fox iljt Bomtg. 
THE LITTLE BEGGAR'S BUTTON-HOLE 
BOUQUET. 
’Xwas on a bitter winter’s day, 
I Haw a strange, pathetic sight; 
The streets wore gloomy, cold and gray, 
The air with falling snow was white. 
A little ragged beggar child 
Went running through the cold and storm ; 
Ho looked as U he never smiled, 
As if he never had beeu warm. 
Sudden, ho spied beneath his feet 
A faded button hole bouquet: 
Trampled and wet with rain and sleet, 
Withered and worthless, there it lay. 
Ho bounded, sel/.ed ft with delight, 
Stood still and shook it free from snow ; 
into his coat lie pinned it tight— 
His eyes lit up with sudden glow. 
He sauntered on, all pleased and proud, 
His face transformed in every line ; 
And lingered that the hurrying crowd 
Might chance to sec that it was line. 
The man who threw the flowers away 
Never one half sijeh pleasure had ; 
’J’he flower’s best work was done that day 
in cheering up that, beggar lad. 
Ah me, too often we forget, 
Happy in these good homes of ours, 
How many in this world are yet 
Glad even of the withered flowers ! 
—St. Nicholas. 
- • 
GATES AJAR. 
BERTHA A. ZEDI WINKLER. 
“ Hattie, Robinson Crusoe had lots of 
adventures ’thout expecting them and here 
we live so handy in the wilderness, why don’t 
things happen to us ?” 
“ Why don’t they f” echoed Hattie regret¬ 
fully, as she closed the book of their favorite 
hero, “ may be it’s because we don’t pray 
enough. Sometimes, you know, I can’t help 
getting sleepy; and then I stop short like the 
clock when it's run down. Do you ever run 
down, Jimmy ?” 
“1 f y-e-s, no, mother helps me along when 
I’m tired. She makes me repeat the words af¬ 
ter her.” 
“ Well,” resumed Hattie in self vindication. 
“ 1 always finish mine the next morning 
That’s better, ’cause it’s fresher, you know.” 
Her companion made no reply. His 
thoughts seemed to be with his eyes looking 
faraway. At last he exclaimed impatiently: 
“ 1 waut to see something besides woods. I 
want to know something and he something ! 
Why can’t I go like these fellows in books and 
make myself somebody i" 
“Because,” replied Hattie, now prudently 
endeavoring to restrain his ardor, “ we havn’t 
waited long enough.” 
Mother suys: “to keep young folks from 
going wrong they are conliued in the land of 
Wonder and Inquiry till they are old enough 
Then Providence comes along and unlocks its 
first gate called “ Opportunity ” which leads 
to the second gate called “ Success.” 
“ That,” she says, “ only the wise and able 
can enter. The third gate, called * Honor 1 is 
only opened to the loyal-hearted and beloved. 
The fourth, is the gate oJ’ ‘ Glory ’ closed to 
all but the mighty and deserving. Last comes 
the gate of ‘ Immortality ’ which she says 
can only be reached through, pain and death 
and stands ajar for none hut God’s beloved." 
Her young companion was silent. A strange 
spell seemed to hold that rebellious spirit for a 
moment iu control, while a thousand thoughts 
and wishes were reflected in his fiery eyes. 
“ I’m going to try the first gate then, Hat¬ 
tie. Mother says, ’.Nothing ventured, nothing 
won.’ I’ll hannuer away at it! I’ll burst it!” 
he exclaimed, balling Ins brown fist deter¬ 
minedly, “and i'll get out! ” 
Cousin Hattie shook her head discouraging- 
ly, and later on she shook it still more, when 
she heard that Jimmy had really forced the 
gate “ Opportunity,” and was gone. 
But, somehow, Jimmy never saw the gate 
“Success.” He found only hard labor and dis¬ 
appointment. 
When he made the contract to chop the hun¬ 
dred cords of wood, although he accomplished 
it manfully, he thought it would never be fin¬ 
ished. 
When ho boarded a vessel, to realize his 
dearest wish of becoming a sea-farer, he found 
its Bailors iu squalor and drunkenness. And 
when he boarded another it was a brutal cap¬ 
tain who broke the last threads of that dream. 
At last, after a long experience iu driving 
mules and fighting roughs on the shores of the 
river, they brought him home delirious with 
fever. 
His patient, loving mother w r atched over 
him through all the anxious days that he lay 
between life and death. 
When he had entirely recovered from his 
illness, it was no longer “willful, adventurous 
Jimmy,” but mother’s obedient, studious 
James that now entered the gate “Opportu¬ 
nity,” now held ajar by kind Providence. i 
He toiled and studied, struggling along wit a 
scanty means, but keeping the goal in view' 
with waking eye; and the right path under 
steady feet—from school to semin ary, from 
seminary to college, from college to the portals 
of well merited success. 
How sw'eot now wms the contemplation of 
the trying past I But no one ever paused at 
the portals of success. Other and still more 
glorious gates loomed in the distance, and 
many duties beckoned onw'ard, till Honor’s 
gate swung wide to let our hero seat himself 
n legislative hulls. 
His countrymen’s watchful eyes were on him 
then. But, nothing daunted, he advanced with 
the old determination of will, and the old 
true heart in his bosom. 
Slowly but surely he was marching up the 
steeps of fame. The gates of Glory stood on 
its summit. He did not think of drawing 
nigh. But the great portals suddenly swung 
wide and a multitude urged him to enter. 
Then, and not till then, he paused in con¬ 
templation, Tlie freely-offered laurel of his 
nation adorned his brow; that nation’s weal or 
woe lay in his hands. 
He gazed around him—“ The highest upon 
earth was surely reached.” He gazed beyond, 
where only skies met his view. He looked 
aloft—“ the gate of Immortality alone illu¬ 
mines heaven—one more, the last, through 
pain and death.” 
Then, during the anxious night-watch of a 
praying nation, the last and highest portal 
was opened wide to receive the earthly van¬ 
quished, the heavenly victor, our glorious 
chief 1 
NOTES. . 
But few letters have beeu received as yet 
for the next Discussion. If you can’t write 
more than a half dozen lines on the subject, 
let’s have them. Surely, the young people 
are the ones most interested in the question as 
to how much they think they should work in 
their younger days. 
Will Maude Cullen accept many thanks 
for the beautiful Christmas card. 
C. W. M. asks what a little girl can do 
these long Winter days and evenings. O, 
there are many things! Besides the little 
home duties she can perform for her parents, 
or brothers and sisters, she should begin early 
to improve her mind by reading ami by mak¬ 
ing inquiries about what she reads if she does 
not fully understand it. The skillful use of 
the needle, too, is a great accomplishment, 
and there is no better time to learn how to 
use it than when seated by mother’s side on a 
Winter’s evening. Winter is the best season 
to study the subject of house plants, and to 
learn how to keep them in a flourishing con¬ 
dition; in connection with the care of these, 
some good book on Dowel’s may be read. Did 
C. W. M. ever try her hand at baking cakes 
or bread, or cooking vegetables ? If not, let 
her do so. But it is impossible here to go into 
details I imagine the mother of this little 
girl who wants “something to do "can help 
her. It’s a good sign, though, for a young 
person to wish for something to do; it shows a 
spirit of industry which is always commend¬ 
able, if rightly directed. 
In another column “ Horticola,” whose 
pseudonym is familiar to all Rural readers, 
asks if he is “ too old a boy” to be admitted 
to our Club. Don’t the Cousins think we bad 
better make an exception to our rule and en¬ 
roll his name? I do. Sometimes we young¬ 
sters need a watchful eye over us, and more 
than that, we can enlist his services in our 
Discussions, you know. That suggestion 
about “ Peanuts” is a good one, and I wish the 
cousins to be thinking it over and getting in¬ 
formation upon the topic. 
The next Discussion on Working on the 
Farm will probably take place next week, 
and I hope it will be very interesting and of 
no little profit. u. m. 
- - 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle Mark. —Your “Notes” con¬ 
cerning the next Seed Distribution, iu the 
Rural of Oct., 15 have just come to my no¬ 
tice, and I hasten to send in my name and ad¬ 
dress and the agreement to comply with your 
requests. If I am too late 1 shall not com¬ 
plain, but merely say that I am attending 
school here and have not had time to even 
read the Rural. The seeds of the Japan Red 
Bud which I received last Spring were duly 
planted and watered, but only two came up. 
One of the little plants died, the other is still 
living. J had it. in a pot, in the earth, but 
only twoeameup, but when cold weather came 
I took it in the house. If 1 had done my 
whole duty to the Children’s Column last 
Summer, I suppose I should have written it 
an account of my flowers, some of which 
were very' beautiful,and noted my' great success 
in raising, andruarketing, my strawberries, 
but I was so busy it almost seemed impossible. 
I would like to join in the “Discussions,” but 
cannot at present, any way. 
Hornellsvillo, N. Y. S. Jenny Patten. 
[It is’nt too late to tell us about your suc¬ 
cess with strawberries.—U. M.] 
Uncle Mark.—I am very much interested 
in the Horticultural Club. My boys are too 
young to write but wish me to do it for them, 
and keep their names still as members, I hope 
after a w hile to help as well as he helped. 
Ernest says he has raised some cotton and 
popcorn this year and Hugh has helped. Row' 
mauy of our club has tried the silk-worm ? 
My boys helped me tend 1000 eggs this 
last Spring and succeeded in learning how to 
do it right well, hut I let all my cocoons eat 
out aud the eggs all hatched out—and 1 was 
compelled by existing circumstances to let 
them die. Will all who have tried let us 
hear from them so as to know whether it will 
pay or not. If this is as some think a good 
business, children can attend to it with an 
older head to advise them. So Uncle Mark you 
are the one to examine and report. Have a 
club discussion on it. I will tell you a little 
on the subject. We of the South have thou¬ 
sands of Black Mulberries growing in the 
woods. Mrs. M, S. Miller. 
Dear Uncle Mark,—I think it is about 
time to be writing to you again. I wrote a 
letter last Spring but never saw it in print. 
I received the seeds you sent me. My celery 
was very nice, but the Japan Red Bud did not 
come up. The seeds that you sent pa did very 
well, considering the dry w'eather. 1 know' 
this letter is short but if I see it in the 
Rural perhaps y r ou will hear from me again. 
Your nephew, William A. Ward. 
Scotia. N. Y. 
[My young friend seems to think that he 
ought not to write unless every letter he 
sends appears in print. I would very gladly 
accept every letter sent were it not for the 
fact that we havn’t; space to print them all 
even in the limits of the year, so we must 
give preference to the best. Uur Club is con¬ 
stantly increasing in numbers and I shall do 
my best to distribute the honors of appearing 
in print among my young friends all of whom 
1 wuut to please.—U. M.] 
Dear Uncle Mark.— I am seven years old 
to-day, and 1 want to celebrate luy birthday 
by joining the “ Horticultural Club,” if you 
will receive me. Last Spring I told my 
mother I would take care of her flower gar¬ 
den for her this Summer, and she said that if 
I took good care of it 1 might have all the 
ground I wanted to plant next year. My 
mother says 1 did mud) better than she ex¬ 
pected, as 1 have kept the weeds out, and she 
did not have to help me any except on 11 ie 
“ yellow' day,” when it was too gloomy to 
work in the house. I am going to try to boat 
my big brother at gardening—he is 17 years 
old. Your nephew', Fred P, S. Bennett. 
[Glad you celebrated vour birthday as you 
did. But what is a “yellow day ?” I have 
heard of Black Friday aud Blue Monday 
butuot of “yellow-day.” u. m ] 
Uncle Mark. —I joined the Horticultural 
Club about tw o years ago. I w-ould like to 
have rnj' name put on the new list if I am not 
too late.* I took music lessons last Summer 
and with what else I have to do, 1 have not 
had much time for gardening. I had one 
nice plant of Japan Red Bud. Our dianthus 
did nicely and was very pretty. I planted only 
a part of my Surprise Muslunelon last year ; 
only one plant came up aud that was acci¬ 
dentally broken off. I planted the rest of 
the seed this year and one plant came aud 
had several melons on it. They were not 
nearly as large as they would have beeu if it 
had not been so dry. Edith A. Hunt. 
Chagrin Falls, Ohio. 
PUmltaneous, 
[New York Spirit of the Times.] 
Th« Way of (be World. 
The trite saying that “ not one-half of the 
world knows how the other half gets along,” 
is exemplified in innumerable ways and in¬ 
stances. And this is not to be wondered at ; 
for as the w'orld grows older, and, we trust 
bettor, the increasing wants engendered by 
a progressive civilization render further di¬ 
vision of labor iudispensably necessary, even 
in the humbler avocations of life. It is a fact, 
recognized by all observing men, that almost 
every trade or pursuit induces some special 
disorganization of the system characteristic 
of such avocation, presenting the paradoxical 
result of a man killing himself, as it were, to 
live. Such being the disagreeable and un¬ 
fortunate condition of affairs as related to 
human effort, it is very obvious that any 
means of warding off the very undesirable 
consequences referred to, must be a source of 
extreme joy and satisfaction to the toilers of 
the earth, as well as of vast profit, in the ag¬ 
gregate, to the activity and industry of the 
world. These observations were suggested 
upon recently hearing of a case of “ water 
rheumatism,” so called. Any type of this 
dreaded disease is severe, and often agonizing. 
Its approach is sometimes insidious, but more 
frequently, however, it is the result of cold, 
aud often develops in a few hours or days at 
most. It is surprising to consider how many 
people are afflicted with it, and how serious a 
tax upon their time and resources it is in 
many instances. _ No branch of industry 
seems to be free from its disastrous influence, 
as the following experience related by Mr. 
George Drake, 40 and -1M Oak street, Indian¬ 
apolis, 1ml., goes to show : “ I am now, and 
have been employed in buggy-waslting iu a 
livery stable for two years. My calling re¬ 
quires me to be in the water for hours at a 
time, and I contracted what is called, in our 
occupation, water rheumatism, I used a 
dozen different remedies without any benefit, 
and was getting mightily discouraged when I 
noticed a reference in a local paper to an ar¬ 
ticle called ’ St. Jacobs Oil’ I thought I w'ould 
try a bottle, aud did begin its use. I found 
it gave me immediate relief, aud after em¬ 
ploying four bottles of the Oil I am entirely 
cuied. 1 have personally told my friends 
that are in the same business, and they all 
say that it is doing the same for them that it 
did for me. The complaint l speak of is a 
very severe one. When I began the use of 
the Oil i had laid off from w'ork on account 
of the pains resulting from working in the 
w ater. I w'ill continue to use the Oil, aud I 
know I can work iu water by its use all the 
balance of my Life without any bad results. 
This experience and information may he of 
service to others working iu the same pursuit 
as that in which I am engaged, and L cheer¬ 
fully give it for the Leuefit of all so situated.” 
Wherever there are horses or carriages there 
must he an abundant use of water ; and as al¬ 
ready shown, one of the results of constantly 
working in the water is the disease called 
“water rheumatism.” It is certainly a mat¬ 
ter of especial congratulation not only for 
these workers, but for all workers—for all 
maiikiud really—that such an efficacious sub¬ 
stance exists us the Great German Remedy. 
Aud we also have positive word and assur- 
rauce from old and experienced horsemen 
that Bt. Jacobs Oil is the very best remedy 
ever introduced for the quick relief and cure 
of many of the ailments of “man’s best 
friend,” the horse. Thus, if double efficacy, 
so to speak, constitute an argument for the 
adoption of an article, this famous substance 
is most certainly entitled to full considera¬ 
tion. 
AflEKITft UfAMTCn every where to boii 
ft U C IV I O WHUICll tho best Esmlly Knit. 
uu« Auiiuilne ever invented. Will Suit a pair of stock¬ 
ings. witaHeel aud Toe complete, in ao minutes. It 
WUJ also knit a great variety of fancy work tor which 
there ia always a ready market, bond for circular 
and terms to the T'wuuiely Knitting Machine 
l!o,< 168 Xremont Street, Boston, Mass. 
Dear Uncle Mark. — 1 saw in a late 
Rural that all who wished to join the 
club had only to send in their names, so 
my father said he would give me a plot of 
land to myself, and if 1 get any seeds 1 mean 
to work hard and try to raise something 
worth looking at. We came from L&neanshire, 
England, but 1 like this country very much. 
J am 15 years old and have five brothers 
and two sisters—I am the oldest. Your 
nephew. Thomas H. Goode. 
Jamestown, D. T. 
New Members of the Club for Week 
Ending Jan. 7. 
traveling in tins country, auy« that most of Hie Horse 
and C.itllC Powders sold hem are worthless tiash. Ho 
fiaystlmt Sheridan’s Condition Powders are absolutely 
pure and Immensely valuable Nothing on earth will 
make hens luy like Sheridan’s Conditiou Powders. Dose, 
oneteaspoonful toqucnnitfood. Sold everywhere, orsent 
by mail for eight Icdter stamps I. S. JOHNSON A CO., 
Hostou, Mass ,formerly lhugor Mo. 
a week In your own town. Terms and $5 outfit 
free. Address Halletl & Co., Portland, Maine. 
*777 
1 26 ): 
Address P. O. VICKERY, Augusta, Me. 
A Vinlof from Mother’s Grave,” & 4!) other 
lOpulur Smius, words and music entire, all 
or 12c. PATTEN & CO., i, Barclay St., N. Y 
E. S. Rugh, Lotta M. Porteus, Fred. Schel- 
lenger, Harry Westcott, Quincy McBride, R. 
H. Yates, Charles Pierce, Irving C. Daily, 
Mary Swindler, John Swindler, Henry 
Swindler, Myers Van Buren, Ida M. Van 
Buren, Mark Dunlap, Albert Parsons, Lula 
M. Parsons. 
Cards. Feather * Band Series «C„ luncy case 10c. 
Samples 3c. Empire Card Co.. Birmingham. Ct. 
l"‘ r day at homo. Samples worth $5 free. 
IU Address Stinson & Co., Portland, Me. 
LARGE IIANDSO3IEC1IROM0 CARDS, nam. 
on 10c. New A ArtMic Jcil^ui,acki)ow]tHlj*crl bust pack sold. 
AlbumofSaujplos Stc. E.W.Austin, Eulr Jluven, Ct, 
