THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MR 43 
26 
for Wornrtt. 
CONDUCTED BY MISS HA V CLARK. 
FARM-HOUSE HOLIDAYS. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
I often think of a remark made by a hard¬ 
working school teacher, when asked why she 
did not make some preparation in the way of 
clothing, when going on her Summer vaca¬ 
tion. “ If I wait to fix up my wardrobe,” she 
replied, “ both my time and my money will be 
gone, and I will not have secured the change of 
air that I so much need.” So wise woman that 
she was, she packed her portmanteau when 
school closed for the Summer, with her “old 
clothes ” and started for the sea-shore, or the 
mountains. Sbe first made sure of her chances 
for health , and attended to the raiment busi¬ 
ness afterwards. If all women hud this 
teacher's good sense and independence and 
decision of character, the weary routine of 
the “everlasting housework on the farm” 
would oftener be broken by journeys or ex¬ 
cursions from home. 
If a woman feels obliged to “ work herself 
to death” in order to get. ready to leave 
home, there is not much comfort in the going. 
And for this very reason man 5 - women prefer 
to stay at home, until finally they are charged 
through aud through with the stay-at-home 
malady, and would rather stay at home any 
day than go to—HeaveD, for example, which 
to the truly orthodox mind, i« the great haven 
of happiness. Now, I may as well confess, 
perhaps, that by nature, I belong to the stay- 
at-home party. I like to be where I have my 
“ household gods” about me, to hear my boy’s 
laughter under the great trees, Anaximan¬ 
der's returning step ou the piazza, after bis 
day’s work in the city, a merry drive of a 
few miles over superb roads in the cool of the 
evening, the qaiet dinner, and then the daily 
newspapers. But this does not suffice for , 
health, unhappily. The long, hot Summer, 
with its unusual demands tire out the bravest 
housekeeper, and the time comes when the 
trunk must be packed and home be left behind 
for a week or more, to go somewhere where 
you are not half as comfortable as you are at 
home. This hew generally been my own ex¬ 
perience, and I have been at many different 
places, and at most of the principal Summer 
resorts, and when 'tie ail over, and I’ve bat¬ 
tled in sea water and filled my hair with salt, 
and been half devoured bj mosquitoes, and 
had the most delicious fish to eat and most 
abominable milk to drink, and have spoiled 
my beat frocks and spent a lot of money, and 
my fleet pony wheels me safely to my own 
door again, I bound out with a great sense of 
delight at being at home again, and firmly 
declaring that I'll not go away another time. 
But, of course I do, and I as firmly believe in 
the salutary effects of a change of air aud of 
scene, as I believe in the ten commandments, 
and I think enduriag discomforts is one of 
the beneflcient things, too! So I say to all 
tired housekeepers, make it a part of your 
religion, and a very essential part of it, too, 
to “ get off ” for a week at least in the hot 
weather, if it be possible, and see to it that it 
is possible. 
There are two ways in which farmers and 
their families can have holidays and a Holi¬ 
day spelled with a big H, without spending 
money for fine clotheB, or for railway fares, 
or for hotel bills. All that i* required are 
good management and determination. The 
holidays should be frequent—once a week at 
least—and may consist in drives about the 
surrounding country. You may feel too tired 
to go, but go all the same, and yon will find 
that you will be much the better for it. Your 
minds will be quickened,yon will receive new 
ideas, see how other people manage out-of- 
door affairs, and affairs in doors, may be. It 
will break np the drive aud 6 train of every¬ 
day life, of which there is such imperative 
need. For a man or a woman, tired out ner¬ 
vously and physically, next to a sea-voyage 
there is nothing so good as a drive in the open 
air; and it is stated, and undoubtedly with 
good reason, that people who drive a great 
deal live longest. Farmers themselves ride 
and drive considerably, but farmerines do 
not as a rule, when, iu truth, every one of 
them, from the mother to the ten-year old 
daughter, should be fond of a horse aud be 
able to harness and drive him with delight. 
1 well know the cost of a horse and his keep¬ 
ing, but the animal saves in doctors’ bills, and 
is the best source of recreation that the farm 
can afford. 
The holiday of a week means a family 
camping-out. Every family can manage it, 
and manage to subsist merrily, like gipsies, 
for a week. The only point to be insisted on, 
is to do it! and not to be overcome by obsta 
cles. Nobody will run away with the house 
or the barn, al bough you may think such a 
calamity probable. More women are kept by 
{.he house than keep it, and are in bondage of 
the house all their lives long. I remember 
when a young girl, of frequently hearing my 
father say, when we would come in Bight of 
home after an absence from it: “Well, the 
house is not burned down I" as if he experi¬ 
enced a great sense of relief. It costs very 
little to keep a house and its belongings in¬ 
sured—a small sum, Indeed, when it insures 
not only property l,ut peace of mind, and in 
these days it is folly to worry about fire, be¬ 
yond the safety of human life. It is well to 
train the children to meet the emergency of 
fire with good sense and coolness, and then, 
after making your fire arrangements reason¬ 
ably secure, trust the rest to the insurance 
companies. Anaximander, wbo is an antique 
philosopher handed down to the present day, 
always protests against the purchase or pos¬ 
session of anything that is to give us anxiety 
as to its safe keeping. “ We can’t live a free 
life,” he declares, “if we are to be enslaved 
by gim-cracks,” and his category of “ gim- 
cracks ” is a long one. 
HOUSEKEEPERS vs. HOMEKEEPERS. 
We have often thought of waiting a few 
words on homekeeping. We think there is a 
great difference between that and housekeep¬ 
ing, Did you ever enter a house all so neat 
and tidy that you were almost afraid to take 
a good breath for fear of disturbing the great 
order * The very best housekeeper we ever 
saw was anything but a good homekeeper. 
On her table you would always find the 
whitest and nicest bread, butter not to be im¬ 
proved, meat and vegetables just right, every¬ 
thing as good as good can be ; her house so 
neat and tidy, everything so sweet and clean, 
and yet withal the fear of dirt kept every one 
iu a sort of terror. In that house children 
had no business; in fact, we believe a State’s 
prison would be a happier place for a bright, 
active child. There they were not wanted, 
nor would they long want to be there. The 
husband, a kind, big-hearted man, was very 
proud of his tidy wife, and yet we think we 
have seen him when he would have greatly 
rejoiced had she been just a little poorer 
housekeeper and a little tetter homekeeper. 
For instance, when he came on a board walk 
from the barn, stopped at two scrapers and 
three mats to clean his feet, 9 he would come 
running to him with a clo*h to rub off imag.n- 
ary dirt before be would enter the house. Of 
course the kitchen was always clean and that 
without constant scrubbing, but how much 
trouble one always felt he was making! Ju«t 
across the way lived a rather poor house¬ 
been a success. Old and young, rich and poor, 
one and all liked to visit her. The hearts of the 
little ones were always made glad by a visit 
at her home, and if they did litter up things 
a little she did not look or act as though it 
disturbed her in the least. She tried to be 
happy and to make others so. Not always 
in a warfare, but performing her daily duties 
to promote the comfort of her loved ones. 
Her husband sought ber presence as a plant 
seeks the sunshine. In joy and in sorrow, Bhe 
was her children’s trusted and truest friend. 
In these days of Satan's great activity, 
when the gates of hell are opened at every 
street corner, and his servants abroad at all 
hours of the day and night, tempting the un¬ 
suspecting to enter, it becomes mothers to 
carefully consider this subject and see that 
their boys Bud in them a sympathizing friend* 
and in their bouse a home. Don’t be so care¬ 
ful of your reputation as a housekeeper, but 
you can’t be too careful of your boy’s moralB 
and his company. Take care of him by 
being his dearest and best friend, and making 
his home a place of comfort and happiness. 
I know boys like a litter, and better let them 
have it at home than send them out from 
you to fall into the tempter’s power. Better 
have whittlings in all corners than have your 
boys you know not where, forming habits 
which will drag them down to hell. Don't 
worry and fret if a little mud happens to 
stick to their boots until it finds a lodging 
place on your carpet, but do worry if your 
care of that neat room drives them into dirt 
that soap and water cannot remove the stain 
of ; that will cling through life. 
" Home's not merely four square walls, 
Though with pictures hung imd gilded; 
Home la where affection calls — 
Filled with shrines the heart hath builded. 
Home! go watch the ralthful dove. 
Sailing ’neuth heavens above us. 
Home Is where there’s one to love; 
Home la where there’# one to love us.” 
j. >1. 
THE MATSONS’ MAGIC. 
One would almost think that fairies did the 
work at Mr. Matson’s house. The window 
panes were crystal clear, the front steps tidy, 
the brass door-knocker shining in the morning 
sunshine, and all within spick and span clean, 
early and late. The mother and two daugh¬ 
ters did all the work for father and two 
brothers. Six in the family made quite a 
household, but all went on as methodical as 
clockwork. When yon passed the house in 
the afternoon, you would be almost sure to 
keeper but what a dear, sweet homekfeper! 
No more intelligent, perhaps, than the other, 
but a look at her rested you if you were 
weary, comforted you if you were sad, made 
you happier if you were happy. To be sure, 
her house sometimes looked as though it had 
been put to rights by r a hurricane (although 
never dirty), but if such was the case you re¬ 
ceived a hearty welcome, and then she had 
such a quiet, easy way of bringing order out 
of confusion and at the same time making 
every one feel so at home and comfortable you 
soon forgot all about the disorder. Her chil¬ 
dren loved their home because it was never so 
nice but they could have a good, jolly time, 
their mother helping and enjoying it with 
them. They loved their mother (and so did 
all who knew her) not because she was the 
best housekeeper or the best cook to be found, 
but because she was the dearest, best mother; 
one who took more pleasure iu seeing those 
she loved happy than in having the name of 
being the best housekeeper in the neighbor¬ 
hood; we do not believe sbe ever really 
thought about that. She would always do 
her best to make every one comfortable, and 
if plenty of company was any sign that she 
succeeded we think she certainly must have 
see one or both of the young ladies, in their 
dainty white aprons, crocheting, or swiftly 
sewing beside the front parlor window, nod¬ 
ding and smiling to acquaintances passing by 
and always ready to entertain any one drop 
ping in. Mother was no slave, or drudge in 
that household, that the girls might play the 
piano and keep their fingera white. She wus 
petted and well cared for by the dutiful 
daughters and not allowed to go beyond her 
strength in working for her grown-up young 
folks. Father and mother were loved and 
honored as they always are iu a family of 
well brought-up children. An oft Spanish 
proverb has it that, “ There are no ungrateful 
children.” If we have given them cause for 
true gratitude they will not forget it. Great 
indulgence, which cultivates only their sel¬ 
fishness is not a cause for gratitude. 
“ How is it, I asked one day of Emma, as 1 
was sipping tea out of her mother’s daiuty 
china, that you always #eem to have your 
work doue up at your house. You never 
seem over-busy, or hurried, and nothing is 
ever out of place. With such a family 
you certainly must have hard work to do 
sometimes, especially as you do your own 
washing. 1 should like to know your magic." 
“We have no magic,” she said laughing, “but 
this, we like to get our work done early in the 
morning. We rise very early on washing 
day, and while one of us goes about the wash¬ 
ing the other gets breakfast early for father 
and the boys, so they can be in the store by 
seven, or earlier in Summer. Mother clears 
away the breakfast and Fanny and I soon 
have the clothes on the line, our dresses 
changed and the dinner well under way. On 
washing day we do no other hard work, and 
use all the best conveniences we can find 
for doing our work. Any extra work gets us 
up a little earlier in the morning, and as we 
sleep abundantly it does not hurt us at all. 
Indeed, we feel better for It. The magic of 
early risiDg is the right sort for working 
women with good health a 9 we have, and 
there is nothing that helps work along so 
well, in our case.” 
-♦ ■» ♦ 
FLANNEL JACKET-FANCY HANDKER¬ 
CHIEFS. 
We give our lady readers, a cut of an article 
which if once owned, will never be willingly 
Flannel Jacket.—Fig. 24. 
dispensed with. It is something quite inex¬ 
pensive, yet can be made a very diessy affair 
for mornings. The pompadour, or figured 
flannel is what Fig. 34 represente, though it 
can be made of the plain opera flannel. The 
ruffles on sleeves and at the bottom of jacket 
are work* d button hole stitch in points, or they 
can be pinked if preferred; although, if a 
contrasting color of silk is used in the button 
hole stitching, it makes a more showy article. 
We hope some of our Rural ladies will make 
one, using a pattern they may have had for 
other material, trimming it as we have de¬ 
scribed. 
Figure 23 represents a group of pocket hand 
kerchiefs of the latest designs. They are 
each embroidered on the edge eitbtr with a 
bright color or with white, and have a wcuked 
design for a border or only in the corners. 
No lady can afford to ignore the styles of 
handerchiefs in these days of art, because some¬ 
times one’s entire costume can be spoiled by 
the use of a handkerchief of common texture 
and style, for which there could be no ex¬ 
cuse as very handsome ones can be pur¬ 
chased at a low figure. 
NOTES FROM THE FARMERS’ WIVES 
CLUB. 
I should like to say, said the next speaker, 
to those anxious mother's whose faces are 
wrinkled prematurely with care, about the 
welfare of their children, and who lose the 
brightness of their own lives fretting for fear 
their pets will not turn out well, to have faith. 
My little grandson Harry a lovely little fellow, 
a few days before Christmas felt very much 
troubled for fear that Old Santa Claus would 
not call at our house, and kept talking about 
It. His grandfather playfully told him to 
have faith, but still he kept fretting about it. 
When Christmas morning came aud the little 
fellow saw a box tied to the door latch, with 
a string, all directed to him and containing an 
assortment of play-things such as a little five 
year old could appreciate, he looked his treas¬ 
ures over with rapture and cried out, “Grand¬ 
pa I’ve got faith and I always will have.” 
Of course we all had a good laugh hut there 
is a lesson to be learned from It. Do not let 
us “children of a larger growth” wait until we 
seethe fulfillment of our hopes before we have 
faith. Let us enjoy the training jtud society 
of our children while they are growing up and 
not waste our spiriteln fearing evil for them. 
Sow the good seed and not dig It up to see if 
it has sprouted. Trust iu the power of a good 
bringing up, to preserve them from falling 
from the right ways when they leave us. If 
we are genuine and good ourselves, our influ 
