SEPT. 25 
646 
THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
MAGAZINES FOE SEPTEMBER. 
Tire American Naturalist—Contents The 
Slphonophores. (1.—The Anatomy and Develop¬ 
ment of Agalma.) Destruction of Obnoxious In¬ 
sects by means of Fungoid Growths; List of the 
Birds of the Willamette Valley. Oregon; Do Fly¬ 
ing Fish Fly ? Edl tors’ Table; Recent Literature; 
General Notes; Botany; Zoology; Anthropology; 
Gcologv and FalfBontolotry; Geography and Trav¬ 
els; Microscopy; Scientific News. 
“Mimicry” in Snakes.— In the Naturalist for 
September, the question Is asked, “ Does the fox- 
snake ‘mimic’ thorattlesnake?” This recalls an 
experience of mine that occurred several years 
ago. when collecting plants In the vlcintty of Pan¬ 
ola. Miss A snake of an unknown kind running 
along in the low grass was pursued to some rail 
that lay In a loose pile on the ground where It had 
fled ror safety. By means of a stick of sufficient 
length, after finding !t„ I held It fast to the side of 
a rail, when T was surprised and startled by a buz¬ 
zing sound from Its tall. The first thought was 
that l had a rattlesnake, hut a glance at the tall 
and the color of the skin at. once disproved this. 
Fpeling safe from being bitten, the hold was kept, 
and the phenomenon observed. The tall, verti¬ 
cally flattened either naturally or for the occasion, 
was thrown Into rapid vibrations from side to side. 
The snake was very angry at being held, and I 
thought this its mode of showing Its spite. The 
sound seemed hardly as acute as that made by 
the rattlesnake, but. may have been somewhat 
modified on account of the beating of the tall 
against a rail, as It. did from Its position. It was, 
however, a close enough Imitation to cause one, 
on hearing It. to get. out of the way of harm. My 
description of the way of producing the sound 
would be in almost exactly fho same terms as 
those mod by Mr. King, though, if I remember 
rightly, It was more continuous, sl.tU It was not. 
without, interruptions, on loosing my hold to get 
a better chance to kill the snake, being uninjured 
It glided rapidly away, and escaped among the 
grass and bushes, and, as I was not In search of 
that, kind of specimens, no further pursuit was 
made. I did not know the species, but from Its 
slender form, dark color, and rapid running, 
should think It a Coluber, or one nearly allied to 
that genus. Its length was about five feet —E. F. 
Hill , In American Naturalist for September. 
Phrenological Journ al —Contents : Winfield 
Scott Hancock, Democratic Candidate for Presi¬ 
dent of the United Stares. Portrait; Wm. H. Eng¬ 
lish. Democratic Candidate for Vice-President. 
Portrait; Studies In comparative Phrenology. 
Temperal bone In the Carnivora. Rodents and 
Birds: A Press Excursion ; Hallucinations; Edgar 
A Poe, the man and his poetry, Portrait; Notes 
on the Psychology and Pathology of the Brain ; 
TheCoquIta Palm; the Story of a Pedlar; The 
Relation of Food to Morals; Apoplexy; One Phase 
of Evolution ; Notes In Science and Agriculture; 
Editorial Items; Answers to Correspondents; 
What They say; Personal—Library Notices—Pub¬ 
lishers' Department. 
Discovert of Giant Pemains in Ohio, a cor¬ 
respondent of the. Cincinnati Enquirer, lu describ¬ 
ing the mound In wlilcU the gigantic skeletons 
lately found In Muskingum County, Ohio, were de¬ 
posited, says It was about. 64 feet long and 35 feet 
wide, top measurement, and gently sloped down 
to the hill where It was situated. A number of 
stumps of trees were found on the slope, standing 
in two rows, and on the top of the mound were an 
oak and a hickory stump, all of which bore marks 
of great age. All the skeletons were found on a 
level with the hill, and about eight feet from the 
top or the mound, in one grave there were two 
skeletons—one male and one female. The female 
face was looking downward, the male being Im¬ 
mediately aver, with the face looking upward. 
The male skeleton measured nine feet In length, 
and the female eight feet. In another grave were 
also found two skeletons—male and female—with 
the female face looking upward and the male face 
looking downward. The male trame was nine feet 
four inches in length, and the female eight feet. 
In another grave was found a female skeleton, 
which was Incased in a clay coffin, holding In her 
arms the frail skeleton of a child three feet and a 
half long, by the side of which was an Image, 
which, upon being exposed to the atmosphere, 
crumbled rapidly. Seven others were tound in 
single graves, and lying on their sides. The 
smallest, of the seven was nine feet in length, and 
the largest ten. One single circumstance con¬ 
nected with this discovery was the tact that not a 
single tooth was found la either mouth, except In 
the one Incased In the clay cofiia. 
On the south end of the mound was erected a 
stone altar, four feet and a half wide and 13 feet 
long, built on an earthen foundation nearly four 
feet high, having In the middle two large flag¬ 
stones, upon which sacrifices were undoubtedly 
made, for upon them were found charred bones, 
olnders and ashes. This was covered by about 
three feet of earth. Thl3 excavation was made 
under the direction of the Muskingum County His¬ 
torical Society, and the things alluded to In this 
letter, or dispatch.. can be verified by a number of 
witnesses who were present and watched the 
work as It progressed. It was pursued with g reat 
interest and diligence, there being the strongest 
incentive to prosecute the Investigation, for such 
remarkable developments In mound-opening are 
very rare, and are therefore fascinating In the ex¬ 
treme. Their future labors were also rewarded 
with additional developments, which, If they do 
not throw additional light upon this giant race or 
people that once inhabited this country, will at 
least stimulate research. 
What is now a profound mystery, the result of 
this excavation may in time become the key to un¬ 
lock still further mysteries that centuries ago were 
commonplace affairs, Is a stone that was found 
resting against the head of the clay coffin above 
described. It Is an Irregular-shaped red sand¬ 
stone, weighing about 18 pounds, being strongly 
Impregnated with oxide of Iron, and hearing upon 
one side two lines of hieroglyphics.— PhrenologU 
cal Journal for September. 
Eclectic Magazine.— contents:—Steel Engrav¬ 
ing. Portrait, of George Grote the Tltstorian ; Henry 
David Tlioreau; Tils character and opinions. By 
R.L. Stevenson; Edgar Allan Poe. By William 
Mlnto: A Learned Lady of the Sixteenth Century, 
byM. Creighton; On Ants, By Ellice Hopkins; 
A Fable In the Manner of Mr. Gay. By Austin 
Dobson; A Stranger In America, By George 
.Tacob Holyoake ; Story-Telling. By James Payn; 
The Decline of the German University System. 
By A. T. S. Goodrich ; A New Poet. By G. A. Slm- 
cox; The Romance of Chinese Social Life; In 
Town; White Wings; A Yachting Romance. By 
William Black. Chapters XXXVII to XL; The 
Migration of Popular stories. By Sir George W. 
Cox ; Lola Montes; The Northern Shepherd. By 
Gllfried Hartley: The Future of Asiatic Turkey; 
A Woman's Wisdom ; George Grote (with a Por¬ 
trait) By the Editor; Literary Notices; Foreign 
Literary Notes; Science and Art; Varieties. 
Journal of Microscopy—Contents At^ulus 
Stlzoster.iui, N. S.; The Microscope and Its Pails ; 
Chase's Mounting Forceps; The Size of the Blood- 
corpuscles; Preparations of Crystals for the Pola- 
rlscope. Correspondence—Two of Mr. Adolph 
Schultze’s Contributions to Microscopy Reviewed; 
concerning Scientific Journals, volume I. out of 
Print; Postage Stamps ; New Societies; Held 
over; omission, our Book Table—The American 
Naturalist; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of 
the Birds of Ohio: The Raindrop. Transactions 
of Societies—Rochester Microscopical society; 
Microscopical Society of Camden, N. J.; Wellesley 
College Mlscroscoptcal Society; Microscopy and 
Medicine; Lancaster (Pa.) Microscopical Society; 
The New Jersey state Microscopical Society. 
Questions and Answers; Exchanges. 
Jar (Hamm. 
CONDUCTED BY MISS RAY CLARK. 
ARE ALL THE CHILDREN IN 1 
The darkness falls, the wind Is high, 
Dense black clouds fill the western sky. 
The storm will soon begin; 
The thunders roar, the lightnings flash, 
I hear the great round rain drops dash— 
Are all the children in ? 
They’re coming sot'tlv to my side; 
Their forms within my arms they hide— 
No other arms are sure; 
The storm may rage with fury wild, 
With trusting faith each little child, 
With mother feels secure. 
But future days are drawing near— 
They’ll go from this warm shelter here, 
Out in tho world’s wild din; 
The rain will fall, the fierce winds blow, 
I’ll sit alone and long to know, 
Are all the children In ? 
Will they have shelter then secure, 
Where hearts are waiting strong and sure, 
And love is true when tried ? 
Or, will they find a broken reed, 
When strength of heart they so much need 
To help them brave the tide ? 
He knows it all; His will is best, 
To shield them now, and yield them rest, 
In His most righteous hand; 
Sometimes souls he loves we riven 
By tempests wild, and thus are driven 
Neai’er the better land. 
If He should call us on before 
The children go, on that blessed shore, 
Afar from care and ein, 
I know that I shall watch and wait 
Till He the Keeper of the Gate, 
Let all the children in, 
-- 
HOUSE-BUILDING-FAIRS. 
In answer to Mrs. B’s. request for hints about 
house-building I Bend our experience. 
We commenced at the beginning, for when we 
took possession of our farm, there was but one 
building upon It—a good ham. 
Upon inspection a slight eminence at just the 
right distance from road aud barn was found and 
chosen for our house site; then many a long 
Winter evening was pleasantly spent In drawing 
plans and making calculations for the building of 
our future home. 
The family purse isn’t a heavy one, and we were 
obliged to “look well before we leaped” for come 
what would we were resolved that no “mortgage” 
should he Included In our plans. What we wanted 
was a house Just large enough to use, no shut up 
rooms to be furnished for moths and spiders to 
abide in, hut all to he airy and pleasant lu Sum¬ 
mer, and capable of being economically warmed 
In winter. A good stone foundation and dry 
cellar were essential—and a bay window for plants 
—by some considered a luxury, we called also a 
necessity; and who can get along without a bath¬ 
room, neither did we forget a good, large pantry, 
and a closet for old clothes, boots and so on, near 
the back door for the greater convenience of the 
“men folks”. Just here some one suggested that 
we should’nt have much money for our outward 
“adorning” tf we had all these extra’s, but we re¬ 
plied, Virginia creepers and bitter-sweet grow all 
along the by-way and we could get them to cover 
aU we lacked in brackets, moldings, etc. 
as we planned so we bullded and the result Is 
not a pretty house, neither la It the stereotyped 
“house with a wing” or “ square house with a 
cupola,” so common In our part of the country, 
buc It is an odd-looking, but cozy cottage with Its 
piazzas, even now, over-run by woodbine and 
clematis, bitter-sweet and trumpet-vine. 
Our partitions are so placed that even breadths 
of carpet fit the rooms, thus obviating the difficul¬ 
ties of carpet laying. 
In short, much thought and “contrivance” were 
expended on “our house.” and we are well con¬ 
tent, may Mrs. B. be equally as well suited. 
May I ask a few questions about Fairs ? Wbat 
are Fairs for ? are they for the promotion and en¬ 
couragement of home industry ? if so, why do the 
“Committee look at the name of the exhibitor be¬ 
fore deciding as to the merits of tho exhibited ? 
Why is it that, foreign work purchased by one 
exhibitor competes with articles made by another 
exhibitor ? 
Why are not the rules forbidding re-exhlhltton 
of articles In certain classes, enforced? 
Why are towns people generally selected as com 
mlttee on domestic manufactures? 
Milly Bird. 
-- •-*-* - 
DON’T DO IT. 
I read an article of Miss Irene’s In this depart¬ 
ment asking some married lady to give the men 
“ Hall Columbia” because women were so over¬ 
worked and broken down before their time. Now 
I’ll do no such thing, for the simple reason that 
I thlDk in the generality of cases It is woman’s 
own fault, and at the risk of bringing all the 
“ Rural ” sisters on my head, I must say that 1 
think such Is the fact. 
Now in the name of “common sense” Is It not 
just as easy to tell a husband in plain English 
that you didn’t marry for a “ slave” as It is to 
drudge along talcing every additional harden 
without complaining, till at last the “straw” 
comes “ that breaks the camel's back.” and you 
are neatly folded away in the lap of Earth, while 
wife number two manages the aforesaid husband 
lar better than you ever did, for the simple reason 
that she asserts “her rights,” and maintains 
them too ? 
I tell you, ladles, 1 have never seen a man that 
liked a worn down, humble creature, who hardly 
dared say her soul was her own. Of course, 
when he wishes to be waited on, she comes 
“handy,”hut when he wants “society” he seeks 
It in some “club,” or other questionable manner; 
whereas. If the wife had saved her health and 
strength, she might he hla equal “ physically” as 
well as his superior morally. There are very few 
men who are naturally unkind to women, hut 
when girls marry, they become ambitious to do 
all they can, and take on every added burden, till 
nature staggers beneath the load. Had they 
stopped when they could not safely go further and 
demanded help, there Is little doubt but that they 
would have received it. 
What Is the use of raking and scraping contin¬ 
ually to amass wealth, and then lie down and die 
for some one else to enjoy It ? That plan Is alto¬ 
gether foreign to my Ideas. 
I love to be clean and as nice as anyone. Yet 
“ don’t you forget,” I never Intend to test ray 
physical strength to such a degree that my life 
will be shortened by the exertion. If a woman 
don’t take care of number one, no ono else will do 
It for her. I’ve heard men lamenting over the days 
of their dear grandmothers and great grandmoth¬ 
ers, when the women were all good, and plied the 
distaff and spinning wheel, and all such antedilu¬ 
vian curiosities, and then I wished In my heart 
that those same “croakers” were compelled to 
farm It as their dear old ancestors had done when 
they cut their wheat with a “grass hook,” and 
ground their corn between heavy stones. 
How would t hey like to do without their manifold 
“ farm machinery,” that lightens their burdens so 
much in this lath century, but you see man Is nat¬ 
urally a selfish being and needs to be told once la 
a while that women have “rights" just as well as 
he has. 
I have often watched our farmers as they come 
to town on Saturday and see their wives, who, 
nearly all of them look Jaded and worn out, while 
the burly farmer laughs and talks and looks 
hearty, and drives home with a $50 or $75 reaper 
or mower to make his work Itght while his wife la 
afraid to spend $5 without his lordships permission, 
out goes all over town lugging an overgrown baby 
to see where she cau get calico the cheapest, 
while he lays back in some store, smoking and 
talking politics or debating whether Garfield 
or nancock will win the day. 
I tell you ladles the reform lies wltlfin ourselves, 
let us do our duty humbly, bravely, but when en¬ 
durance ceases to be a virtue, rise up and assert 
your rights and my word lor It, your husband 
will but respect and love you the more, when ho 
sees that he married a “woman” and not a 
“slave.” By way of digression, now that the 
season for tomatoes is here, I would tell the ladles 
that If they will take the large green ones and 
slice them thin like apples, roll them In corn meal 
and fry chem In butter to a “ golden brown” like 
fritters they will find them the most palatable 
dish they have ever eaten. Mrs. M. J. G. 
FEMININE ADORNMENTS. 
What Inconsistent creatures we are. Most of 
our sex have the greatest abhorrence of creeping 
things, such as lizards, spiders, snakes and other 
abominations, and yet when fashion decrees that 
these repulsive reptiles shall be worn as articles 
of Jewelry, we are the first to adopt the “new 
thing.” Accordingly we have serpents of every 
material, gold, sliver, coral and jet, twining their 
folds on our wrists; the same disagreeable crea¬ 
tures, as well as lizards, Imitated in brass and 
other metals acting as brooches and clasps in our 
bonnets and hats; files, beetles and other Insects 
are worn as ear-ring, lockets and ornaments. 
Some ladies prefer to have their Jewelry sugges¬ 
tive of feminine occupations. Hence we see a 
lady, evidently wishful to be taken for a house¬ 
maid,adorned with brooms banging from. rear , 
and, for fastening her collar, buckets, grid-irons 
and dust pans are used for ornamental purposes. 
It bespeaks little artistic taste on the part of the 
ladlea who adopt these useful but unlovely articles 
as adornments. Sure there are beautiful forms 
enough In nature—In leaves, flowers and grasses— 
which can he successfully imitated by the Jewel¬ 
er’s art; and are more appropriate to grace the 
forms of women than the fashionable articles 
above mentioned. 
-- 
a Tidy Room.—D o you ever observe that a tidy 
room Is invariably a cheerful one ? It Is cheering 
to come Into one’s breakfast, room and find It spot¬ 
lessly tidy; but still more certainly will cheerful¬ 
ness come if tidiness la the result of our own 
exertion; and so we counsel you, friend. If you 
are ever disheartened, vexed or worried about 
something that has gone wrong with you In the 
world, to have resort to the great refuge of tidi¬ 
ness. Don’t sit brooding and bothering. Goto 
work and make everything tidy about you and 
you cannot fall to recover your cheerfulness. 
To Restore Faded Upholsterv.— ’The following 
directions were given recently to a correspond¬ 
ent of the London Furniture Gazette; Beat the 
dust out of them thoroughly, and afterwards 
brush them; then apply to them a strong lather 
of Castile soap by means of a hard brush; wash 
the lather off with clear water.and afterward wash 
them them with alum water. When dry, the 
colors will he restored to their original freshness. 
When the colors have faded beyond recovery, they 
may he touched with a pencil dipped in water 
colors of a suitable shade, mLxed with gum water. 
-*-M- 
It must be that the ladlea (God bless them!) are 
growing intelligent, for the shoe dealers say that 
the demand for lower heels and broader toes, is in¬ 
creasing. They have at last found out that high 
heels, narrow toes, corns and aching feet go to¬ 
gether, and the way to avoid the two latter Is to 
dispense with the two former, regardless or so- 
called “ style.”—Springfield Union. 
-AM- 
FASHIONS. 
Parasol handles have been things of art this 
Summer, finished with knobs of painted porcelain, 
set with cats’ eyes, lapis lazuli, coral and other 
semt-preclous stones, and carved Into heads, ani¬ 
mals, and birds or Insects of various kinds. 
Walking skirts and the fashion of filling up the 
Interior of the lower part of the dress skirts with 
a foundation plaiting has done away with the un¬ 
cleanly extravagance of long-trained, white skirts. 
White skirts are hardly made now more than 
walking length, and are popularly finished with 
two or three ruffles tucked on the edge, and some¬ 
times finished with needlework or lace. 
With gray, brown and bronze dresses, and with 
all neutral shades, a deep red Is the favorite color 
for trimmings; with dark blues and reddish browns 
and purples, old gold Is the favorite shade. When 
the skirt is trimmed with flounces of the same 
material the fluting is put on just under the lower 
flounce upon the skirt Itself. 
A new caprice for trimming evening dresses of 
India mull is to press the brightest colored sea 
mosses until they are thoroughly dry, then ar¬ 
ranging them upon the skirts, bertha aud sleeves 
to resemble a vine, giving the effect of the most 
delicate, hand-palnttng or embroidery. Small t ufts 
of wood-moss, lichens, ground pine and small tern 
leaves are also used. 
AU gloves are less expensive than for many 
years. Cotton gloves come as elaborately made In 
open-work and sUk stitching as the Lisle thread 
and are frequently imposed upon the ignorant by 
careless salesmen. 
Lisle thread gloves are much more elastic, thin¬ 
ner, and when placed beside the cotton the differ¬ 
ence is discernible. They are embroidered and 
plain, some of them are open-worked nearly to 
the elbow; others have elastic hands at the wrist. 
The small bonnet is a favorite with many, hut 
not a few prefer the larger style, which Ls trimmed 
now, not only outside, but Inside also, with flow¬ 
ers. strings are very wide, and often trimmed 
with lace. 
It ls difficult to say which will be the winner in 
the end; at present the most opposite shapes are 
patronized by fashion, and the one thing required 
of a bonnet ls that it be becoming. 
The bouquet, the place of which ls constantly 
being changed, ls, we understand, to be worn 
lower than ever—below the waist in front. But 
we doubt whether this innovation, In questionable 
taste, wiu ever be generally accepted. For the 
coiffure, one or two flowers—mostly roses or car¬ 
nations—are fastened just behind the left ear. 
Wrappings for the autumn and wtnter will be of 
various shapes, hut there seems to me to bo noth¬ 
ing new in tills branch of fashion. There will be 
simultaneously worn large and long mantles, short 
jackets, very large vlsites, others very short, tlght- 
flttlng coats with extremely long basques, and 
numerous hoods. Every kind of garment that can 
accomodate itself to a hood wlU have one. As a 
transition from the Ugbt wraps of Buminor to those 
of autumn, the long or square India cashmere 
shawl ls more and more generally adopted. 
As a change from the casaquin and basque bod¬ 
ice, we now see a number of dresses made with 
a bodice which is a modification of the blouse. 
There ls a plaid shoulder-piece or yoke; the full 
bodice ls fastened on to this yoke In close shlr- 
rlngs In the middle of both tho front and back, 
in front all the fullness ls closely gathered in at 
the waist and confined under a round belt below 
which tho bodice ls continued into a plain basque. 
At the back the shirred middle piece, which Is let 
In between the side seams, Is continued over the 
skirt, and looped up into a limp puff, which ter¬ 
minates into a plaited lappel. The front part ls 
trimmed with a scarf drapery, which ls arranged 
below the'basque, and the skirt Is trimmed 
round the bottom with either one deep kilt¬ 
ing or several rows of fluting. This can he done 
in any sort of fancy material, or In washing far- 
brlcs. if the latter, thread-lace edgings are very 
fashionable. 
