THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
of money, and Vanderbilt has six of them. 
He also has six paintings by Millet, another 
French artist, now dead, who painted in pov¬ 
erty the peasants aronnd him— an artist whose 
-whole life was the reverse of Meissonier’s; 
and whose pictures during his life-time went 
begging for buyers, and now sell for enormous 
sums. 
One of the pictures in this gallery is Millet’s 
famous “Sower”—a sturdy peasant sowiDg 
grain; a pirture so instinct with life and feel¬ 
ing as to be marvelous. Another notable pic¬ 
ture is “The Monarch.” a lion’s head, by Rosa 
Bonheur. She must have painted it looking 
into the lion’s face, at scarcely more than 
arm’s length away. Her great picture, I he 
Horse Fair,” I saw a few years ago, In the 
gallery of Mrs. A. T. Stewart. 
To catalogue Mr. Vanderbilt’s pictures, 
would be impossible here. Every European 
school Is represented. 1 thought the finest 
picture was one by (Jerome—“The 8word 
Dance;” and the one most charming, a little 
one by Meyer Von Bremen —two children look¬ 
ing at their little brother asleep iu a cradle. 
The galleries are very line, independent of the 
pictures. The floors are of beautiful mar¬ 
quetry, covered by large, thick rugs, which 
conceal them, with the exceptiono£ the border 
of mosaic in stone The background for the. 
pictures is maroon tapestry, which is finished 
by a frieze of carved wood, if I remember 
rightly. The furniture is of ebony, very richly 
upholstered. The establishment convoys, in 
every detail, the impression of extreme cost, 
and that only the costliest things were chosen 
witli which to furnish and embellish it. Two 
finely-dressed babies toddled across the hall 
and cried quite the same ns do other young 
st.ers; aud a maid servant, who seemed to he 
engaged iu carrying an ink-stand to and fro 
for some one, was not even attired iu the 
smart and becoming style of a French domes¬ 
tic, but wore a calico gown. But wash frocks 
are now de rigner, as being more cleanly, and 
all the nurses in the New York hospitals are 
obliged to wear calico gowns. 
Later, we walked to see Henry Villard’s 
house—or the one he began to build before his 
failure. Some say that he failed “rich;” 
others that bo is the “soul of honor,” and gave 
up his last dollar. His house is of brown stone, 
covers a block, and one wonders why the 
neuveawr riches have such a passion for large 
houses—large enough for hotels. One would 
think that a smaller house, with a bit of green 
grass about it, would be preferable. 
Mr. Tilden, the “Democratic President,” 
has a beautiful house in Grumercy Park, and 
he advertises his taste for literature and the 
arts by the portraits, in lias relief, of various 
masters, which are set iu the external w all of 
his house—Michel Angelo, Shakspeare, 
Dant<5, Goethe, etc. 
I never before saw the Parks in New York 
so beautiful—such quantities of tulips, hya¬ 
cinths and pansies in full bloom. There is 
more of window gardening than formerly, 
and Fifth Avenue grows to look more like the 
Champs Elysef 1 in this respect, or fushionable 
quarters in London. 
A friend lives iu “Fauny Fern’s” old home 
in East Eighteenth Street, a charming bou.s< 
throughout, where there are still evidences of 
that lively woman's taste for comfortable ar¬ 
rangements, A beautiful Horse Chestnut tree 
iu front of the house was leafing, and my 
friend rentalked, “ ‘Fanny Fern’ planted that 
tree with her own bands.” 1 wa glud it was 
not a maple, which is well enough in its way 
—but why always the maple! 
tor 
omm. 
dirt and keep damp and warui a few davs till 
the tiny seeds get well sprouted, then sprinkle 
occasionally, and transplant when the danger 
of frosts are past, and there will be flowers in 
abundance, I have cut ninny a boquet of petu¬ 
nias in our northern climate the very last 
days of October, all other flowers would be fast 
aslpep long before, because Jack }■ nwt bad so 
commanded. 
They are nice for house culture, keeping in 
blossom till nearly Christmas time. Two 
plants that we kept in the house during the 
winter of 1882—3, began blossoming the first of 
April, and w T ere in bloom t ill about the middle 
of December. One had dark red blossoms, 
and there were weeksduring the Rummer that 
the blossoms could bo counted by the hundreds, 
and it stood in the porch on the north side of 
the house. It. seems to take very kindly to 
sun or shade. The other was striped equally 
pretty but not quite so prolific with flowers. 
The oleander spoken of in the catalogues as 
an old fashioned shrub, has blossoms as beau¬ 
tiful as a rose, and an odor, that is exquisitely 
delightful. Our two years old shrub began 
blossoming in the early part of October last, 
and for six weeks its flowers were the delight 
of the household, and the admiration of 
many guests. In January I found thatit was 
not doing well, so concluded to give it fresh 
soil; on taking it up. I found the gallon jar in 
which it stood, packed completely full of 
fibrous roots. Given a larger receptacle, new 
earth, and plenty of warm water and it goe s 
on with it* labor of growing and budding for 
spring blossoms. A friend who hascultivated 
these shrubs for many years, says if I had re¬ 
potted mine immediately after it had done 
blossoming, it would have flowered in Febru¬ 
ary, and when the tree Ik old enough it will 
blossom every month in the year. 
Dahlias are seldom a success in northern 
latitudes unless the bulbs are put in a hot bed 
or a box of earth near the kitchen stove early 
in the season; then if transplanted after ail 
danger of frosts are past, they are treasures 
indeed, for they will tlogin to blossom in early 
Summer, and keep a succession of flowers till 
very late in the Autumn; and such a beautiful 
variety of colors, rich with velvety hues, it is 
impossible not to admire. 
Equally fine are the hollyhocks sent out 
from the Rural New Yorker office. How we 
did admire the long rows of double rosettes, 
that, clustered around the stalks last Hummer, 
aud wished that they were everlasting in their 
beauty. MAT MAPLE. 
CONDUCTED BY MISC RAY CLARK. 
PETUNIAS, 
OLEANDERS, 
LIAS 1 . 
AND DAH 
much of it. home-made, f’retonne covered 
lounges, and cheese cloth draping at the win¬ 
dows, finished with lace of Jenny’s knitting 
made the rooms look cosy and cheerful, and 
both had a sturdy independence about living 
within their means, which every one respected. 
The steady struggle and unrest which poor 
Alice endured in her attempt, to keep pace 
with those whose Income was doll bln what she 
could command, only drew forth the sly 
laugh and sarcastic comment.. No one was 
the happier for it; certainly no one was de¬ 
ceived by it, and George was growing morose 
over his steadily increasing load of debt. Wo 
see the old story acted out in real life over 
and over again, and the result can be cal¬ 
culated as exact ly as an eclipse, and it does not 
take half the learning. There is no dime 
saving* bank like a snug little home of one's 
own, with a prudent wife for a cashier. 
OLIVE. 
DIME SAVINGS. 
Of all the garden annuals, petunias give 
the best, satisfaction with the least care. 
Through the long, dry, hot summer days, 
they nod their guy caps aud blink and smile 
as though life was one glad summer holiday. 
And indeed it is to them, if t hey are put into 
rich soil, and plenty of room is given them, 
they spread out. their long arms in every di¬ 
rection, and send out an abundance of blos¬ 
soms. that Jill the air with sweet odors, and 
of the most brilliant hues, or delicate shades: 
while tiie panellings would puzzle an artist 
and put. him to bis wits end to follow out t he 
tracery. They begiu to blossom when scarce¬ 
ly four inches high, and continue in bloom 
ofteu till the blindiug snow buries them be. 
ueatb its cold but velvety mantle. If the soil 
is poor light sand they will still make a brill¬ 
iant appearance, but will require less room, 
for the plants will not throw out such long 
branches, and the foliage will be less luxuri¬ 
ant. Give thorn an early start in the Spring, 
by scattering seeds on the top of some soil in a 
box iu the kitchen, press them gently into the 
AN INEXPENSIVE PLEASURE. 
Our little folks last year had a great deal of 
amusement in a little sitting-room ornament 
which they accidentally thought of them¬ 
selves During tbo high water in the Spring, 
they caught numbers of small fish of different 
kinds, such as pickerel. sunfish, and bass. A 
glass fruit can. two-thirds full of water, was 
placed in the sunniest window aud a half- 
dozen fish put in. A few shining pebbles wore 
dropped in the bottom, and every two or 
three days the water was changed, taking care 
that the temperature remained about the 
same. The fish proved, to be ft never-ending 
Source of amusement to all. We thought they 
knew the individual members of the family, 
as they seemed shy when strangers came near. 
During some of the severe electrical storms 
that prevailed last season some of them died, 
but. their places wore tilled witli others caught 
for the purpose. Every one who saw it ex¬ 
claimed at the beauty as well as the novelty of 
the ornament. B - o* D - 
. - » »■«- - - 
CUSHION FOR THE HEAD. 
Tuts style of cushion, for steamer or easy 
chair, is much used iu Paris. It is a comfort¬ 
able attachment, for a tired head. 1 his model 
is of plush, ornamented with a design carried 
“1 would not take all that trouble for a 
sleeve lining,’’ *aid Alice. “You have cut it 
from an old apron, I do believe, and pieced it 
at that. Why did you not pay 10 cento for a 
yard of paper muslin, and make it. up right?” 
“Because 1 have more time to spare than 10 
cent pieces. This will answer very well, and 
every dime I save is another shingle or brick 
for the house.” 
“I would live in a rented bouse all my days, 
before 1 would pinch and save that way,” said 
Alice, seornfuily. 
“That is where our tastes differ,” said 
Jenny, quite unmoved. “I would rather owu 
A cottage than rent a palace. We deny our¬ 
selves nothing we actually need, aud as for 
these little savings they are rather a pleasure 
than otherwise. The lessons in economy 
which my mother taught me very early in lite 
stay by me, and I try to teach the same to 
little Jessie. We are getting on, Alice; and 
Charley says it is owing to my economy in 
managing more than anything eke.” 
“George doesn't compliment me that, way, 1 
assure you. He is always scolding about the 
hill*, and ‘makes such a time’ over every new 
dross, or hat, 1 get. He is perfectly awful 
sometimes. There is such a difference in 
men 1” 
A stranger would naturally have thought 
as they looked at the two cousins, “and in 
women, too.” 
The very style of dress told much with re¬ 
gard to the character of the two, evern if you 
looked no further thau the showy gilt brace¬ 
lets, half an inch wide, on the wrists of one, 
aud the strip of snowy, well-darned lace about 
the neck aud sleeves of the other. 
They were married toe same Christmas 
Day, aud Jenny’s two little girls were an 
added expense Alice did not have. Yet 
Charley's business was thriving, and he was 
gaining in the esteem of all about him, and 
could get accommodation to any extent he 
might ask, if he had wished it.. He was only 
a plain, industrious young man. but everyone 
felt that he bad the right kind of a w ife to help 
him thrive. He bought a pretty piece of 
property on easy terms, and the payments 
were always promptly met. It was their only 
debt, and had been assumed after much delib¬ 
eration. They had never regretted it, and 
the little home grew dearer aud prettier every 
season. The furniture was very simple, and 
out in cross-stitch and applique. They give 
better service for common use if made of 
momie cloth and embroidered with worsted. 
Domestic Cconomi) 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY MAPLE. 
MILK DIET FOR CHILDREN AGAIN. 
MARY W A (IKK FISHER. 
The readers of the Rural New-Yorker 
cannot, certainly, accuse me of any interested 
purpose iu my persistent crusade against meat 
as an article of food for children. This pre¬ 
sent recurrence to the subject is inspired by a 
report made in the New York Medical Jour¬ 
nal for March, by a visitiug physician to the 
Orphan’s Horae and Asylum, in that city, in 
regard to milk diet for children under 10 years 
of age. Twenty-five years ago, Dr. James II. 
Learning, ft physician of great distinction, ar¬ 
ranged the dietary for the children under 
eight years ot age in the above-named insti¬ 
tution, which dietary is still practically ad¬ 
hered to. The decrease of mortality among 
the children following the Learning bill-of- 
fare was so great as to attract the special at¬ 
tention of physicians, and the continued re¬ 
sults of this diet for a quarter of a oeiitury, 
must be accepted os sufficient proof of its fit¬ 
ness or unfitness. 
In this report in the Medical Journal, Dr. 
Cammann quotes from the experiences of phy¬ 
sicians iu different countries, who have ob¬ 
served the effects produced m children reared 
on a meat and on a milk diet. “Children in 
France are fed upon flesh meats when very 
young; but they are not so healthy as English 
children, and the mortality is greater.” “Chil¬ 
dren who have the most neurotic (nervous) 
temperaments aud diatheses, and who show 
the greatest tendencies to instabilities of braiD, 
are, as a rule, flesh-eaters, having a craving 
for animal food too often and in great quauti- 
Dr. Keith, of Edinburgh, who has long 
practiced an anti-flesh crusade in the 
briuging-up of all children up to eight 
or 10 years of age, says: “l believe that, by a 
proper diet aud regimen more than any other 
wav, we can fight against aud counteract in¬ 
herited neurotic tendencies in children, and 
tide them safely over the periods of puberty 
and adolescence.” Another writer, after urg¬ 
ing the necessity of giving children an abun¬ 
dance of milk, says; “If this, or anything 
approaching this, were tbo rule instead of the 
exception, rickets, in its manifold phases, 
would be completely banished from this coun¬ 
try, aud a much higher standard of health 
and robustness would unquestionably pre¬ 
vail.” The strapping gillie of the Scotch 
Highlands is brought upon oat meal and milk, 
ami for strength, hardiness, fine physical de¬ 
velopment and muscular endurance, he h 
without a rival. 
Dr. Pavy says truly: “Milk is complete in 
itself. In it exists, besides the organic princi¬ 
ples, all the inorganic matter, including both 
salines and water, that is needed.” 
“Do not forget,” remarked a distinguished 
chemist to Dr. Wm. .Tenner, “do not forget 
that a pint of milk contains as much sol id an i- 
mal matter as a fall-sized mutton chap." It 
contains all the elements necessary to the 
growth of the body—a fact that the majority 
of people either do not or will not comprehend. 
During the 25 years that meat has been 
withheld from the dietary in this asylum a) 
luded to, only one death has occurred from 
dysentery and one from cholera infantum, 
and these were in 1865, when meat was for a 
short, time added to the dietary; and it should 
be remembered that these children are, in 
large part, the offspring of diseased parents, 
and that they have not had the great advan¬ 
tage of country 1 i fe. A uother matter wort by 
of notice is the large percentage of recoveries 
from diseases which have, from time to time, 
invaded the home. Only two deaths from 
scarlet fever have occurred in this quarter of 
a century. The geueral health und appear¬ 
ance of the children are exceptionally good. 
They are freer than is usual from colds and 
other slight ailments so common in Winter. 
The number of children in the homo from 1859 
until 1868, ranged from 78 to 88. In 1864 the 
number reached T24, since which time the 
number has increased to 125 and upwards, aud 
the total number of deaths in all these years 
has been but20. The children are admitted 
at three years of age. and some are ill from 
inherited maladies when admitted, and com¬ 
paratively few arecbildreu of healthy parents. 
Here is the bill-of-fare for children under 
eight years of age, from November 1st to May: 
Sunday, Tuesday and Friday—Breakfast, 
bread and milk, 
Mouday-Oat meal, steamed, served hot with 
molasses. 
Wednesday—Hominy, steamed, served hot 
with molasses. 
Thursday—Mush, hot, with milk and sugar. 
Saturday—Wheaton grits, hot, with milk 
and sugar. 
Dinner— Sunday—Bread, milk, potatoes, 
cabbage or pumpkin; sago or rice pudding. 
Monday—Bread, milk, eggs, potatoes, pars¬ 
nips or spinach. 
Tuesday—Bread, chowder of salt cod¬ 
fish, potatoes, crackers and milk, cabbage 
sprouts or tomatoes. 
Wednesday—Bread, milk, potatoes, onions, 
rice or bread pudding, 
Thursday—Bread, milk, eggs, potatoes, 
spinach. 
Friday—Bean porridge, potatoes, parsnips, 
carrots or turnips. 
Saturday—Bread, milk, potatoes, cabbage 
or onions; apple sauce. 
Supper—Sunday—Bread and milk. Monday, 
bread and milk, stewed primes. Tuesday, 
—Cornstarch, with milk and sugar. Wednes¬ 
day—Bread and milk, stewed apples. Thurs¬ 
day, mush aud molasses. Friday—Bread and 
milk, and stewed peaches. Saturday—Hom¬ 
iny, with milk and sugar. 
FROM MAY 18T TO NOVEMBER 1ST. 
Sunday— Breakfast Bread and milk. Din- 
no —Bread, milk, potatoes, asparagus, or 
other fresh vegetables, salt bacon boiled, rice 
or sago pudding. Supper—bread and milk. 
Monday—Breakfast every day as on Sun¬ 
day. 
Dinner—Bread, milk, eggs, string-beaus. 
Supper —Bread, milk, stewed dried apples. 
Tuesday— Dinner —Bread, chowder of salt 
codfish, potatoes, crackers and milk, toma¬ 
toes, fresh fruit. Supper—Corn starch with 
milk and sugar. 
Wednesday— Dinner —Bread, milk, salt ba¬ 
con boiled, onions, rice or bread pudding. 
Supper—Bread, milk, stewed peaches. 
Thursday— Dinner— Bread, milk, eggs, po¬ 
tatoes, string-beans, fresh fruit. Supper— 
mush and molasses. 
Frida} —Dinner—Bean porridge or salt cod¬ 
fish, potatoes, tomatoes. Supper—Bread and 
milk, stewed apples. 
Saturday—Dome)—Bread, milk, potatoes, 
asparagus or other fresh vegetal lies, fruit. 
Supper—Hominy with milk and sugar. 
The following fruits are also allowed— 
St rawberries, raspberries, peaches, pears, cur¬ 
rants, blackberries and blueberries —a bill-of- 
fare that is “plaiD, nutritious, bountiful, and, 
