317 
MAY 4i 
Jfar Utomnt. 
CONDUCTED BY MISS RAY CLARK. 
COLLOQUY WITH THE MAY BIRD. 
BY MABY F. VAN DYCK, 
“ Sweet bird of May, what do you say 
In your merry rounds-lay?” 
Ans.—" I welcome spring’, and love to sing 
To every bud that’s opening.” 
PIG. 165. 
“ Where do you go, I'd like to know 
To hide from winter’s frost and snow ?” 
Ans.—I wing my flight, on pinious light 
Where southern skies are warm and bright.” 
“ Why come again ? Methiuks I fain 
Would ever in that elirno remain.” 
Ans.—“ Ah, friends arc here. I loved last year 
And you are one of them, my dear.” 
“ Then why so Bby 7 Come nearer by 
And look me bravely in t.ho eye.” 
Ans.—“ I cannot stay, T must away 
And line my new-made nest to-day.” 
“ Nay, bide with mo, anil I will be 
As kind, aB kind can be, to thee.” 
Ans.—“ And loave my mate, all desolate 
Who now my coming doth await?” 
" Nay birdie blest T was in Jest, 
I’m glad your love hath stood the test; 
Ye powers Above, grant one I love 
May as this birdie, faithful prove !” 
--- — 
FASHIONS. 
Fig. 165—under-bodice, with chess improver. 
The bodice Is of flue twilled muslin, trimmed 
with lace; the improver of satin or other material, 
well wadded and quilted. A corset-cover, or other 
under-waist pattern may ho used. The Improver 
can be cut readily without the use of a pattern. 
FlG. 167—HOMK-DKKSK FOR VOUNCi LADY. 
The dreBs is of beige, trimmed with the same. 
There are many other materials suitable for ma¬ 
king this dress, A combination of colors or 
goods would be as appropriate as to have It con 
structed of the same throughout. 
vl 
FIG. 166. 
Fig. 166 and 169, Bonnet of Old-gold colored Chip. 
(The hack Is shown in Fig. 169, the front In Fig. 166); 
The bonnet Is trimmed with old-gold twilled silk 
strings of the same; a bouquet of tea-roses orna¬ 
ments the aides; the bandeau Is composed of tea- 
roses and forget-m^nots. 
.THE BUBAL NEW-Y0BKEB. " 
A WOMAN’S FIRST CORN CROP. 
I have thought It would be Interesting to you 
to know what a woman accomplished with the 
Blount’s Corn. My husband prepared a plot on 
upland prairie, half of the plot had been manured 
slightly, the other half had not received any ma¬ 
nure, whatever. On the 3d of May last I gave the 
corn to one of the little girls to drop, and I took 
the hoc and made the hills and covered the corn, 
planting one hundred and twen ty-two grains. In 
each hill on the part of the ground unmanured I 
put about half gallon of manure from where a 
straw stack had been eaten down, the other hills 
were planted just as the ground was. 
A drouth followed, and some of the grains I soon 
discovered were perishing, and I began to carry 
water and put on the hills, afterwards sprinkling 
over the top sorno dry earth to prevent baking. 
One hundred came up and lived until the ‘29th 
of July, five were blown down and broken off In a 
storm. 
On the 6th of June I carried chicken manure 
and put one-halt gallon on each hill, In two weeks 
I put on the same again. During this time the 
corn had to he watered a great deal, for the drouth 
continued, and 1 was determined to win the laurels 
(It won) myself. I would not let any one haul the 
water (which might have been done) but carried 
it myself drawing It In the morning into a barrel 
and carrying It In the evening. This I continued 
until the corn was shooting ears, when we had a 
good rain. 
The corn grew up ten to thirteen feet high and 
we bad an average of three ears to the stalk. 
Aside from preparing the ground for planting and 
plowing the com once, I did all the work, hoeing it 
well three times, and removing the suckers until 
reading in the Rural that you intended to leave 
them on, I then let them grow. 
new,” perhaps I can help her with that “ shiny ” 
silk. 
To tone down the “ shine ” get two yards of sllk- 
flnlsh velveteen, or the pretty and fashionable 
corduroy that looks and wears as well as real vel¬ 
vet. 
Trim a walking skirt with alternate bias bands 
of velvet and silk. Commence the bottom of the 
skirt with velvet aLx Inches wide. Gradually les¬ 
sen the width of the bands until it is trimmed 22 
Inches deep. The suit may be finished with a 
a polonaise looped high in front and on the sides, 
A polonaise oan be made of old goods easier than a 
basque, as It can be pieced without the seams 
showing. 
The sleeves may be trimmed to the elbow with 
alternate folds of velvet and silk to match the 
skirt; make a collar of velvet extending to the 
darts to front. The sides of the polonaise may be 
trimmed with the velvet sewed to at the side seams 
and turned back with buttons. For girl’s suits 
there Is a pretty all-wnol basket cloth, stogie 
width, in shades of blue and green, It Is very sty¬ 
lish and pretty. It Is sold at .10 cents a yard. 
o. w. D. 
To the lady who wishes to utilize her old black 
silk. If she will dip It to black dye. the same as If 
she was coloring goods of auother color black, it 
will remove the gloss and make It appear more like 
new silk. If she could get two or three yards of 
the pretty satin-striped goods used for trimming 
this spring (It Is inexpensive) she might get a dress 
and jacket both out of the old dress. 
For patterns both Kuttertek and the Domestic 
are uaed, and if she Is not so very skillful, she oan. 
not nelp hut get It right, as the patterns are true. 
“ Conspltrix.” 
Cheerf ULNK53 hasheen defined to be ” sunshlue 
to the heart.” Don’t keep It bottled up, to the 
FIG, 167. 
1 planted the corn Inside of the prescribed space 
two feet aU around. On the 1st of September we 
moved rrom the farm into town, to put our chil¬ 
dren to school, and just after we moved, two or 
three unruly cattle broke to and destroyed some 
of our corn and fodder, and this is the reason I did 
not report, on the loth of September, Mr. Cone 
cut the corn and put Into shocks. 
In three months from that date It was shelled 
and weighed, and the result was 117 pounds of 
shelled com and 19 pounds of cobs. 
YVe ail (and especially myself) were proud of 
the corn, and think yet that it did exceedingly 
well, though I was disappointed because of some 
of it getting destroyed and thus snoillng, as I 
thought, my chance for any premium, after all my 
hard work. 
Please have patience with this—1 fear—tiresome 
description of a woman’s tlrst corn crop. I must 
not Intrude auy longer on your time and patience. 
Let me tell you, however, that although we are 
citizens of Memphis and expect to be there next 
year anyway, we cannot do without the Rural. 
Memphis, Mo. Mbs. M. C. 
-- 
HELP FOR “FARMERINE.” 
I sympathize with “ Farmortoo ” to her perplex¬ 
ity, and as my principal business for years has 
been making ” auld clols lulk a'most as guld as 
indoors weather, but let It shine I And us it Is 
largely a matter of physical condition, consider It 
duty to keep well, and don’t set yourself up as 
superior to Mother Nature. Good eating, good 
sleeping, good air, and a habit of starting the day 
right and closing It well, will enable most people to 
be as sure of their supply of good nature as the far- 
mer Is of bis w l liter stores. First among your house- 
plants, good wives, cultivate cheerfulness, chief 
ost among your family supplies, father, plan to 
have amiability. As for the dear children, they 
take to merrtoess as naturally as a dog’s tall does 
to wagging, It you give them hall a chance.— 
Golden Rule. 
-♦»» ■■ ■ 
PRESERVING LOCALITIES. 
MARGARET B. HARVEY. 
There Is one thing to which I wish especially to 
Interest the women of our land—for they are 
able to Influence the men. 
It la the question of preserving botanical locali¬ 
ties. it any farmer had upon his place a great 
natural curiosity, such as Niagara Falls or the 
mammoth cave, no one would need to say a word 
to him as to whether he ought, to keep It intact or 
not. But If he owned the habitat of a rare, native 
plant— what then ? 
Looking over Bartram’s Flora, of Philadelphia, 
one finds mentioned genera belonging to the vi¬ 
cinity, which are no longer found In It; why? 
This Is due to many causes, no doubt, but largely 
perhaps, to Ignorance and carelessness. 
Every one knows how rare Is our choice, natural 
plant, the trailing arbutus. YY’hat, short of actual 
wantonnes3 could ever allow It to degenerate and 
die out? What right have mere curiosity hun¬ 
ters to defraud succeeding generations, by tearing 
out the precious roots? And rile same way with 
FIG. ICS—BORDER FOR EMBROIDERY. 
ferns. Who could wilfully do such a thing as pull 
up the sources of their fairy, feathery life, merely 
to All vases and decorate walls? 
Whoever does this is a vandal. 
Fortunately, our magnlflcent park will save for 
posterity many rich floral treasures. We have, 
on the rocks of Laurel Hill, a fern which Is not 
known to occur anywhere else east of Kentucky, 
except perhaps to the AUeghanles. Nothing can 
disturb It In the neighborhood Is another rare 
fern, scarce occurtng elsewhere, except to Siberia. 
It is to be hoped that win be let alone. 
Then wo have the choice orchids—Showy Or¬ 
chis and Adam and Eve—as well as the Dielytra, 
Corydalls and some other flowers, beyond the 
reach—devoutly let It be wished—of destroyers. 
It Is not TOO much to say that for our country’s 
honor, we women ought to exert our best Influ¬ 
ence to keep our national flora from becoming 
extinct, 
-» 4- 
NOTES OF WOMEN. 
Mrs. Scott Siddons was reading to a fashiona¬ 
ble audience at Columbia, S. C. In the midst of a 
selection from “ King John,” at the point where 
the Prince Is sentenced to be blinded, she stopped 
abruptly, said It was Impossible to proceed, and 
walked of! the stage. The people thought she was 
overcome by emotion, aroused by the passage 
which she was reading, and so they applauded 
her for the supposed display of womanly feeling. 
But they were mistaken. A party of young men 
to a box had annoyed her by conversation and in¬ 
attention, and she returned to explain that unless 
they behaved better she wotdd read no more 
They were quiet thereafter. 
The Crown of England’s Queen.— The Impe¬ 
rial State crown of her Majesty Queen Victoria 
was made to 1838, of jewels taken from old crowns, 
together with many supplied at her command. 
The cap is of crimson velvet, bordered with ermine 
fur, and the gems are diamonds, sapphires, rubles, 
FIG. 169, 
pearls and emerald. Tbe whole crown weighs 
nearly forty ounces. There are eight sapphires to 
the first band of jewels. 
Mrs. G. W. Quirky, of Augusta, Maine, who 
has for several years served so eflioleutly as mem¬ 
ber of the visiting Committee, has been appointed 
trustee, In response to a general request, amount- 
