THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
ing fabric of tbe group is Melton cloth; it is 
precisely similar in appearance and finish to 
the tailor’s fabric bearing the same name, but 
is light enough to lie made into gowns. All 
these stuffs come iu the exquisite new colors, 
which are handsomer than ever this year. 
Chief among these are greens and olives, 
grays and red. Red must stand at tbe head 
of the list, though it is likely to be even more 
popular in the spring than in the winter. 
Fig. 462. (See previous page.) 
The aggressive cardinal shades are things of 
the past; the new tints are variations of ox- 
blood and terra cotla. Both greens and blues 
show the aesthetic tints of old gobelin tapes¬ 
try, and the grays are beyond praise, so rich 
and soft-looking. 
Iu more ornate fabrics, there is came l’s-bair 
brocade, and also the same material with 
raised figures in plush. Embroidered robes 
in camel’s-hair and cashmere are as handsome 
as ever, especially those adorned with plush 
appliqud and budion work. 
Rich heading, both by itself and combined 
with metal cords, is to be seen iu every color 
and combination. Especially handsome are 
designs in i ridescent metal cords. These tri i n- 
miugs are to be seen on all the handsomest 
wraps, which are beautiful, though rather too 
much trimmed. 
The uewest shapes in short wraps are 
shorter in the front than last year, but have 
long pauiers at the side. Mauy of them show 
flowing pagoda sleeves. One exquisite little 
evening wrap was of lavender plush, lined 
with lavender satin, and trimmed with chin¬ 
chilla and gold cord. Another long evening 
wrap was of terra-cotta plush, lined with 
apricot satin; it was trimmed with Persian 
lamb and black passementerie. Mntelasse is 
combined with plush in both suits and wraps; 
it is usually oriental in design and coloring. 
The prevailing fashion is for long wraps this 
winter, giving the wearer an opportunity to 
consult both comfort and style. 
For information contained in the above 
article thanks are due Messrs. James Mc- 
Creery & Co.. New York. 
-- 
WOMEN’S DRIVING. 
8. J. L. 
“Thou shalt not drive,” is one of the many 
commandments given ns by our liege lords— 
the men. They take the high moral ground 
that it is uot proper for woman to drive; she 
is out of her sphere; it is a physical impossi¬ 
bility for her to manage a horse; she has no 
judgment in driving, is subject to accidents, 
or never knows how to extricate herself; has 
to pall on u man (this said with very sarcastic 
accent), and eveutually gets her neck broken, 
to kind of finish off with and make things 
pleasant. 
The result of all this is, when by any chance 
it is uecessary for a woman to take a horse on 
her own responsibility, she is cautioned an 
hour before starting upon various subjects of 
driving lore, and made to feel as uncom¬ 
fortable as possible in anticipation of some 
dire calamity about to befall her. Then she 
is given the stupidest, lamest, most forlorn 
beast in the stables; harness toggled up with 
rope, and sent out in the world like Noah’s 
dove, with notbiug substantial to rely on. 
She is then told uot to stay long, not to drive 
too fast, uot to go near the cars (of which the 
horse was perfectly oblivious), watch the tugs 
up hill and breecheu down lull, and above all, 
be cautious. The woman drives out of the 
yard wfth a presentiment of coming dissolu¬ 
tion, and she fain would drop a tear for those 
she leaves behind. 
Ever on the alert for any premonitions of 
“cuttings up” (a thing her horse never was 
guilty of even in its palmiest days), her ride 
is auytbiug but invigorating, and who won¬ 
ders that she is not refreshed by her outing? 
It was too risky to enjoy The one way to 
reform this state of things is for women to 
cultivate cast-iron feelings, and when the hor¬ 
rors of driving are dilated upon, to turn a 
deaf ear, calmly, serenely and confidently 
gather up tbe rains and inwardly resolve to 
be equal to any and all occasions; she will 
then be mistress of the situation. 
I’ve always noticed these too careful men 
have uo compunction in selling a horse they 
have warned their wife agaiust as decidedly 
unsafe, to a man whose chief object is to pur¬ 
chase a horse that his women folks can drive. 
He represents tbe animal to be gentle, kind, 
never to shy,care nothing for the cars and to be 
altogether lovely for ladies’use. To do him 
justice this is generally uearer the truth. But 
if the buyer had heard him yesterday giving a 
summary of its vicious habits when bis wife 
wished to drive to a neighbor’s, he would be 
aghast at the duplicity of nmn. 
She is gruvelv told she would not lit 1 able to 
get Oflt of the yard without being strung to 
flinders; should she by any possibility escape 
that exercise, the horse would dump her in the 
ditch: he was an awful sliypr, and moreover he 
had a wretched habit of kicking over the dash¬ 
board Which playfulness might disturb the se¬ 
renity of her meditations. There is such a 
difference between what “my wife” or “your 
wife” can do. After inheriting these ideas, 
handed down for ages from father to son, 
who can blame tbe man? It is for woraau to 
rise up and prove those ideas erroneous; she 
can if she will. 
TRAINING THE BABY. 
SELMA CLARK. 
The greatest mistake that mothers, and of¬ 
ficious aunts and relatives make in the care 
of that “ bundle of flannel, and bit of laces” 
known as "tbe baby,” is that they do not treat 
it as anything human. It is first fed to re¬ 
pletion, much on the plan on which geeso are 
stuffed in order to provide epicures with pntt 
(le fnis yeas. When tbe poor mite expresses 
its discontent aud disapprobation iu the only 
way possible, by a pathetic little whimper, it 
is at once shaken and dandled until his poor 
little digestive apparatus must be puzzled to 
know how to act, or wbat Is expected of it. 
How would a grown person like to be made 
to go through all sorts of gymnastic perform¬ 
ances immediately after a hearty meal. Why 
don’t you treat the baby with a little of the 
same regard for its comfort that you do the 
grown-up ? Feed it with a proper quantity 
of food convenient for it, aud then put it in 
its little lied, aud make it stay there. 
“Doctor,” said a young mother, looking 
with proud and anxious fondness at her first¬ 
born, “ what is the most important thing for 
baby’s welfare?” “Sleep,” said the doctor, 
“auil the second is sleep, aud the third is 
sleep.” I have seen fussy hens, which are never 
content when their broods are comfortably 
settled around them in peaceful repose, and 
1 know mothers who seem to have exactly 
the same spirit. If the baby is asleep they 
fear it must be sick and waken it to make 
sure that everything is all right; when the 
outraged infant immediately does its liest to 
announce that, things are all wrong. 
It isn’t mothers alone who succeed in mak¬ 
ing the haby’B lot uu unhappy one. There is 
the officious visitor, who although she may lie 
neither wife nor mother, is always ready with 
advice. Perhaps the worst thing that can 
befall tbe youthful scion is to have rivul 
mothers-in-law in the house. Then iudeed his 
infant mind must learn at a tender age to 
grapple with the problem, “Is life worth liv¬ 
ing?” and very often it decides in tbe negative, 
and tbe little life goes out through misman¬ 
agement. 
A judicious little matron of my acquaint¬ 
ance once toll me laughingly that, of all fussy 
relatives that had conspired to mitke her life 
miserable during the infancy of her first baby, 
“Harry” was the worst. “Although he hod 
never before shown a tendency to interfere in 
the household government, when baby ar¬ 
rived on the tapis, all his usual good seuse 
seemed to have deserted him. His daily in¬ 
junctions to the nurse made that unhappy fe¬ 
male’s life a burden to her, and her sniff-; of 
disdain and half audible,and wholly contempt¬ 
uous remarks regarding ‘hen-lmssies,’ were 
not calculated to contribute to my peace of 
mind. I flattered myself that when I once 
more assumed the reins, Harry would be less 
neVvous, but found myself subject to exactly 
the same regimen. ‘Don’t take the baby out 
in the hot sun.’ ‘Be very careful about the 
the temperalurp of his bath.’ ‘I wouldn’t let 
anyone handle baby; they might let him fall,’ 
and so on with an absurd assumption of wis¬ 
dom, that, so completely ignored the possession 
of auy modicum of common sense on my part., 
that I determined to see if 1 could not bring 
him to bis semes, or at least let him know 
that I had not taken leave of mine. Quo day 
when he was leaving for his office after un¬ 
limited directions as to the temperature of 
the room, the bath, the food, the hours for 
sleep, the flannels aud the medicines of the 
luckless heir, I said very demurely and sweet¬ 
ly, ‘You may make your mind easy, Harry 
dear, I shall take just, as good care of him as 
though he were my own child.’ He stared iu 
a dazed sort of way for a moment, accepted 
the situation, kissed me good bye, and from 
that day acknowledged the fact not only of 
our joint relationship, but of my ability to 
manage the baby.” 
From the management of babies to hus¬ 
bands is hut a natural transition, and while I 
am in a mood for giving advice, I may as well 
be generous. You who are matrons of a year 
aud a day will nob deny that the rightful gui¬ 
dance of a husband is a gift, Heavensent— 
since without it so many lives are wrecked. 
Perhaps the most common mistake that a w o¬ 
man makes is in believing that her husband is 
always the stronger party. She goes on in 
her belief year after year, blindly insisting up¬ 
on leaning on a broken reed, with this result, 
that the husband, who with her moral sup 
port might have developed into something like 
a nmn,lacking that, and having nothing to give 
where so much is expected, all at once falls 
from his high estate iu her eyes by exhibiting 
some terrible weakness, or perhaps crime, to 
which she can no longer close her eyes. Hud 
she recognized the true state of affairs at the 
start, who can tell how much her strength 
and true love might have spared them both. 
So much of life is all a mistake that we can¬ 
not help being devoutly thankful for that 
higher life where we may retrieve the errors 
of this one. 
Another fatal error of American wives 
which a French wife never makes, is that of 
sameness. 8he mikes herself too common¬ 
place. Her husband is too sure of her love, 
accepts it as he does the air, the sunlight, his 
daily bread or any other everyday blessing of 
which he is certain. Let your husband feel that 
having struggled to win your affection, he must 
now try to keep it. Throw a little variety in¬ 
to your treatmentof him. There will be some 
“spice” iu liis life if he feels that be never 
knows exactly in what mood he will find you. 
Never be a shrew, but remember that a steady 
diet of sweets will soon pull. 
“A man is very human,” says “Bab,” in 
the New York Star; “ he likes to feel that his 
wife is like the French feuilleton, worth hav¬ 
ing after each chapter, ‘To be continued in 
our next.’” Don’t expect too much love of 
tbe exalt re kind, anil ubove all, “ measure all 
you give.” 
“ That your life may iluisli 
Calm as It begun. 
Learn your lesson batter, dear, 
Than 1 have done." 
WHY" PEOPLE MARRY. 
s. c. 
educated, declared that he selected his wife 
because he had observed how uimbly and 
gracefully she mounted a ladder; a very 
necessary qualification perhaps in a sailor, or 
if he had expected to take up his abode iu the 
rigging of a ship, but a slight thing on w hich 
to build expectations of n life of happiness. 
For such slight causes as these, or “for any 
other reason why.” men choose tlu ir wives; 
but why do women choose their husbands? 
I otico heard an emiuent divine, preaching 
from tbe text. “We love him because he first 
loved us,” say the majority of wives, if asked 
why they fell in love with their husbands 
would reply, “Because he first loved me.” 
Well, love is a very good Imsfs on which to 
marry, but if nine-tenths of the women who 
have made youthful marriages were asked 
why they had married as they did, and 
answered truthfully, they would reply “Be¬ 
e-use 1 was asked.” Until people begin to 
choose their partners in life with something 
of the care and forethought with which they 
would select a garment, the divorce courts 
will continue to be crowded, and unhappy 
marriages will be tbe rule and not the excep¬ 
tion. 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
“How,” said one to Sir Walter Raleigh, of 
whom it was said be “could toil terribly,” 
‘how do you accomplish so much in so short a 
time?” “When I have anything to do I go 
and do it,” was the reply. 
“The surest method,” said Father Faber, 
“of arriving at a knowledge of God’s eternal 
purpose 1 ahout us is to be found in tbe right 
use of the present, moment. Each hour comes 
with some little fagot of God's will fastened 
■upon its back.”. 
Learn the art, to be preferred before all 
others, of being happy when alone—which 
consists in the encouragement of good hopes 
and rational pursuits, in leading an industri¬ 
ous life, and in having constantly before you 
some object of attainment. 
Tile crow u of patience cannot be received 
where there bas been no suffering. If thou 
refusest to suffer, thou refusest to be crowned: 
hut if thou wishest to be crowned, thou must 
fight manfully aud suffer patiently. With¬ 
out labor none cau obtain rest, and without 
contending there cun bo no conquest,— Thom¬ 
as d. Kern pi 5 ... 
Dr. Chambers truly says: “Observation 
shows that a secular Sunday rests upon a 
sacred Suuday. Guarantee the day of rest 
by a religious sanction, and you secure it per¬ 
manently; give up auy such sanction, and 
you imperil the whole institution. There 
would still be a Suuday, but it would be 
neither a holy day nor a day of rest.”. 
It bothers the man who has earned success 
by faithful, honest, brainy work, to hear his 
friends saying among themselves; “What an 
infernally lucky fellow Jack is!”. 
Pomcslic d'conoim} 
CONDUCTED BT MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
HOW TO ENLARGE A LEAF TABLE. 
PICKET. 
An English paper philosophizing on this 
subject, thinks it would be uu interesting and 
instructive lesson, if, iu a community of mar¬ 
ried people, representing various social 
grades, we could request, the husbands and 
wives, to tell us truthfully of the reasons 
which induced them to select their respective 
partners for life. It would uo doubt be in¬ 
teresting, and might he instructive, to those 
w ho were wise euougb to take it. as a warning, 
but we doubt if it would lie flattering to the 
intelligence of the parties concerned. John 
Condy Jeafferson tells of a learned judge, 
who courted and manned a lady because of 
her ability to make a good salad. He does 
not forget to add that, her temper was as 
spicy and sharp as her salads, and that the 
good judge many a time repented him of his 
choice. We are told of a youth who chose 
his wife because she had eaten such a hearty 
dinner at a picnic. It would have been much 
more to the point if he had taken pains lo dis¬ 
cover what kind of a dinner she could cook. 
Auother gentleman, intellectual aud well 
People who do not possess an extension 
table are often put to great, inconvenience, 
and compelled bo set a second table when three 
or four visitors drop in for dinner, or a set of 
harvesters or thrashers arc to be provided for. 
Au excellent method of enlarging a common 
leaf table is shown at Fig. 1, p. 775, namely the 
end of a leaf table with a strip of hard wood 
extending across it and fastened to it with two 
one-fourth inch bolts. The ends of this cross- 
piece serve as rests for the arms of the end 
leaf, shown in position in Fig. 8. In Fig. 2 is 
shown au iron device which may besubstitutod 
for the cross-piece. It is one-fourth inch thick 
and one inch wide ami is fastened to the table 
leg by a one-fourth inch bolt, nud when iu po¬ 
sition to hold the arms of the leaf it rests on a 
small iron pin, or large screw, projecting 
three-eighths of an inch. When not iu use it 
may lie turned over, and then hangs down the 
leg out of the way. In Fig. 8 A is the table 
top, B, the leaf arm, C, the Mid leaf, D, an 
arm supporting the eud leaf, E. a rest for 
arms—the same as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 
shows the top of the table with leaves up and 
end leaves in place. These eud loaves should 
lie about 14 inches wide aud as long as the 
table with leaves raised, is wide, aud their 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castorla 
When she was a Child, she cried for Castorla, 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castorla, 
When she had Children, shs gave them Castorla 
