THE RURAL WEW-YORIER. 
JULY U 
aristocracy that won’t be invited. They do 
perfectly right going to see the sights, and if, 
occasionally, the sights come to be seen, and a 
few dinners and dollars are contributed, it is 
to the credit of American liberality and 
courtesy rather than proof that t hey a re as wild 
over Oscar as Oscar is over himself, Ameri¬ 
cans never pay homage or tribute of admira¬ 
tion by going to see. They only satisfy their 
euri— ahem, inquiring minds. 
As for the augling our American girls are 
said to do after the cheap Counts or Barons 
whose castles are in the air and whose treasury 
vaults contain their tongue, we think Mrs. 
Grundy has mistaken the angler for the 
angleress. Not but what our American girls 
are capable of baiting t he matrimonial, or any 
other hook she has a mind to. But their 
practical downrightness won't incline to airier 
habitations than stoue and timber on this side 
the grave. Nor does speech-weight ever 
balance with her in the scales of her own 
judgment. Generally when a titled ad¬ 
venturer thinks he has angled an American 
treasure, and begins to tour the rich savage in 
the country of ancient civilization at her own 
expense, he is informed, in au economical 
dictate, that she hasn’t forgotten the aspect of 
her fatherland by a few years absence iu 
America. Kathleen aud Katrina, after a few 
years industrious thrift aud close attention to 
American fashion complete their naturaliza¬ 
tion with the abbreviation of their names to 
“Katie.’’ Having just enough of American 
independence to laugh at their former awe of 
Landlord power aud Baronial splendor, and 
retain enough love for old establishments to 
make them desirable, the titles, of course, are 
sought for more eagerly as they look less un¬ 
reachable. These half-sisters of our American 
gilds give many an American name to im¬ 
ported foibles. Old ideas aud new impres¬ 
sions; old ties and new attractions; old cer¬ 
tainties aud new possibilities: an all the unset¬ 
tled tendencies which result, from immigration? 
working in bewildered opposition necessarily 
degenerate weak characters and these rather 
dilute than concentrate native originality. 
The kind of nobility our American girls 
really do have an undisguised weakness for, is 
of the very opposite order of being that in¬ 
ward nobleness of the man which shows its 
value in impulse and action. They prefer a 
mechanic who personates their ideal of 
American independence and self-help, to a 
lord who represents the dying barbarities iu 
requiring a human boot-jack that he can 
caress and kick at pleasure without hurting 
himself, aud, later, serve as a foot-stool for 
his gouty leg, like Katherine Parr served 
the leg of her kingly husband, Henry 
the Eighth. They believe more firmly 
in the chivalry that is practically demon, 
strated iu the wood-shed, and iu willing^ 
effective assistance wherever needed aud de¬ 
served the more they read the romantic love 
of high-home protection and knee-homage 
tendered to highborn beauties, and high-horse 
oppression of lovely servitors. Not because 
they have a particularly bumble opiuiou of 
their personal advantages, but because they 
don’t value kuec-homage half so much as the 
esteem of virtuous men. Aud protection 
well—girls whose great-grand-mothers wer 
strong and courageous enough to bar the door 
against savage aud red-coated Knights alike, 
are as capable aud ready to bar them against 
the prepossessing vagabond of noble lineage, , 
as against the unprepossessing carrier of rags 
ana lazy-bones, called trump. 
'i here is only one kind of a liusbaud worthy 
of our American girls; and that is the easy, 
handy husband. One who will accompany 
them to a womans suffrage meeting as readily 
as they accompany him to the theater; who 
will ask advice as willingly as she gives it; aud 
who will have as little scruple in building the 
file, locking the cradle, and hanging the 
clothes-line for bis wife, as he has in j oiling 
two votes for his man. But even for such au 
one she wouldn't break her heart or go into 
consumption. If the right one asks the wrong 
one to he his i igbt one. a wet pillow-sham, or 
a £20,0(10 law suit is the only damage. A little 
of Emerson’s philosophy and natural curios¬ 
ity raises the di inping head in time to criti¬ 
cise the wedding dress and hear the light and 
the wrong united with perfect composure. 
In the remaining points which complete the 
anatomy of the American character they are 
very nuich like other girls. They smile like 
them, cough when they have to, and show 
their pretty teeth when they don’t, just as 
men pick them when they shouldn't.; chew 
what they don’t have to; aud twill their 
moustache w hen they needn’t The excres¬ 
cences of character indicates its quality no 
more than warts on trees indicate them species. 
We must look higher and deeper; taste of the 
sap and the fruit; and stand under their shade 
when the sun glures fiercest, to realize their 
special beneficence. However equally plen¬ 
tiful the warts may show on European and 
American chaiacter, theie is a stauucbnes g 
and a stiength in the latter which defies all 
elforts to blight their liberty or destroy their 
union. And there is fruit from the hands and 
brains of our American girls which is filling 
millions of weak, oppressed w omen with the 
sap of that new life in which they are master 
over themselves. The torch of liberty and 
equality, held in the firmly united hands of 
the American man and w oman will yet illu¬ 
minate all nations. Then, chains that have 
shackled, and yokes that have pressed, and 
beliefs that Lave hampered, and superstitions 
that have cowed, and prejudices that have 
lashed, and shameful orgies that have reveled 
iu the darkness of man’s ignorance will fall 
away before that light. And none but conser¬ 
vatism and dethroned despots will mouru over 
the odious fugitives. 
JOSIAH RANDALL’S MORTGAGE. 
MRS. MILTON W. STEAVART. 
“Peggy, I want to talk to you a minute” 
said Josiah Randall to his pretty little wife, 
who was busy churning. “Well Josiah, what 
is it.” She said as she glanced from her work. 
“Weill wight as well tell you, first as last; 
I've got t’ mortgage the place, Jim Gray told 
me where I could get the money; you kuow f , 
one horse can't do the work that’s got to be 
done. Here 1 have my w heat to draw’ in, and 
mv hay, then there’s that job I took, t’fix that 
bridge, on Black Run; it’s all got to be done 
au’ 1 ain't gob the money t’ buy another horse 
so I’ll have t'mortgage.” 
“Poor Peggy! how quickly those words 
chased the light out of hope and joy from her 
heart. It had only been two yeare since she 
had promised to love and honor Josiah Rand¬ 
all. He was poor aud so was she, but by strict 
economy they’ had managed to get forty acres 
of laud, aud a team of horses. But as ill-luck 
would have it one of t he horses broke a leg, 
right iu the beginning of harvest aud of course 
had to be killed; au occurrence that caused 
poor Peggy many a tear. And now their little 
home would have to be mortgaged to repair 
the loss! “Well Josiah,” she said at length, 
you know how bitterly I am opposed to mort¬ 
gaging; I have seen so much of it. Now 
there was Mr. Peel a near neighbor of fathers, 
he wauted to get a loan of #500, so he gave a 
mortgage on his farm for that amount with 
10 per cent interest aud gave §75 to get the 
§500, leaving him only $125, but ho hud to pay 
the §500 iu full aud §50 interest yearly. Ana 
I have found it so iu almost every case that 
has come under my observation there is al- 
w’ays a middleman that acts assort of medium 
between the money lender aud the man who 
gives the mortgage, and of course he has to be 
paid. That is where the most of Mr. Peel’s 
§75 went.” 
“Well, well Peggy, we’ll not talk any more 
about it now” said Josiah “for I must go to 
work. But 1 thiuk 1 can get money cheaper 
than that. Now don’t woriy about it. for it 
may not be as bad as you think.” And lie 
made an effort to look cheerful, as tie handed 
briskly down the path that led to the wheat 
field, aud it was not long before Peggy, who 
had been watchiug him, heard him whistling 
“Home, Sweet Home,” with the whish, whish 
of his cradle for his accompaniment. How he 
came to whistle that particular air at that 
time I am unable to say. But if lie could 
have seen the effect it had on Peggy he would 
have thought that his admonition not to wor - 
ry bad taken the most direct route through 
her little head, going “iu at one ear and out 
at the other” to use u vulgar phrase, for she 
sank into a chair, aud covering her face with 
her hands gave way to the fullness of her 
grief. “Sweet, sweet home” she sobbed “but 
will it be our home with a heavy mortgage 
resting upon it, the interest eating away day 
and uight whether we sleep or wake?” A low 
wail from the crib culled her attention to its 
occupant, a rosy little baby of about six 
month aud brushing away her tears she 
lilted him out of his crib. “You innocent 
little baby” she murmured as she pressed 
him to her breast “muy trouble ever be a 
stranger at the door of your heart,” 
At supper Josiah told her that he “guessed 
he’d better go over to Jim Gray’s that even, 
ing, aud see where he could get the money 
on the easiest terms.” 
“How much money will you need?” asked 
Peggy falteringly. 
“Oh! about §200 I guess; these fellow s 
don't, like to lend anything but oveu hun¬ 
dreds. It will take a §150 to get u horse to 
match Bess, aud 1 guess we won’t waste the 
other §50. 1 need a tetter plow to do ray 
Fall plowing, and a fanuing-mill wouldn’t 
come amiss just now,” 
“But there will be §5 interest, on §50, every 
year” Peggy ventured to say. 
“Well 1 uuu't do no better, but don’t be 
foolish Peg” he said coaxingly. “I have a 
good pair of hands and a stout heart, aud I 
ean clear away the mortgage interest and 
all iu two yeais for 1 iuteud to have it run 
that long. Do you suppose I’d let you and 
baby be turned out of your home?” he in¬ 
quired as he kissed the pale cheeks. 
“Of course I don't Josiah,” she said as she 
looked lovingly at the handsome broad- 
shouldered fanner. 
“Then I cau go aud see Jim?” 
“ Yes.” 
Josiah took down his hat, bent and kissed 
the trembling lips, and was soon out of sight 
on his way to farmer Gray’s. A mortgage 
on their farm was the fniit of this visit. 
Josiah figured it all up after he bought his 
horse and the excitement was over, and 
found that for §180 he w’ould at the end of 
two years have to pay $200. We 
will pass over a period of two years. We 
now find our little friend Peggy looking older 
the lines of care have deepened on her pretty 
face, which bears unmistakable traces of re¬ 
cent tears. Baby is able to toddle about aud a 
four-weeks-old infant is sleeping peacefully in 
the crib. 
Let us follow Peggy into another room 
w here Josiah is laying at the point of death 
with brain fever. 
“Peggy is that you” he said iu a w r eak voice. 
" Yes, dear, what do you want ?” she says 
as she approaches the bedside aud lays her 
little hand on the hot face. “Oh! that 
dreadful mortgage, Peggy? It was that more 
than anything else that made me sick in the 
first place and it is on my mind constantly; 
wfiat urijl you and the little ones do if I die? 
The farm w ill be sold at a sacrifice aud your 
share be a mere pittance ” “ Never mind, 
Josiah,” said Peggy, as she bravely kept back 
her tears; the Lord will help us.” She beais 
a light footfall, and turning sees framed 
iu the opeu door n little tow-haired school¬ 
boy; his books uuder his arm and a letter in 
his hand. “There's u letter for ye, Miss Ran¬ 
dall,’’ he says ns he reaches t he missive toward 
her. “Joe fetched it from ho offus yistiday, 
an’ Ma thought I’d better leave it as t cum 
from school.” ’thou, with a little jerk of a 
bow, be hurried away, glad, perhaps, as most 
children are, that his mission was ended 
She tears the letter open, glances at the signa¬ 
ture, and exclaims, “Oh, Josiah! it's from 
Jim Gray]” “Is that so?” “Yes!” ‘Then 
hurry aud read it, for I'd like to know how 
Jim's getting along,” says Josiah, who be¬ 
trays considerable excitement. She seats 
hei-self beside the bed aud begins reading the 
letter, which runs as follows:— 
Wichita, Kan, April. 
Deer J osier— 
i thot i’d rite a flew lines. Ye see i heerd 
ye hod the fevr, an wnnt abel ter bee about, 
an that morgidge is jest about du, an five sum- 
how blemed myself a leetle bekase i got the 
money fer ye. an i thot i'd do w’bat i could t’ 
help ye. Ye see i owd yer dad a leetle before 
he died an he hed no note agiu me, an when 
he was took off so suddeut. ther was nothin 
sed about it. i’d a paid it to ye long ago, 
Josier, but i was always funn ban t’ mouth 
while i staid ther, but i hed a good crap o’ 
w’heat last yeer, an i’ll clero §500 on my 
what this yeer. So i figgered up that dot 
with intrestat ten cents a yeer an it come to 
$200 (intrest counts up fast), an five put iu the 
postollis u letter with au order for tbet much, 
an may the Lord bless ye au Peggy in baskit 
an store. • Our fokes is wel, uu hopin this w r il 
find ye the same i remarn* yore frend, 
James T. Gray. 
“ And may the Lord bless him,” ejaculates 
Peggy as she drops on her kuees beside the bed 
and laughs aud cries both at. ouee. Josiah’s 
eyes are dim with tears of joyful relief as his 
miud, so enfeebled by sickness comprehends it 
ail. “ Where is the orders Peggy?” he says at 
length “you mustn’t lose thum.” She picks 
up the envelope that she had dropped iu her 
excitement. “There it is” she exclaims and 
there it is sure enough for careful James has 
fastened it to the inside of the en velope. 
Great was the surprise of the physician 
when he made his morning call to find so 
radical a change for Lho better in his patient, 
aud his recovery from that day was sure, 
though slow. Wheu he was once aguiu ublo 
to attend to his farm he found that by paying 
closer attention to it, and enriching the land 
that had been almost useless by the use of the 
best fertilizers, he could make a good living, 
aud something to lay away for future need. 
The word mortgage never escapes his lips, 
and when he hears it, a shudder goes through 
him. for be remembers how nearly he lost 
bis home, aud his life, because of a mistaken 
idea he once bad that a mortgage lightened 
his load aud could be easily paid off. 
ONE INALIENABLE RIGHT. 
I am sure I cau corroborate all that “Vic¬ 
toria” says about helpful daughters, even 
though tasks taken up are often heavy and dis- 
asteful. Nor do I believe with these old- 
croakers w’ho are forever saying that “the for¬ 
mer days w’ere better than these,” that our 
fore-mothers loved w ashing and scrubbing and 
hard toiling from morning- till night, any bet¬ 
ter than young women do now-a-days. It is 
simply “distance which lends enchantment to 
the view,” They grew tired, and heart-sick, 
aud might have grown fretful sometimes, but 
for the iron laws which punished such free 
speech. Miss Anthony would have had short 
work made of her career iu the days of our 
venerated Pilgrim fathers. A women could 
not speak her mind iu those days without be¬ 
ing “ dealt with.” No wonder Olive Logan 
when desired to send a toast, for fore-fathers 
day, declined, but sent, instead a sentiment 
celebrating our fore mothers.who had uot only 
the asperities of this new country to endure 
but “had to put up with the Pilgrim fathers 
too." 
They mayhave had a saintly patience outside, 
but it w as born of a “repression” that we may 
be thankful we are not called to endure. 
If there is hard work to be done in our day 
Victoria, still rejoice dear girl that you are not 
not one of those Puritan maidens so celebrated 
in song and story. You cau speak your mind 
freely, aud very well too, in the public print, 
and that, of itself is a, solace. 
It is uot bard work that makes one unhappy 
as it is over-work. It is just these “last 
straws” that, make all the difference between 
a comfortable lot and one that is (shall I say) 
wretched. An over-worked woman enunot be 
a happy, or a healthful one. God never 
meant her to do more than one woman’s work. 
When she undertakes the work of four she 
sius against her ow n life, or some one else sius 
against her in imposing such burdens. Good 
stirring work really makes one happier,and the 
miud more vigorous, when there is a prospect 
of rest after it, aud ability to turn the miud 
and hands to more cougeuial pursuits. The 
“do-nothing” folks are the most miserable 
ones I have ever met. But coming dow n to 
the subject of woman's rights, I will maintain 
from au almost semi-centennial standpoint, 
that one of her most inalienable rights, is 
suitable help in her kitchen,especially throu gh 
the busy Summer, just as her Inisbnnd lakes 
on extra help for his extra work. Any young 
man who looks on this as a “sign” of shiftless¬ 
ness of the girls of the period, had better pass 
then> by and choose his wife at Castle Garden 
when some emigrant ship comes iu. Olive. 
Domestic (£ cffmum) 
CONDUCTED BY EMIT-Y MAPLE. 
HOUSEHOLD TALKS. 
AUNT MABBY. 
My friend at Every-day House has an iuflux 
of visitors and she came over the other even* 
ing to ask me if I would write out some 
recipes for her. I promised to do so, aud if 
they are uot worded extra-grammatical, the 
dishes won’t taste auy the worse for it, aud 
you must all excuse a beginner. I was just 
busy cooking our firet ripe tomatoes, they are 
late this year w ith me, und 1 was thinking 
how soon a lot of them would bo goiug to 
waste. Last year I packed away a quantity 
in vinogur and water—two parts w’ater to one 
of vinegar. 1 was careful to leave the stems 
ou, not to bruise, and to put, them in weak 
brine just for a day and night. Then I wiped 
carefully and packed away iu a jar with the 
vinegar und water They kept splendidly. 
Some people keep them till near Christmas 
packed in sand 
1 had dinner at Mrs, Wilson’s the other day 
and her pork was so salt it puckered up my 
mouth. 1 told her that mother uses! to soak it 
iu sweet milk and water for some hours, after 
cutting it into slices; then rinse clear and fry. 
It makes it like fresh pork. 1 think it improves 
it to dip it iu batter made of flour, milk and 
beaten egg. Sumo people nowadays turn up 
their noses at pork, but it is such a staud-by in 
a fanner’s kiteheu when there are a lot of bun. 
gry men, that there doesn’t seem to be any. 
thing to take its place, aud it is Just as well to 
cook It nicely, as to have your month feel as if 
you had been tasting the “ pillar of salt.” 
Mrs. “Every-day” has been complaining to 
me of the heavy washings and ironings that 
the Bummer briugs, whut with the boys’ shirts 
and collars, and the girls’ white uud calico 
dresses, it makes the toil greater just w heu one 
