674 
THE RURAL. NEW-YORKER. 
SEPT 8© 
A kiss that Is paid as a forfeit before a 
whole room full of people, is prosaic, not to 
say embarrassing. The girl laughs, which 
spoils the romance, and the fellow, ten to one, 
blushes—neither of them thinking much of it, 
and they both are apt pretty soon to forget 
all about it. 
But let the same fellow kiss the same girl 
when nobody is looking—and the situation is 
as different as possible. That Bort of a kiss 
fired off in a hurry behind a door or in a con¬ 
servatory, is like an electric shock, and is as 
sweet as cream. The taste of it sort of holds 
on and constantly suggests the propriety—or 
impropriety, as the case may be—of trying it 
again. And the laughing and blushing are 
exactly reversed, The fellow laughs without 
spoiling the romance a bit, and the girl 
blushes likes a pink carnation. 
It is queer that the very same thing should 
under such slightly altered circumstances be 
so entirely different, nor is it any the less 
queer because the difference has existed from 
the earliest ages of the world.—Philadelphia 
Times. 
There is a steamboat on the Mississippi 
river that will goto wreck some day, and 
then lotsof superstitious people will say, “ I 
told you so,” because the captain's name is 
Cofiio, and the engineer's name is Hearse. 
Now, if they can only have a pilot by the 
name of Sexton it will he a grave question 
whether people ought to ride on the boat. 
BOOKS AND MAGAZINES. 
The Magazines for October are here, and 
with the prospect of long Winter evenings, 
they are very welcome. 
Harper's Magazine has for a frontispiece a 
panel engraving of Autumn. *‘In Surrey," 
with nine illustrations. “Plash; the Firemans 
Story,” by Will Carlton. The Spanish Dis¬ 
coveries, with seven illustrations. “Odd Mrs. 
Todd,” a story by Rose Terry Cooke. With 
other well written articles, as well as the 
usual EditorsEosy Chair; Editors Lit. Record; 
Editors Drawer. 
The Century for October has two articles 
finely illustrated. One, “Life in a Mexican 
street”—and we call special attention to the 
engravings which embellish it. The other, 
“The Gibraltar of America.” It also contains 
two previously unpublished portraits of 
Lincoln: and what a contrast we see. between 
the two! One taken just after he was nomin¬ 
ated for President in 1800, the other a few 
days before his assassination andufter hisfour 
years bard service in saving our Union. 
Truly, be was “A good man and a just.” 
Frank Carpenter contributes au article on 
“How Lincoln was nominated ” bringing out 
much that was new to history. A former 
Consul General at Alexander contributes a 
paper on “The negotiations for the Obelisk” 
which is of special interest on account of the 
history of the first revolt of Arabi Pacha. 
The Atlantic Monthly for October has 
an excellent variety of serial and short stories, 
poems,essays and criticism. ‘TwoonaTower’’ 
has five chapters, “House of a Merchant 
Prince," has two. A (jeligbtful article from, 
Harriet W. Preston, who iB now in Europe. 
It is in fact full of good things. 
Lippincott’s, Gooey's, Peterson’s all seem 
to have come up from the Summer heat with 
a new, fresh start; intending to supply for the 
Winter only matter of the greatest interest to 
their readers. 
The Pictorial View of the World with 
Handbook. John Beardshaw, Publisher, 112 
Chambers St., N. Y. 
The above named work is prepared by G. 
W. Bacon, F. R. G. S. of London, and is 
worthy a place in every home and schooL 
The chart, supplemented by the explanatory 
hand book, contains a vast amount of infor¬ 
mation historical, geographical, astronomical 
and general so concisely arranged as to make 
it convienently adapted to both study aud 
reference. The Handbook of itself is a con¬ 
cise and simple manual of ethnology and 
history and has an independent value apart 
from the chart Thisisnota “cheap” map; 
its colors are delicate and distinct aud its 
mechanical execution is of the very best. 
Altogether it surpasses anything of the kind 
we have seen. 
“The Women of Mormonism as told by the 
victims themselves," with an introduction by 
Miss Frances E. Willard, Published by C. G. 
G. Paine, Detroit, Mich. Prices, plain cloth, 
$2.00; Red Edges, $2 25; English cloth gilt 
edges, $2.50; Half Turkey, $3.00. We notice 
this book more fully iu another column. 
ns from the hearts and lives of our sisters 
or emancipate them. 
“Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, and I 
will repay.” Bo we can help by our own 
earnest, constant prayers, these sad, unloved 
wives whose hearts are breaking slowly, to 
look up and trust in God for that deliverance 
which must come. C. C. 
Some weeks ago we gave a description of 
Lawn Tennis costumes, and as this is the season 
of the year when this game can be best enjoy¬ 
ed, we supply cut. of apron used by young girls 
as a change from the regular Tennis dress. It 
can be made of scarlet cashmere and trimmed 
with a silk embroidered band, of any design. 
It is also very stylish as a school apron, made 
of white Nainsook and trimmed with colored 
Hamburg edging. It is a new pattern, and 
can be made pretty enough, so as to add to 
one’s toilet. The waist is cut five-eighths of 
a yard in leDgtlj, and is gathered at the top* 
also at the waist. To this is sewed the 
front, and set on likearullle (with a head¬ 
ing or not, as one may choose) and the trim¬ 
ming as described in the cut. 
CONDUCTED BY MISS RAY CLARK. 
A GLIMPSE OF LIFE AMONG THE 
MORMONS. 
W k received some time ago a book for no- 
ice, entitled “The Women of Mormonism,” 
with a special request to bring it to the notice 
of our lady readers. It has been put out on 
the world to open the eyes of the thousands 
of American women who have never known 
how their sisters of Utah were suffering. A 
great many, no doubt, are of the belief that it 
was and is a voluntary condition of life, for 
the world at large know but little of the lives 
that are spent in Mormonism. Occasionally 
one of Brigham Young’s wives finds her way 
east, and we see a notice in the papers that 
“ a lecture will be delivered by the first (or 
second) wife of Brigham Young,” but nothing 
beyond this announcement is seen, which is 
forgotten almost as soon as read. 
This book we refer to, comes fully endorsed 
by some of the noblest women and men iu the 
country. Frances E. Willard gives it an in¬ 
troduction, and Rev. Leonard Bacon, D.D., 
furnishes a supplement. Its pages exhibit 
such pictures of woman’s woes and woman’s 
wrongs as no other civilized land can produce; 
and there are no words we can employ that 
will in the least degree suffice to show, and so 
utterly condemn, the treatment of these dear 
women Among the first pages we read as 
the principles of Brigham Young, this: “ If 
the women will not submit to polygamy they 
should be eternally damned.” 
Their Prophet, Ileber C. Kimball, thus ven¬ 
tilates his ideas of the women: “I think no 
more of taking another wife than I do of 
buying a cow.” 
Another said, “Starve them and beat them* 
if necessary, to bring them to subjection.” 
We can judge what must be the atmosphere 
where such creeds are being made and carried 
out by those who learn to look unmoved upon 
sorrows that would awaken pity in the heart 
of Satan himself. 
We quote from this book a few of the expe¬ 
riences of Mormon wives, as told by them¬ 
selves: 
“One day my husband announced to me 
that he had determined to live his religion 
and take another wife. We had lived to¬ 
gether happily for 15 years, and seven chil¬ 
dren had been born to us. When he told me 
of his intention to go into polygamy, he also 
said that be had been counseled to marry a 
certain woman. I had many reasons to re¬ 
gard this woman with special aversion. A 
year or two previously she had been a ser¬ 
vant in my family, and in addition to a very 
high temper, she had anuoyed and disgusted 
me by her tfforis to attract the attention of 
my husband. He did not seem to notice her 
in the least at that time, and made no objec¬ 
tion when I discharged her for au unkind 
action toward my little invalid daughter. I 
subsequently heard she had been selected by 
the church authorities, on purpose to humble 
me, because I was suspected of haviDg more 
spirit and independence than was becoming 
a Morman woman.” Her story does not end 
here, but we quote enough for any one to real¬ 
ize what condition of mind she was in. Of 
course he married thi bad woman. 
Another wife says, “When onr boy was 
about six months old the shadow first began 
to gather around onr Jives. A neighbor who 
had two wives had lived quite peaceably for 
several years. One day the two wives quar¬ 
reled, aud the husband tried to stop them, but 
received the most abusive language from 
them. My husband spoke his opiulon frankly 
about the institution which produced such re¬ 
sults. This was carried in loss than one hour 
to the bishop of the ward, who came down 
that same evening to remonstrate with my 
husband as to his high spirit aud lack of in¬ 
terest in polygamy; and from that evening 
began persecutions which never ended until 
my heart was broken. 
They had selected a girl for him, whom he 
married at the Endowment House, and he did 
not return to my lonely home for several days. 
He was afraid to meet the Btorm of grief aud 
indignation which he knew I could not re 
press. And when he did come I felt as if I 
could have torn him to pieces. I wanted to 
kill him with my own hand. He was not my 
own husband longer—the life of my life, the 
soul of my soul. He could never again be to 
me what he had been.” 
And another wife who, having been the 
first choice, and who loved as only a woman 
can, lived to hear her husband say, who had 
just taken another wife—“Don’t be a fool, 
Mary; of course 1 love you, and always shall, 
but I caunot neglect Emma to please you.” 
And so the tales of sorrow continue until 
one is lost in indignation, and a sense of the 
helplessness of woman to lift these great bur- 
FRIENDLY LETTERS, 
BERTHA A. ZKDI WINKLER, 
rejpondence is simply “a bias of human 
nature” which she presents to us with her 
characteristic fidelity to truth. We have the 
fact. The cause for its existence requires 
another study of human nature. 
Let us first flud out what kind of corres¬ 
pondence people are most slow in. Not in 
business correspondence surely: there, the 
prospect of gain speeds dispatch. Not in 
lover’s correspondence; there, the fire of the 
heart prompts six billet doux a week, or a 
quarrel on the seventh. Not in letters between 
parents and children; the one’s anxiety and 
the other’s needs prompt the speed of pens. 
But we cannot find an equally powerful in¬ 
centive to prompt the friend ly correspondence. 
The “bias” is most conspicuous, and most 
easily traced to its source, we believe, in the 
long delayed, short, and generally poor letters 
of our friends. Impelled by nothing but the 
necessity of courtesy, letter writing is a task 
seldom accomplished readily and gracefully. 
It may appear in the above remarks that 
we considered the human heart incapable of 
that disinterestedness which renders consider¬ 
ation for others a pleasure. Bueh, however, 
is not the case. We could mention instances 
of beautiful friendships in which there was 
every willingness to do, except letter-writing. 
We all remember the suspense occasioned at 
sometime or another, by the dilatory replies 
of friends whose sincere regard could not be 
doubted. The question under consideration, 
therefore, is not what our friendship amounts 
to, but why it fails us in so small a matter as 
letter-writing? In one respect, its seeming in¬ 
significance has contributed to its neglect. 
In importance the friendly letter scarcely 
equals the fashionable call. If it rains the 
visit is simply postponed. But if the mental 
horizon is only cloudy—and it generally is 
when letter-writing begins—the letter is also 
postponed. But generally for a much longer 
period and with scarcely a thought of the 
breach of good manners. 
But after all, the main root of our negli¬ 
gence is at the bottom of the heart. And 
this “ bias” is only another phenomenon of the 
conflicting natural and spiritual elements 
within us? We draw this conclusion from the 
fact already mentioned, that love letter* are 
always written quickly and well. Why? Love 
is a passion finding a natural outlet in elo¬ 
quence. Friendship is a sentiment lying still 
in the deep recess of our heart easily ignored 
among more vital claims for our interest. The 
passion of love needs restraint because it is 
the all-absorbing, consequently harmful, ele¬ 
ment of our nature. The sentiment of friend¬ 
ship needs cultivation because it is one of the 
spiritual elements which act as a restraint 
upon the former in directing love from one to 
more. Now, we all know ourselves prone to 
indulge what needs restraint, and neglect 
what needs cultivation. The writing a love- 
letter is only indulging the passion which 
needs restraint, and the neglect to write a 
friendly letter is neglecting the sentiments 
which need cultivation. Hence, the bias of 
human nature George Eliot noticed in corres¬ 
pondence is the very same bias which is prom¬ 
inent in every action of our life—to do what 
we like and what is natural to the neglect of 
those spiritual forces which need drawing out 
before they can influence. 
Wo see now why it is easier to write a love, 
business, or any other letter which concerns 
our immediate feelings or interest, but nobler 
to write a friendly letter which has nothing 
in itself to gratify. It is only with the noblest 
attributes of the soul that we can carry on a 
friendly comispoudence with credit and 
pleasure. WUeu we admire what is beautiful; 
when we love what is good; when we seek 
what is true; when we strive for moral and 
intellectual perfection; when ween joy solitude 
and contemplation as much as society aud 
more than gossip; with a heart full of tender¬ 
ness and solicitude, and charity, with, a soul 
buoyed with enthusiasm, then will our letters 
to friends be no longer dull or tardy. For the 
task of writing will be a task no longer but a 
pleasure—the outlet of an overflowing heart. 
We give another cut and description of a 
different style of apron, for school git Is can¬ 
not have too many pretty « prons. 
Apron of white lawn, with pleated frill 
of the same material four inches deep. Abo^e 
the frill is a crossway band of dark blue lawn, 
piped with red and sewed on with feather- 
stitching of red thread. Half-bodice of lawn, 
with pleated frill, and band of dark blue 
worked to correspond. Shoulder-straps aud 
pocket, piped with blue and red, and worked 
in feather-stitch. Strings of lawn, to tie at 
the back. 
A Chapter For Husbands and Wives, 
PART i 
Mrs. Barclay sat by the west window of 
her kitcheu, thinking. She had no knittiug or 
sewing in her lap. For once the busy hands 
brown and hardened, were idle. With eyes 
