FEB 4 
Very soon all the bags are in the air, flying 
back and forth, and the fun waxes extremely 
lively. The scorer keeps tally of failures to 
catch the bags, and these are scored against 
the side on which the failure was made. The 
game should be limited to five minutes. To 
guard against fouls the scorer is authorized 
to tally a point against a player for an unfair 
toss. 
SOME WINDOW “PETS.” 
LYDIA WOOD BALDWIN. 
The frosty nights have hurried our lifting 
and potting of our floral treasures. Despite 
our care, some tenderlings will show a black¬ 
ened leaf here and there. How desolate the 
garden looks, with the yellow and dun-colored 
leaves swirling along the paths and forming 
rustling heaps on the beds! The sound of 
their dropping from the trees is like a sigh, 
and so it is—a sigh for the vanished summer. 
If we have been wise during the August and 
September days, we have taken vigorous cut¬ 
tings of such plants as we cherish in our win¬ 
ter window-garden, and their removal to the 
hottse can be speedily accomplished when the 
first frosts threaten. These we can depend on 
for winter blossoms; but the large plants must 
have needed rest. Tenderly as you may lift 
them, carefully as you may guard them from 
wind and sun, their beauty is sure to fade in 
the transition. 
It seems to me that the beauty of foliage 
plants is not enough appreciated. A few ger¬ 
aniums will persistently put forth enormous 
trusses of brilliant tints. “Remarkable,” in¬ 
deed, is well worthy its name—its color a 
clear cherry tint, delightful to behold. But 
even this does not equal the golden and bronze 
varieties, whose only claim on our regard is 
their foliage. All the varieties of coleus are 
attractive—in a box by themselves—brighten¬ 
ing the dullest surroundings. 
How lovely the Anthericum (St. Bruno’s 
Lily) is with its long, slender, recurved leaves, 
broadly edged with white, and its swaying 
stem of starry white flowers! I find this 
grows equally well summer or winter, but it 
does not endure “bedding out.” 
And begonias, an endless list, all good for 
the window garden. Of the flowering sorts 
“Rubra,” I think, must head the list. Agera- 
tums are valuable where blossoms are re¬ 
quired, and, if water enough be given, callas 
are persistent bloomers. As one flower shows 
signs of fading, pull up its stalk and another 
soon appears. 
Surely we all are provident enough to sup¬ 
ply a few bulbs to keep our windows cheerful. 
Roman hyacinths, tulips, crocuses, pots here 
aL d there with fuchsias. And I am quite sure 
that in the care of these gentle treasures—al¬ 
most sentient beings they sometimes seem to 
us who love them so—our real selves grow 
likewise, and expand into virtues which we 
should not be apt to possess without their si¬ 
lent presence. 
A BOOK ROOM. 
CANDACE W. MACOMBER. 
Mrs. Fisher’s remarks upon the need of 
every child for having a room of its own, 
brought to remembrance my mother’s device, 
where the children were many and all boys 
but one, and each could not have a separate 
room. A small apartment opening from the 
kitchen she fitted up for us children and 
termed it the “book room.” It had only one 
window, was unpainted though papered, and 
was furnished with a lounge, a chair or two, 
and a book-case and writing-desk combined' 
There was also a shelf at one side of the win¬ 
dow, and across one corner was partitioned 
off a small closet. On the wall hung a large 
map, and one of my brothers framed and 
“hung” a picture in a somewhat original 
fashion. It was a simple colored print of a 
castle upon an eminence of brown rocks, with 
much green grass and trees about. The pic¬ 
ture was held in place and some smoothly 
planed strips of wood were set around the edge 
and nailed to the wall. I thought it so pretty 
The book-case contained agricultural and re¬ 
ligious works, some biography and travels, 
and, as my brothers began to buy books for 
themselves, romances and poetry were added, 
which were the delight of my girlhood, such 
books being few in our Quaker household. I 
date my love of Hawthorne from those early 
days, for his Twice-Told Tales shone out 
among the sober volumes of “Friend’s Jour¬ 
nals” and “Barclay’s Apology.” On the lid 
of the writing-desk we wrote our “composi¬ 
tions” for school,and it was strewed with news¬ 
papers—the Tribune, the Tribune among 
them—we were brought up on Horace Gree¬ 
ley’s paper—and also the Rural New-York¬ 
er. The room was kept decently clean, but 
we did not have to be over careful, and I look 
back u[kiu the hours spent there with pleasure, 
>yit 4 gratitude to 1117 hfinl-wprkiug 
mother for creating a plaoe to be remembered 
with so much satisfaction. 
THE WISDOM OF SPENDING. 
ALICE BROWN. 
A dollar well spent is worth five dollars well 
saved, and a little money to spend gives bet- 
ter returns than five times as much hoarded. 
Yet saving is a duty and an important one, 
sometimes even a sacred duty. But the mon¬ 
ey saved will eventually be spent, and then 
will fulfil its mission more or less fully ac¬ 
cording to the wisdom shown in spending it. 
It is common in many families of moderate 
means to discourage the children when they 
plan to spend their money earned by their own 
efforts. They are urged to save it, and feel 
compelled to use it for clothes or some neces¬ 
sary thing when the sum becomes sufficient' 
This tends to form habits of thought con¬ 
cerning money, that are not the best. A nat¬ 
urally saving child becomes “close,” and a 
prodigal one takes care never to accumulate 
enough to be worth saving, but spends it as 
soon as it is earned, as the only way to get 
anything he prizes in return for his money. 
A fund to which a boy or girl can add un¬ 
til they are of age, with the certainty that it 
will then be their own will have a wholesome 
effect upon them, and being saved with the 
intention of spending it when the time comes 
to start in life for themselves, the matter will 
have a good deal of thought before the time 
comes when they will be independent owners 
of the accumulated savings. 
But even for so good a purpose, it does not 
seem wise to expect a child to put all his earn¬ 
ings away for future spending. 
To have a certain sum for personal use for 
clothing, and the privilege of using for extras 
what may be saved from it, by caring for 
whatever is bought, is good training for boys 
and girls after they get their growth, before 
that they outgrow things so fast that even if 
they had judgment to spend money judiciously 
they would not be able to anticipate the sud¬ 
den shrinkage that seems to take place in all 
their garments so often. 
When a certain sum is to be spent, an ac¬ 
count may be kept very profitably of all ex¬ 
penses, and it will repay a careful study at the 
end of the year. If among the items put 
down, there are some that represent foolish 
purchases or unnecessary things, those mis¬ 
takes will not be repeated the next year. If 
candy and baker’s sweets have been among 
the things bought with the money left over 
from clothing, the sum of these indulgences 
can be found and it may equal the price of a 
short journey that has seemed to be beyond 
reach, or a magazine or paper for a year, or 
of some other thing more satisfying than the 
sweets for which the money has disappeared. 
In many neighborhoods pleasant little read¬ 
ing clubs might be formed if each member 
had the money to buy one book, to be read 
and loaned to every other member, and they 
would all be benefited more than by saving the 
money spent for the books. Such a club 
might agree to buy the 10 and 30 cent paper- 
covered editions of standard works that are 
published in that form, and add a muslin or 
stiff paper cover to preserve the outside leaves. 
Holland has said that the man is wisest 
“who has the faculty not only to measure the 
value of a dollar by its cost, but to measure it 
by its power.” And the power of a dollar is 
shown best when it is conferring good in some 
form. 
An account book with these mottoes on its 
cover might be prepared for the new year: 
Wise Spending, First; Prudent Saving, Next; 
Indulgences, Last: Nonsense, Never. And at 
the end of the year a reckoning of the sums 
that had been used classed under the different 
heads would be very interesting. Many of us 
no doubt would have to place some of the 
items under “Nonsense, Never;” but confess¬ 
ing it to be such, would be a long step in the 
direction of better judgment for the next 
time. 
- — ■ ■■ ♦ - 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into 
thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, 
pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy 
Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee 
openly.”. 
Locke said that folly consists in the drawing 
of false conclusions from just principles, by 
which it is distinguished from madness, which 
draws just conclusions from false principles.. 
The Rev. Josiah Strong says the seed of 
sacrifice brings forth Jthe fragrant fruit of 
love, and love always has in its heart the seeds 
of new sacrifice. 
The absence of sentimentalism, says Philiip 
Brooks, in Chrisi’s relations with men is what 
makes His tenderness so exquisitely touching. 
George Macdonald says; “All the doors 
that lead inward to the secret pltH'fl of the 
Most High are doors outward—out of self— 
out of smallness—out of wrong.”. 
Beecher said that there never was a person 
who did anything worth doing, who did not 
really get more than he gave. 
Thomas Fuller would remind us that many 
favors which God giveth us ravel out for want 
of hemming, through our own untbankful- 
ness; for though prayer purchaseth blessings, 
giving praise doth keep quiet possession of 
them... 
The Independent says it is no charity to 
feed and clothe a lazy man who can work and 
ought to work, but who is too lazy to work. 
This was Paul’s doctrine when he declared 
that “if any would not work, neither should 
he eat.” If he is a vagrant and a tramp, then 
arrest him as an offender, and set him to 
work, and thus make him earn his living... . 
Beecher said the looking-glass may say 
what it pleases. The heart of friends is the 
mirror of good men. And in that glass we 
shall be beautiful enough if we are good 
enough. 
CONDUCTED BY MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
A FARMER’S DAUGHTER’S DOMESTIC 
REVERIES. 
CHARITY SWEETHEART. 
The holidays are over. They didn’t seem 
much to us, except for the pig-killing and the 
week’s thrashing that must be done before 
Christmas, and I killed all my little turkeys 
that had growu big, and got the money to buy 
presents for the boys. Father remembered 
me, for he brought me a new dress when he 
sold the butter—a plaid wincey—and forgot, 
I suppose, that a dumpy figure shouldn’t wear 
plaids, and that I don’t like gay colors. It 
took me all Christmas Day, even in church, to 
think up how I could tone it down, and at 
last I decided to spend the money I had in¬ 
tended for other things in seal-brown velvet, 
and to have a good deal of it on the waist, 
with sleeves of the velvet. The dress is made 
up now and looks better than I expected, 
which is a good thing to begin the new year 
with; for we are so apt to expect more than 
we can ever realize in this world. The trouble 
I had with this dress made me think that the 
way in which most of us provide the dresses 
for the family is all wrong, often running up 
store bills for them. Why shouldn’t a farmer, 
instead of buying things his daughters don’t 
want, give them so much money a year and 
let them buy their own clothes? All the girls 
I have ever talked to on the subject say the 
same thing—that they could, and would prac¬ 
tice economy in making purchases in order to 
save money for other things they want. Nellie 
Winters said the other day to me that she did 
not want a new dress or a second bonnet this 
year, yet the storekeeper persuaded her 
mother to buy them; but she did wanttotake 
lessons in French from a lady who has come 
to the village, and her mother said she could 
not afford it, because the dress and other 
things cost so much. Why not give us a 
chance for self-denial? 
I was busy in the kitchen the other evening 
when Burt and his chum came in, for I 
thought I would do some baking then and save 
time to study and paint in the day-time. So I 
just said: “Come along boys and stone some 
raisins for me.” They sat down to the task 
rather reluctantly and Burt looked up and 
said: “Well, sis, I suppose we are always to be 
boys.” “Yes,” I answered. “you will be to 
me as long as you live.” It is not many years 
since Dr. Holmes wrote: “Yes, we’re boys 
always playing with tongue or with pen; and 
I sometimes have asked, shall we ever be 
men?” Then I gave him the eggs to beat for 
a nut cake that turned out so _well I must 
give the recipe as I made it: 
One cup of butter, two cups of sugar; three 
cups of flour and four eggs beaten separately; 
add half a cup of cold water, or a little less, 
and some hickory nuts, clean, dry and sweet; 
then half a pound of raisins and some nutmeg 
and citron. The baking powder was mixed 
dry in the flour and put in alternately with the 
fruit and nuts. The “boys” both helped to stir 
it to save my strength, and were surprised to 
to find what real hard work it is to stir a cake 
properly. Burt’s chum who has no sisters 
and has sometimes helped his mother,declared 
that it was as hard work as sawing wood, and 
in their brotherly sympathy they both made 
free to declare that they would never marry 
till they could keep a cook. But I thought 
that if they were a little more careful to save 
work and lighten the labors of the housekeeper, 
they might get along without one. 
Burt has had a very sore hand lately and re¬ 
quired all our care and sympathy. He was a 
good deaj iu U)e find I think must hav^ 
have seen that I had more to do than “dress 
up in the afternoons” as he once said in a fit 
of spleen. I believe, however, in a little 
dressing up both for boys and girls if they 
want to keep their seJf-respoct. I think I 
cured Burt’s hand by faithful application of 
carrot poultices, keeping the sore clean and 
having the poultices always hot. Now it is 
healing under the influence of a salve made of 
bitter-sweet. 
I have a pair of skates this year and have 
enjoyed the large pond behind the village. 
Skating is splendid sport, and 1 do not wonder 
that girls like it when they can balance them¬ 
selves, and are free to go at will. I go alone 
a good deal and have found the exercise 
health-giving and pleasant. Wbat a pity it is 
that we girls cannot have the same freedom 
that boys have in out door exercise, and that 
fashion decrees we must always have an 
escort. I do not know of anything more 
galling than an unwilling escort, even if be is 
one’s own brother. But if we took more out- 
of-door exercise when there is no gardening 
to attend to, the world would seem happier 
and brighter to us, and we would not fail to 
gain strength and independence. But it is 
tea time; the kettle is singing a warning tune 
and begins to bubble over. Father is at the 
barn and will soon be in, so I must away to 
find a practical answer to the ever-recurring 
question, “What shall we have for supper?” 
THE SELF-POURING TEA AND COFFEE 
POT. 
We have tested the Boyle’s Patent Self¬ 
pouring Tea and Coffee Pot, sent us by 
Messrs. Paine, Diehl & Co., of Philadelpha, 
Pa., and find it perfect in its workings in so 
far as we can judge. 
It is “self pouring” in this way: A hole 
passes through the knob on top of the cylinder- 
like lid. Raise this cylinder and the air is 
admitted into the body of the pot through the 
hole. Now, put the forefinger over this little 
opening and gently press the cylinder in 
place. The air admitted by the raising of 
the lid presses upon the body of liquid in the 
pot and forces it through a fine strainer at 
the bottom of the pot up and out through the 
spout into the cup. It is a labor-saving de¬ 
vice that every housekeeper will be sure to 
appreciate who fills a half dozen or more cups 
of tea or coffee two or three times every 
day. _ _ _ 
A CAN OF CORN. 
“Christmas comes but once a year,” and it 
did seem a hardship to me, after the pains I 
had taken with the plum-pudding, to have all 
the praise given to the canned corn. Sorry I 
had the corn that day? Of course I was, after 
getting such a perfect pudding from Great- 
Grandmother Dudgeon’s own recipe. 
But my canned corn is good. When taken 
from the cans it seems just as fresh as when 
put up last August. Cook for a short time in 
water, add a cup of sweet cream, a teaspoon 
of salt, a dash of white pepper, and boil five 
minutes. The keeping of sweet corn for win¬ 
ter use had been the bugbeai^of the preserving 
season until two years since. 
One way I tried was to pack it in salt and 
then freshen to taste before using it in the 
winter. The next year I tried a newspaper 
recipe, using tartaric acid, sugar and salt. 
The exact proportions are forgotten, but the 
indulgent readers will forgive the omission 
when they learn that there was an explosion 
afterwards,that destroyed 10 Mason cans and 
gave to our cellar the reputation of the city 
of Cologne, which is said to have fifty thou¬ 
sand separate and distinct smells. Then we 
boiled it on the cob, and afterwards canned 
it. Fut up this way it kept well. We should 
have it on hand yet, were it not that we had 
use for the cans. Lastly came this method, 
all the way from Michigan: 
Cut the corn from the cob, and, taking a 
little at a time, pack firmly into glass fruit 
jars, pressing it until the milk rises to the top 
and fills the air-spaces. Continue until the 
can is full and screw down the cover, being 
sure that the can is perfect. No acid, no 
sugar, no salt, no anything, but just corn. 
Put straw into the wash boiler to prevent the 
cans from touching the bottom or sides; put 
in your cans and cover with cold water. 
Bring the water gradually to the boiling 
point, then boil steadily for three, hours and 
set off to cool. When the water is cool enough 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castoria. 
When she was a Child, she cried for Castoria, 
When she became Miss, sbe clung to Castoria, 
Wtjeq ?lje hfid Children, sha ga vv them Castoria, 
