blue and yellow. There are atrocious figures 
of the Virgin Mary and of Jesus, and all the 
cheap, showy fixtures and tinsel ornamenta¬ 
tion of the Catholic Church. Now and then a 
woman, with a shawl over her head, came iu 
and kneeled, counted her beads, and mumbled 
her prayers. All the time bqjds flew about 
the church, and kept up a continual twitter of 
song. The Catholics are always right iu one 
thing, and that is in keeping their churches 
open every day. The method that prevails 
among Protestants of building costly churches, 
and then opening them for two or three hours 
on Sunday only, is putting millions of dollars 
annually to the most niggardly use that could 
- well he contrived. Under such au unchristian 
aud unnatural dispensation it is no wonder 
that in large cities, in particular, poor people 
are drawn into the Catholic Church by this 
one feature of its hospitable doors, 
We climbed into the old bell tower and it 
was amusing to note in what characteristic fash¬ 
ion the bell rope had been mended from time 
immemorial—odds and ends of strings ofa hun¬ 
dred sorts, bits of wire and scraps of leather 
tied together and kuot.ted to keep the rope iu 
pulling condition. It was intensely Mexican 
—a dirty, greasy, temporary makeshift. 
Nothing can be more comical and ridiculous 
than to think of Mexico as a Republic. Of 
course, there are matiy very intelligent and 
highly educated Mexicans; but for all that, 
the hulk of the population is very far from be- 
iug fit fora Republican form of government, 
from the American staudpoiut.for they are ev¬ 
idently very little if any further advanced in 
civilization than were the races conquered by 
Cortez. There is a high tariff between Mexi¬ 
co and the United States, and nothing of the 
curious Mexican work to be had here is cheap. 
But for novelty aud antiquity, Americans 
have them here at their very doors. We re¬ 
turned to our hotel by a building iu which 
were buths, which wo went in to see. The 
house was built around an opeu court. The 
baths consisted ot a zinc tub, into which water 
could be turned by means of a spigot—a very 
prosaic affair. We had a vilo supper: but I 
kept a bill-of-fare as a curio. It l ead as fol¬ 
lows: 
Soup. 
Chotice of celery. Boiled beef a la Creole. 
Salad. Lettuce. Kadishes. 
Roasts. 
Yount; pig, barbecued. 
Choice cut of beef. Spanish Drip. 
Lamb with dressing. Chicken with French peas. 
Entrees. 
Welsh rabbit on toast. 
Oyster Vermout au gratin. 
Victory pan cakes. 
Tenderloin of antelope with cherries. 
Vegetables. 
New beets. Baked mashed potatoes. Asparagus. 
Relishes. 
Lee-Perriu sauce. Olives. English gherkin sauce. 
Olive oil. Pickled onions. 
Wheat and Oraham bread. 
Pastry. 
Pumpkin-custard pie. Blackberry pie. 
French Marine pudding. Cream sauce. 
Assorted cakes, 
Dessert. 
Apples. Oranges. Raisins. Cheese. Tea. Coffee. 
With all this pretentious menu, and gleam¬ 
ing silver aud glass, there was absolutely noth¬ 
ing fit to be eaten but the oranges, and they 
were as inferior as Nature ever deigns to 
make. But hotel cooking in America, taken 
all in all, is a disgrace to the nation; and I 
can imagine nothing more forJorn than to he 
obliged to live in the average hotel. How¬ 
ever, wo went to bed for a few hours’ sleep and 
at two next morning were again en route to¬ 
ward the “Land of Promise.” 
CATALOGUES, ETC., RECEIVED. 
Clark’s Flexible Disk Harrow.— Circu¬ 
lar from the Higgauum MTg. Corporation, 
Higgauum, Conn.—The manufacturers claim 
that this is the most perfect disk harrow ever 
offered to the public. Those who know the 
high character of this corporation realize 
•what this claim means. It is light and strong 
and of easy draft. An entirely new device is 
employed for holding the outer cuds of the 
gangs down. The gangs are adjusted by a 
new method which puts the power and labor 
upon the team. There are certain kinds of 
soil preparation that can be done better with 
a disk harrow than with any other. Those 
who have use for such au implement should 
by all means look this one over. 
Yaxkee Swivel Plow. —Catalogue from 
the Belcher & Taylor Agricultural Tool Co., 
Chicopee Fulls, Mass. Many farmers have 
found by experience that the swivel plow does 
the best work. By its use they are enabled 
to cultivate all their land, as they can throw 
the furrows all oue way and yet avoid dead 
furrows. The “Yankee” is claimed to be the 
best swivel plow made. It is at all times cen¬ 
ter draft and ruus as steadily and as easily as 
any land side plow. The share is so constructed 
that it does the work of a jointer, burying 
weeds and grass edges out of sight, It will 
surely pay farmers to look into the merits of 
thesejdows, We invite them to send for the 
catalogue iu which the “Yankee” and various 
other plows are well described. 
Spangler Corn Planter. Catalogue from 
the Spangler Manufacturing Company, York, 
Pa —This implement has been tested iu the 
field aud found to work well. It combines 
several new aud improved features that add 
greatly to its usefulness. Try it, The Spang¬ 
ler fertilizer distributer is highly praised. All 
know the discomforts attending the scattering 
of fertilizer on a windy day. The mouth, 
eyes aud hair are all filled. With this dis¬ 
tributor the fertilizer can be scattered evenly 
and well through any ordinary wind. Send 
for the catalogue. 
Paint toe House. Circulars from the Es¬ 
sex Faiut Works, Essex, Coirn.—Now is the 
time to apply paint to the house, barns and 
sheds. You can spare the time. This concern 
furnishes two shades of browns, grays or reds 
of a pure metallic linseed oil paint for a small 
sum. Write them aud see what they offer. 
Light Brahmas, Plymouth Rocks, etc. 
Circular from Wesley B. Barton, Pittsfield, 
Mass.—Birds from Mr. Barton’s pens have 
takeu uiauy prizes. They are first-class. Pekin 
ducks and collie dogs are also represented. 
Choice Flower Seeds. Circular from 
Charles L. Burr, Springfield, Mass.—Mr. Burr 
proposes to give bis customers the benefit of 
the money that some seedsmen put into a costly 
catalogue, by reducing the price of flower 
seeds. His prices are low. 
Woman’s Work. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY LOUISE TAPLIN. 
OF INTEREST TO WOMEN. 
Don't pick your neighbors to pieces in the 
presence of your children. Perhaps a judi¬ 
cious and much-needed amendment to this 
advice would be: Don’t pick your neighbors 
to pieces under any circumstances. But the 
effect of gossip upon children is certainly 
most pernicious. 
Cheerfulness and patience seem a homely 
sort of heroics, but considering how lew of us 
are called to realize great things—great in the 
common acceptance of the word—it seems 
wiser to choose qualities that will wear well, 
like Dr. Primrose. Patience, kiudly sympa¬ 
thy and readiness to be pleased by others— 
they are qualities to increase the bloom of 
youth, to beau'ify middle age aud to be a 
crown of blcssiug to the old. 
All writers'd the Gradgrindschool complain 
that our fe minin e faults and failings can iu- 
variabiy be traced to a lack of purpose. We 
dress and flirt aud read novels and eat candy, 
just because we've nothing else to do. And 
yet—let me whisper this heretical opiuion — 
these very same critics are the very first to 
reproach us for the slightest encroachment on 
what they consider their own peculiar pro¬ 
vince! 
THE WOMAN WHO LAUGHS. 
Untimely mirth or undue levity is a mis¬ 
take—but for a good, every-day household 
augel give us the woman who laughs. Her 
biscuits may not always be just right, and 
she maj r occasionally burn her bread and for¬ 
get to replace dislocated buttons, but for solid 
comfort all day and every duy she is a very 
paragon. This world has plenty of solid philoso¬ 
phy and overwhelming intellect, but philoso¬ 
phy and intellect will not stand nearly as much 
wear and tear as cheerfuluess and the sense 
of humor. 
One of our newspaper bards has sung the 
charms of the girl who laughs and doesn’t care. 
And he is right; home is not a battle-field; nor 
life one long unending row. The trick of al¬ 
ways seeiug the bright side, or, if the matter 
has uo bright side, of shining up the dark one, 
is a very important faculty; one of the things 
no woman should be without. We are not all 
born with the sunshine iu our hearts, as the 
Irish prettily phrase it, but we can cultivate 
a cheerful sense of humor, if we only try. 
Take the view thut this world is a bl ight oue, 
and a pleasant one if we only look at it in 
that light. And wherever we look we see our 
own face mirrored; it is largely our owu fault 
if the prospect is uot a bright oue. 
The faculty of seeiug the bright or laugh¬ 
able side may certainly be cultivated, wheu it 
does uot come by nature’s self. And it is a 
thing to be recommended, for the sweetest 
daughter, the truest wife, and the teuderest. 
mother is the woman who laughs—lleaveu 
bless her. 
INDOOR EMPLOYMENT FOR WOMEN. 
Let the men tear their coals and scratch 
their hands, cultivating and picking black¬ 
berries and we will patch the coats and put 
court plaster on the lacerated fingers. 
The fates have decreed that men should do 
the out-of-door work, while women toil iu* 
doors; and I, for one, have no desire to 
share the curse of Caiu by tilling the soil, 
aud earning my bread by the sweat of my 
brow. Wo will take our recreation out-of- 
doors with the assistance and under the pro¬ 
tection of the gentlemen aud iu turn endeavor 
to entertain them indoors. There are few' girls 
who do not, at some time, ask themselves— 
Y hat would 1 do if all means of support were 
cut, off from me? We enjoy reading the ex¬ 
perience of those who have been so situated, 
but the gist of a recent article on the subject 
is in the concluding sentences—“In conclusion 
good work will not go begging for a purchas¬ 
er, nor good workmen for employment.” 
Any womau who is determined to become a 
bread winner, cau do so successfully, if she 
turns her hand to the first thing that offers, 
no matter how humble, aud does it with her 
might, following out with faithfulness George 
Herbert’s rule, of making drudgery divine. 
The worker is always in the line of promo¬ 
tion. It is not the idle woman who is called to 
a position of trust, but the one who has 
proved herself of worth iu the place she now 
fills, for it is only from the best of to-day that 
we make a stepping stone to a better to¬ 
morrow, Nor should we forget, in treating 
the subject of woman’s home earnings that 
“a penny saved, is a penny earned,” and the 
woman who “ looketh well to the ways of her 
household, and eateth not the bread of idle¬ 
ness,” who administers her homo affairs with 
prudence aud economy, contributes as truly 
to the family exchequer as does the one who 
brings home each week a pocketful of wages. 
When I see poor little street waifs, their 
clothes iu tatters, with wau and sunken 
cheeks, giving such complete evidence of little 
or uo care, and improper or more likely in¬ 
sufficient food, I do not worry about superflu¬ 
ous women. Superfluous blue-stockings, 
there may be, but not superfluous women, 
women in the best sense of the term. 
Unless my small experience has been out of 
the corumou, the world is waitiug, even 
groaning for bright, happy, useful women. 
Women wuth the power aud the will toelevate 
and recreate those about them. Women who 
can broaden and sweeten the lives of this and 
future generations. Personally, my greatest 
trouble is to find time to do what I have to do, 
without seeking auy special employment. 
There ts, remember, always work for willing 
hands to do indoors. While one-half the 
world is struggling to find time for the work 
that lies before them, the other half is idly 
speculating as to how they can escape work 
by obtaining so-called indoor employment. 
I thiuk no active, intelligent woman need 
be uneasy, but that she cau always occupy 
her time profitably; but if l had to work for 
a living, I should, as suggested in the article 
referred to, seek a good trade, and uot attempt 
literature, tcaehiug or any of those employ¬ 
ments, iu which, because they are genteel, 
the competition is keen and the compensation 
small. It is charged that the average Ameri¬ 
can girl hears too much about literature, and 
too little of the domestic affairs of life, and I 
am afraid the charge is too true. People 
don’t ask how much you know —they 
don’t care; but what have you done, what 
can you do, aud what are you going to do. 
Unless we have already begun, we shall surely 
never make a mark iu the world, and if we 
have not, remembering with Longfellow that 
“Time is fleeting” it is time we put our knowl¬ 
edge and skill in practice. It is said “The 
most slavish course that uny woman could 
open up for herself is that of cultivated de¬ 
ficiency, or, iu other words, preparing for 
what she is not to be, making ready with 
books for au ideal life, when every step of the 
way is over the rough path of reality*," a path 
unnecessarily hard, by the unfitness of those 
who walk in it. 
I don’t like to work, but if I must work, I 
want to do that which is best for the world 
and for myself. Our power is enormous, and 
we may, if we will—do a far higher aud 
nobler work for the world, than by doing 
fancy work and picking those same black¬ 
berries. When we look about us and see the 
poor attenuated single men, old and young 
bachelors, who are nervous aud fidgety, aud 
who show only* too plainly how much they are 
in need of some one to look after them, does it 
not seem neglectful, even sinful, for us to 
worry about indoor employment, and to leave 
those specimens of neglected humanity to 
their fate? 
“TIs the hand as soft as the nestling bird 
That grips with the grip of steel; 
'TIs the voice as soft as sunniu r's wind 
That rules without appeal, 
Aud the warrior; scholar, the suiut aud sage, 
May tight und plan and pray, 
The world will wag to the end of lime, 
In the little woman’s way.” 
GLUE D. 
GOLDEN GRAINS, 
No thoroughly occupied man was ovoi yet 
miserable.,..».... 
It is only for the innocent that solitude can 
have charms. 
Every man has some peculiar train of 
thought which he falls back upon when alone. 
Have courage enough to review your own 
conduct, to condemn it where you detect 
faults, to amend it to the best of your ability 
to make good resolutions, and to keep them... 
I hate to see things done by halves; if it 
be right, do it boldly; if it bo wrong, leave it 
undone. 
Economy wisely directed is not only not 
stingy nor mean, but the thing that makes be¬ 
nevolence and generous giving possible. 
The great trouble about rules of etiquette 
or society is, that to some they become cast- 
iron, and stand superior to commonsense and 
courtesy.— Donorest's Monthly . 
Domestic Ccoiromij 
CONDUCTED BY MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
RURAL PITHS. 
We cannot understand the pride that 
prompts a girl to wear shoes a size too small 
for her. Surely the martyrdom endured is 
worthy ofa better cause. 
Cream oitecru color we think preferable to 
pure white goods for summer dresses. 
A good hygienic diet and plenty of exer¬ 
cise in the open air are the best aud only rem¬ 
edies for a bad complexion. 
The wearing of shoes run over at the heels 
seems to us to betray great lack of neatness 
in the wearer. 
Dress collars are still very high. 
It was Chesterfield who said: “lam more 
upon my guard as to my behavior to my ser¬ 
vants and to others who are called my inferi¬ 
ors. than I am towards my equals, for fear of 
beiug suspected of that mean aud ungenerous 
sentiment of desiring to make others feel that 
difference which fortune lias, perhaps too un¬ 
deservedly, made between us.” 
Door knobs are for use not for ornament, a 
thing few persons have learned, judging from 
the many doors one sees with paint worn off 
by too frequent use of soap aud water iu re¬ 
moving Huger marks. 
It is said that manufacturers have made a 
greater effort this season than heretofore to 
render their wash dress goods more durable in 
coloring, 
A pretty conceit for neck wear is a nich¬ 
ing made of loops of very narrow pearl-edged 
ribbon. Some of these ruehings show two 
colors. Cream aud light blue; ‘'Nile” green 
and “shrimp” pink were the prettiest that we 
saw. 
A KITCHEN TALK. 
ANNIE L. JACK. 
“The back o’ the winter’s broke,” said an 
old Scotch woman to me the other day, aud it 
seems as if the lengthened sunny days are har¬ 
bingers of spring aud that the sap will begin 
to stir ere long in the gaunt and leafless trees. 
The sunshine streams “through liberal space,” 
in at the kitchen windows, and the bread that 
had to be watched for fear it would oot be 
warm euough, now, on the other hand, is likely 
to get too warm with the same treatment. 
Lately the little girls of our household who at¬ 
tend the French convent brought worn that 
the nuns wanted our reeii»e for bread; but I 
agree with that writer for the Rural who says 
bread cannot be made from recipes. The first 
requisite is good flour; then good yeast, and 
then proper attention to baking up. Miss 
Corson some time ago gave lessons to working 
people, and made bread in two hours aud fif¬ 
teen minutes from the sifting of the flour 
to the taking from the oven. She used com¬ 
pressed yeast, which I kuovv makes some dif¬ 
ference iu the time. The use of a little ginger 
and sugar iu cold weather makes quite a dif- 
ereuec, too, if added to the yeast. All must 
be of the proper temperature to insure suc¬ 
cess. I always think the happiness ol'a meal 
depends largely upon its bread and butter, aud 
this most housekeepers understand. I know a 
youth who, when he particularly wishes to iu- 
gratiate himself with the hostess where he 
may be visiting, always disdains cake and says, 
with a winning smile, taking another slice, 
^Umnancottis 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castorla 
When she was a Chilli, she cried for Oastoria, 
When she became Miss, she clung to Oastoria, 
When she had Children, she gave them Caatoria. 
