0 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
whiskers. After making the sheep fasten cot¬ 
ton baiting all over it for wool. An elephant 
is a comical looking toy, so is a great hump¬ 
backed camel. Make the same, use tan-colored 
cloth and insert sticks in the legs of the 
camel to Stiffen them, and for Jumbo’s tnsks 
shape two pieces of wood and cover with an 
old pair of white kid gloves or white paper 
cambric. Birds of various colors are pretty 
and especially so for tree ornaments. For the 
body use yellow, red or blue cloth, aud for 
wings and tail, black; beads lor eyes and wire 
for legs wound with brown yarn. A dove on 
wing is a pretty tree ornament. Cutout a 
pasteboard dove, cover both sides with can¬ 
ton Jluuuel the nap side out, slightly stuff, use 
beads for eyes. Then with strong thread sus¬ 
pend the dove in the tree, the head inclined 
downward with a sprig of evergreen fastened 
in its beak, and the effect is lovely. 
“Jumping Jacks” are old fashioned toys, 
but will always lind a welcome among child¬ 
ren. Cut out the parts from any old paste¬ 
board box, fasten the joints loosely with bent 
pins or wire, insert a bit of something in the 
four corners of the body part; glue in place, 
allowing space for the strings, then fasten the 
strings to the limbs in Mich a way that n down¬ 
ward pull will throw poor ‘Jack” into violent 
contortions, much to the amusement of the 
little folks. Do not forget to do the fine “art” 
w'itb a pencil (o give to Jack those not very 
classic features common to one of bis class. 
Now lor your tree: if your family is small, se¬ 
lect a small evergreen, bore a hole in a heavy 
block of wood, and with nails fasten the tree 
in place, and it is ready for the pretty things. 
If not convenient to visit the store for a sup¬ 
ply of these little penny banbh s, so pretty for 
decorating, then make them; stars, anchors or 
English walnuts, covered with tin foil, are 
pretty, also paper balls, strings of popcorn 
and tiny cornucopias made of bright-colored 
paper, and filled with sweetmeats. All these 
are nice and will aid in making the tree at¬ 
tractive for the little ones, who will laugh and 
dance around in as high glee as though it cost 
dollars instead of cents, and Baby—be sure 
and hang Baby’s stocking on the trots surely 
old “8anta” will never pass that. 
There, have these few words helped any? 
If so I am repaid for writing, aud it any want 
to make some of these toys, aud want pat¬ 
terns, 1 cau help them still further. I have the 
patterns for horse, rabbit, pig, rat, mouse, cat, 
elephant, camel, sheep, dove on wing, bird, 
duck, dog, mud-turtle, balloon, Cupid, deer; 
wheelbarrow, rag-doll, chair, aud also others. 
Send stamps for postage and you are wel¬ 
come to them; send a stamp for any one 
or two or six or eight stamps for all my pat¬ 
terns, those I have named, and the few I have 
not. and I will send them on every pattern 
and will give full directions for making. 
This is my Christmas offering. Everyone is 
perfectly welcome to all the patterns who 
sends postage, and will you not in turn, after 
receiving them, give them to some one else. 
Remember the poor; a few dimes used for the 
needs of some little child, are only money at 
interest. Did you everstoptothinkofit? Re¬ 
member it is tho good Christmas time, when 
if we have any love, or charity for others wo 
can show it.. 
(The editor of Woman’s Work will be 
pleased to forward any requests for patterns 
to Mrs. Warner.) 
“RECENT LITERATURE.” 
I nAVE talked with the great family of 
“Rural” readers about sundry literary matters 
before, and in trespassing again upon your 
attention, I do so at. the risk of repeating 
something of what i have formerly said. I 
have so often seen the words with which I 
head this Utile article, prefixed to the review 
column of different periodicals, that they 
have become suggestive of some practical 
thoughts, which I sincerely hope may be use¬ 
ful to some of you. We liveiti a literary age. 
The great issues of the day circle around the 
various avenues of literary expression. Polit¬ 
ical parties, social reforms, anti reform move¬ 
ments each have their appropriate organs. 
They wield a mighty influence, because, 
through them the various shades of 
opinion are reflected upon the minds of tho 
masses, and exert their moulding influence. 
The popular orator is nowhere compared with 
the popular press. His power may be greater 
in individual cases, but he reaches only a 
fraction of those whom the press addresses 
day by day or week by week. The tired 
farmer who rebels against, four or live miles 
of heavy driving oil a muddy road to hear 
the eloquent advocate of “Prohibition,” or 
“Democracy,” or the wordy lecturer ou popu¬ 
lar sc-ience, finds solace at bis own fireside in 
reading and thinking about the sumo topics 
as they are discussed in the last newspaper or 
magazine. Literature ttieu is a power. It 
modifies opinion. It directs thought. It 
moulds character. What 1 have said above 
refers to periodical literature, but it is no less 
true of the book than of the newspaper. The 
principle is the same in either case, but the 
good newspaper reaches ten where the good 
book only reaches one, and rice reran , i. e., the 
bad book does not contaminate a third of the 
minds which are poisoned by the corrupting 
periodical. 
“Recent literature” is a very comprehensive 
term. In our day the saying of the wise man 
has a peculiar force—“Of making many books 
there is no end.” Thousands of printing 
presses are running night and day to meet the 
insatiable appetite of a reading public. Amer¬ 
ican and foreign scholurs are constantly muk- 
i tig important contributions to their special de¬ 
partments. Iu our large book stores the t rush y 
novel stands side by side with the many-vol- 
umed commentary and t he pretentious scienti¬ 
fic treatise aud the attractive history. As a 
rule,fiction is thcstaple product of the modern 
printing press, aud yet the careful observer 
may note a healthful reaction, iu the last few 
years, toward the lawful predominance of the 
substantial over the merely ephemeral. This 
is especially observable in the recent issue of 
many standard works in cheap editions, and 
in the remarkable demand which has made 
this reduction possible. “Dime novels” have 
given place latterly to books of a higher grade, 
offered at prices which put the two on a level 
as regards the purchaser’s pocket book; but 
now, as ever, the morbid taste of the literary 
epicure is satisfied by everything, from the 
“blood and thunder” tale at the cost of a 
nickel, to the flimsy society novel at a little 
higher price. 
Two qualities may there be predicated of “re¬ 
cent lirerature.” First, it is educative— that is, 
it directs thought and furnishes material upon 
which the tniud acts. Second, it is extensive 
—the good, bad and indifferent are mingled, 
and every grade of each is represents 1 in its 
various products. If these qualities really ex¬ 
ist, the necessity of choice devolves ou every 
intelligent person. The question is, What 
shall we re ad? And honest judgment is essen¬ 
tial to a wise answer. The question, “to read 
or not to read,” is no longer a question. The 
spirit of the age says, “ read or”—the alterna¬ 
tive is too terrible for the intelligent to con¬ 
template. 
It would be impossible for me, or any other 
. man, to say to the thousands of readers of (he 
Rural, “ Read this, and this, aud that!” In¬ 
dividual tastes and aptitudes must he consult¬ 
ed ; education, occupation, aud a score of 
unknown data would be lacking in such a su¬ 
perficial judgment. 1 shall iherefore merely 
suggest one or two principles of choice, which 
should govern us in our selection from the 
great mass of “recent literature.” The first 
grand essential of readable literature is pur¬ 
ity. We c annot afford to disregard the moral 
equality of our reading matter. We cannot 
afford to let the minds of our children be cor¬ 
rupted by even a mental contact with vice, 
Nor does this rule apply only to fiction. 
The sensational newspaper is none the better 
because it deals with facts. The paraded de¬ 
tails of an actual murder, or execution, or 
scandal, are just as debasing literature as the 
same details concocted or arranged by the ge¬ 
nius of the novelist. In either case, their pe¬ 
rusal educates the brutal Instincts of our na¬ 
ture, and t< nils to repress the nobler uud more 
wholesome development, of mind. Again, in 
our choice of reading matter, let us respect n 
secoud quality, i. e , usefulness. We should 
read with a definite purpose, aud read chiefly 
along the line of our purpose. A goed ques¬ 
tion to ask is, “ Can 1 read this book or this 
article and be the better for reading it?” 
As a matter of fact, history is more use¬ 
ful than fiction, and yet fictfou is not 
w holly useless, and to some readers it is more 
useful Umu toothers. The student and brain¬ 
worker well know's how- exhilarating a “good 
story” or a column of witticisms often is, af¬ 
ter hours of close application to study. It 
relaxes the muscles of the mind, if I nmy use 
the expression, and is useful iu this way and 
at this time, while in other cases it might be 
a frivolous waste of time. Lastly, choose 
truthful literature. This applies chiefly to 
fiction, but the thoughtful reader may perhaps 
divine a wider application. 
There lies on my table as I write a handsome 
little magazine whose name I will not mention. 
I caught it up cusually the other day, and 
read an invitiug-looking little story, entitled: 
“How They Waved the Farm—The Old Story 
With Variations.” The variations were about 
as follows: Three plucky girls resolve to pay 
a mortgage of #1,200 on their home farm. 
How do you suppose they did iti Do not 
smile Rural readers. ()ne had charge of four 
hens. 1 quote: “At the end of the secoud 
day I marched triumphantly into the little 
kitchen with a half-bushel bushel Jilted with 
such beautiful eggs.” From four hens remem¬ 
ber. At the eud of “four weeks;” “my 
heus kiudly treated and encouraged had laid 
300 dozen eggs .” That is above 32 eggs per 
day to each hen. This seems ridiculous ab¬ 
surdity to you aud me, but it is not the only 
instance which might bo adduced, where fic¬ 
tion writers have sacrificed facts on the altar 
of ignorance or ambition. There is danger 
often that they mislead ns in even more im¬ 
portant matters than the egg-producing capa¬ 
city of a lieu. The same rule applies to the 
ignorant treatment of living issues, religious, 
political, or social. 
These thoughts I have hastily thrown to¬ 
gether and present to you for what they are 
worth, trusting that they may he suggestive 
to some, and perhaps aid you in your fu’ure 
dealings with “recent literature. 
holly dean. 
A CHAT ABOUT GOSSIP. 
SELMA CLARE. 
“ And there’s a lust in man no charm can tame 
Of loudly publishing our nelRtibor’s shame; 
On conics’ wings Immortal scandals fly, 
While virtuous actions are hut born to die.” 
—Juvenal. 
Some time since Bishop Huntington read a 
paper on “Talking as a Fine Art,” to some 
school girls iu Syracuse, N. Y.. iu which he 
strongly rebuked the practice of scandal- 
niongermg. I give below a paragraph from the 
address, which is not one whit too severe ou 
this evil of idle gossip: 
“I say to you, weighing my own words, 
that you would be less depraved, less savage, 
would less disgrace your womauhood, would 
be less a curse to your kind, and, if God is 
rightly revealed to us in His word, and His 
Sou, would less offend him by going to see 
dogs fight in their kennels at the Five Points, 
or bulls gore horses in Spain, than by putting 
ou your bonnet and gloves, and going from 
house to house in your neighborhood, assail¬ 
ing absent acquaintances, dribbling calumny, 
sowing suspicion, planting and watering 
wretchedness, stabbing character, and aliena¬ 
ting friends by repeating toone the detraction 
that you “heard” another had spoken. I be¬ 
lieve that before the judgment-seat, of Christ 
the prize-fighting man will stand no worse 
than the slanderously gossiping woman.” 
Bishop Huntington might have added to 
that last sonteuco “or man,” for 1 have known 
more than one male gossip. It is one of the 
vices which idleness engenders, and into which 
the man or woman with no occupation—with 
no large aims or purposes in his life—will be 
apt to fall. 
It is not. always ivhat is said, so much as 
how it is said. A lady whom I know slightly 
once said, in speaking of a mutual acquaint¬ 
ance: “Oh, B—is sick to-day,” with such a 
peculiar intonation that I at once concluded 
that “B” had one of those headaches with 
which men sometimes pay for the excesses of 
the night before, although I had never before 
hoard of any such failing on his part. After¬ 
ward, another lady who was present at the 
time commented severely on Miss L’s remark, 
saying: “That girl can say a man is sick in a 
way to make you believe he is lying in the 
gutter.” This is not an enviable quality. 
There are plenty of interesting topics for 
conversation without picking our friends and 
their foibles to pieces. Indeed, tho faults of 
your friends should lie sacred, and with those 
of mere acquaintances you have no business 
to meddle. It is popularly supposed that a 
boarding house is the canter of gossip, but 1 
have lived in one for two years (or rather in 
several), and I have yet to hear from any in¬ 
mate tho first word derogatory to the charac¬ 
ter of auother. 1 think that the people who 
hear so much gossip uru often those who are 
on the lookout for it. 
Instead of repeating the unpleasant, things 
you hear, suppote you cultivate the spirit 
which will impel you to tell only the pleasant 
ones. A lady of my aoqualntatice, I think, 
owes her universal popularity to this trait. 
She never loses an opportunity to repeat any 
graceful or kindly remark which one mutual 
acquaintance may make of another. Perhaps 
this is not especially desirable, and yet there 
is a love of approbation in most natures that 
makes them take very readily to a little 
honest praise. 
Fill your lives so full of some earnest, noble 
purpose that the satire of Juvenal cannot be 
applied to you. 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
To try to make others comfortable, is the 
only way to get right comfortable ourselves, 
and that comes partly of not being able to 
think so much about ourselves when we are 
helping other people.,.. 
Du, Tayjxjr says decision of character is 
the eloquence of life... 
Simplicity of character is the natural re¬ 
sult of profound thoughts. 
Know what you want; kuow it for a cer¬ 
tainty aud without misgivings or doubts; 
then possess yourself of the patieuce for bid¬ 
ing your time to secure it. 
It is not so much the degree of help afford¬ 
ed, as the manner of helping that lightens the 
burdens of others. 
A nooD word is an easy obligation; but not 
to speak ill requires only our silence, which 
costs us nothing... 
Dr. John Hall says it is a shame fora rich 
Christian man to be like a Christmas box that 
receives all, and nothing can be got out of it 
till it is broken in pieces. 
It was Chesterfield who said: “I am more 
upon my guard as to my behavior to my serv¬ 
ants aud to others who are called my in¬ 
feriors, than I am towards my equals, for fear 
of being suspected of that mean and ungener¬ 
ous sentiment of desiring to make others feel 
that difference which fortune has, perhaps too 
undeservedly, made between us.”. 
That perfect loveliness of a woman’s counte- 
nauce can only consist in that majestic peace, 
which is founded in the memory of happy and 
useful years, full of sweet records; and from 
the joining of this with that yet mere majestic 
childishness, which is still full of change and 
promise;—opening always—modest at once, 
and bright, with hope of better things to bo 
won or to be bestowed. There is no old age 
where there is still that jironiise—it is eternal 
youth. 
It has been truly said “that no man ever 
lived a right life who has not been chastened 
by a womau’s love, strengthened by her cour¬ 
age, and guided by her discretion;” that it is 
impossible fora man to rightly love anyone 
“whose gentle counsel he cannot trust, or 
whose prayerful command he can hesitate to 
obey,”...,..... 
Domestic C co no 
CONDUCTED BY MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
CHRISTMAS SOUVENIRS. 
The holidays are very near at hand, and 
every one is busy with bits of silks, ribbons, 
dainty work, etc. For those who have uccess 
to our large city stores, there is no end of 
pretty aud appropriate gifts; while for the 
p ssessors of slender purses, there are very 
many dainty gifts that may lie prepared at 
small expense. To one who paints there are 
many lovely gifts easily prepared. 
A very handsome set of toilet bottles, aud 
pincushion to match, are made of pale blue 
satin with band-painted design of yellow 
primroses, and finished with lace. Scarfs, for 
draping easels, pictures, mirrors, etc., are 
made of bolting cloth, v Inch is a very beauti¬ 
ful texture. It is a gauzy material made of 
tho strongest silk threads. Silk embroidery 
is very pretty for the decoration, but paint¬ 
ing is far handsomer. Others are made of 
pongee and China silk, decorated according 
to the fancy. 
A dainty perfume sachet is made as follows: 
Take a piece of light blue satin six inches 
square, and embroider or paint a cluster of 
rose buds aud leaves. Lina with pale pink 
and turn over one corner. Place inside cot¬ 
ton perfumed with any scent desired. Tie 
together with ribbon two inches from the 
top and finish with a pretty bow. A very 
rich-looking sachet is made of white brocade 
satin, like a ba; in shape, filled with cotton per¬ 
fumed with white rose powder. At the lower 
end, ou (rout of bag there is a strip of claret 
velvet, lined with white, fastened on with 
fancy stitches, and one corner turned back, 
showing its white lining. An elaborate bow 
of claret satin ribbon is fastened here, anil 
ribbon of the same shade is used for tying the 
upper part Ilf sachet in bag fashion. 
A beautiful sola pillow is made of felt or 
satin, having embroidered upon it a spray of 
golden-rod, with a bow of ribbon on one cor¬ 
ner at the stem of the design. Finish the 
edge with heavy silk cord. 
Fir pillows are very fashionable at present. 
Make a case of tickiug, and fill with pine- 
needles stripped from the twigs, being careful 
to have them all turned one way. Make the 
outer covering of silk or pongee, and orna¬ 
ment with a twig of the tree worked in wood 
colors. This pillow can be made up very 
handsomely aud at small expense. 
A cover for u round table or stand is made 
of a square of madras, real, lined with sateen 
or silesia. Leave the edge plain, and for a bor¬ 
der embroider the design to the depth of several 
inches, using embroidery silk to match, aud 
When Baby was sick, we save her Castorla 
When she was a Child, she cried for Castorla. 
When she became Miss, she clung to Caatorla, 
When she had Children shs save them Castorla 
