600 
SEPT 5 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
for Women, 
CONDUCTED BY MISC RAY CLARK. 
A HAPPY BIRTHDAY. 
EMMA C. STOUT. 
“There’s many a sunshiny morning that 
brings forth a cloudy day,” is a true old say¬ 
ing and yet its opposite is also true. Mrs. 
Mayue arose one May roorniDg with a dismal 
feeling of loneliness. 
“Wbat a long, sad day it will be,” she said. 
“How will I ever get through it? I wish I 
had not thought of its being my birthday.” 
We can pardon her dreary reflections for 
this is her 65th birthday and the first she has 
spent for 45 years without a genial, loving 
husband to celebrate it in some kindly remem¬ 
brance. A balf-a-year ago he bad been laid 
to rest in Westwood and this milestone would 
recall all her sorrowful memories. It is sad 
to be a childless widow. 
“Good morning,” calls the cheery voice of 
the lady who brings her daily supply of fresh 
milk. 
“Good morning,” answers Mrs. Mayne.with 
affected cheerfulness. “I was just wondering 
if it was a bright morning like this the day I 
was born.” 
“Bless your life, is this your birthday? Well, 
I’m going to give you a present—this pint of 
milk was for one of my customers but she 
was not at home. Now you can make a nice cus¬ 
tard—you ought to have something extra for 
dinner.” 
And the bright, little woman darted away 
on her rounds. Mrs. Mayue looked at t he pint 
of milk and said: “Well, I'm going to begin 
with that and have a pleasant birthday after 
all. I’ll add this pint of my own to it and 
this roast of beef I was intending to fry down 
will make the substantials for a dinner for six.” 
The gloomy thoughts began to vanish in the 
face of that resolution. She tied on her hat, 
took a basket and started to give the first in¬ 
vitation. It was gladly accepted, and she 
called upon four other widows, as lonely aud 
sad as herself. Then upon the little milk 
woman, who she thought was the very one 
to brighten them all up with her brisk, cheery 
talk. 
Then she went round to the bakers for some 
nice cake and biscuit, and then home to peel 
her potatoes aud set the table with the 
quaiut old dishes, aud the jelly, pickles aud 
preserves, for which she was noted. By the 
time this was accomplished her guests began 
to arrive and a very happy party enjoyed the 
hospitable meal. How they chattered and 
talked and sorrow was banished to the solitude 
it loves. Then they all went together to the 
afternoon Missionary meeting and as Mrs. 
Mayne came home by the post office she found 
a letter and a package of slips and roots of 
her favorite plants. The letter was from a 
niece in the West and ran as follows: 
“Dear Auntie:—I have remembered your 
birthday and send this as a token of my love, 
and may the presence of these flowers cheer 
you for many a day.” 
The remainder of the day was spent in ar¬ 
ranging her new plauts, and the twilight found 
her tired and happy exclaiming: “What a hap¬ 
py birthday. How much to be thankful for.” 
OXYGEN CURE. 
If there is one thing that babies crave even 
more than plentiful food, it is pure air. We 
have all seen the frantic clutch and cry, of 
even the very little one for the familiar cloak 
and hood with which it was accustomed to go 
out in the carriage, and regarded it probably 
as only an indication that it liked to ride. 
But try the baby carriage in the house and 
see if that contents it. No, it is nature’s call 
for the blessed outdoor air. 
There is no Compound Oxygen cure that 
can equal a plentiful supply of “out doors” for 
delicate children. My oldest boy was so deli¬ 
cate all the old mothers shook their heads sor¬ 
rowfully and whispered among themselves 
“she'll never raise him.” It was 25 years ago 
and baby-coaches were but just coming into 
use, but Willie had ouo, and almost lived out 
of doors his first Summer. When Wintercame 
he still went out often, wrapped up like u lit¬ 
tle Laplander with only a pair >f blue eyes 
visible, and he weathered it through, growing 
up into a man who almost never sees a sick 
day. I have always fully believed that the 
little carriage saved his life. 
For a nervous, restless baby a dose of out¬ 
door air is almost a specific. Wherea mother 
cannot go out herself a trusty little girl may 
well be hired for the purpose, aD hour a morn¬ 
ing if no more. A doctor’s visit or two would 
more than offset her wages. But a skillful 
mother cau iuvout expedients for giving the 
child a supply of this precious oxygen pure 
and sweet as nature gives it to us. Many a 
time in Summer instead of rocking a baby to 
sleep in the close air of a house, I have rolled 
him up and down a graveled walk for a few 
minutes and then left him asleep on a shaded 
back porch. Of course one’s home aud sur¬ 
roundings and duties must decide all such 
cases, but the air is outside free to all like 
every other best gift of our kind Heavenly 
Father. The problem with mothers should be 
how to secure it. In Winter the extreme care 
needed in wrapping up a baby, often causes 
them to he housed until Spring by which time 
they are almost too delicate to take out. One 
help is always at command. We can open 
windows and let fresh air rush in when no one 
is in the house and the wise house-keeper will 
never neglect this duty Winter or Summer. 
OLIVE. 
CITY BOARDERS. 
I do think it is rather a hard way to make 
money, this takiug city folks to board,” said 
one of my neighbors. “1 declare I am sorry 
for Mrs. Isbam! Yet Summer after Summer 
she has her house full. They all seem happy, 
too. You uever hear them growling because 
they cannot have this thing and that, just as 
they do iu the city. Now there are Mr. Per¬ 
kins’s folks; their boarders always get into a 
row, and generally go off in a huff. They 
have tbiugs just as nice as the Isham’s; yet 
some way they never get along well with their 
boarders. I do not see the reason, I am sure: 
tbeir house is more commodious, their yards 
are large, and they have lots of shade trees, 
and hammocks, and swings, and a nice croquet 
ground, and yet their boarders every year 
quit off aud get another place or leave town, 
while Mrs, Isham’s boarders stay aud stay, 
and last year there were six there when snow 
flew, and Mrs isbam looked as if she was 
tired to death; and yet she says she enjoys 
having all these people around her, aud is 
lonesome when they leave. She has had the 
same set of boarders six years, right along, 
every Summer. That looks as though they 
were suited with their accomuiolations. Now 
the Perkinses never get a good lot of boarders. 
They find fault with tbeir victuals, they grum¬ 
ble about not having vegetables, and they 
want milk to drink, and sweet, cream to use, 
and say that they want such tbiugs, and fresh 
eggs, and they supiH>sed that they could have 
an abundance of such things in the country.” 
“Well,” said another, “1 kind of think the 
Perkinses do try to scrimp, and they were 
never noted for spreading a bountiful table 
for their own family, so 1 reckon that there 
may be a little cause for complaint as to the 
way they provide for city folks. La, 1 should 
as soon let them have milk aud eggB, and gar¬ 
den sauce as anything else to eat. Of course, 
they are hungry; the bracing mountain air 
gives everybody au appetite. 1 tell you, the 
Perkinses may put on their silver aud cut 
glass, so their table will glitter, but if they 
don’t have half victuals enough to eat, board¬ 
ers will not get very fat or strong by looking 
at the nice table cover. They canuot swallow 
that. 1 like to have my friends from the city 
come to visit me, and 1 love to see them eat 
just as though country fare tasted good to 
them; it does me good. But if I took board¬ 
ers, and had a dollar a day, I should want to 
give them their money’s worth, and have thorn 
feel that they were just welcome to the best 
the town could supply; aud 1 should try to 
make them comfortable and happy, too; aud 
I kind of think that is the way Mrs. lsham 
feels about it. grandmother. 
SORTING OUT WORK. 
An old mathematician once said: “If he 
had but three miunies in which to work a 
problem on which his life depended he would 
spend two of those minutes in deciding which 
was the best way iu which to work it.” 
Time is not lost in making good preparation 
for work. It is like the old farmer’s direction 
to his mowers: “There's no time lost, boys, in 
whetting.” A sharp scythe would do enough 
more execution, to make up for the seeming 
loss of time. 
If a housekeeper will sit down a few min¬ 
utes and deliberately plan how she can save 
herself about her work—making one stroke 
couut for two wherever possible, the work 
will move on much more evenly and she 
will Lave the exhilarating feeling that some¬ 
thing has been done, when the day closes. 
She will do a little more than she expected 
instead of a good ileal less. If she is a wise 
woman she will not plan too much, lusvery 
dishtartening to look back on much that she 
had expected of herself, yet failed to accom - 
plish. Some women seem the hardest of slave 
drivers to themselves. They have no mercy 
ou woru out nerves and muscles, either their 
own or other peoples’. One such lady told 
me she once wiuged her house all over from 
garret to cellar, on her hands and knees, when 
unable to stand up and sweep, 1 doubt if the 
house even needed sweeping, but the time had 
come for the ceremony aud dead or alive she 
would carry it out. 1 think she rather en¬ 
joyed it, and did not in the least consider her¬ 
self a martyr. I am confident such foolish 
women will never wear a martyr’s crown. 
8orting out work always pays, We can see 
it plainly enough in some kinds of housework. 
What if a washer woman should pile all sorts 
of clothes in her tub of suds, just as she took 
them from the basket* Yet in just this way 
some women seem to go on with the day’s 
work. Just a steady rush here and there, 
snatching at one thing after auother, aud try¬ 
ing to keep a dozeu irons iu motion at, once. 
You can keep many operations going on at 
once and most satisfactorily if you will but 
use deliberation, taking tip oue after another 
with a steady hand. Fusstuess is always op¬ 
posed to dispatch. The little, quiet women 
who sort out work in their minds as they go 
aloDg can accomplish about four times as 
much as those of the bustling sort, aud with 
far less wear and tear of mind, body aDd 
temper. j. k. mcc. 
--- 
MASCULINE IGNORANCE. 
It is a mistaken, but prevalent, notion that 
men, especially great men. know nothing of 
the details of housekeeping. I have often seen 
Mr. Beecher out shoppiug, and it is a well- 
known fact that he takes the greatest interest 
in his household affairs. In a reoeut Friday 
eveuingtalk, during which he narrated the 
domestic experiences of his early life, he said 
he disliked the washing of dishes more than 
any other household duty. He drew an 
amusing picture of bis brother James and 
himself, who were once enlisted in that work 
while in Indianapolis, and, with a ludicrous 
expression of countenance that will not soon 
be forgotten, said he detested that part of 
housekeeping. I think men frequently make 
a mistake iu uot acquainting themselves with 
domestic affairs. We read and hear the old, 
old story of the lamentable lack of interest 
which women have for public affairs—affairs 
of general interest—and yet I do not kaow 
that their interest in the affairs of men is less 
than that of the sterner sox for domestic 
matters. I offer this as a suggestion. I hope 
some of the ladies will take up thosubject, for 
like all subjects, there are two sides to it, and 
1 am not sure that men with all their egotism 
and ranting have altogether the best of it. 
J. H. G. 
FRIENDSHIP. 
It is said that, as a rule, men make truer 
friends than women ; and certainly all the 
records of celebrated friendship that have 
been handed down to us, have been between 
man and man. In Bible history, for example, 
we read of the friendship of Elijah and Elisha; 
still more striking, that of Jonathan aud 
David, of Philip and Nathaniel, the former 
bringing his friend to Christ to share with 
him that hlessed fellowship; then again, the 
friendship of Paul and Barnabas, who, like 
many other friends, had their hot altercation, 
their abrupt parting, their secret regret, aud 
their fioal reconciliation. In profane history 
we read of Theseus aud Pelrithoua, of Dacnon 
and Pythias (stories too well known to require 
comment), of Cicero aud Bcipio. and iu more 
recent times, of Boaumout and Fletcher, who 
shared purse, wardrobe, and talents in com¬ 
mon. Friendships such as these exalt our 
opinion of mankind; we all desir© such friends, 
but rarely find them; and this perhaps is the 
cause of the continual hunger after the one 
great Friend, who Is the most perfect type of 
friendship. 
Our friendships influence us more than any 
other element which enters into our lives. 
The pictures on our walls, the flowers in our 
gardens, educate us insensibly: the books we 
read do us good or ill; the teachers who in¬ 
struct u» give bent and direction to our intel¬ 
lect; but the friends we love touch us every¬ 
where. Gradually we grow like those we 
love; their habits of thought affect ours; we 
catch their mannerisms and tricks of speech; 
wo are quite powerless to withstand the gentle 
persuasions of the love element which enters 
into friendships and beautifies our lives. 
There is a silver thread, in every life-web, 
woven into the tissue by the friendship of 
earth. A life devoted to the highest and best 
aims, helps unconsciously to lift others from 
low aud selfish things. Each thought aud 
feeling we indulge gets into the stream of our 
personal influence, aud purifies or discolors 
it; helps to give it the light of Heaven, or the 
muddy and soiled hue of selfishness, just as 
little rain drops soak into the ground, and ul¬ 
timately help to swell the mighty river. An 
impure hand leaves a stain on all it touches, 
and many a character has been marred and 
spoiled by unworthy and defiling Friendships; 
but the friendship of the true aud good puri¬ 
fies. ennobles, adorns, beautifies, and exalts. 
The family at Bethany were the solace of 
our Lord's wounded heart, and the satisfac¬ 
tion of His human sympathies. His apostles 
Ho distinctly calls His friends; John being 
admitted to a special share of His intimacy 
and regard, so that, even among the rest, he 
was specified ns the disciple whom Jesus lov¬ 
ed. FIDELITY. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
The Life of General U. S. Grant: His 
Early Life, Military Achievements, and 
History of his Administration: His Sick¬ 
ness, and bis Tour around the World; by 
L. T. Rernlap; published by C. F. Dem- 
meer, New Haven, Conn. 
This is a well-printed, nicely bound volume 
of some 800 pnges, giving quite fully the his¬ 
tory', from his cradle to his grave, of this 
illustrious son of the United States. It gives, 
in detail, many incidents of this honest boy, 
kiud hearted man, inflexible general, and 
faithful friend, all through his life. It is 
worth reading, and will be sold by agents 
through the country. 
GATHERED FACTS. 
An idle man is like stagnant water; he cor¬ 
rupts himself.—Latena. 
The most completely lost of all days is the 
oneon which we have not thought.— I)e Finod. 
We attract hearts by the qualities we dis¬ 
play; we retain them by the qualities we pos¬ 
sess.—Suard. 
The love of reading enables a man to ex¬ 
change the wearisome hours of life, which 
come to every one, for hours of delight.—Mon¬ 
tesquieu. _ _ _ 
We should be glad to have our lady readers 
contribute articles for tbo Woman’s Depart¬ 
ment. Every house mother is learning some¬ 
thing about, the influence of home, and each has 
a different story to tell, having such a variety 
of objects to learn from. We hope this de¬ 
partment is of sufficient value, to the youug 
ladies of our Rural homes, to inspire mauy 
to do what they can to make it most attractive 
thereby imparting a personality, out of which 
comes the feeling of possession, making it “our 
department:”— Eds._ 
■PusccUattCoujs gutvcrtisittB, 
Did it ever oc¬ 
cur to you how 
much cleaner and 
nicer it is to wash 
the Napkins, Tow¬ 
els, 1 iandkerchiefs, 
Table Linen, etc., 
by themselves, 
with soap not made 
of putrid fats 
or questionable 
grease ? 
1 )o it with Ivory 
Soap, (99 ,Vo % F") 
made of vegetable 
oil, and use them 
confident that they 
are clean and not 
tainted. 
Free of charge. A full size cake of Ivory Soap 
will be sent to any one who can not get it of their 
grocer, If six two-cent stamps, to pay postage, are 
sent to Procter <fc Gamble, Cincinnati. Please 
mention Uls paper. 
