470 
MARCH 47 
THE RURAL REW-YORKER. 
charge upon, her separate estate, or incurred 
while she is carrying on a separate business on 
her own account. 
All contracts must be made for a good or 
valuable conside ration. A good consideration 
may consist of friendship, relationship, good 
will, or other of no money value, and is valid 
only as between the parties to the contract and 
not as to creditors, No one can sequester his 
or her property without a valuable and suffic¬ 
ient consideration therefor, in a way that it will 
not he liable for his or her debts, but may sell 
for a fair and valuable consideration without 
regard to creditors if there be no evideuce of 
fraud iu the transaction. 
All contracts made in violation of law or of 
public policy ftre void or voidable, as contracts 
bearing usurious rates of interest; to pay bets 
or losses at games of chance or hazard; to do 
oi - perform au illegal act, or any act plainly 
against the good of society. 
The part ies to a contract must come to a mu¬ 
tual understaudiug and agreement of their own 
deliberate will and judgment; their minds 
must meet: it must be without, fraud, mutual 
in its character, certain in its terms and signed 
by all the parties to l>e charged therewith. 
Too much care cannot be taken to have 
everything to which an agreement relates 
fully considered and clearly expressed. Noth¬ 
ing should lie left out because it is deemed 
trivial, or because it is well understood by and 
between the parties. Nothing is a part of the 
contract, or can lie enforced as such, that does 
not appear therein. Parol evidence is some¬ 
times received to explain a written document 
when ambiguous, but not to add to, take from 
or vary it 
Contracts are construed in accordance with 
the laws of the place where made, or where 
they are to be enforced, as may appear. That 
is, if a note given and dated in New York, 
payable with interest iu Nevada, and no rate 
is named, 10 per cent,, the legal interest in 
Nevada, can be collected; but if no place of 
payment is named, only six per cent., the legal 
interest in New York, can be collected. 
No contract should be signed that has not 
been carefully lead, and it is better that it lie 
read more than once, and at different times, in 
order t hat the meaning of the phraseology may 
be understood, and that there may be no am¬ 
biguity. Sometimes great t rouble and expense 
is incurred because the meaning of a phrase 
can be construed in more than one way. Care 
should lie taken that every word shall mean 
just what it stands for and Is intended to mean 
and nothing else. The law always presumes 
the cont ract to have been read liy the parties 
signing it, and none of them will be allowed 
to plead that he has not read it. unless he can 
show that some fraud has been perpetrated 
upon him. by the other side for the purpose of 
preventing him from reading it, or that lie 
signed the same through some mistake. It is 
usually better and often cheaper iu the end for 
those 'unaccustomed to drawing contracts to 
employ one who is in practice of doing it rath¬ 
er t ban to do it themselves. This is often done 
bv our best lawyers when the matter involves 
questions in which they are personally inter¬ 
ested, an uninterested party being, as a rule, 
better qualified to state all things clearly and 
without bias. L. A. Roberts. 
- * * * - 
HOW TO DRESS THE CHILDREN. 
There is no animal w r e know' of bora into 
the world in a state of greater helplessness 
than the human infant, and none more de¬ 
pendent upon artificial menus to keep up the 
animal heat. It would very soon suceumb to 
the cold if not protected. This is proved by 
the fact that a very much larger proportion of 
children die during the \\ inter than during 
the Summer months, although as regards the 
mortality of the young and the middle-aged 
there is very little difference between those 
seasons. The older a child gets the better it 
becomes able to resist cold, but—and we would 
that mothers would bear this well in mind— 
not until a boy or girl is w r el) into his or her 
teens should fostering warmth be looked upon 
otherwise than us a friend, or cold otherwise 
than as n. deadly foe. Children in the cradle 
are seldom or never,neglected by well-to-do pa¬ 
rents. but it is when a child begins to run 
about, and is able to go out-of-doors, that mis¬ 
takes are made about the clothing, which Often 
loud to speediLy-fatal illnesses, or sow the seeds 
of future ailments, which render life a misery 
and a bur den, that can only be laid down at 
the portals of the tomb. Instead of studying 
warmth and comfort in the clothing of their 
children, many mothers study only fashion. 
We speak advisedly, for we have proof of what 
we aver, 
Those w r ho are between the ages of 10 and 20 
ought, therefore, to be warmly clad. Cold is 
fatal to the young; warmth is life itself; cold 
retards the building up of the tissues of bone 
and muscle; warmth encourages it; cold in¬ 
terferes with the due performance of the func¬ 
tions of the skin, throw s extra work on the 
liver and kidneys, and blunts the nervous en¬ 
ergy of the brain itself; warmth has altogeth¬ 
er a contrary effect. 
Home parents labor under the erroneous im¬ 
passion that they are making their children 
lardy by allowing them to expose themselves 
to tile deleteriouB effects of the absence of 
warmth. To maintain the animal heat in the 
young it is not necessary that the clothing 
should be heaped upon them, nor that, they be 
carefully made prisoners of in-doors, w henever 
the day ih chill or tho winds blow liigh. The 
clothing should bo light rather than heavy- 
light aud protective; and the material itself 
should he studied, uot the quantity. 
fflt* tUoOTftl. 
CONDUCTED BY MISS RAY CLARK. 
A BUSY MOTHER’S QUERIES. 
Will the time ever come 
When my work will be done— 
My mending and making. 
My brewing and baking; 
The sweeping and dusting. 
The household adjusting ? 
Can it possibly he 
That mine eyes will e’er see 
Days of leisure, to read 
Or to study? 1 Indeed 
The thought"makes.nte laugh. 
As in spirit I quaff 
Of the Pteriun'sprtng, 
Which fond memories bring 
To my recollection. 
Delightful reflection; 
By and by, T am told, 
And, before 1 am old, 
If I patiently wait. 
It will not, be too late 
When my children are grown; 
I can then sit alone 
And enjoy the rich feast 
Which is spread for the least. 
And the greatest ns well. 
Ah ! then Mother heurl! tell 
Why tills should be the knell 
Of much happiness true; 
As the thought cornea to you 
Of the far-away, near, 
Aud the fondly■ hold-dear 
Soon to lie In your grasp ? 
But, to miss tile warm clasp 
Of your baby and boys. 
And to know that the Joys 
Of their childhood and youth 
Will be gone; and forsooth 
As you think of the days 
And the numberless ways 
Which yon might luce Improved 
To the good of your loved, 
Take courage—uot pain - 
Then will hope bring again 
Ail the joys of the past. 
“Work and wait,” then at last 
We shall all know the why 
We seem boru just to die. 
Just to die, while as yet 
Of life’s great alphabet 
Hardly a letter’s learned. 
Brooklyn. Mrs. Jos. H. Richards. 
NEAR TO YOUR BOY’S HEART. 
It is a pleasure to see Walter D. come into 
the bouse. He is a noisy, stil l ing boy out of 
doors, as fond of play as any one, but be 
leaves the roughness outside. When he enters 
he hangs his hat on the rack, as a matter of 
course; takes a view of birnself in the glass, 
and gives his hair one or two pats and a brush 
with his lmuds, just from habit,; and if he 
finds his face and hands need washing he 
passes out into the shed and washes them. 
Ttieu, with head up aud cheerful air, he hunts 
about, until he “finds mother” up-stairs or 
down. After that he sits down beside her and 
gives her a little account of the day. He 
never would do that if he was not, sure of the 
fullest sympathy in all his haps or mishaps. 
He is just as sure to tell over Ids Wonders, for 
he knows mother's heart and head so well. 
She can love him for all that and suggest a 
way out of all difficulties. It is u happy 
thing for a mother to live so near her boy’s 
heart, and it is a blessed thing for the boy. It 
saves him from a thousand snares aud tempta¬ 
tions, and it is something that will hold him 
with a magic power when her head is low. 
A man who had wandered far and wide aud 
been exposed to many temptations, said that 
Often he had been held back by the seeming 
pressure of his mother’s hand on his head and 
her loving voice saying. “ My son do not this 
great wickedness nor sin against thy God.” I 
wonder if the young man Joseph did not have 
a good many such memories to give him 
strength amidst the temptations of an Egyp¬ 
tian court. 
Depeud upou it, v\ j must be a great deal 
to our little boys or wo shall uot be very much 
to our grown up ones. We must, wisely re¬ 
strain and guide them ; teach them orderly, 
respectful ways, and with it all keep them very 
close to our hearts. Many little lads have a 
hungering for a, mother's kiss aud loving ca¬ 
ress, which they almost never get. The cares of 
this life make our cumbered Marthas forgetful 
and careless of their little deeds of love, which 
are of so muc h worth to the little oues and 
take really no appreciable time. They are 
much more ready with a hasty reproof, and, 
alas, some with a hasty blow, than w itb au 
endearing word. God help and pity the little 
ones brought up iu such homes! Too often 
their hearts harden early, and they soon learn 
to stay away iu the evening to scent* more 
congenial. The enemy of the children re¬ 
joices when a child is, in effect, driven out 
from his home at nightfall by a mother's sharp 
words. It is good to have the children love 
home aud love mother’s side at evening, and a 
woman need ask no higher praise iu this life 
than such a compliment from her children. 
J. E. McC. 
THE OUTSIDE OF TWO HOMES. 
Half a score of years ugo two houses were 
builded on neighboring farms. One, an un¬ 
pretending frame cottage, used up all the 
means of a city merchant, who had failed in 
business and lost his capital—unlike some who 
fail nowadays—and now was trying to make 
another start iu life. Broken in health and 
spirits, he only expected an humble home. 
His neighbor, a man of the same age, has 
never left, the old homestead where he was 
bora; but. all these years while the merchant 
has been buying dear experience, he has been 
saving and planning for a new house, the old 
one having become rusty aud cold, as it grew 
picturesque, standing in the midst of fine old 
trees, with its door-yard crowded with lilacs, 
roses and other old-fashioned shrubs, every¬ 
thing was in harmony. But it must be moved 
back, for the new house is to be built, of brick 
—large and modern—so the owner gin's to 
work with his axe and chops away ruthlessly, 
sparing nothing. Many hands aud plenty of 
money soon make the fine house, with its bal¬ 
conies, verandas aud bay-windows, complete 
for the occupancy of its justly proud owner. 
The little house grew more slowly aud is 
occupied at last before it is finished, for the 
verandas, blinds, etc,, that are to give grace 
to its poverty cannot be added until the crops 
hid harvested and sold, for the pui-sc is empty. 
The site is a bleak one and there is not a tree 
or bush to break the wind 01* rest the eye. aud 
one dreary November day a friend says, “it 
is horrible; how can you live here? nothing 
but the big old wood-colored barn and this 
shauty—it is a desert.” "But -wait, and you 
shall see an oasis in the desert.” says Hope. 
And now ten years have passed—look again. 
The old barn lias companions now. A cow 
barn, chicken-house and iee-house, aud all are 
neatly painted with a mixture of water, lime 
aud skim-milk. The house now lias its veran¬ 
das and blinds and is adorned w ith vines in 
every convenient place, ll stands in the mid¬ 
dle of a fine lawn, neatly kept, a few' ever¬ 
greens and other ornamental trees, with its 
beds of rosea aud geraniums, give grace anil 
color. While at the back of the house you 
may see rows of grape trellises covered with 
thrifty vines. Pear, plum, peach and cherry 
trees flourish in the “chicken park” and gar¬ 
den, and the big strawberry bed and rows of 
raspberries and currants make it look like a 
home of plenty as well as beauty. 
The big house is tine still, though the paiut 
is growing dim. on its numberless brackets, 
pillars and other adornments. No vines are 
allowed to climb its walls, for they cause damp¬ 
ness, injury to the eorniee and other wood¬ 
work, so the owner says; the blinds me kept, 
shut, except at the back of the house; no trees 
have been planted, for they would hide the 
view from the house. The yard has uot been 
graded, but weeds are trying to cover the debris 
left from building aud have nearly succeeded. 
The old house, standing a little back of the 
new kitchen, is a shelter and a leaning place 
for all the old rubbish accumulated in the last 
ten years, and with its paneless windows is a 
pitiful sight. So much for the outside; shall 
I tell you of the inside? hilly bird. 
--- 
The Gossips—[Cat. Water Color So¬ 
ciety]— Fig. 124. 
Domestic CctPumuj 
'ONDCOTF.D BV “MITY m., j le 
WHAT SHALL WE EAT ? 
ADELINE E. STORY 
So “Aunt Belinda” thought my spectacles 
were askew when I wrote t he article under t he 
above heading in the Rural of May 20th! 
“ Mrs. Lee” is both right, and wrong in her 
surmises. 1 don't wear spectacles, and my 
digestive organs are not exceptional, though 
that they are “ few” is due, perluq is, to my not 
making them an object of special concern, for 
what, is always being doctored can never Vie 
well. What one is wise enough to teach all 
the others what is right and whut w rong in a 
matter In which each must learn wisdom for 
himself- the mutter of eating ? There are 
many attempts made at, the teaching and many 
and woful ones at the following. “ What is 
one mail’s meat may bo another’s poison.' 
SiqR'rstit inn has more to do with some pet >pleV 
opinions than common sense. Haid a solemn 
old mail who once saw me a child eating au 
it ppl e befo re 11 rea k fast: 
“Follow that up for a year and you are a 
dead girl!” 
The man was hollow-eyed and hollow'-voiced, 
as such croakers generally are. He looked like 
a man near enough to the grave himself to 
know something aliout the short cuts thereto; 
so. as I had no wish to die, I concluded not to 
“ follow' it up.” 
Then the medicine that these people who 
think so much about their health that they be¬ 
come unhealthy from over-exertion to keep 
w-ell, find it necessary to take! 
They are continually dosing themselves with 
one thing or another. 
I ilo uot believe we should hear so much 
about the hurtfuluessof so many kinds of food 
which have long been considered wholesome 
had uot the individuals who decry them de¬ 
stroyed the natural powers of their stomachs 
by the use of vile “medicines,” so that a con¬ 
stant toning up and toning down of the organs 
seem absolutely necessary. 
Is there any good reason why a man’s stom¬ 
ach should uot, last as long as the rest of his 
body ( Look at the new spapersof the day aud 
see how large a proportion of the advertise¬ 
ments of eveu our best, journals—religious ones 
included—is furnished by the makers aud vend¬ 
ers of remedies for every conceivable and in¬ 
conceivable ailment, under the sun. Who keeps 
all the nostrum factories running ? WI10 swal¬ 
lows their tons upou tons of liquids and solids ? 
If we sav the sick, then must vv force our¬ 
selves to the confession that we are a nation 
of invalids. 
I call to mind three eousius of my own who 
in our school days used to fill some of us with 
wonder by a remarkable expression which was 
made by one or the other of those as often as 
once a week. It was this: 
“I can’t eat apples to-day. I took pills last 
night.” 
They have taken pills anil powders aiul bit¬ 
ters ever since. Two of them are cavernous- 
eyetl maiden ladies, who spend their time and 
the. riches their father left them in the vain 
search after something they can eat without 
having a bad feeling after it. 
Poor creatures! their life from babyhood, 
when cordial and paregoric were first poured 
down their unwilling throats, has been one 
long spell of bad feeling. 
“And whnt of the other one?” 
“The last I knew of him he was traveling 
about—with a great, trunk full of bottles, the 
smell from which, whenever the trunk was 
opened was enough to make a well person 
think of preparing his shroud—in search of 
health. The last time he was at, our house, I 
remember, we had cream biscuits and lioney 
for tea. I did not in the least doubt bis asser¬ 
tion that he could never eat anything of that 
sort; but when he went on to advise the rest, 
of us to follow up the meal with au ufter din¬ 
ner pill from a ease in his pocket, to be on the 
safe side, the offer was declined. 
I did not tell him. as 1 might have done, that 
doctors and doctor’s stuff were things almost 
unknown in our family. I am sure he would 
have been horrified beyond expression if I had. 
for to such as he the idea of eveu existence 
without medicine is incomprehensible. 
I once, knew a rich old bachelor, who made 
his home in a family where T was a frequent, 
visitor, who cut his broad from a bran loaf 
laid morning, noon and night beside his plate, 
and he never touched any other. I used to 
fancy it stuck in his throat as though being 
forced down against the grain. 
Was ho sickly? Not a bit of it. He was 
only afraid he might be some time or other. 
Some one had recommended the bran and 
water compound as n health preserver, and if 
he could keep his health by eating it, why, 
might, henot live on and on. Succumb ho must 
some time, of course. Even bran bread could 
not prevent that., but what was to hinder his 
going to pieces, all at once, like the famous 
“One-hoss Shay.” No liver to be mindful of, 
no lungs, no stomach even, simply bran bread. 
DOMESTIC RECIPES. 
SALSIFY, OR VEGETABLE OYSTER. 
Wash, scrape and boil until tender. Drain, 
mash fine and, into u quantity sufficient for au 
ordinary family stir a spoonful of creamed 
butter mixed with the beaten yelk of an egg 
and season with pepper and salt. Make into 
little cakes, roll in Hour and brown nicely on 
both sides in hot, butter <>r meat drippings. 
TO COOK VEGETABLE OYSTERS. 
Wash carefully, scrape and cut. Into slices 
quarter of an inch thick and stew until tender 
with a piece of salt codfish two or three inches 
square for seasoning. When done drain, take 
out codfish, add h teaeupful of thin cream or 
rich milk and thicken thinly with a piece of 
butter rubbed smooth in Hour. Toast a few 
pieces of bread, put into a dish and pour over 
the oyster. 
VEGETABLE OYSTER Soi l'. 
Wash aud scrape, throwing into a pun of 
water us you do so. Then chop with u knife 
very fine (you will_want about three pints of 
