£ov t!)e Doung. 
I am glad to say that some ot the Cousins 
are sending for specimen copies of the Rural. 
They are going to work in earnest for new 
subscribers, so as to win one of the prizes if 
possible. I do hope some of us will get a 
prize. 
Why do people hang up their stockings at 
Christmas? I used to wonder why a bag or 
a basket would not do just as well. I never 
heard but one person try to explain, and she 
told such a funny story that I must see what 
youthinkof it. Years ago, I heard a very old 
colored woman telling a story to a little girl, 
who had just hung up her stocking at Christ¬ 
mas eve. It is not very polite to listen, but I 
did so. I can’t tell the story just as she did, 
but it was something like this. Many years 
ago,Santa Claus, in making his rounds, found 
his wagon stuck fast in the mud. There is 
very little snow at the South at Christmas 
you know, so Santa Claus has to come in a 
wagon. At last a poor man who lived in the 
woods, heard the noise and came out to see 
what it was. Santa Claus was so anxions to 
get on his way again that be offered to fill 
anything the man had in his house with 
presents, if he would only help get the wagon 
out of the mud. So they went at it. SaDta 
Claus drove the mules, while the man pushed 
at the back, and at last, out it came. When 
they came to settle up, what do you suppose 
the man brought out for Santa Claus to till? 
A great stocking with such a large hole at the 
heel that everything ran through it, and poor 
Santa Claus was nearly a bankrupt before he 
filled it. The people thought this was smart, 
so it happened that wherever Santa Claus 
went, be found nothing but stockings with 
holes in them. At last he had to make a rule 
that he would pass by all torn stockings, but 
that be would put a prize in the best looking 
one, and the one with the neatest patch on it. 
Now if this is so, it will surely pay us to pick 
out our best stockings for Christmas eve. 
Let us see how many prizes we can take with 
stockings having the neatest patches 
I will venture to say that this youug man 
does not care to join the Y\ H. C. How many 
of the Cousins can find any ‘reasons for my 
thinking so in the picture? Take a good look 
at him. and then see if you can tell what there 
is about him that would make him an undesir¬ 
able Cousin. 
A TALK ON EDUCATION. 
Dear Uncle Mark: I have been silent so 
long that some of the Cousins begin to won¬ 
der what has become of me, so I will put in 
an appearance once more to let them know 
that I am Btill alive. In looking over the 
letters in this department I don’t find the 
names of our older cousins any more. I sup¬ 
pose that their time is given to the many 
THE HURAL HEW-YORKER 
cares of an active life: and so it will be 
with us. We will be called into more active 
scenes, and younger ones jf ill take our places. 
I joined the Club in my fifteenth year, and I 
am now in my twenty first. The time will 
soon come when I must enter into the ranks 
of those who are "too busy to write,” yet, if 
Uncle and the Cousins desire me to do so, I 
will contribute short articles on educational 
subjects two or three times a year. By "edu¬ 
cation” I do not mean that only which is 
learned from text-books. The word should 
be taken in its broadest sense, and made to 
include industrial training also.* All the 
"book lamin’ ” in the world cannot do what 
actual practice in a "trade” can do. A cook 
book may tell my lady Cousins how to pre¬ 
pare a certain article of food, yet, the practice 
will bring to light things that they could not 
find in the cook book. I believe that every 
boy and girl should have good books to read 
and to study,—what I wish to denounce is the 
idea that such knowledge is alone sufficient 
to carry them through life successfully. It 
may do for "professors,” but that class is 
large enough now. We want farmers enough 
to occupy the land, tradesmen enough to 
supply the farmers with tools and implements, 
and business men enough to keep necessary 
articles within easy reach of the farmers, 
tradesmen and laborers. Study geology, that 
you may know the composition of the differ¬ 
ent kinds of soil; agricultural chemistry, that 
you may know what kind of fertilizer is 
needed to produce the largest yield; botany, 
that you may know the value of the plants 
that grow on your farm; zoology and orni¬ 
thology, that you may know what animals 
are harmful and those that are not, what 
birds are the farmer’s friends and those that are 
not; entomology, that you may kuow injuri¬ 
ous insects from harmless ones: and also take 
notice of thelittle thingsof Nature. Although 
a eat is found in nearly every house, how 
many of you can tell, without first looking, 
how many toes it has? This is only a test, 
and you may follow it by similar investiga¬ 
tions. 
Christmas is close at hand, and many are 
the little presents made by the children 
and to be given to father and mother. 
Though the presents may be worth only a 
few cents, yet the receiver will value 
them for the giver’s sake: and it may be that, 
till auother Christmas, the little token of 
affection will briDg sweet memories of the 
little one who gave it. Were it graoted to 
me to take a sly peep into the Cousins’ homes, 
I have no doubt but that I would see many a 
busy group in some out-of the-way corner of 
the house, with Borne sturdy, little fellow 
standing as "sentinel.” Let the sound of 
mother’s approaching footsteps fall on his 
ear, and he gives the signal to "disperse,” 
and when she arrives she Hurts them reading 
a book or playing some child’s game. Some¬ 
times in the school room a girl may be seen 
with her big geography propped up before 
her and intently studying her lesson (?) while 
her bauds are held just under the edge of the 
desk, busily plying the crochet needle. It is 
too bad for the teacher to spoil her "lesson” 
for her, but it is sometimes necessary. While 
you are all enjoying the merry Christmas, 
with its candies, presents and splendid dinner, 
think of homes where Christmas is unknown. 
Think of some poor family in your neighbor¬ 
hood and coax father and mother to make its 
members glad by gifts of clothing and things 
with which they may have a Christmas din¬ 
ner, too; or, better yet, invite them to your 
own. Then the little ones, perhaps, like can¬ 
dies as well as you do; divide with them and 
see bow much happier you will feel. 
In my last letter I gave a partial report 
of my bean crop, and I will now finish. 
The beans were late and a heavy frost 
"cooked” them when I had got only about a 
quarter of a pint of ripe ones. The stalks 
were hanging full of green beans at that 
time, so we pulled them off and then cooked 
another time—for dinner this time. They 
were excellent. Wishing you all a merry 
Christmas and a happy New Year, 1 remain, 
Ohio. URSA MAJOR. 
[The Cousins must never think they are get¬ 
ting too old to write. The best men and the 
best women in the world are those who keep 
their youth the longest. Don’t ever say you 
are "too busy” to be a "boy” or a "girl" now 
and then, even if you live to be 75 years old. 
Youth is the great spring of life. We can 
dry it up or keep it flowing forever.—u. m.] 
--♦ ♦ ♦- 
THE MAIL BAD. 
Hattie L. and Phcebe A. Smith both join 
the club this week. They live in Wisconsin. 
They must have a very pleasant home I think, 
with a great many pets and flowers. Their 
father has taken the Rural for 20 years. 
Hattie and Phoebe both ask a great many 
questions about Uncle Mark. I don t like to 
1 talk about myself, you know, I am getting 
pretty old, and yet young enough to enjoy 
meeting any of the Cousins. 
Estella Gorton lives In New York State. 
She has a bird for a pet. There is a little river 
in front of her house. In Summer they can 
sail on it, and in Winter there is splendid 
skating. __ 
May Anderson has a kitten named Tom. 
She helps wipe the dishes and takes care of 
the garden,too. 
Ida Gynn reports the Rural corn late, but 
says the wheat was good. She is going to 
school now for the first time. 
Mklvkn J. Campbell has a fine calf, named 
Mary, fora pet. She is black, with a white 
face. Melven has a dog, too, named Coesar. 
That is a good name for a dog. 
Lewla Ribble writes a nice letter from 
Virginia. She lives far up in the mountains. 
How comfortable it must be there in the Sum¬ 
mer—yet it must be pretty cold there now. 
Lillian F. McLeod lost the chance of win¬ 
ning a prize with the beans, but the Garden 
Treasures were very nice. Her papa bought 
some bees last year, but they did not do very 
well. ____ 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle Mark: May I join your cir¬ 
cle? Mark is a very familiar name, because 
I have a brother of that name, I am 13 years 
old, and go to school whenever the weather 
permits. I have to walk about one and one- 
half mile to school. Some of my friends who 
live in Smyrna, think it very tiresome, but I 
have become used to it. For three years my 
father has taken the Rural, but I have never 
written, because 1 am afraid of the owl or 
waste-basket. I would not be as courageous 
as Laurie E. Eaton. My father and brother 
follow the cultivation of the vine. You sent 
the Blush Potato, which weighed two ounces 
We have a dog named Haunce, and a horse 
named Mac. He bad the colic the other night, 
and we thought we would lose him. We have 
two fine pigs, and I hope they will not have 
the cholera. I am very fond of flowers; will 
you send me some seeds? Your niece, 
Kent Co., Del. octavia scout. 
Dear Uncle Mark: May I join the Club, 
too? To-night is Hallow-eve, but I guess the 
"hallow-evers” won’t get any of our cabbage, 
because we got it in today We put ‘200 
hearts of cabbage iu the cellar, nine bushels of 
turnips, 48 bushels of potatoes and about 100 
bushels of apples. We had four bushels of 
pop corn. We can make lots of pop corn 
balls in the Winter and I would like to send 
you and each of the Cousins one. The Rural 
Garden Treasures did not do very well, but 
we had some beautiful ziunias and marigolds, 
and many others of our owu. Next Summer 
1 am going to have a flower garden although 
I have never seen one, but I think it would 
be nice, and I am going to try aud have one, 
Ashland Co., O. sadie zimmerman. 
Li don’t think the witches will trouble any 
of the Cousins. Those who do not understand 
about this night can read Burns’s poem "Hal¬ 
loween.” You have a splendid lot of vege¬ 
tables.—u. M.]_ 
J. Frank Hollinger, of Columbia Co ., Ohio 
says: 
“The Rural is the best farm paper I have 
ever seen , and I can't see why more of our 
farmers don't take it instead of the infernal 
novel papers that lead their boys and girls to 
ruin." 
gttiswUanfoujsi 
A RAILROAD PRESIDENT’S VIEWS. 
In these busy times when city people have 
to go long distances, and are in too much of 
a hurry to walk, the street railway enter¬ 
prise has risen to be one of the im¬ 
portant interests of modern finance 
and industry. It requires shrewd and 
able men to manage it, and it generally re¬ 
wards them with a prosperous distiuction 
among the business men of the day. One of 
the most prosperous of the New York street 
railway men is J. M. Reybert, Esq., who is 
President of the Houston, West and Pavonia 
Ferry line. The man who achieves success in 
this street rail way business does so at consider¬ 
able outlay of brain and nerve power. Man¬ 
aging such an enterprise may look like easy 
work, but let those who think it so make a 
trial of it. Mr. Reybert found no beds of 
roses in his way to prosperity, but by con¬ 
stant and severe attention to business fell into 
a state of invalidism which threattned to 
carry him off. He is now, however, restored 
to health and as busy as ever. 
Onr New York correspondent visited Mr. 
Reybert as the office of the company on East 
Tenth Street, aud fonnd him busy superin¬ 
tending the details of the business. Mr. Reybert 
cheerfully assented to the request that he 
should tell something about his experience of 
sickness and recovery. 
"It was four or five years ago,” said Mr. 
Reybert, "that I began to run down in health. 
It was partly owing to too close application to 
business and‘partly to the unwholesome at¬ 
mosphere of the place in which I had to spend 
me sc of my time. 1 was taken with cold in 
my muscles, which soon assumed the form of 
rheumatism. I had a great deal of local pain 
distributed over various parts of my body, 
and wherever the pain came there came also 
black spots. Then rheumatism developed into 
sciatica. My pains were very great. The 
doctor told my wife that I never could be any 
better. This was a gloomy outlook for me. 
1 was at my home in Newburg on the Hudson 
trying to make the best of the situation. This 
was in June, 1884. 
1 beard of Compound Oxygen and sent for 
a ‘Treatment.’ Before it reached me I was 
taken down with rheumatism of the heart, a 
disease which is as dangerous as it is painful. 
My breathing was so oppressed that I felt as 
if with each breath I should choke. When I 
received the package containing the Com¬ 
pound Oxygen I felt that I coaid hardly take 
its contents. Nevertheless I tried. At this 
time my sciatica was very severe, with sudden 
aches shooting down the nerves of both legs. 
"When I tried the Oxygen I was astonished 
to find that with a little practice I could in¬ 
hale it freely. Yet for several days each 
inhalation would send pain to some old spot. 
The ache would continue for 15 or 20 minutes 
and then go away. Gradually I was free 
from these painB and I could inhale the Oxy¬ 
gen without difficulty or unpleasant result. 
"Compound Oxygen brought me g<X>d sleep. 
I had previously been in the habit of waking 
two or three times in the night. Now I was 
restful. My sleep began to refresh me as it 
had not done before. I omitted to tell you 
that with my other disorders I also had dys¬ 
pepsia. Sometimes this would distress me to 
such an extent that I did not care for com¬ 
pany. It made my appetite poor, and the 
food I ate did me but little good. The Oxy¬ 
gen repaired my digestive organs as it did 
everything else about me. I bad also suffered 
from catarrh so badly that I lost the sense of 
smell. Well, this Oxygen is a very strange 
sort of thing, for it drove away the rheuma¬ 
tism and sciatica; it made my digestion so 
much better that I can now eat like other 
people, and it entirely cured me of catarrh. 
Once in a while, if I take cold, I have a little 
catarrh, but a few inhalations of Oxygen 
sends it away. Duriug all my use of this re¬ 
medy l have received advice at the Compound 
Oxygen office. No, 14S Firth Avenue, and 
have followed directious in the use of the 
powders there given me. I have fouud them 
of great benefit with the Oxygen and the 
Oxygenaqua. 
"Aud as to your friends, Mr. Reybert? You 
have received so much benefit from this rem¬ 
edy that I suppose you have advised others to 
use it?” 
"Yes I 1mvs advised a good many, and I 
have heard that it has been of great advan¬ 
tage. One case I will mention—that of Mr. 
Samual J. Holmes, of this oily, a gentleman 
well advanced in years. He had long been 
troubled with asthma. He used the Oxygen 
for seven or eight weeks before it made much 
impression on him. Then, almost all of a 
suddeD, it began to do its works. It did all 
we could have expected. It made him breathe 
freely, naturally, aud without pain. He 
quotes It as a large success, just as I do. 
“Yes sir; you may put me down as a thor¬ 
ough believer in Compound Oxygen. I am 
not taking it now except a little occasionally, 
because I am well and hearty. If I am sick 
again give me Compound Oxygen. It is a 
wonderful restorer.” 
So say all who give it a fair trial. There 
are yet a good mauy people chronic sufferers 
aud others who have not tried it. "It is 
never to lato to mend.” Write to Dks. Star- 
key & Palkn, 1529 Arch Rtreet, Philadelphia, 
for a valuable little treatise on Compound 
Oxygen. They will mail it to any address, 
and it may be of great use to you. 
Dyspepsia 
Does not got well of Itself; It requires careful, 
persistent attention and a remedy that will assist 
nature to throw off the causes and tone up the 
digestive organs till they perform their duties 
willingly. Among tlio agonies experienced by the 
dyspeptic, are distress befuro or after eating, loss 
of appetite, irregularities of the bowels, wind or 
gas and pain In the stomach, heart-burn, sonr 
stomach,etc.,causing mental depression, nervous 
irritability and sleeplessness. If you are dis¬ 
couraged ho of good cheer ami try Hood’s Sar¬ 
saparilla. It lias cured hundreds, it will euro you. 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
Sold by all druggists. $1; six for $5. Mado 
only by C. I. HOOD Si CO., Lowell, Mass. 
I; IOO Doses One Dollar 
