4AM 7 
m 
split her wood with which to cook the break¬ 
fast, and big boys in bed asleep. 
The woman with the right kind of sense 
would postpone breakfast under such condi¬ 
tions until the fuel was provided, even at the 
expense of a tumultuous tirade from the big 
boys. I once saw much of the life of a woman 
upon a farm, whose trials I can never forget. 
She was one of the long-suffering kind~the 
species that seem by fate to be allied to 
tyrants—and her husband and sons, al¬ 
though sober, honest men, were unfeeling. 
She and her daughter cut and split most 
of the wood; chickens, pigs and cattle 
always had access to the door-yard; she milked 
and churned and stewed and baked, washed 
and ironed, scrubbed and mended without a 
kind or appreciative word, save from the 
daughter—and died! If her grave has tomb¬ 
stones, even the cheapest that could be mus¬ 
tered, they cost more money than was ever 
put into an extra pair of hands to help her; 
and yet the family was accounted rich for the 
neighborhood, and the husband and father was 
a local preacher of the gospel and had “family 
prayers!” 
i To be continued.) 
FROM A WOMAN’S NOTE-BOOK. 
A. G. 
A writer in the Boston Transcript presents 
an appalling picture of the woman of our 
modern civilization in her high-heeled boots, 
‘•pull-backs,” and three-storied hat, contrast¬ 
ing it with the free dress and graceful motions 
of a squaw in her loose and easy blanket cos¬ 
tume, sitting comfortably in the door of her 
wigwam, that is greatly to the disadvantage of 
the former. We are not at all an advocate of 
the many foolish decrees of fashion, but I 
wonder if the said writer is as familiar with 
this “loose and easy blanket costume” as his 
glib pen would seem to denote. Contrast the 
wizened, wrinkled faces and shapeless forms 
of the wearers of these airy robes, after youth 
is passed, with that of the most ubra-fashion- 
able woman, and it will be seen that even a 
freedom from bustles, whale bones, and 
springs, will not make a Venus of a woman. 
It is to be wished, however, that women of 
wealth and intellect would do something to 
discourage this absurd slavery of fashion, We 
women who have only one gown a year, and 
that the one of last year made over, cannot 
do much iu the light. A woman naturally 
desires to dress delicately and prettily, to 
make herself as attractive as possible in the 
eyes of her friends, if not in those of the world. 
She has only to learn that in order to do this it 
is not necessary to follow the fantastic and 
ever-changing freaks of fashion. Dress ele¬ 
gantly if you will and can, but let it be a sim¬ 
ple elegance that shall look as well in the year 
of our Lord 1890, as iu this present one. 
Perhaps some of us never make a greater 
mistake than when we blindly follow “fashion” 
in the matter of hair-dressing. It is most 
ridiculous to adopt a certain style of coiffure 
merely because it happens to be the rage. A 
pretty girl of 16 may look very piquante and 
charming in a bang like a Shetland pony, but 
this is not to say that g woman of 50 should 
wear a like one. A round, full face should 
eschew bushy curls and side-locks of every 
description, while a long, nariow face de¬ 
mands that the hair should be somewhat 
puffed at the sides to preserve the righc pro¬ 
portions. Severe outlines are relieved by soft 
crimps. But above all things, says a writer, 
and so say I, hold in abject abhorrence that 
hideous article known as a “front.” For a 
woman to deliberately pin back her own hair 
and fasten over it a stiff row of priggish curls, 
a frowsy, fluffy bang from someone else’s 
head, is a disgusting and indelicate act that it 
seems to me no woman of refinement could be 
guilty of. But they are. If you have the 
misfortune to be bald, it is no shame to wear 
a wig, but you need make no secret of it. 
One of the loveliest women I know lost her 
hair and teeth through a severe illness at 20, 
but although she does not proclaim it from 
the house-tops, she never tries to pretend that 
the lovely hair of Titian gold is her own, 
although it is less beautiful than that which 
originally crowned her pretty head, and she 
will make the most frankly comical allusions 
to the fact that each one of those pearly teeth 
cost nine dollars. You may imagine fondly 
that your semi-wig is very real, and deceives 
every one by beihg such a perfect “match,” 
but there never was a “front” that did not 
proclaim its true character to the world as 
plainly as if it could speak. The greatest 
beauty, says a woman of taste, would be 
heavily weighted by it, while to an ugly 
woman it is a millstone. 
Au exchange thinks the American girl is be¬ 
coming a much more important person than 
the American boy. This is all very well for 
the girl, but what does the boy propose to do 
about it. Physically, the girls who are now 
growing up are for the most part superior to 
THE RURAL MEW-YORKEK. 
their brothers; they can stand more fatigue, 
and in many cases do more work. I predict 
that this reversal of roles will cause less mar¬ 
rying and giving in marriage. When a girl 
learns how easily, and how well, she can sup¬ 
port herself, she will be less ready to entrust 
herself to the keeping of a man, whom she 
knows only too well to be her inferior men¬ 
tally and intellectually. I have no objections 
to the fast development of girls, always pro¬ 
vided that they will not develop into “fast” 
and masculine girls. It is very charming to 
see a girl who can walk or row, ride, or swim, 
but she is in just the same danger, that her 
college brothers are, of developing her muscle 
at the expense of her mind. 
The physical training that made a Geoffrey 
Delamayne the brute depicted by Wilkie Col¬ 
lins, will lead to even more deplorable re¬ 
sults if carried to excess in the case of our 
girls. 
The New Orleans Picayune, speaking of the 
tendency of the present day of womankind to 
conduct their charities, work and studies in 
^lubs, says it may almost be said that “lovely 
woman is a club.” We have literary, art and 
music clubs, and in very rare cases “cooking 
clubs,” where they make indigestible and un- 
healthful meringues, and kisses, and sylla¬ 
bubs; now how would it be if they should 
copy the example of a number of English 
- young ladies who have formed the “Early 
Rising Club,” and have pledged themselves 
to abstain from lying in bed later than six 
o’clock in the morning, and to perform some 
helpful task before breakfast. 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
Human life is like a half-finished portrait, 
but no man can determine what it is nor how it 
shall look when it is perfected. 
We can become familiar with a landscape; 
we know where to find the waterfall, and the 
shady ledge where the violets grow in spring; 
but we can never become familiar with our 
life-landscape; we can never tell where we 
shall come upon the shady dell, or where the 
fountains will gush and the birds sing—that is 
with God. 
The Independent says: He who wants to 
enjoy the comforts of religion as derived 
through the medium of the Bible, must cheer¬ 
fully and thoroughly submit himself to the ab¬ 
solute, divine authority of that Book, If he 
doubts its authority, or cavils with it, he wilj 
not be in a condition of mind to receive its 
comforts. Faith, simple faith, is an indispen¬ 
sable condition on his part. 
The anthropology of the Bible as to what 
awaits a man after death is comprehensively 
given in these words: “Then shall the dust re¬ 
turn to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall 
return unto God who gave it.” The body sinks 
into the Dosom of its mother earth,and molders 
back to dust; but the sonl assends back to 
God, and meets the issues of another life. 
Paul said of himself: “I have learned, in 
whatsoever state I am, therewith to be con¬ 
tent.” This means that he had learned to ac¬ 
cept his situation as appointed to him in the 
providence of God, whatever it might be. The 
learning of this simple lesson is a cure for no 
small part of the miseries of life. 
This is the way to measure life—not by the 
business success and the dollars in the till, but 
by takiug full account of the good you have 
done and by the advancement you have made 
in your spiritual life. A wise numbering of 
your days brings God so much nearer to you. 
The time is short. The tale is about told. 
See to it that it is well told. 
A man who is always well satisfied with 
himself is seldom so with others, and others 
are as little pleased with him. 
Wrong doing is a road that may open fair 
but it leads to trouble and danger. Well do¬ 
ing, however rough and thorny at first, 
surely leads to pleasant places. 
Men who have little business are great 
talkers. The more one thinks the less one 
speaks. 
The haughtiness of humility is as great a 
sin as any other form of pride. Humility 
through pride or selfishness is hypocrisy. 
CONDUCTED BY MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
Encourage home company for your chil¬ 
dren instead of too much visiting. 
The hearty co-operation of parents and 
children is needed to make the home life hap¬ 
py and harmonious. 
We keep our tin pantry supplied with tin 
quart cans that have had tomatoes in them. 
After the cans have been opened, place cap 
end down on the stove where there is heat 
enough to unsolder the tops. Soak to remove 
labels, scour and wash. We find such tins 
very handy for heating a little milk, boiling 
au egg, etc. And then when they have been 
burnt or bent, we can throw them away with¬ 
out feeling that we are not practising what we 
preach. 
“Did you tell yourmother?” “No, did you?” 
The speakers were bright, well-dressed girls 
of about 15, and sat next us in an elevated 
car. The thoughts that were awakened by 
the words of these two girls can be known 
only to a mother who has striven to become 
the loving confidant of her children. Oh! the 
fatal mistake of not telling mother everything. 
And where lies the blame? It is a child’s na¬ 
ture to confide in one he loves, and so long as 
he finds a sympathetic, forgiving, encourag¬ 
ing adviser in his mother, just so long will he 
go to her with his pleasures, his sorrows and 
his faults. 
Parents have so much more of a chance to 
guide their children aright if they hold their 
confidence, that it seems strange to us that 
more fathers and mothers do not incite and 
cultivate t he free and full coufession of wrong¬ 
doing by their children. Is a child go¬ 
ing to conceal a foolish or mean act if he has 
nothing to fear from the telling? Is he going 
to lie simply for the fun of the thing? Some 
might, but thank Heaven! there are few. Is 
the boy or girl who has gone astray one who 
has always told mother his or her faults from 
a child up? Is it the mother who has wisely 
sought the confidence of her child that now 
mourns the misdeeds of her erring one? The 
rearing of children is a fearful and lifelong re¬ 
sponsibility for parents, and a trust that re¬ 
quires much love, forbearance, wisdom and 
justice to bring forth perfect fruit. 
KITCHEN TALKS. 
ANNIE L. JACK. 
The Amateur Cook was wishing she had a 
recipe for home-made crackers, or, as we call 
them, “soda biscuits.” The Student told us 
the other day that they were the oldest form 
of bread, and that the word was from “bis,” 
twice, and “coctus,” cooked, as it was the 
custom to have them twice baked. Fragments 
of unfermented bread were discovered in the 
Swiss lake dwellings which were built and 
inhabited away back beyond the era of re¬ 
corded history. “Why do people make crack¬ 
ers, anyway?” asked the School-girl, who has 
an extra-sweet tooth. “Because they keep 
better in adverse circumstances than bread, 
and are easily carried about and simply 
made,” I said. “But,” said the cook, “I am 
no nearer knowing how they are made, and 
this is what I want. So I leave it to Rural 
readers to discover and then we will test the 
recipe.” “You may say, ‘0, but you can buy 
them so cheaply!’ That is very true, but then 
we all enjoy home-made food, and biscuits 
are not an exception. There is a flavor to 
this cooking that is not found in food that is 
cooked in large quantities with mingled odors. 
So everything with home flavoring seems best 
to us. 
People who have lived long iu hotels, and 
are suddenly transferred to a house where all 
the cooking is done at home, realize the change 
very clearly, and declare that the homey 
“spice” is something that cannot be bought. 
It is the same with home gifts for holidays or 
birthdays. How much more we value that 
into which the thoughts and feelings are wov¬ 
en, if we have a regard for the giver. It is 
not money that makes the value of anything 
in life as far as I can see, and I have observed 
closely. But the grasping to obtain money, 
the desire to make display, is sapping the 
heart out of domestic life and ruining the 
youth of our day. For young people are not 
at all contented to begin life as their fathers 
and mothers did—working together each to 
help the other—they want to get at the top of 
the ladder first, aud so destroy all the pleasure 
there is in getting up slowly aud'together. 
Better begin at the bottom aud learn that: 
“AU common things, each day’s events 
That with the hour begin and end, 
Our pleasures, and our discontents. 
Are rounds by which we may ascend.” 
Dear me, how one’s thoughts will wander. 
Here I have gone from a cracker recipe to 
Longfellow. It is a good thing that the mind 
can wander at will, even while we are busy in 
the kitchen. 
PICTURE SCRAP-BOOKS. 
ALICE BROWN. 
During the holidays just passed, hundreds 
of scrap-books have come down from the 
book dealers’shelves and gone far and near, 
to the hands of owners who are interested in 
each blank page, and in obliterating its blank¬ 
ness as soon as possible. A well arranged 
scrap-book may be made a very valuable book; 
while a helter-skelter collection of odds and 
ends of every sort is of very little value. 
The plan of selecting but one subject from 
which to cull for the book, adds dignity to it— 
makes it less a hash book. For picture scrap¬ 
books, such subjects may he chosen as dogs, 
and the bcok will be varied enough, if pictures 
of all the types are represented from the home¬ 
ly pug to the majestic St. Bernard. Beasts of 
burden, would include every animal that car¬ 
ries man’s burdens for him, or draws behind 
him loaded vehicles. Goats, dogs, horses, 
camels, elephants, reindeer and oxen are a few 
that readily occur to mind. Cats make possi¬ 
ble humorous pages through a book devoted to 
them, as well as a great many pretty pages. 
Famous buildings, beautiful scenes, and pict¬ 
ures of home life are titles that would intro¬ 
duce pictures of value and interest. Pictures 
of great men and women, should be used as the 
title of a large book, and the home of each 
one, when it can be obtained, should be placed 
opposbe the portrait. Other subjects will 
suggest themselves to the owners of these fresh 
scrap-books. 
A fault of many scrap books is due to trying 
to put more into the book than it ought to 
hold, the result being a crowded book from 
beginning to end. The most attractive leaves 
will have wide margins, if the pictures are 
not too small, but one on each page is far 
better than more. To arrange portraits 
in this way the figure must be care¬ 
fully cut out, following closely its out¬ 
line in cutting. Several small pictures cut 
out in this way can sometimes be grouped 
to represent but one picture. The current 
style of picturing, in circles, squares aud ob¬ 
longs, the minor objects being connected with 
something made chief in size aud importance 
can be copied in the scrap book. 
To obtain good pictures one needs a little 
money and friends who will donate their illus¬ 
trated papers and magazines after they have 
finished them. From five to 25 cents will pay 
for a copy of any of the American illustrated 
periodicals, and its printed contents will us¬ 
ually repay the expenditure, and after these 
have been enjoyed, the picture or pictures for 
which it was bought can be transferred to the 
scrap book. The foreign illustrated papers 
contain many pictures of the royalties of Eu¬ 
rope and of other notables. An old torn text 
book will sometimes furnish animals, scenery 
or portraits. 
A good flour paste is best for pasting in the 
pictures. For a very stiff paste use one cup of 
flour beaten smooth in part of a pint of cold 
water, the rest of the pint to be added when 
the flour is smoothly mixed. One teaspoon- 
ful of alum powdered fine should be added to 
preserve it. Cook this over a moderate fire, 
stirring it as it thickens, and beat it vigorous¬ 
ly’ after it is removed from the stove. This 
paste, when cold, will stand alone, and its 
sticking qualities are excellent for heavy pa¬ 
per. For a paste of medium thickness use half 
a teacupful of flour to a cup aud a half of 
water. For thin paste suitable for thin papers 
still more water may be added. In pasting 
the pictures into the book, spread the paste 
very thin over the back of the picture, not on 
the page of the scrap book. If the picture is 
on heavy paper spread the paste on the back, 
and let the picture lie until the moisture from 
the past has made it limp; if evenly covered 
with paste, it will then stick perfectly and 
will not peel up at the corners. 
A collection of scrap books made with care, 
the pictures wisely chosen, will form no mean 
part of a library, and young people who are 
gathering their first books into a beginning 
for a library may add a scrap book or two to 
the collection, of which they need not be 
ashamed, if a little care is given to the work. 
Let some of these pretty white-paged scrap 
books Santa Claus has distributed this year be 
made into books of real value during the 
coming mouths. 
RECIPES FROM MISS LJUNGBERG, 
TEACHER OF COOKERY. 
* 
I will take plain boiled fish wiih an easily 
prepared sauce for one day’s dinner, and a 
soup from the water in which the fish is boiled 
for another dinner. If . any pieces of fish are 
leftover they should be added to the soiq>; 
but should it happen that nothing is left, the 
soup may be made from the water (fish bouil 
Ion), and still, by the ingredients combined, 
make a stimulating, nutritious and easily di- 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castorla 
When she was a Child, she cried tor Castorla, 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castorla, 
When the had Children. whs gavo them Castorla 
