J>84- 
AU6 n 
for i\)C jDontig. 
THE NEXT DISCUSSION. 
N January last the discua- 
tf siorj of etrawberriea was 
announced, and although 
the ground was frozen 
bard, and all vegetation 
was sleeping, you took up 
your pens and wrote your 
experience, and we had 
the best of your knowl¬ 
edge of growfug straw¬ 
berries to help us in grow¬ 
ing them lust Spring, and 
I think we all enjoyed the 
berries more when they 
ripened, because we had 
been learning all we could 
about them. The discussion we are now to 
have will give you all uow ideas for next 
Winter, I hope; the subject Is 
CONVENIENT THTNOK FARMERS’ BOYS AND 
GIRLS CAN MAKE. 
It is often said that farmers have more leisure 
than any other class of business men: the far¬ 
mer's children share in this leisure time, and 
sometimes find rainy or wintry days dull and 
tiresome, because they bave nothing to do. 
There are few of you who do not know how to 
make something useful, hut perhaps you only 
know how to make one thing; if each of you 
sends a description of that, one tiling, we will all 
know how to make a great many things, and 
next Winter our leisure hours can be used to 
make something of value. Convenience* far¬ 
mers' boys and girls can make will Include any¬ 
thing that will make the work on the farm or in 
the house easier or more convenient. I will sug¬ 
gest some things that nan be made to give you 
an idea of what can be done. Muuy conven¬ 
ient things can be made of boxes, and even the 
lioxes themselves can be made, and some of 
their uses in barn and house will be as hens 
nests, tool boxes, wood boxes and work-boxes. 
The girls will find almost as many uses for 
bags for scraps, for clothes-pins, for shoes, 
etc.; you can make trellises for flower-pots, 
and for the yard; chicken coops, rustic seats, j 
stands, and benches, iron holders, ironing- i 
boards, shelves, pegs and lamp-shades. 
Now write the liest description you can of the 
handy things you have made, and if you send 
a drawing our artist will have it engraved, 
and we will have some good pictures of your 
work. 
The letters must all be iu by Septemlier 80. 
You have done so well in other discussions, 1 
expect a wide-awake, enjoyable time for this 
one. Don’t disappoint your 
UNCLE MARK. 
-- *+* -— 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— It has been a long 
time since I wrote my last letter. 1 enjoy 
reading the letters in the Rural very much. 
The seeds you sent me came up nicely. 1 am 
raislug some beans to sell. Mamma got a to¬ 
mato out of the garden, that weighed nearly 
two pounds; we had many strawberries this 
year; our Cuthbert Raspberries did not bear 
much fruit.; some of our grapes will soon be 
ripe; our apple trees are full of apples; we 
will not have many peaches. I bave a dozen 
chickens almost large enough to sell; we keep 
four cows, and we are raising three more. I 
milk a cow every evening and morning, 
Baltimore Co , Md. lewis e. cross. 
Dear Uncle Mark:—I will now send iu 
my Hummer's report. We have a nice garden 
this year. Wo have beans, peas, cabbages, to¬ 
matoes, beets, melons, and other vegetables in 
the garden. Many thanks for those flower 
seeds; they were sown in a lied about four 
feet square, and a great many of the seeds 
came up; and among them there were some 
very pretty flowers, a great many of which 
are in bloom now. The poppies were very 
pretty; there were some pansies among the 
•‘Rural Garden Treasures,” and some very 
pretty petunias, red and white. We have 
three bunches of hollyhocks, one pink one 
and two red ones. We had very few raspber¬ 
ries, huckleberries, blackberries, aud cherries, 
but the strawberries yielded very well, and the 
apple trees are full of apples. The apple trees 
looked very pretty when they were in bloom. 
The trees blossomed the whole length of the 
limits, Mamma got a very large tomato out 
of the garden yesterday; it weighed one 
pound 11 ounces. “Your niece, 
Baltimore Co., Md. bertha r. cross. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— I inclose you a pro¬ 
gramme of the second annual eutertaiument 
of the •‘Lightning Bugs" and as our perform¬ 
ance was something like the one you suggest¬ 
ed for the Fourth of July, I will tell you and 
the Cousins how our society originated and 
how it succeeded. We cannot often attend 
entertainments in town, but we do not mean 
to get lonesome just because we live in the 
country, so we entertain each other; we did 
not have this on the Fourth of July but 1 
thought you would like to hear about it any¬ 
how f 
One warm day in July, about a year ago, 
my two brothers, nine and 11 years old, and 
a little girl friend came to me, asking for 
some amusement. I said, “Let us be a society 
aud call ourselves the Lightning Bugs and 
get up an entertainment.” 
The idea suited their restless little brains 
exactly, and 1 found myself in an inextricable 
tangle of questions as to when, where, how 
long, aud the exact manner of our young so¬ 
ciety. 
I arranged a short, programme and within 
a week we sold tickets to the amount of 41 
cents at three cents each, and ou a beautiful 
evening before a very indulgent audience wo 
made our first appearance. This year with 
the help of a little girl cousin, we prepared 
the programme I send you. With help from 
some of the older boys in the neighborhood, 
we raised a tent; a very large sheet used for 
curing seeds formed the top aud sides, the 
back and sliding curtains in front were made 
of unbleached muslin. The tent was for the 
use of the performers only, the seats for the 
audience being arranged in front of it. 
The tent was trimmed inside with ever 
green and adorned with pictures borrowed 
from the house. An organ, a stand and four 
chuirs completed its furnishing While our 
preparations were being made, the tickets at 
three cents apiece sold rapidly, aud the re¬ 
ceipts amounted to $1.05. This money we 
used to pay for refreshments. The evening 
chosen for the entertainment was clear and 
beautiful, and found us prepared for our 
guests—the boys and girls, gentlemen and 
ladies of the neighborhood who had bough! 
tickets'. At half past seven they arrived and 
we begun our performance; it was still quite 
light, so lamps were not needed. The pro¬ 
gramme opened with a piano solo performed 
by a little boy and u larger girl on an organ 
und a drum; the boy wus dressed in a military 
suit borrowed for the occasion, the girl in 
fantastic style, with a catalpa leaf bonnet 
! trimmed with hoi yhock flowers. This was fol- 
j lowed by an original poem, my own composi¬ 
tion, recited by one of the little boys: the 
poem begins; 
“You must not so to sleep 
Unless you close your eyes.” 
aud goes on In that style through eight verses. 
We had a play entitled “The Book Agent.,” in 
this I was the lady of the house, tny cousin 
was an old deaf aunt; she sat knitting when 
the agent came, when I had nearly succeeded 
in dismissing him, she looked up and iuvited 
him in with profuse apologies that we had not 
heard his knock Johnnie then came home 
from school, aud seeing his mother's anxiety 
to have the agent leave, he lights several 
shooting crackers under his chair aud the 
agent vanishes, 
The lamps were then lighted and a panto¬ 
mime of Blue-Beard was enacted by the little 
Isjys and their cousin while I repeated the 
story iu poetry, as told by Holland 
| vVe hud other poems ami declamation se¬ 
lected and original, as you cau see, Uncle 
Mark, by the programme. 
We closed with a song in which the audience 
I was iuvited to join; then my older sisters and 
several of the neighbor boys passed cake and 
lemonade and we all enjoyed a social time to¬ 
gether, closing the evening at half pase nine 
with more singing from the Gospel Hymns 
and Jubilee Bougs. 
| We thiuk our eutertaiument was a real suc¬ 
cess, aud if nothing prevents we will have our 
third annual Lightning Bug entertainment 
next year. 
| We were tired when th° audience had gone, 
but they seemed to enjoy our entertainment 
so much, we felt repaid for our work. 
From your niece Bertha Knowlton. 
Butler Co., Ohio. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— We take j'otir paper 
aud like it very much. We have many flow- 
eis. 1 like to tend them, 1 think the reason I 
like to care for them is because I love them. 
| The flower seeds you were so kind as to send 
us grew nicely. Some are in bloom; others 
are iu bud. We have a splendid garden, aud 
I help to take care of it. Besides doing out¬ 
door work, I help in the house: t cau wash 
dishes, bake bread, sweep the floor, aud do 
other bouse-work, I and iny sister Millie 
wish to join the Youths’ Horticultural Club. 
We go a mile aud a quarter to school. Our 
school closed the 25th. of July, I am afraid 
my letter is getting too long. Yours truly, 
O’Brien Co., Iowa. Bell Steigman. 
Uncle Mark.— We have taken your paper 
for nearly' a year, and 1 have never written to 
you yet-, although I have often wished to. We 
are tending about three acres of garden this 
year. We live about four miles from the 
town of Banborn; it is not u very large town; 
it has 2,000 inhabitants; it is but five years 
since the first house was built where the town 
of Sanborn now stands. I have the finest 
melons in this country. Perhaps some of the 
Rural readers would like to know how I 
keep the little striped bugs off my melons. 
When I put the seed in the ground I put an 
onion Fet in the middle of the hill. I guess the 
scent keeps them a way. 1 send a specimen of 
grass that grows on the prairies here. What 
is its name? Please enter my name on Youth’s 
Horticultural Club. I will try to write again 
soon. Yours truly, 
O’Brien Co., Iowa. J. W. Rteigman. 
[The grass if Hordeum jubatam, Squirrel- 
tail grass; a wild barley. UNCLE mark.] 
Dear Uncle Mark:— Having read the 
letters of the Cousins in the Rural for some 
time, and not seeing any correspondence from 
our flourishing town, I have decided to ask 
admission into the family circle as one of your 
nephews from the far away north. Colling- 
wood, where we live, is a pleasant and busi¬ 
ness town on the southern coast of Georgian 
Bay, and has lake communication with Chi¬ 
cago and' many other lurge cities of the 
United States. 1 live with my grandfather 
and we have a large garden of fruits, vegeta¬ 
bles und flowers. VV T e have new ripe red and 
black cherries, Wilson strawberries, Astra 
chan apples, English gooselierries, red, black 
aud white currants, and red and black rasp¬ 
berries. The potato bugs and currant worms 
have been very troublesome this season; on 
account of the cherry-birds end robins being 
so numerous, we lmd to pick most of our 
cherries before they bud become really ripe. 
Last year grandpa sowed some strawberry 
seed, and we have several nice plants fronl 
which we hope to get a new variety. This 
Spring when we were planting the garden, 
grandpa gave me a patch to work for myself. 
1 planted it with potatoes, onions and melons. 
Of potatoes I had three rows 12 feet long, on 
July 20, which was early for this climate. I 
dug them, and had 52 pounds of large pota¬ 
toes. If this is fortunate enough to escape 
the waste basket, and I am accepted as one of 
the cluli, I will try and write again. 
Ontario, Can. brock manning. 
3hn))lrmcnt£ aud Wachinctn 
gUu; publications):. 
Extensively illustrated. 
Ladies and Gentlemen 
WsMTKDtohandli iB 
thr*t ni'llslt-oir. Ovei 80C 
Panesand 100 Sketches. 
Permanent work and ex¬ 
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e.-irlv f..r exclusive terri¬ 
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66 N. 4th St. Phila.. Pa. 
The Model Sinner. 
A New Book for Classes, Sthools and Choirs. 
By W. 0. PERKINS &B. D. TOWNER. 
Price 60 ct*.; or $0 !►©/• do*. 
All teachers of Si.xcrxo Classes of nil descriptions 
are Invited to examlnr this new Class Book. 192 
pages. Ihe Eleme nts contain an Ingenious Modulat¬ 
or, Rood explanations, the Mnnuul Signs, and 124 Ex- 
ereftrs. There are M Glees and Part *ong*. » Hymn 
Tunes. 4 Gospel Songs, 18 Anthems, and 4 Chants. 
Surely a well tilled and practically useful hook to the 
teacher at a moderate price. 
sinw¥Thb to. 
A truly Worthy und (rood Book for Sunday 
Schools and Social Worship. 
By Mrs. Belle M. Jewett, assisted by Dr. J. P. 
HOMUtOOK. 
Price 115 cents. 
SINGING ON THE WAY has been before the public 
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able to Judge It !« of the shape and Size of the well 
know n 'GOSPEL HYMNS.” and admirably titled for 
a Vestry or Social Meeting hinging Hook as well as 
for the Sunday-School. 
175 of the beat Snugs and Tones, 
Any book mailed tor the retail price. 
OLIVER DITSON & CO ,) Boston. 
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AGEVTS WASTED—Ear 111© hives or 
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PULVERIZER 
and CART COMBINED. 
Floral Gem Cards mewl, name on, and Fane; 
Box of Palms. IS colors, sent post-paid Tor i < 
cents. CAPITOL CARD CO., Hartford, Conn. 
V# V I I V « 1 ■ ■ ™ ^ w ■ » -w y 
In 1 Veil.by T. w7 Knox: I In 1 Vol- by Ho*. A. BaRBDM. 
Authorized. Impartial. Comr-lrln, the /v-f and C/tmHg. Each 
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NEW EWfSljAWn __ 
CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC. 
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1 RA VKLIN MthAKB, BOSTON.MASS 
JfmpUmcnts: and Machinery. 
#5. .# Bonanza* $5. 
EON'T let year Trait Set tat get the 
“DODGE ECONOMY DR IER" 
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a Day. Write nnrne- _ _ Hflrll ' R - 
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Dodge EcsawnyErierCc. 1 ml 
-Normal, Illinois. —LliUalrtHS=*©~' ? ''' = — 
“ACME” 
HAY RICKER 
LOADER AND RAKES. 
Protected by the only Original Fatents. 
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lees time,cud at Ice.-, than half the cost |.y any other 
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THE UNION HORSE-POWER 
Hm the targeit Track Wheels. DOt’BLE GEARED, 
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and LEVEL TREAD 
THE HERRINGTON 
POTATO DIGGER 
IS A. 
SUCCESS. 
Address 
PLANTERS’ HOE CO., Troy, N. Y. 
Received Highest Award at the New York State 
Fair for the last three years. 
