©GT22 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
towards support. That might mean work at 
home; if so, so much the better, but should 
she be debarred from earning a livelihood iu 
the business field because she did not attain a 
certain standard before marriage? The 
woman stepping out of her business position 
to accept matrimony, amounts to the same as 
the man changing from one place to another. 
He doesn’t continue in a position always, even 
if he has become valuable. The woman does 
better because she leaves a vacancy to be 
filled by some one of that great surplus. 
To revert to the matter of enrly success I 
cite Harriet Martiueau who, at the age of 21, 
was able to rely upon her pen for the support 
of herself and ot hers of her family. Charlotte 
Cushman made her tl&lut at It*. These are 
but a drop in the bucket. 
I am charitable enough to suppose that J. 
H. G.when weigbiug his subject must have had 
defective scales or removed bis freight before 
the turning of the fulcrum. 
Does the suggestion he so graciously con¬ 
cludes with meet the question of wages? Isn’t 
the business man iu many instances just as 
well pleased to have unskilled labor tf he cau 
secure it at less cost, and hasn’t he been glad 
to have female employees because they were 
willing to accept less for the sake of needed 
employment? 
Improvement is desirable, it is essential and 
applies to the race collectively. Yes, give all 
a chance. It is to be regretted that the cook¬ 
ing school should not have heen patronized for 
there is much ueed of more knowledge among 
women making this a portion of or their main 
business. If women should confine themselves 
to avocations strictly in the household cate¬ 
gory it would not relieve the crowding of the 
business mart, for she would then usurp the 
trade of the man cook, dressmaker and the 
like aud throw so many more men into the 
arena. 
If the writer in the Christian Union had 
used the word some the statemeut would have 
been just, but to say “most working women 
desire employment easily learned,” aud so on, 
is asserting what cannot be proved by statis¬ 
tics. 
Housework is not ignoble, and many a wo¬ 
man proves this by putting her shoulder to the 
wheel aud performing all the labor required 
in her own home, and iu additiou intelligent¬ 
ly wielding her social wand. The daughter 
who has the mother’s love at heart, aud is 
truly a womau, will not sit idly by, but will 
contribute her share of exertion. When it 
comes, however, to taking an outside position 
in somebody’s kitchen, there is a shrinking 
that should tie recognized as commendable, 
when applied to certain classes of individuals. 
A person so employed is debarred from so¬ 
ciety that would be to her taste. Society is 
graded among men, aud this is equally time of 
women. Would the man who is fortunate 
enough to be in the genteel ranks seek com¬ 
panionship with those foreign to his enjoy¬ 
ment? Would he seek the kitchen maid as his 
society, be she ever so good? Not likely; he 
would also prefer that members of his house¬ 
hold or family should occupy higher positions, 
if the necessity for employment developed to 
take them beyond the ihrcshhold of home. 
Compare the frivolity, etc., of woman with 
the intemperance of umu and then decide 
whether reform is not as much needed among 
men as a basis for efficient service. 
Exceptions, or rather differences of nature, 
considered, woman is entitled to equality with 
man. Am I not right? 
CONCERNING WOMEN. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
Women who spend much time at the sea 
shore in the summer pick up a good many 
ideas as to comfort aud utility. For scram¬ 
bling over the rocks or walking over sandy 
beaches there are no shoes so safe aud com¬ 
fortable as those of canvas with rubber soles; 
of course without heels. Inexpensive, too. 
As for bats, none are so fashionable and com¬ 
fortable as the broad-brimmed felts, made for 
men and worn equally by them, as are the 
heelless shoes. What with head and footgear 
alike, and double-breasted coats and outside 
and inside pockets, the corset doomed and 
the “divided skirts’’ looming iu the distance, 
there is no predicting the feminine dress of 
the future. _ 
Necessity is the mother of invention, aud 
the pretty interiors of many seaside cottages, 
that cost but a few hundred dollars, put to 
shame many expensive houses in attractive¬ 
ness. One reason of this is, that every piece 
of furniture is utilized to the last gasp. If the 
bottom of a chair gives out it is mended with 
strips of list or stout cord, cushioned with cot¬ 
ton or a worn-out garment, folded llat., and 
then finished off with a cover of chintz or cre¬ 
tonne neatly tacked on. One cau do wonders 
with cotton, now that prints are so pretty. 
Not only chairs and lounges and dress boxes 
can be covered with it, but mirrors framed 
with it, windows curtained aud closets extem¬ 
porized. Turkey red trims nearly everything 
well for a bed-chamber; but it is particularly 
pretty as a bolder for pale, dull yellows, 
grays, ecru and the like. The old, old-fash- 
ionod window curtain, strung on a string 
across the lower half of the « indow is iu high 
vogue. In fact, all old-fashioned things are 
new-fasbioned, and anything that is really 
pretty at any time is always pretty. Time 
tests merit iu prettiness, as in other things. 
The German apron is a pretty novelty, 
I saw one a day or two ago that came from 
California—a yard-aud-a half long or more, 
of nearly white linen, not overfiue like unto 
butcher's 1 men—both ends of the cloth— 
rather less than a yard in width—trimmed 
with deep linen lace; above a border iu 
geometrical design outlined with red and green 
embroidery cotton. One end folds over about 
half way, so that, the upper part of the apron 
is double; the top cud where the fold comes, 
is left perfectly straight and uncut, and the 
striugs of tape are sowed on each side, about 
three or five inches from the middle, accord¬ 
ing to the size of the waist that is to wear it. 
Very odd and pretty. Of course, iu applying 
the ornamentation, remember that on oue 
end it should be put on the “other side,”as it 
turns over. You can get the idea liy ma¬ 
nipulating a towel with a colored border. 
Alt hough Japanese decorations are not iu high 
fashion now, still with judicious use they can 
always run the gauntlet of fashion aud con¬ 
tribute much to the brightness of a room. A fan 
that shuts up is a good “catch-all” in a cham¬ 
ber. Fasten the two outside sticks together 
by overlapping, and you have a funnel-shaped 
receptacle, very quickly made; hang in an 
angle or corner if convenient. If the glass iu 
the lower part of a window or door needs 
to be re-covered, a pretty effect is sometimes 
produced by pasting Japanese paper over the 
glass. The light is not excluded while the 
bright coloring ou the paper gives a paiuted 
gtass effect. 
A lady in Califoi uia asked me if women in 
the East dul talk as Mr. Howell made them 
talk in his novels. I replied that New Eug- 
glaud women did especially those about Bos¬ 
ton. Iu conversation recently with a Cam¬ 
bridge girl, the Howell’s “talk” was alluded 
to aud she said “yes, we have to own up that 
he has our talk to perfection, us if he eves- 
dropped with a stenographer at his elbow. 
1 think he must tnke it dowu by the shorthand 
method, for how else could he get it so per¬ 
fectly even to the last interjection ? It is im¬ 
mensely amusing to read him for a time or 
two.” 
Mourning things, such as black edged collars 
and handkerchiefs can be utilized for uu- 
mournful use by embroidering on or near the 
black a row of red dots. Iu handkerchiefs 
yellow can also be introduced w ith fine effect 
for scalloping t ho edges. 
No women of refined taste wear a “bustle” 
of pronounced style. A small one is vulgar 
enough, the mercy kuows, while a large one is 
simply a hideous monstrosity, and only a vul¬ 
gar womau can see any “style ” iu it. Style 
is the clothes wearing faculty. 
Nothing is more distressing to the eye of 
the beholder iu woineuS dress than to see the 
waist and the skirt look as if they had parted 
company. If the petticoats arc uot supported 
from the shoulders as they ought to be, the eye 
at least cau lie relieved, and the hips too of 
the wearers, liy buttoning the gown skirt at 
the back to the waist. This is done by work¬ 
ing a buttonhole in the end of a stout piece of 
tape or dress lining—their should be two of 
these short straps not over two inches long, 
and sew them securely to the seams iu the 
back that rail next to the back line. Then 
sew two fiat buttons on the waistband of the 
skirt to match the buttonholes. The button¬ 
ing after the gown is on is easily accom¬ 
plished, and the skirt is not only supported 
but the back of the waist is also held down 
In preparing your outfit Tor fall and wiutor 
wear, contrive to make your clothing in one 
piece so fur as practicable. The Jersey made 
undergarments, all in one piece, are as yet 
more expensive than the chemise and drawers 
woven separately. But the ordinary chem¬ 
ise can be made well fitting by putting it 
on wrong side out, pinning up the sc&uts and 
fitting it like a dress waist,, cut it open down 
the front and proceed with needle, thread and 
buttons in the work of reconstruction. Con¬ 
siderable su peril in ms material in this way is 
disposed of, which does not add to the warmth 
but does add to the misfit of the dress waist. 
There is not much to be said in favor of 
an under petticoat for warmth. If made into 
drawers, it would afford twice the warmth. 
Equalization of warmth with the smallest pos¬ 
sible weight is what everybody wants in win¬ 
ter, especially women and girls. The Jersey 
cloth w hich is now standard goods and can be 
bought by the yard, is excellent material from 
which to make underwear, 
Oue of the best bakers in Boston is a woman 
and her name goes with the bread. It is 
rather surprising that in an enterprise so thor¬ 
oughly feminine, men should have usurped 
the business so generally. Another business 
iu w hicli men make loads of money is the seed 
business. Of course women do most of the 
work and some man gets the profit. If girls 
devoted their energies more to money than to 
husband-getting it would be better for them. 
There is never any trouble about getting the 
latter when the former is present. 
Ill one of the Boston papers somewhat re¬ 
cently there was a symposium of ideas from 
various rich men telling the public how to get 
rich. Of course the gist of the entire advice 
was tin* old story of industry aud economy 
and to save the pennies. Ben Butler, how¬ 
ever, and he is, outside of polities, an excel¬ 
lent umu, says; "Invest in real estate and in 
a wife if you can find a safe and prudent girl 
who has been brought up by a mother who 
knows how to take care of a house.” The ad- 
vice, of course is all for men, os women are 
not supposed to bo money getters. 
I lately heanl an American woman, who 
had been living for 12 years in Germany, say 
that she would rather see her SOD dead, tlinu 
married to a fashionably-reared American 
girl, one of the kind that can’t manage to live 
w ithout three or four servants to wait upon 
her. While being a thoroughly refined and 
patriotic woman she was very severe in her 
strictures upon the general manners of the 
Americau girl abroad—her loud voice, ber 
oftentimes bad English, her rough w ays, her 
slang, her free manners with youug men—all 
innocent enough, may be—but neither nice 
nor charming nor pleasing. Aud “abroad’’ 
means away from home, in cars aud boats 
and in the street. 
The cigarette smoker has developed a new 
disease—a dimness of vision that leads to 
blindness and for which spectacles do no 
good. The cigarette smoker is too small a fry 
to worry over. The sooner he is exterminated 
the better, and to have him banished to the 
blind asylum will be a great relief to the trav¬ 
eling public. So long as girls continue to 
marry drink aud smoke there will bo no eud 
to diseuse and misery. In a country like the 
United States where the men outnumber the 
women by oue million—according to tbe last 
census—there certainly is room for choice iu 
taking a husband. There are many good aud 
viceless men in the world, and there would be 
a great many more if women only insisted 
upon their being so. 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
Buskin' speaks from bis own personal expe¬ 
rience when he says: “ If you want knowl¬ 
edge you must toil for it ; if food, you must, 
toil for it.; aud if pleasure, you must toil for 
it. Toil is tt e law. Pleasure comes through 
toil, and uot by self indulgence and indolence, 
When one gets to love work, his life is a happy 
one ... .. . 
Henry Ward Beecher was a “ book far¬ 
mer,” and yet he says that the best stock a 
man can invest in is tho stock of a farm; the 
best shares are plowshares. 
Our virtues are the dupes and often only 
the playthings of our follies. Bulwer Lyttou 
says: iu other words, and scientifically, our 
moral sentiments are often subject to our pro¬ 
pensities, and made contributory to their self 
ish aud misdirected ends... 
Channinu says: “Thespirit of liberty is 
not merely, as some people imagine, a jeal¬ 
ousy of pur own particular nglus, but a re¬ 
spect for the rights of others and an unwilling¬ 
ness that any man, whether high or low, 
should be wronged aud trampled under foot.” 
Seneca said the manner of saving or doing 
anything goes a great wav towards the value 
of the thing itself. 
Oomrslic Cconcwuj 
CONDUCTED RY MRS. AGNES K. M. CARMAN. 
WALL POCKETS. 
We trust that the illustration here given 
will be “just the thing” for lovers of fancy- 
work who may be on the outlook for some¬ 
thing a little novel in wall receptacles. 
Fig. 437 is a wicker-work basket (t he untriin- 
Fig. 437. 
HOW TO READ. 
A. G. 
The Rural has been telling its readers a 
great deal about irhnt to read, aud has given 
much good advice on this important subject, 
but there is also something iu knowing how 
to read so as to derive the greatest benefit 
from w hat you rend. 
There is a story told of a rich brewer who 
bought a library of five thousand volumes and 
devoted twenty years of his life to their pe¬ 
rusal, and at the end of the twenty years he 
was as ignorant, and unintellectual as he was 
before. It sounds incredible, and of course he 
had learned something, such as the names aud 
existence of writers, but he had read mechan¬ 
ically aud without intelligence, and so ho still 
remained an ignorant man. 
Tutk with 1W out of 20 school girls and try 
to get them to criticise an author, and what 
do you hear! “Oh! I dote on Thackeray,” 
“Shakespeare is too sweet for anything.” 
“Isn’t Howells just lovely?” “Cnrlyle is 
awfully nice, and so deliciously sarcastic.” 
Not one idea have they gained. 
A great deal of the fault of this lies with 
teachers. There is no use iu giving u child 
anything to read that is at all beyond his 
comprehension unless you point out the beau¬ 
ties of it aud show him wherein lies the 
charm. It is the books that make you think 
that do you the most good, ami the mind can 
bo cultivated and taught to observe ami re¬ 
flect. “It is for more important to cultivate 
the mind than to store tho memory,” says !Sir 
Johu Lubbock. Epictetus says: “You will do 
the greatest service to the State if you shall 
raise, not the roofs of the houses, but the souls 
of the citizens: for it. is better that great souls 
should dwell in small houses rather than for 
mean slaves to lurk iu great houses,” 
It is more important that a child should lie 
incited txi wish to loam, than that he should 
be taught, for if he is taught without tho wish 
it will profit him little; but if ho be given the 
wish and the will he will find the way. 
med basket can be found at almost any store 
where wicker-work goods are sold) decorated 
with valances in velvet, satin or cloth which 
have vamlykes ami flowers worked iu crewels 
or arrasene. The seal lops, as seen in tne illus¬ 
tration, are edged with small tassels or balls 
of ehenile with larger ones at the sides. 
The foundation of the pocket shown at Fig. 
43S is of stiff cardboard. The back and pocket 
front are of the same shape and almost of the 
same size, the pocket part being a little wider 
SttiidreUatteaujs ptavettisitifl. 
When Baby was sick, we *ave ber Castorla 
When she was a Child, she cried for Casiorla. 
When she became Miss, she clum? to casiorla, 
When she had Children, she wave them Castorla 
