204 
The teacher may have forgotten much about 
geography and may never have learned many 
things, but only a little time will be needed 
to prepare for the short lessons to be given. 
The order followed in teaching the names will 
be plainest to the child if it follows the outlines 
of the countries and the natural arrange¬ 
ment; as,for instancep'n teaching the countries 
of Africa the list can begin with Egypt and 
follow the coast until Egypt is reached again, 
and then but a few interior countries remain 
to be mentioned last. If in learning the 
names of the States and Territories of the Un¬ 
ion the boundaries are followed and then all 
the States touching the 40th parallel of lati¬ 
tude are mentioned, only six are left to be 
added to the list. 
The teacher will notice many interesting 
things about the different continents and will 
be benefited as much as the pupil if a livelier 
sense of the importance and reality of geo¬ 
graphy is awakened. 
A teacher with from 20 to 40 pupils ’study¬ 
ing all the common branches cannot give 
her time to telling stories and to patient repe¬ 
titions day after day of the same names if 
they are forgotten by some of the children, so 
the slower ones fall behind, are called stupid, 
and grow discouraged and dull, when by 
patient care with the first years of study a 
foundation might be laid that would enable 
them to Tieep up with quicker children. A 
bright little boy or girl can be given a large 
amount of general knowledge through the 
medium of geography in addition to the names 
of natural divisions, cities, and countries. 
The greatest care that little children do not 
get too tired, ought to be given; a recess of five 
minutes between lessons will sometimes help 
wonderfully, and an hour made short by one 
or two of these short playtimes, if needed, is 
long enough for each half day of the first two 
years of study. 
In these years the habits of study will be 
forming for life, and perfect lessons,- no mat¬ 
ter how short, will almost certainly insure 
perfect lessous throughout the school life, un¬ 
less ill health makes study more difficult than 
in the beginning. 
A WORD FOR THE BOYS. 
Recently, while in California, I spent some 
time on a ranch, and was the inmate of a 
family numbering among others, seven sons, 
the youngest of whom had nearly, if not quite 
reached mauhood. Not one of these seven 
boys had been taught any useful trade or me¬ 
chanic’s art, but all were expected to follow 
in the unprofitable farming footsteps of their 
s’re. As the ranch, when divided among so 
many (there were also three daughters) would 
leave each with very few acres, they had no 
future before them except that of laboring 
men. It used to make my heart ache to see 
the hopeless and yet doggedly filial way in 
which these boys went about their daily la¬ 
bors. The parents were more than ordinary 
intelligent people of Irish-American extrac¬ 
tion, and their carelessness in bringing such a 
family of children into the world, without 
taking any thought for their future, seemed to 
me most culpable. 
One of the lads had worked out a career for 
himself, and was known as the best whip and 
horse breaker in the county, and on this ac¬ 
count could command such wages as eighty 
dollars a month and board to drive the stage 
between Truckee and Lake Tahoe, and another 
had hired himself out to a neighboring uurs- 
erymau, with a vague idea of learning some¬ 
thing by which he could raise himself above 
the level of a day laborer. 
Speaking with the mother, a handsome, 
brown-eyed,and white-haired lady of fifty-five, 
who could talk intelligently of the books and 
topics of the day, I inquired why she had not 
tried to have her sons learn trades, since she 
and her husband had found farming so un¬ 
profitable. She replied that her husband was 
“very set in his way,” and finding that his 
boys showed no special aptitude for books, had 
become discouraged with the idea of making 
anything of them. 
This reminded me of the old Scotchman, 
who when he was asked if he intended to send 
his boy to college, replied, “Rod forbid that 
I should spend $5,000 on a 10-cent boy.” Very 
possibly this 10-cent boy, if rightly directed, 
and guided, would have turned out to be at 
least a good and useful member of society. 
Don’t think because your boy is no genius, 
that he is not fit for anything. Make it your 
business to find out his one talent (if he has 
only one,) and to cultivate that to the best of 
your ability. The more I study the lives of 
boys and young men, the more am I per¬ 
suaded of the value of such institutions as the 
trade schools, of which the Rural recently 
treated. A boy who would make a poor law¬ 
yer or doctor, or accountant, may have a 
genius for engineering, and make a success as 
a riiming engineer, or a bridge builder. Sur¬ 
veying and architecture are thriving occu- 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
patioDs. If a boy has a taste for outdoor life, 
let him stick to the farm, but don’t let him go 
on in the old ruts. Inspire him with a desire 
to understand the scientific side of farming 
and stock-raising Teach him to feel, if he 
elects to be a farmer, that his occupation is 
an ennobling, and not a debasing one. Let 
him stay on the farm, not because he feels in 
a hopeless sort of way that be doesn’t know 
what else to do, but because he would rather 
do so than to follow any other calling. To 
be successful, a man or woman must have 
some sort of belief in himself and his work. 
A. G. 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
Feltham says: “Irresolution is a worse vice 
than rashness. He that shoots best may some, 
times miss the mark, but he that shoots not at 
all can never bit it. Irresolution loosens all the 
jointsofa state; like an ague, it shakes not 
this nor that limb, but all the body is at once 
in a fit. The irresolute man is lifted from one 
place to another. He hatcheth nothing, but 
addles all his actions.”. 
Some lose the day with longing for the night 
and the night waiting for the day (says Jeremy 
Taylor). . . He that hath done all his busi¬ 
ness, and is begotton to a glorous hope by the 
seed of an immortal spirit, can never die too 
soon, nor live too long. 
“I think love grows between husband and 
•wife by expression of affection. I know there 
is a stately dignity in vogue. Husband and 
wife sit over against each other like those great 
statues of Mamnon in Egypt; there they are 
vast, stony, and hard ”. 
Death is as sweet as flowers are. It is as 
blessed as bird-singing in spring. I never hear 
of the death of any one who is ready to die that 
my heart does not sing like a harp. I am sor¬ 
ry for those that are left behind, but not for 
those who have gone before.. 
For the delight of those who love mystical 
meanings we may mention (says the Independ¬ 
ent) that in the designation of the present year 
we have a one and three eighths —a trinity 
with a unity. The numerical value of the 
Greek name of our Lord is 888. 
Beecher said: “The origin of evil is a cob 
that has been gnawed upon for thousands of 
years, but no one ever got a kernel from it. 
It is still a cob.”. 
One of Mr. Beecher’s favorite illustrations 
was the loom and its work. He said a Chris¬ 
tian mau’s life is laid in the loom of time to a 
pattern which he does not see, but God does; 
and his heart is a shuttle. On one side of the 
loom is sorrow, and on the other is joy; and 
the shuttle struck alternately by each, flies 
back and forth, carrying the thread, which is 
white or black, as the pattern needs, and, in 
the end, when God shall lift up the finished 
garment,and all its changing hues shall glance 
out, it will then appear that the deep and dark 
colors were as.needful to beauty as the bright 
and high colors. 
And on another occasion he said that he 
who is false to present duty breaks a thread 
in the loom, and will find the flaw when he 
may have forgotten the cause.. 
Fielding said that a tender-hearted and 
compassionate disposition which inclines men 
to pity and feel the misfortunes of others, and 
which is even for its own sake incapable of in¬ 
volving any man in ruin and misery, is of all 
tempers of mind the most amiable; and 
though it never receives much honor, is wor 
thy of the highest. 
CONDUCTED BY MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
EASEL POCHE. 
The easel here pictured (Fig. 78) supports a 
high-backed Japanese basket, draped with 
plush. Stand a picture against the back and 
use the poche for holding cards and photos of 
places and celebrities. This seems to us a 
happy way of disposing of photographs that 
one accumulates and wishes to keep for the 
diversion of guests. 
-♦ ♦ ♦ ■ ■■■ ’- - 
FARM MATTERS INDOORS. 
The Rural gives more interesting reading 
for women now than ever before. It is full 
of good ideas and directions relating to the 
affairs of home. Yet reading the many 
“slings and arrows” hurled at Mrs. Wager- 
Fisher’s letters upon farm life set me to think¬ 
ing that women seem to be oftimes their own 
worst enemies. Ah, well, it is easy to stand 
in one’s own light in this busy world! Very 
likely the great number of little details that 
go to make up the house mother’s work, bin¬ 
ders her from considering a subject fully, 
broadly, and dispassionately. I have read 
Mrs. Fisher’s letters carefully, and 1 cannot 
discover anything unfair or exaggerated in 
them. If I understand her object in thus 
bringing to notice the trials and difficulties 
under which a large class labor, it is not to 
disparage either their efforts or vocation, but 
to correct the abuses and stupidity \yith which 
they are hampered, to amend and suggest 
amendments and improvements that the farm 
life may keep pace with the progress of the 
age and tfe enlightened by a broader intelli¬ 
gence. Women have been hit often aud hit 
hard with that “don’t scold” club, “don’t find 
fault” club. One blow from it will silence 
the average woman. How, I ask, was any 
reform ever inaugurated or wrong set right 
but by outspoken condemnation and deter¬ 
mination to have it set right. While nothing 
is easier than for an over-taxed woman to fret 
and scold, there is no more effectual cure for 
that same scolding than to adjust the burdens 
to suit her strength. 
Mrs. Fisher makes a good point concerning 
the boarding of farm help outside the home, 
notwithstanding the ire it has aroused. Many 
of us are not able to bear the additional ex¬ 
pense or it may not be possible to have them 
thus cared for, yet every woman must know 
it is the right w'ay and the only way to con¬ 
serve the privacy and freedom of home life. 
The farmer’s wife has in addition to her regu¬ 
lar cares as housekeeper any amount of chores 
to look after—feeding and raising poultry, 
care of milk, garden, etc. Is that any reason 
why she should take boarders when she has a 
double portion of work without them? Still 
Fig. 78. 
another good reason is that little or no value is 
placed upon what is supplied without esti¬ 
mated cost. Wages and board in the family 
mean to the average hired man that board 
amounts to nothing or next to nothing. Let 
him pay his board then he will realize its value, 
but as long as that patient drudge, the far¬ 
mer’s wife, can be compelled to carry the 
added burden of cooking, w'ashing, mending 
and caring for his room, he regards it as a 
debt due. Raying for his washing he will see 
it in a different light than when he carelessly 
tosses down a dozen or more heavy garments 
every Monday morning for the farmer’s wife 
to amuse herself in washing, starching aud 
mending. I know of what I w’rite having 
boarded many aud for yearsdone all the work 
alone, for all grades of hands too, from the in¬ 
telligent young man to the scrub, from the 
unkempt foreigner to the end of the list and 
lowest of all the village dude, loud,profane and 
vile of mouth, whose very presence was con¬ 
tamination to the children of the household. 
1 can testify it was a hard, weary aud disa¬ 
greeable task, and it leaves little indeed of 
home life for a woman. There may be cases 
wlure it would be wrong to ask the tenant’s 
wife to board if she has her hands full with 
her ow'ii family. It is not compulsory for 
her, here, as it has always been for the farm¬ 
er’s wife. One season having friends with us 
so that our little house was filled to overflow¬ 
ing, I asked the tenant’s wife to board some 
extra hell) in apple-picking time, and found 
she was very glad to earn money in that way. 
We furnished her with the milk, fruit and 
vegetables required during the time. The men 
were her husband’s associates, working with 
him during the day, frequenting the same 
haunts about the village—the store and post- 
office, and where smoking, gossiping and spin¬ 
ning yarns furnished the usual pastime. It 
was a case of hail fellows, of similar tastes, 
thoughts and manners; who can believe it 
was the same trial to that household that it 
was, to have them admitted to the family cir¬ 
cle, where the recreation embraced was books, 
music and conversation upon topics of interest 
to cultured people? Then, too, she regarded 
it as a favor to be thus enabled to earn a little 
money for herself, and said it gave them quite 
a “lift;” that is, brought some extra supplies 
for herself and children, and though I have 
both before and since that taken the hands 
myself, I have never regarded it in that light. 
I never had an extra dollar for it, as the extra 
work was considered a part of my duty. 
Heaven knows, no woman—whether a tenant’s 
or a farmer’s wife—can regard with indiffer¬ 
ence money she feels she can call her own, 
having earned it by her own efforts. It is 
the great lubricator of the wheels of life, and 
much discouragement is often felt that we 
cannot see that our labor brings any benefit 
to us or to others. c. J. s. 
Moires were never more fashionable. 
Many dark woolen dresses show white 
woolen vests. 
Elderly women prefer the polonaise to the 
basque. 
The favorite dress button is a silk crdchet 
to match the goods. 
In choice of colors, every woman should be 
a law unto herself wearing that which is be¬ 
coming, fashionable or not. 
NOT SO BLAOK AS PAINTED. 
Ample justice has been done to the “dark 
side of farm life;” but we are thankful there 
is a brighter side to it. My father was a far¬ 
mer, and I have never yet found the lot of the 
farmer’s family to be so much harder than 
that of other people who belong to the labor¬ 
ing class. I know that the hardest part of 
my life was spent in teaching school, and that 
my not having better health now is, in a 
great measure, owing to having gone far 
beyond my strength during the 10 years 
spent in teaching. One hears so much of the 
hardships and trials of the farmer’s wife, that 
she must be a brave girl who, after reading 
all that is written on the subject, would venture 
to marry a farmer unless she has seen for her* 
self that all farmers are not thoughtless and 
careless, or, what is worse, unkind and cruel, 
in their homes. 
That there are such men no one will deny; ' 
that they are mostly on farms I do not be 
lieve. I have never yet learned that farming 
makes men blind to the needs of the women 
of the family. No, girls, do not be 
afraid to marry the man of your choice be¬ 
cause be is a farmer. His vocation will never 
make him a tyrant. My observation aud ex¬ 
perience go to show that, as a rule, we need 
work no harder and fare no worse than wives 
of men of the. same means who are engaged 
in other business or follow other professions. 
There is work to be done ou a farm and there 
would be work to be done in any home. If a 
woman wishes to make a drudge of herself she 
can do so on a farm or anywhere else. I am 
the only woman in our family, aud we are 
working to pay for our farm, and there are 
many farmers about here who are doing the 
same,aud not one farmer’s wife of my acquaint¬ 
ance looks like the picture at the head of Mrs. 
Fisher’s articles, or like the one who is churn¬ 
ing on the first page of a late Rural. 
The first four years of my married life were 
spent in a village, and I work no harder now 
than I did then, while with the same care, aud 
labor the return in comforts and luxuries is 
far greater. A sister living in a town with a 
family of the same size as ours, works harder 
than I do. She often wonders that I have so 
much leisure to work among my plants and 
flowers. 
A friend of mine, the wife of a preacher, 
has so many calls on her time aud attention, 
and does such an amount of work the year 
round, that it is a marvel to me how she en¬ 
dures it. I was visiting another friend not 
many days since, who asked’ her husband 
when he came to tea if he had seen Mrs Smith 
about doing her washing that week, as the 
woman who usually washed for her was not 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castoria. 
When she was a Child, she cried for Castoria, 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castoria, 
When she had Children, she gave them Castoria, 
