FES. 7 
grafting far t|f fating. 
THE INUNDATION. 
In many homes, and particularly In those In 
which Uncle Mark has some niece or nephew he- 
longing to the Horticultural Club, the scene here 
presented will have repeated Itself so often as to 
be quite familiar. The little girl Is a gardener and 
a lover of flowers. In her solicitude lor their well 
being she Is administering the remedy that so 
many little gms (and many big ones, too,) think 
a sure cure for any and all Rllments of the plants 
-water And she is giving It. a thorough soaklug. 
The large watering potts evidently too heavy for 
her, for being unable to manage It, she iwurs a 
liberal shower on the cushioned chair, from which 
n flows like a little Niagara Falls, to the floor, 
where it threatens to form an Inland lake In a 
small way. She could most likely have avoided 
he was formerly called, generally comes to us 
about the middle of May and remains until the 
middle of June. His color Is black nr blue black, 
at first, but he don’t keep this coat of feath¬ 
ers very long, lie soon stops singing and changes 
his coat to a kind of greyish brown, which Is not 
so pretty, ills song Is very pretty, and he seems 
to say “Robert Lincoln! Robert Llnooln!" In 
size he is about medium, being between the spar¬ 
row and robin. Although they till our mead¬ 
ows and pastures In large numbers, they ao not 
gather In large flocks, as do some other birds. By 
their graceful movements, strongly contrasted 
plumage and cheerful notes, they enliven our 
tlelds and seem to constantly challenge the ad¬ 
miration of the beholder. He soon Loaves us and 
goes farther south—generally to Virginia and Mouth 
Carolina—where he frequents the rice fields. 1 n 
Mouth Caroll na he Is called the reed bird. When 
he gets as tar South as that he does not care tor 
dress; all be cares for Is to get enough to supply 
his table, so he Is a sort of a gourmand. 
St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. May I. Moreland. 
they did very well considering the season was so 
dry. They watered their plants several times, but 
did not give them enough to keep them growing 
well, so now they say they will do better next 
season U It should be a dry one; the weeds had not 
much chance, for their hoes was going on aome 
part or ot her of the garden nearly' every day. Papa 
Is going to give each of them a larger patch this 
year; 1 hope they will do well and then perhaps 
Oliver will write and tell you how he succeeded, so 
please put our names down as members of your 
club. Ycur niece, Wild Role. 
Burlington. Kansas. 
Uncle Mark.— Will you please accept roe as a 
new cousin ? I am 12 years old next month. I 
have one sister, and t wo brothers. I wish much 
to Join your Horticultural Club If not too late. 1 
did not have a very large flower bed this summer, 
but mean to have one larger next summer. We 
had a children’s wigwam this summer and last; 
as shown In one of the older Rurals, it was covered 
MAGAZINES FOR FEBRUARY. 
Appletons’ Journal.— Contents: A Stroke of 
Diplomacy, from the French of victor Cherbullez; 
The Comedy Writers of the Restoration; Miracles, 
Prayer and Law, by J. Boyd Klxmear; Life In Brit¬ 
tany; The Beamy Side, by Walter Besant aud 
James Rice, Chapters XXVJi—XXIX; Teaching 
Grandmother—Grandmother’s Teaching, by Alfred 
Austin; The Russian GypsleB, by Charles G. Le- 
land; First Impressions of the New World, by the 
Duke of Argyll; Editor’s Table: The World’s 
Paradises—The Pulpit and the stage—Trees In 
Cities. 
The Russian Gypsies. — It Is, 1 believe, sel¬ 
dom observed that the world Is so far from 
having quilted the romantic or sentimental 
for the purely sclentlflc that, even In science 
itself, whatever Is beat set forth, owes half its 
charm to something delicately aud distantly re¬ 
flected from the forbidden land ot fancy. The 
greatest reasonera and wrUerB on tne driest 
topics are still “ genial,” because no man ever yet 
had t rue genius who did not feel the Inspiration ot 
poeiry, or mystery, or ftt least of the unusual. We 
are not rid of the marvelous or curious, and, R we 
have not yet a science or curiosities, It Is appar 
entiy because It ties for the present distributed 
about among the other sciences, Just as In small 
museums Illuminated manuscripts are to be found 
In happy family union with stuffed birds or min¬ 
erals, and with watches and snuff-boxes, once the 
property or their laic majesties ihe ueorges. Un¬ 
til such a science Is formed, the new one of eth¬ 
nology may appropriately serve for It, since It or 
all presents most, attraction to him who is politely 
called the general reader, but who should In truth 
be called the man who reads the most ror mere 
amusement. For Et hnology deals with such do* 
llglilful material us primeval kuinbo-eephaUlc 
skulls, and appeals to her votaries arrayed, not In 
silk attire, but in strange fragments or leather 
from anoteut Irish graves, or in cloth from lacus¬ 
trine villages. Hhe glitters with the qualm 
jewelry of the Aral Italian race, whose ghosts, if 
they wall over the “ Hud,” “ speak in a tanguuge 
man knows no more,” she charms us with etch¬ 
ings or 8Cpatchings Of mammoths on mammoth- 
bone, and Invites us to explore mysterious caves, 
to picnic among megalithlc monuments, and 
speculate on pictured Scottish stones, in short, 
she engages man to Investigate his ancestry, a 
pursuit which presents charms even to the Illiter¬ 
ate, and asks us to llnd oui facta concerning works 
of art which have Interested everybody lu every 
age. 
m< intermt, before the science of curiosities is 
segregated from that of ethnology, 1 may observe 
that one of the marvels In tlio latter la that, among 
till the subdivisions of the human race, there axe 
only two which have been, apparently rrom tbelr 
beginning, set, apart, marked and cosmopolite, ever 
UvTng among others and yet reserved unto them 
selves. These are the Jew and 1hf» Gypsy. From 
time whereof history hath naught to the contrary, 
thu Jew wua, as lie himself holds In simple faith, 
the that man. Red Earth, Adam, was a Jew, and 
the old claim to be. the chosen people has been ap 
parently oontlrmed by the extraordinary genius 
and Influence of the race, aud by their bouudless 
wanderings. Go where we may, we tlnd the Jew 
has any other wandered so far V 
Yes, one. For wherever Jew ban gone, there, 
loo. b the Gypsy. The Jew may be more ancient, 
but even the authentic origin of the Kominany la 
lost In ancient Aryan record, and, strictly speak¬ 
ing, his Is a prehistoric caste. Among the hun¬ 
dred and iltty wandering tribes oi India and Persia, 
some Of them Turanian, some Aryan, and others 
mixed, it Is ot course Impossible to Identify the 
exact origin of the European gypey. one thing 
we know, that from the tenth to the twelfth cen¬ 
tury, and probably much later on, India threw out 
from her nor thern hull a vast multitude of very 
troublesome indwellers. \V bat with Buddhist. 
Bruhman, and Mohammeduu warn-Invaders out¬ 
lawing Invaded - the number or ouUwsfes became 
alarmingly great, To Um.-.e the Jala. who. accor¬ 
ding i o ( upiftln Burton, count Hu ted the main stock 
ot our gypsies, contributed perhaps hall their en 
Ure nation. Excommunication among the Indian 
profeaaora of tranaeendcuial benevolence meant 
social death and Inconceivable cruelty. Now 
there are many historical indications that these 
outcasts, before leaving India became gypsies, 
widen was the most natural thing In a country 
where such classes had already existed in very 
great, numbers from early times.—Appa tons' jvt 
Fei/rmuy. 
Eclectic M aoazi.nk. contents: Lord Beacons 
ileld l. Why We Follow Him, By a Tory. 11 
Why We Disbelieveiu Him, by a Whig: Firstim 
oreSblona of Mu* New World, by the Duke or 
this “Inundation” if she had taken the rase off the 
watering-pot and poured the water outof the spout, 
it is to be hoped thather mamma will not scold her 
when she dlscovm the flood. She Ought, to take 
Into consideration the good intentions of ber little 
daughter, and bow t roublesome It is for uer to use 
the large pot. To be sure she could have watered 
her vine much easier If sue had lot the pot. stand 
no the floor. Mhe would not then have to lift the 
pot so Ulgh and there would he no occasion to 
pour water on the chair , but. she does not atop to 
think of this. Her only thought. Is to give her 
plant water, and water It gets in abundance. All 
little gardeners should study this picture that they 
may avoid similar inundations. 
-» ■ »<- 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
The Bobolink. 
A little girl sends this description of the mueh- 
loved Bobolink; 
Unoak Make.—T he Bobolink, or BoboUhooin, as 
THE INUNDATION.— Fig. 43. 
Dear Unolk Mbk :—I have had a great desire to 
join your Horticultural Club but thought you had 
so many little nleoes and nephews that all the 
corners would be tilled; bull see by the Rural 
ihai you still take new members ror your club. 
We ha ve not taken the Rubai, very long but think 
It an excellent paper. I read the cousins’ letters 
weekly and would like to become one of (hem. 
Our garden did not do so very well last season, It 
was so dry. 1 have some house plants, and they 
are doing very well, for 1 am so fond of flowers. I 
attend to them every day ; mamma has some 
English Ilollv seed and planted some ot them In a 
box and cared for them, but they railed to eomo 
up. She has stfinc more seeds, and she would be 
very thankful If Uncle Mark would tell her how to 
treat them so os to Insure their germination and 
growth. I have two little brothel’s, Oliver and 
Leonard, who would like to become membois of 
your club. Each of them had a Utile patch of 
ground for a garden last season, which they 
attended to In their own way and they raised beans, 
peas, watermelons, popcorn and Hollyhocks, and 
wltn pink and blue Morning Glories, Gourds, Ma¬ 
deira vine and live leaved Ivy. I take care of all 
our flowers this winter. I must close, but will write 
again soon. Yours, Minnie Chapel. 
Cortland Co., N. Y. 
Dear Cnui.e Mark. —1 nave written to you and 
the cousins once before, but so long ago that. 1 pre¬ 
sume l have been forgotten, l saw my other let¬ 
ter In print, so I venture to write again. I very 
much enjoy reading Urn letters from the cousins, 
but am not ao much of a gardener as most of them. 
I am quite fond of flowers, and i-njoy working out 
of doors, in the garden or yard. I always raise 
bowers, but the chickens bother me a good deal by 
digging them up. 1 am quite a housekeeper, and 
like to work In the house much better than out of 
doors, i wonder if all the nieces know how to 
oook. Especially do 1 like to make cake. 1 have 
written quite enough, so I’ll bid you adieu. From 
your loving niece, Zsphyr. 
Michigan. 
presslona ot the New World, by tne Duke or 
Argyll: The Letters Of Charles Dickens, by Wil¬ 
liam Min to - ii Isn ay and l’OltUCB, by Prof. Seeley; 
Early English Ballads; A Gossip about Goethe, 
In his Birthplace; Teaching Grandmother- 
Grandmother’s Teaching, by Alfred Austin 
\Vtitle Wings; A Yachting Romance, by William 
Black. Chaps. X' 11. to XIX ; The Ltterary Call 
lug and Its Future, by James Fuyu; Escape from 
Puiu; The History of a Discovery, by Mir James 
Paget; V Sonnet In Dialogue. To K. W. G., by 
Austin Dobson; Mademoiselle de Mersac. Chapa 
XX VIII and XXIX ; Carlyles J J olitte«d Doctrines, 
by William L. Courtney ; Huntihlne and Shadow; 
ITor. Asa Gray. With Portrait, by the Editor , 
Literary Notices 
The Elkotkk' I.iuut in tuk British Museum. 
The practical utility ot electric lighting was fairly 
tested on Saturday morning during the heavy rog 
which shrouded the metropolis. For more than 
a century readers at the British Museum bavw 
lieeu compelled to suspend work on the occasion 
of a fog, and to leave the reading-room; but on 
Saturday morning shortly after ten o’clock, when 
many readers, unmindful of the Improvements of 
the age, were about to quit with their papers, 
tire electric light was turned on, aud, without 
any appareut. preparation, the spacious room 
was suddenly illumined as by a magic ray oi 
sunshine, to the great satisfaction of all present 
There was a murmur of applause. For with the new 
carbon which Messrs. Siemens have manufactured 
at their Berlin works, und with the gilt reflectors 
suggested by Mr. Bond, the principal librarian, 
the light is about as good a substitute for sunllghi 
as can yet be devtsed. since the latter part Of 
October the electric tight lias been continuously 
used m the national reading-room of an evening 
until seven o’clock, and an average of more ih»u 
two hundred students and literary men have 
been able nightly to proceed with their researches 
to that hour Instead or leaving off, as formerly 
when the shades of evenlug fell, it is reported 
that one Of the staff, Mr. Nlohols. has worked 
closely ror two hours for a tortnlght by the light, 
with a view to try the effect on the sight, aha 
otwia that there Is not only no Inconvenience, but 
