYS AND GIRLS 
From Honolulu. 
Here I am again; hope you are not tired of 
seeing me. Uncle True, I am glad you liked 
those ferns so much so as to think of having them 
mounted. If I come across any pretty specimens 
of mosses and ferns I will send you some If you 
like; perhaps you will bo astontshed to hear that 
we have over 300 different kinds of ferns on our 
islands. 1 am the possessor of 21 of these. I 
keep them mostly for “ spatter-work.” You say 
If you knew me by any other name than 
" Hawaii nel,” you would get, even with me. I 
like “ to give better than receive ” and 1 will 
keep you in Ignorance of It for a time, at least. 
“ Rose Geranium ” 1 thoroughly agree with in 
regard to a home library. I urn passionately 
Tond of reading, and eagerly peruse everything 
that happens In my way; It Is to be hoped that 
it Is of the Instructive kind. 1 have copies of 
Slmkspeare, Tennyson and Longfellow, the two 
latter are my favorites. We have the whole set 
of Dickens’ works. I have been presented with 
“Alice and Piieobe Cary's Lives and Works,” 1 
enjoy this book very much, also a book of ele¬ 
gant extracts, “Hlsloryof Josephine,” and two 
volumes of miscellaneous home readings. (Next 
time, a you like, I may tell you or the “ parlor 
entertainment,” some ol us young people Intend 
giving soon, consisting of three dialogues taken 
from one, of the latter two volumes mentioned.) 
I like history, aud remember pretty well the 
English history. I learnt at that most dreaded 
place to most girls namely, *• A convent boarding 
school,” hut as I look hack, 1 find I have spent 
Wildfire Ablaze. 
Dear Cousins No doubt some of you thought 
that “ Snowdrop's” sarcastic ana talented (!) let¬ 
ter would effectually silence me, hut It Is not so. 
“ Snowdrop” seems, (as a young man said In our 
Lyceum the oilier night,) to simmer everything 
down to the climax. I will own that boys as well 
as girls, do go to extremes In fashion ; but fash¬ 
ion must he followed It It kills, at least the girls, 
or most of them seem, to think so. But enough of 
this. If Uncle True prints this, I will try and 
write something more sensible next time. 
Wildfire. 
Something about Nothing. 
Dear Cousins:—I suppose you wonder why I 
have come again so soon. Well, for two reasons. 
One Is that Uncle True was so kind as to print 
my other letter, and the other Is to correct a mis¬ 
take. 
Referring to the question that I asked Katie 
and Susie, I wish to again ask if the Initials of the 
boys’ elub were not B. O. C., instead of B. O. T. ? 
i hope that “Jim Crow” will write again to 
notiry us that, so much work and study have not 
made him 111. 1 am very much obliged to Lillie 
Lee for tho information she gave in her last let¬ 
ter, and I hope she will write again and tell how 
to make some of the candles she spoke of. Could 
she toll tbls poor Cousin how to make pop-corn 
balls with sirup ? 
1 would say to Lottie King: Do not think that 
your letters are uot read with as much interest 
as some of the older ones, for I assure you they 
are—by myself, at any rate. 
At present I am reading " Other Girls,” b.v„ 
Mrs. Whitney, and “The Hero of Falcon’s isl¬ 
and.” The last Is about a boy who played Robin¬ 
son Crusoe. I hope that “ Madcap Molly,” “ Ivy,” 
and all the other Cousins will write often. 
Brown Badger. 
SCRIPTURE WORDS AND PHRASES. 
WKproposeflrsttoea.il the reader’s attention 
to a couple or monosyllables which deserve more 
notice than Is generally bestowed on them. These 
are “ his” and “ its.” The former Is employed very 
frequently by our tranalators In places where we 
should now use the latter; Indeed, the neuter 
possessive form “its” does not appear to have ob¬ 
tained a decided place In our language until some 
years later than lBU.though a few examples may 
befoundln earlier writers. In Gen. 1 .12 we are 
told that “ tUe earth brought forth grass, and 
herb yielding seed after hia kind, nnd ihe tree 
yielding fruit, whose seed was In itself. after his 
kind.” In this verse Ir. Is quite plain flint “ his” 
roust refer to “herb” and “free” respectively, 
and that the pronoun must he accepted In the 
neuter sense; nnd many similar passages will 
occur to the thllld Of every careful Blbli student. 
But there are eases In which Ihe use of the mas¬ 
culine “ his" In this way may lead to ambiguity : 
thus, In Matt. vl. as—" Seek ye first the kingdom 
of God, and his righteousness,” the modern read¬ 
er is apt to take “his” as referring to “ God” Just 
preceedlng; but It Is Intended to refer to “ king¬ 
dom,” and Is in fact equivalent to “Its." Again, 
In 1 Cor. xv. 3S, tho authorized version has—"but 
God gtveth It a body as It hath pleased Him, and 
to every seed Ms own body.’’ In this case It will 
be evident to any one who reads the context with 
ordinary care that "his” must refer to seed; 
though a less attentive reader might suppose tho 
pronoun to have relation to the word "God" 
Just above. 
Instances of this mode of diction are extremely 
familiar to students of our old writers. Lord 
Bacon supplies us with one—“ Learning hath Ms 
lhfaney, when it Is but beginning.” Caxton, our 
first English printer, published a work treating 
of "Europe and his coutrees; of Affrlque and 
his regyons and contrees,”etc. 
The use of “hts” as tho sign of the genitive 
case, where we now employ a elniugo of termin¬ 
ation in the noun (’s),lsle39 frequent in our Bible. 
In the chapter head of Ruth 111., Indeed, may be 
seen a notable example In the edition of ion, 
where it reads—" By Naomi her instruction, Ruth 
lleth at Ronz hia feete.” Tills has been since 
modernized, as the reader will see on turning 
to the Bibles of later date. Similar phraseology 
was very common In our old writers, and may 
he found lu common rrayer-book, in the 
“prayer for all sorts and conditions ot men;” "and 
this we beg for Jesus Christ his sake.” Kpeuser 
furnishes us many examples, e. g., 
" For that sumo Brute, whom much lie did advance 
In all hia speech, was Sivius hi* eon." 
that is, was the son of Sylvius. And Lord Bacon, 
In Ills 29th Essay, has the following example— 
“ Edward the Second of England hia queen had 
the principal band In the deposing and murder 
or her husband.” 
It Is to be observed that " Its” occurs but once 
In our version of Scripture, and In that place It Is 
an Innovation that has crept Into the text, since 
tbe time of James I. Tho Instance may bo found 
In Lev, xxv, r>, “That, which grown 1 1 of its own 
accord,” etc., whore tbeauclentcopy bus " it own 
accord,” such being a not uncommon way of 
writing the possessive case or the neuter pronoun 
lu Ihe Elizabethan age. Sylvester, t he translator 
of Du Bartas (toot), gives US this Instance : 
"Mni’li like » candle fed with it own hiiiuor 
By little aud little « own self's consumer.” 
in the Geneva version of the ScriptureB, Acts 
xti. 101s thus rendered : "They came into the 
Iron gate that leadet.li unto the city, which 
opened to them by (town accord.’’ 
Before us is a list of many Scripture words, 
to which we propose to call the teacher’s and 
student’s attention; but, space forbids our extend¬ 
ing this paper beyond its present limit. j, 3. 
HISTORICAL ACROSTIC 
l. A Grecian general. 2. A king of Ethiopia. 
3. The father of Charlemagne. *4. A Carthage- 
nlan general. 5. A king of Pontus. 6. The wife 
of Julius Cesar. 7. A Grecian battle, s. a state 
of Central America. 9. A classic writer. 10. A 
king of Sparta, n. Theban general. 12. a Per¬ 
sian king. 13. A Roman emperor. 14. A ruler of 
Greece, is. A water nymph. 10. A French geh- 
- ral- 17. A general under Alexander. IS. A 
bishop of Antioch. 10 . A Grecian hero of bravery. 
Initials form a celebrated Greek Congress. 
Answer in two weeks. Little One. 
MISCELLANEOUS ENIGMA 
Of Course, Certainly. 
Dear Uncle and Cousins:— I should like to 
Join the hand of Cousins who write to each 
other through the Rural, and I think must have 
a very pleasant time. That 1 b the reason 1 
should like to join with you, for I am always 
ready for fun. so here I am. What do you say, 
may I Join? I live on a farm and enjoy many 
couutry pleasures. My father lias taken the 
Rural for fifteen years and we all like It very 
much. I am thirteen years old and have no 
sisters, but I have a brother older aDdone youn¬ 
ger than myself. Wild Cherry Is so proud be¬ 
cause she can do some boy’s work. I should like 
to have her come and eat some ot' my cake and 
sec how I can clean up tho table, etc. A few 
weeks ago there was a temperance lecturer 
here and he created quite an excitement. I was 
one of his disciples. Therefore I sign myself. 
Coxsackle, N. Y. Young Teetotaler. 
I am composed of 21 letters: 
My 20,5, it, 17, 20 to a man’s name. 
My 21 ,3, 5, 12 , 2 , to, 19 a color. 
My l, 13,4, c, 15, e, i2,9 part of a house. 
My 33, ll, 15, to, 8.17 an article of dress, 
My 14, 2, 7, l a kind of grain. 
My is, l, 8, 2, is a man’s name. 
My whole the name ol a British poet. 
ttsr Answer In two weeks. s. 
BIBLICAL ACROSTIC 
i. A governor of India. 2 . A king of Babylon. 
3. A king or Israel. 4. A country of Africa. 5. A 
son of Ham. «, A prophet in Jeremiah, chapter 
xxv. 7. The father of Jonah. 8. A grandson of 
Ham, 9, Tho father or Ishmael. 10. 'The wife of 
Ahasuerus. it. A disciple or Jesus. 12. A gov¬ 
ernor of .Judah. 13. A son of Sennacherib. 14. 
A king of Syria. I nltials form a king of the Jews. 
V3r Answer in two weeks. Dk. 
■will It? You seem to say no, so i’ll proceed: 
Ten of us were to start, at s A. M„ on the 16th. or 
November, (our Sovereign’s birthday), for Kapio- 
lanl Park; nine of us met at appointed time, 
tenth was missing, so we proceeded to meet him. 
(Allow me to mention here that we young ladles, 
as we style ourselves, rode side-saddle, most or 
us wore green wreaths called Malle leys, pro- 
nouuced Myll laysthey are very sweet!) We 
round our tenth, alter one of our party had fallen 
from his horse In attempting to rescue a hag 
which contained some tongue sandwlchos, (Sand¬ 
wich Island tongues, too.) Our tenth sprang Into 
his saddle as he thought, hut suddenly found he 
was over on the other side of Ills horse grasping 
terra firma. Well, we started aud had no more 
mishaps, but whiled away t welve hours, riding, 
Walking on Ihe beaef, and eating lunch aud sup¬ 
per with a hearty relish, under the grand stand 
at the park; came borne, well satisfied with our 
holiday, hut too tired to atteud tho ball that took 
place la the evening. 
Many thanks for your kindness lu listening to 
"Hawaii nel,” who bids you good-by with 
“ Aloha uui,” in which Uncle True may have a 
small share. Hawaii nei. 
From Lizzie. 
Dear Uncle and Cousins :—This Is my first, at¬ 
tempt at sending, but not at writing.a letter to the 
Rural, i live in the country, and pity the girls 
that have to live in the city. We have pleasant 
times here. Why do not some ol the Cousins 
write about flowers. I like flowers very much. 
We have a Conservatory at ray Grandma's. We 
have two lemon trees, one has nearly sixty lem¬ 
ons and plenty of blossoms on It. We have Calla 
Lilies In bloom ; and I cannot tell all the others 
we have, In this letter. We have two pet dogs 
whose names are Dot and Curly. I would like to 
see Unoi.b True and the Cousins very much. I 
would like to get two subscribers for the Rural, 
sol could get a Rural "Cricket." Will "Lillie 
Leo” please Bend those candy recipes, and she Mill 
greatly oblige. Lizzie. 
River Edge, N. J. 
DIAMOND PUZZLE, 
i. Myself. 2. Satisfied hunger. 3. A country 
of Europe. 4. A shade tree. 5. A vowel (some¬ 
times). Centrals form a country of Europe. 
Answer in two weekB. May. 
DROP-LETTER PUZZLE, 
Tu - - sh-lt n-t b - - r f-ls- w-tn-ss -g - - nst tli- 
n - - glib-r. FBI with vowels and find one of the 
commandments. 
C» r ~ Answer m two weeks. Jenny. 
NAME PUZZLE 
Place ten female names so as to form an 
eleventh. 
s&~ Answer In two weeks. Quiz. 
A Sensible Suggestion. 
Dear Cousins:— Dou’t jump so at the sight of 
a strange cousin who comes to join your quar¬ 
relsome circle. To help you all along, If she can, 
to quarrel ? f hear some one say. No, by no 
means, just to have a sensible chat, In a cousinly 
way, and give her opinion on some little points. 
Let me look around a little before I commence 
and see my cousins. Why here is “ Madcap Mol¬ 
lle” extending her hand to bid me welcome l So 
much has been said about " Slayerofconcelt,” 
that 1 should think be would soon get tired of 
hearing his name, hut perhaps It pleases him. 
It is too had to have the girts against him: it is 
As Soon as the Roads Dry. 
Dear Uncle True :—Here I am again, but I 
hope you are not displeased. As soon as the 
roads get dry enough I intend to try to get up a 
club for a "Cricket." The roads now arc so 
muddy that when I go to town I don’t pretend to 
go oh them, but go back almost, to the woods and 
take the railroad. Saturday I was rather late, 
and 1 came home on the road; I sunk in the mud 
over my rubbers. I should like to correspond 
with Lillie Lee and Madcap Molly. Will Rose Ge¬ 
ranium publish the name of the little girl who 
wins the pi lze she offers ? I can and do darn my 
own stockings. I like the Rural ever so 'much 
WORD-SQUARE ENIGMA 
l. A fish. 2. To assert. 3. A lady’s name. 4 , 
To Implore. 
Answer in two weeks. Balto. 
PUZZLER ANSWERS.-March 16, 
Pyramid puzzle. 
