FES 6 
THE RURAL FSEW"Y©RKER, 
through kitchen windows are not inclined to 
dispute it. How much that we had hoped to 
have in our lives, time is too short, our purse 
too light, our cares too heavy, our tasks too 
numerous, to compass! We get used to it 
after a while,aml wo do not think so often and 
so wistfully of 14 life's occasions drifting by,” 
in sight, perhaps, but beyond the reach of our 
busy or feeble hands. Only now and then is 
it borne in upon us how many opportunities 
and joys are relentlessly crowded out or set 
aside. But have we not some privilege of 
choice, the busiest or the weakest of us 
house-keepiug people, as to what shall be 
crowded out ? 
We may think that we have not, that we 
have small voice or choice in the ordering of 
our lives. But. if we look more closely and 
thoughtfully we can but see how often we do 
choose, and how often our choice of one duty or 
pleasure forbids, inevitably, some correspond¬ 
ing task or joy. The over-trimmed garment 
we willed to elaborate, left no time to write 
the friendly letter or make the neighborly 
call. That last touch of neatuess, which, in¬ 
deed, placed beyond reproach, kitchen, or 
pantry or dining-room, that rare October 
afternoon, exhausted strength and courage, 
so that air and sunshine wooed in vain, and 
the sun went, down behind the maple-crowned 
hills on beauty so glorious it, reproached us, 
that we had shut ourselves from its inspira¬ 
tions. 
The senseless bit of bric-a-brac which was 
“all the rage” precludes the book one would 
like to buy, or the magazine or newspaper one 
would like to take, or perhaps the trifle one 
would give in charity or for missions. The 
flimsy novel displaces the Sunday-school les¬ 
son, with its grand, and comforting sugges¬ 
tions even for one who studies silently and 
alone. We let our work, with its fret and 
friction, too often or too nearly crowd out 
“the still hour” which might bring such balm 
to troubled hearts, such peace to atixious 
souls. 
Do we not all know homes where something 
has been, from the first, crowded out? And 
how will those homes have kept the characters 
they then took on, to this day! 
Perhaps it was a weekly paper, or even a 
monthly that they could not afford. Perhaps 
it was the time to read that seemed to be 
lacking: and a score of years later it is almost 
a bookless, paperless bouse, though the house¬ 
hold is uo longer uuduly straitened iu its ex¬ 
penditures. 
Perhaps they thought themselves then too 
poor to hire a pew. or for church-going at all. 
And that household is still counted among 
non-churcli-going families. “Mother’s way” 
is very potent, though its sway be a subtle and 
silent one. Sometimes, alas, it is tenderness 
and consideration for each other, home affec¬ 
tion and household cheer that are shut out or 
pushed one side by thronging needs and cares 
and tasks. No time or thought or money is 
allowed for the keeping of Christmas, or to 
celebrate the birthdays—those dear home fes¬ 
tivals whose warmth and light ought to go far 
around the circle of the year. “Thegift with¬ 
out the giver is bare.’' It avails little, in one 
sense, how we toil for the maintenance or or¬ 
derliness of home if the soul of the home-life 
be wanting. What joy is there for any of us 
like that we have in each other? The merry 
Christmases, helping us to realize the great, 
and precious significance of the day, the 
Thanksgivings, and even the noisy “Fourths,” 
the happy birthdays made much of—aud on 
common days the salient table-talk, the good- 
natured humor which oils daily intercourse 
and helps the whole to run more smoothly, the 
tender care and attention when one is ill, the 
restful quiet before the hearth together: all 
these are often better than the best we can 
give, the utmost we eau buy, for they help to 
warm aud purify, to strengthen and cheer the 
heart itself. 
A MOTHER’S DUTY. 
MART D. THOMAS. 
What a sacred duty is placed within the 
hands of a mother to perform; how she must 
watch over the form of her sleeping babe or 
romping, frolicking child to keep it from hurra. 
IIow much care and thought she must bestow 
ou them in all their trials and temptations for 
we know there are many snares on every band 
to lure the young; many that, entangle older 
aud wiser ones. So, mothers, watch carefully 
over your child, unceasingly, uncomplainingly 
for much depends upon your watchful care, 
ami good tiaining. They will be either like 
the scrawny, good-for-nothing plant, unculti¬ 
vated, or like the plant carefully tended aud 
nursed by kind and loving hands. Kays Dr. 
Talmage: “Mothers, you are hoisting a throne 
or forging a chain; you arc kindling a star or 
digging a dungeon; that little hand on your 
face may yet be lifted to hurl thunderbolts of 
war or drop benedictions.” 
Mothers, you are the very guiding star of 
your offspring; you can lead them in pleasant 
valleys or in a barren desert; you can help to 
build up for them a life of happiness, or a life 
of sorrow and woe. You will be of influence 
to them one way, and which shall it be? But 
do not wait till that influence is beyond con¬ 
trol before you attempt to use it. There 
should be thorough runlidcnce between 
mother and child; a mother is the best confi¬ 
dential friend one can have. Many children 
beconn* involved in a great deal of trouble 
through not letting “mother” into their se¬ 
crets. If mothers would converse more freely 
with their childreu on topics of interest and 
try to influence them to higher ami nobler aims 
iu life there would be less of these frivolous, 
thrown-away lives that we daily come in con¬ 
tact with. Wo should try t,o exert as great an 
influence for good over our childreu as we pos¬ 
sibly cau. Then, when years have come and 
gone, and recollections of past scenes seem 
dear, the thoughts will linger round the child¬ 
hood’s home with sweet memories of bygoue 
days, aud the blessed precepts taught by a 
dear mother will never be forgotten. 
SOME WAYS AND THINGS AT THE 
RURAL GROUNDS. 
ALICE BROWN, 
The rain and snow are dashed by the storm 
to-night against the windows. The childreu 
in the parlor are practicing with the banjo on 
the first stanza of "Ben Bolt,” Cerise acting as 
music-teacher and Travio responding enthusi¬ 
astically. Mr. atul Mrs. Carman are in the 
office reading, and for such simple pleasures 
there Is reason to be thaukful, for the house¬ 
hold is just emerging from the gloom and anx¬ 
iety caused by sickness. 
Mrs. Carman for a week was unable to leave 
her room, aud she endured the most intense 
pain from an ulcerated tooth. Day and night 
the pain continued relentlessly aud remedies 
seemed of no avail. The children went sor¬ 
rowfully about their tusks, the meals were 
cheerless ami nothing seemed right. 
It soon became evident that without Mrs. 
Carman, plauning, superintending and carry¬ 
ing ou the work, and doing countless things 
forgotten by the rest, there was confusion and 
disorder. Thu usual meals were to he cooked 
and meals for the invalid; the house must be 
kept iu order aud school must go ou, but with¬ 
out Mrs. Carman one part of the work was set 
fairly in motion only to find that some other 
part was being neglected or forgotten. The 
fires burned low, the bird was fed at strange 
and unusual hours, tha regular cleaning had 
to be postponed aud these perplexities reach¬ 
ing the sick-room added to Mrs. Carman’s dis¬ 
tress. With Mrs. Carman much better uud 
about once more, the days are brighter and 
the household machinery is running smoothly 
again. 
The children since t he holidays have taken 
up their studies with renewed interest and 
their grades have been unusually good. Travio 
studies reading, with spelling uud definitions, 
in the Second Reader; arithmetic, which he 
learns without a book; geography from maps; 
writes on his slate, works examples iu addi¬ 
tion and subtraction and learns a few lines of 
some poem every day uutil the whole is com¬ 
mitted. Everything is taught to him orally 
except the reading, spelling and writing. 
School work perhaps more than any other, 
is preparatory work. All the long hours 
snent in the school-room are meant to prepare 
the children for the demands of afterlife. 
There will be for most of them little time for 
study after they reach manhood aud woman¬ 
hood, but their education will go on and will 
be broad or narrow, us the foundations are 
laid iu school. Education is the growth and 
development of the faculties of the 
mind. Books do not contain actual 
realities but facts about realities aud 
every study furnishes a key that will un¬ 
lock some realm of realities m the visible 
world. Gaining these keys is the work of 
school days, using them is the work of after 
life and these together are education. 
A little accurate knowledge on any subject 
will soon prove itself a key to more; and 
“smatterings” of a subject if thoroughly un¬ 
derstood are useful. 
Little folks can be taught a groat deal, be 
fore they go to books for information, that 
will make study easier for them when taken 
up. Children love stones, and if the mamma, 
a sister or brother will toll them true stories, 
the history of our own country is a good sub¬ 
ject. Toll them of the long years that it wait¬ 
ed, an unbroken wilderness, for the coming of 
white men and civilization. Of Columbus’s 
voyage at last, less than four hundred yours 
ago. Of the coming of people from every nu 
tion to “the land of freedom.” Of the Revo¬ 
lution and its greatest hero, Washington, and 
picture the duys when railroads and the tele¬ 
graph were unknown. All this can be mado 
iiiterestiug and entertaining for a child 
old enough to beg for stories. 
Or almost any work the story teller is inter¬ 
ested in, can be described. If it is the brother 
ju^t come in from the sugar camp, where the 
maple sirup is boiling, a story about all the 
work and the facts about the sap, that is 
drawn away from its work of building the 
tree and made into sugar, will seem as mar¬ 
velous as a fairy tale to the little listener. 
Or wheu the children climb upon the table 
to see the bread made, the story of a wheat 
plant, including harvesting, thrashing and 
grinding the grain will please aud instruct 
them. 
Grown people forget that the little folks 
kuovv only a few of the interesting things that 
seem so common to them, and they hunt for 
marvels about distant lauds and strange ani 
uials to tell to the childreu, leaving all the 
things the little minds have wondered about, 
unnoticed. It is not an idle tiling to help the 
little people iu their search for knowledge, for 
a good beginning makes uli the long road 
easier. 
As has been mentioned, geography has been 
made something of a specialty for 1'ruvio. It 
seems to be the foundation for so nuieli else, 
that its chief facts cannot be taught too early. 
Trnvie has learned the continents, oceans, 
zones, seas, largest rivers, all of our own States, 
and all the countries of Europe. To fix some 
of these m Ins mind, short stories have been 
told him of the people, or the natural features 
of the places. The story of De Soto and his 
death and burial in the Mississippi River gave 
him an idea to associate with the river and with 
Spain, De Koto’s native country. As he has 
seen the Hudson River at its mouth, it was 
easy to teach him that Henry Hudson sailed 
from Holland to our shores, and that England 
was his native land. The storj’ of Columbus 
gave both Italy mid Spain a history for him. 
A description of the ice palaces built in St. 
Petersburg gave him a sense of the cold win¬ 
ters of Northern Russia. When he learned 
that people from Sweden are called Swedes, 
he exclaimed, '‘Grandpa’s farmer is from there, 
isu’t he?” aud looking at the map, lie added, 
“He has come across the ocean, then, hasn’t 
he?” He listened one evening to a story of 
some Scotch children laimchiug a boatou a 
river, and the next day in ruciting geography, 
he looked carefully over the map of Scotland 
to find the river, showing he remembered 
where the children of the story lived. 
IV hen iruits, plants or nuts are sent from 
other States to the Rural Grounds, Travio, as 
much as an older person, gets a definite idea 
when ho hears which State they are from. 
One day wheu in New York ho saw on the 
streets Italians and Chinese, aud knowing 
their homes were the other side of tho world, 
lie looked at them with a lively interest. 
Whenever he crosses the North River, between 
Jersey City uud New York, he looks for ocean 
steamers and counts all he can see, at the same 
time astiiug questions enough to make theoue 
who is questioned feel remarkably ignorant. 
Knowing the location of countries, he can add 
to his knowledge continually; but if he heard 
ol China for the first time after seeing a 
Chinaman his idea of the locution of that 
country would be very vague and soon for¬ 
gotten. Knowledge, even with a little child, 
gathers to itself more knowledge, and igno¬ 
rance with grown people, as well as children, 
lets the most interesting facts pass by unseeu. 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
If thou wouklst bo borne with, bear with 
others. 
Who can all sense of others’ III escape, 
Is but u brute, at best. Iu human shape. 
It requires greater virtues to support good 
fortune Ihuu bad fortune. 
Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking 
for mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ uuto eter¬ 
nal life . 
1 iik sufferings of the mind are more severe 
than the pains of the body... 
There is not a single moment in life that wo 
can afford to lose... 
If there is any great good iu storo for you, 
it will not come at the first or second call, nor 
in the shape of fashion, case, and city drawing¬ 
rooms .... 
Palke friendship, like the ivy, decays aud 
ruins the walls it embraces; but true friend¬ 
ship gives now life aud animation to the object 
it supports..... 
1 icn thousand of (ho greatest faults in our 
neighbors are ol loss consequence to us thun 
oue of tho smallest in ourselves. 
A personal Josus accepted is salvation: a 
personal Jesus obeyed is sanctification; a per¬ 
sonal Jesus trusted is perpetual joy; « person¬ 
al Jesus possessed is our only power. 
It will help us to forgive the faults of others 
if we remember tliut under the same circum¬ 
stances we might have done the same thing.,,. 
I no not pity the misery of a man under- 
placed; that will right itself presently but I 
pity the man overplacod. 
Domestic Cccnrotmj 
CONDUCTED RY MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
We .should like lo know if true politeness 
does not require us to act, the same when with 
our own family alone as when we have com¬ 
pany. _ 
SOME OF THE THINGS LEFT OUT. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
With all our preaching aud teaching the 
fact somehow remains that the majority of 
people either remain ignorant, of many of the 
commonest duties of life, or else ignore them 
purposely, or evade them through moral 
cowardice. Take, for example, the instruc¬ 
tion of children from the moment their ques¬ 
tioning faculties are awakened uud they put 
tho question to the mother or father; “Where 
did I come from? Where did you got me?” 
In ninety-nine eases out <»f a hundred—nay, 
in even more—the child is practically put off 
with a lie, and in matters pertaining to bis 
own being and to the animal life of the world 
all around —matters of great and intense in¬ 
terest. to every thinking mind—he is left to fill 
his young mind from impure sources, and to 
have it planted with noxious weeds that taiut 
liis life forever after. Judging from my owu 
experience and observation in the training of 
children, I can see no reason for dealing with 
them from the outset in other than the frank¬ 
est. manner, and in answering their questions 
truthfully just so far as they can understand, 
while adding the assurance that us they grow 
older and can comprehend more, they shall be 
still further enlightened by yourself. It 
seems incredible that nuy child who is thus 
taught, concerning his physical life, lovingly, 
reverently and modestly by his parent, can 
ever become impure in mind or morally de¬ 
based. Every part and function of his body 
he regards as equally sacred and valuable, and 
it is just as easy to teach him to call them by 
their proper or scientific names as to allow 
the use of the vulgar and unclean sounds that 
too frequently, aud always unnecessarily, 
prevail. 
A grave mistake that a groat many people 
make, is that of supposing that the mind of a 
pure child is affected like that of an old sinner, 
by the discussion of certain topics; every 
question that is treated in a dean and scien¬ 
tific inuuner, and presented to a child in an 
iubelligiblc way, is received and absorbed by 
him without the slightest thought of impurity. 
Aud when a child’s mind is satisfied in regard 
to it, its curiosity expands for other 
things aud the tendency to morbid¬ 
ness or to secret investigations — always 
dangerous to the moral character — is 
avoided by the parent, being simply frank and 
truthful. Tho confidence of the child is never 
lost when he learns that in ali things he ran 
consult bis parents with perfect freedom. De¬ 
cency and modesty attend upon wisdom, 
while uncleuniioss and vice forever accom¬ 
pany jguoruuee aud superstition. Compare 
mentally, if you will, the purity of heart of a 
child who has been taught the proper mimes 
and uses of his bodily functions, who lias nev¬ 
er been deceived or lied to, with that of the 
child who has caught his nomenclature from 
the scums and his physiology from servants or 
obscene books! 
Hundreds of pareuts take infinite pains to 
teach their children to be jtolite and kind and 
truthful, who never go to the trouble to visit 
the schools they attend or acquaiut them¬ 
selves with the condition of tho outbuHdiugs 
of schools—often sinks of iniquity in more 
sense tha” one. In the most sensitive and im¬ 
portant matters we go in a blindfold way, 
trusting to some indefinite and intangible 
guidance for the children in the things in 
which they most need our leading hands. 
Thousands of boys ruin themselves through ig¬ 
norance, and girls suffer life-long disasters 
from luck of proper instruction, a withhold¬ 
ing of tho commonest duty on the part of pa¬ 
rents, that is simply criminal. The Romanist 
priest who said, "Give me the first seven years 
of a child’s life, and I care not who has tho 
rest,” realized, as too fow people do, tho tre¬ 
mendous signifieanco of early impressions. 
We make laws for the punishment of scoun¬ 
drels who would stall our children with knives, 
but how effectually do we try to punish the 
wretches who utter iu their presence foul 
words aud vile expressions? And is not the 
latter the worse crime of the two? 1 know of 
nothing so eminently fitting as the whipping¬ 
post for men who speak in obscene terms to a 
child. So, with all our preaching aud pray¬ 
ing, do we not leave many things quite un¬ 
touched that, are of far vaster import than the 
doctrine of the Trinity or even of church unity? 
TliMi-a are things that lie iu a stratum at the 
very bottom, which nobody seems to regard 
as his duty to attend to. Wo have all sorts of 
philanthropic and^rcligious societies—women 
