AOS 5 
'‘artificial wood ornaments,” for finishing the 
upper edge of the back. 
The favorite lounging chair in our family, 
however, is a rather curiously shaped affair, 
that while it is most comfortably fitted to the 
back, is easily made and costs but little. It 
is made thus from half-inch boards, saw out 
two pieces, meajuring four feet in length and 
two feet six inches in width. These must be 
carefully shaped commencing at the centre of 
upper edge, and gradually sloping inward in 
a gracefully curved line for a few inches then 
widening in a swelling curve, that sloping 
out below forms the arms, which must be 
neatly rounded towards the outside—as in 
any chair with high back and arms. 
Lay these two pieces down and measuring 
the height desired from the bottom, nail or 
screw two cleats, (made of laths) upon the in¬ 
side, from back to front allowing them to 
incline slightly towards the bottom, at the 
back part as thus the seat will be more com. 
fortable, a few inches from the lower edge 
nail, two others in a straight line, and having 
fastened the two side pieces together, nail a 
piece of board across the front, from upper to 
lower cleats, this not only straightens the side 
pieces but forms a front for the box, or case, 
beneath the seat, which should rest upon the 
upper cleats and be furnished with hinges, 
thus forming a lid for the box. In fastening 
the side pieces together the edges should be 
coated with glue and carefully nailed or 
screwed together. Next nail four square 
blocks to each corner and fasten casters upon 
them. 
We are now ready for the upholstering, 
which is done as has been previously described, 
excepting that, a thick pad is made for the 
triangular back, and fastened in the corner 
before putting on the remaining hair, or other 
filling. 
This chair is without any exception, the 
most comfortable of auy we use. The seat is 
of form adapted to comfort and the back is 
useful beyond measure; we advise all lovers 
of a comfortable chair to make, or order one 
made, from the description here given. 
Mrs. C. S. Jones. 
SHAMS. 
No, I do not like shams ! I never did fancy 
shams ! I do not care whether they are pillow 
shams, or sham sheets, or sham shirts, or 
shams of etiquette, or any other kind of sham! 
1 like good, honest truth in everything. If 
you cannot afford fine doth enough to cover 
both sides of your pillow, why just get what 
is a little coarser, and have both sides alike. 
It does not look right to see a fine, flounced, 
starched sham spread over a dirty, coarse 
pillow case. It looks like a great many folks 
that I have met in this world—very nice, 
smooth spoken, agreeable people out in com¬ 
pany, but at home I bless me! you would be 
astonished to see how rough and cross they 
are! They are human shams. Then I have 
met ladies dressed in silks, and ruffled and 
fringed, that underneath wore soiled linen, 
and, like as not, their skirts were trimmed 
with faggiDg, or there were holes in their 
stockings that were encased in French kid 
boots. This is another kind of human sham! 
Then there are other kinds of shams; for 
instance, two people meet; they are delighted 
to see each other; you would think they were 
the best friends in the whole world, when, in 
truth, they do not care a copper for each 
other, and perhaps make ill-natured remarks 
concerning each other just as soon as their 
backs are turned. That is all put on for 
sham. There is no real kindness in it. People 
that actually dislike one another will shake 
hands when they meet, which is all of no ac¬ 
count, and is only done for effect. There are 
lots of cases where sham is used when reality 
would b9 better. I think in our intercourse 
in society that truth is preferable to pretense. 
I do not believe in putting on appearances. 
If you like a person, of course, show that you 
do. If you dislike an individual there is no 
need of pretending you are loving and kind. 
One can be civil, and not hurt any one’s feel 
ings; but there is uo ueed of making believe 
what is not true or real. The world would be 
happier and better if there was more sincerity 
and less shamming. 1 want to have real 
things around me, for I am a sober reality 
myself, and I do not choose to mako believe I 
am any better than I really am. 
Grandmother. 
It was Charles Lamb who said that his idea 
of educating a girl was to turn her loose into 
a well-chosen library. Of course he was 
thinking of a girl as a companion, not as a 
clerk or a lawyer. In our own case, some of 
the brightest and most intelligent of the many 
delightful women we meet have never had a 
college education, know nothing of mathe¬ 
matics, and uot much of science; but instead, 
have dipped deeply into good literature, and 
can take an intelligent interest in, and give a 
sound opinion upon, the great questions of the 
day. 
THE RURAL. NEW-YORKER. 
523 
Domestic 0C0tionuj 
CONDUCTED BV EMILY MAPLE 
DEATH TO FLIES IN ONE-HALF 
HOUR. 
Heretofore one of the greatest of our 
trials in Summer has been in the keeping of 
our dining room and kitchen free from flies. 
It is a rule with us that nets shall be in all 
opened windows and that the net doors must 
be kept closed, and there is no deviation from 
this. But careful as we might be the pests 
would get in. We have brushed until 
shoulders and arm were lame and hands 
blistered; have used various fly catchers, 
sticky fly paper and poison fly paper, discard¬ 
ing the latter several times on account of its 
poisonous properties and disgusting effects, 
but returning to it because we did not know 
what else to do. We will say that our house 
is very sunny, light, and airy—we have no 
blinds, aad cannot darken the rooms and so 
keep the flies out. A short time ago we 
became alive to the necessity of throwing 
away once for all the fly paper, having been 
convinced that it was impregnated with a 
solution of arsenic. Knowing the efficacy of 
Persian Insect Powder—Pyreth rum roseum or 
cinerm folium—in destroying insect life, we 
closed the windows and doors of the dining¬ 
room, sprinkled a large handful of this powder 
upon a few live coals and retired to await 
results. The smoke was quite dense for two 
hours, yet at the end of that time not one fly 
was dead, they were somewhat weak in the 
legs but sooa revived. 
After this failure we next purchased a small 
insect powder bellows for one dollar, half 
filled the receptacle with powder and blew it 
all around the room, making a flue dust. 
Soon a buzziag was heard, as when a flv is 
caught in a spider’s web, only louder, and in 
one-half hour every fly in the room was dead. 
The fly season is now robbed of its terrors for 
us, for a few puffs of the bellows each morning 
before sweeping keeps our rooms free-from 
flies. The powder costs fiO cents per pound at 
wholesale, but with care will last sometime, 
for gentle puffs of the powder answer every 
purpose, as it is only necessary to blow it once 
where the flies can breath it. 
AMONG THE FLOWSRS AT RANDALL 
HOMESTEAD. 
L. RANDALL. 
I HAD an jidea, in the early Spring, that I 
would like some rustic vases made from my 
own designs. After the apple trees were 
trimmed and the largest limbs had been 
brought to the wood-yard for fire wood, I went 
out and gave dir ections in regard to the vases, 
to my fifteen-year old son. The result was 
two vases made of apple tree limbs, with the 
bark on, shaped like a tunnel with a wide, 
open top. These were made by nailing smaller 
pieces of branching 1 limbs around a large cen¬ 
tral one, that was about four feet long, sharp¬ 
ened on the lower end to drive into the sod in 
the front yard, They were nearly a yard in 
diameter on the top. I next procured half- 
rotted sods from the field, and placed them 
firmly all around next to the branches iuside 
the vase, having cut slits with the trowel to 
insert rock moss. Creeping Charley,parlor ivy, 
nasturtiums, white-foliage plants, and morn¬ 
ing glories. In the center .were placed rich 
earth and a single scarlet geranium, a single 
pink geranium and oxalia. These are now a 
very pretty sight, with the trailing vines, 
the bright geraniums, the rock moss studded 
with yellow stars, and the scarlet nasturtiums, 
and the only cost was about an hour’s time. 
Finding myself not able to give the usual 
amount of water to my geranium bed, I have 
had it cultivated very thoroughly, and fine 
soft grass freshly cut placed about two inches 
thick over the surface of the grouud, as a 
mulch. It keeps the ground moist, looks nice, 
and the plants are growing finely. This is 
much better than watering so constantly. 
I found my rustic vases drying out too 
rapidly, and made them slightly cup-shaped 
by placing an additional row of rock moss 
and old sods arouud the outside edge of the 
vase. Inside of this I placed the fine soft grass 
around the stems of the geraniums, etc., and 
now the water is held two inches deep, until 
it settles down through the green moss. The 
hot sun does not bake the earth around my 
plants now, aud I think the arrangement 
saves me much time and trouble. 
Having occasion to move some of my bedded 
plants on account of shade unforeseen iu the 
Spring, I dug around them with the trowel, 
leaving untouched large balls of earth con¬ 
taining the roots of the plants. Procuring 
stiff L rown paper, I wound it several times 
around each ball of earth, aud held it there 
while I moved the plant, with a stiff square of 
pasteboard under the whole mass. The place 
to receive it was about the right size and 
shape, and the paper was gently withdrawn, 
leaving the plant apparently undisturbed. 
My Fern leaved Parsley is very nice. The 
finely cut leaves are spreading out beautifully. 
I use it as a border around a bed of summer¬ 
flowering bulbs. 
HANDY HUSBANDS AGAIN. 
Noticing a piece with the above title, I 
thought I would pursue the subject a little 
farther and give my idea of the handiest kind 
of a husband to have around. Bear in mind 
that one cannot have every virtue and grace 
in any one person—even in a handy husband 1 
The most handy husband to have around is 
one who can stand between his family and 
want, whose energy, and good management 
will place his family in prosperity and win 
and keep for them a home of comfort and 
plenty. He stands between them and a mort¬ 
gage on the barn or house and lot and in sick¬ 
ness he is a tower of strength to fall back 
upon; he can sit up nights to take care of the 
invalids and do good neighborly deeds at 
any time. 
Such a husband may, and quite often does, 
take off his boots in the kitchen aud empty 
the oats from them upon the floor and think 
nothing of it; but one of your nice feminine men 
would never attend to his out-of-door work 
well enough to raise any oats to get in his 
boots in harvest time. If a handy business 
man forgets to notice when the wood box or 
water pail is empty, whose business is it to 
direct some one to fill it but that of the mis¬ 
tress of the house. Some of the household 
affairs belong to her to look after. I never 
see one of these exceedingly nice men about 
a house, so very thoughtful about small things, 
that I do not feel like driving him out of the 
house. If we all waited for husbands until 
one of these handy, accomplished men came 
along, the most of us would be old maids, and 
usually we might better be old maids than to 
have a husband without the masculine qual¬ 
ities that give to women the feeling of having 
a protector in time of need. Aunt Rachel. 
“ FENNY WISE AND POUND FOOLISH.” 
“ The best is the cheapest in the end, mam,” 
said the smooth-tongued clerk where I was 
shopping the other day. It very often puzzles 
housekeepers to get rooms furnished to con¬ 
trast and well harmonize with the general 
surroundings without drawing too heavily on 
their purses. If you buy an expensive carpet, 
then you must have paper (if you are so un¬ 
lucky as to have your walls papered) to har¬ 
monize with it. Then you begin to think the 
window-hangings look unsightly compared 
with the carpet and paper, and then the fur¬ 
niture looks entirely different from what you 
imagined, and if you make everything in the 
room harmonize your purse will grow consid¬ 
erably lighter, so much so that you cannot go 
on with adjoining rooms, and then, in nine 
cases out of ten, you are not satisfied, for you 
started with the intention of furnishing sev¬ 
eral rooms, and you find you have been 
“ penny wise and pound foolish ” in furnish¬ 
ing only the one. I don’t recommend pur¬ 
chasing the cheapest that you can get, 
however, but, as in nearly everything else, 
there is a pleasant medium, which, if well 
studied, will give more real pleasure than is 
at first imagined. 
• 
What a disagreeable habit is the practice of 
forever apologizing to company for the shabby 
appearance of your surroundings! Do not call 
attention to your threadbare carpets by say¬ 
ing you are determined to replace them with 
new ones soon, or to the walls which show the 
marks of children's fingers. Many a mother 
would recall, if she could, the child she has so 
often upbraided for his mischievous and care¬ 
less acts. The finger-marks upon glass and 
wall would then bring a smile, and not a 
frown. If you cannot buy the best be satisfied 
with a cheaper quality. Be not forever com¬ 
plaining, making uot only yourself but your 
household unhappy, but rather gather the 
roses—bright roses—of life, leaving the thorns 
that lie underneath. Daisy May. 
-» 
Scales From Fish. 
A short time since one of the Rural con¬ 
tributors—Mrs. A. L. Jack—expressed the 
hope that some “ Domestic Economist” would 
invent something to scale fish. If she will 
purchase a cheap wire horse card she can 
clean five bass or other fish while doing one in 
the ‘'old-fashioned way with the knife,” and 
do it better; but if she will skin the bass 
(which can be done as quick as scaling) she 
will not know it is the same fish, so much 
better will be the flavor. “ Medico.” 
Horsford’s Acid Phosphate. 
is useful in dyspepsia. It gives the stomach 
tone and imparts vigor to the whole system. 
— Adv. 
POWDER 
Made from Professor Horsford’s Acid 
Phosphate. 
Recommended by leading physicians. 
Makes lighter biscuit, cakes, etc., and 
is healthier than ordinary Raking Pow¬ 
der. 
In cans. Sold at a reasonable price. 
The Rorsford Almanac and Cook Rook 
sent free. 
Rum ford Chemical Works, Providence, R. I, 
H. M. ANTHONY, Ag’t |UX) and 102 Reade St., N. Y 
Photqgmphy Hals East. 
For tho OLi incj the Young ; ibn 
Ladie* and Gentlemen; foe the Pro* 
fes stye, rbc Student, the tha 
Mo daxac xmj the TourtsL 
.Au Saint. j\V TnmSlt. 
<ir In-*(tuition free with’each* 
equipment. Send for pne* list. Our 
apparatus U uwtjof to ail othea aft 
MB'- jtffctvhtvfjMf i<otenied improve* 
Oirnta Our CeLitino-hninudo Pry 
Flair* xrr. alia tint 
1 L T. Astboky & Ca, 531 li way, New 1 Yobs. 
WELLS, RICHARDSON A CO’S 
IMPROVED 
BUTTER COLOR 
> A NEW DISCOVERY. 
tyFor several years we have furnished the ’ 
Dairymen of America with an excellent arti-! 
fieial color for butter; so meritorious that it met! 
with great success everywhere receiving the • 
highest aud only prises at both International | 
Dairy Fairs. 
E^"But by patient and scientific chemical re- ‘ 
search we have improved in several points, and ( 
now offer this new color as the ftesf in the world. ■ 
it Will Not Color the Buttermilk. It j 
Will Not Turn Rancid. It Is the 
Strongest, Brightest and 
Cheapest Color Made, 
£9* And, while prepared in oil. Is so compound ' 
ed that it is Impossible for it to become ru acid. 
G0*B£WARE of ail imitations, and of all. 
'other oil colors for they are liable to become 4 
, rancid and spoil the but ter. 
DTIf y<>u cannot get the “improved" write us ' 
■to know where and how to get It without extra ( 
lexpeuse. ( 16 ) 
WELLS, RICH UinSON * CO.. Rnrllmrton, Yl. 
GOLD MEDAL, PARI8, 1878, 
BAKER’S 
Breakfast Cocoa, 
'Warranted absolutely pure 
Cocoa, from which the excess of 
Oilbas been removed. It has three 
times the strength, of Cocoa mixed 
with Starch, Arrowroot or Sugar, 
and is therefore far more economi¬ 
cal. It is delicious, nourishing, 
strengthening, easily digested, and 
admirably adapted for invalids at 
well as for persons in health. 
Sold by Krocers everywhere. 
f. BAKER & CO., Dorctater, Mass. 
Dobbins’ Starch Polish. 
An important dis¬ 
covery, by which 
ever}' family may 
give their linm 
that beautiful fin¬ 
ish peculiar to fine 
laundry work. 
Ask your Grocer, 
I. B. DOBBINS, 
PHILADELPHIA, FA 
in abundance —S5 Million pounds 
imported last year.—Prices lower 
than ever.—Agents wanted.—Don't 
waste time.—Send for circular. 
10 lbs. Good Black or Mixed, for $1. 
10 lbs. Fine Black or Mixed, for $2. 
10 lbs. Choice Black or Mixed, for $3. 
Send for pound sample, 17 ets. extra for postage. 
Then get up a club. Choicest Tea in the world.— 
Largest variety.— Pleases everybody.—Oldest Tea 
House In America.—No chroma,—No Humbug.— 
Straight business.—Value for money. 
KOJTT WELLS ,43 Vest)' St.,N.Y.,P.O.Box 128 :. 
. ,, .mu . .... 
any ruse of Blind 
[ Bleeding, itching, 
. —>» 1 vw U'oenited, or Pro- 
trinimvPi that Del? I NTT’S PILE I1E.WED Y 
fahstocure. Prepared by J.P.MIT.I.F.K. M.D.,915 Arch 
»t. rnua., Jra. Aon genuine without hi* trignatur*. Send 
for circular* Sold by druggists and country stores § i, 
