that this is far-fetched, and that my asser¬ 
tions are too general. 
I wish that such was the case. As I look 
back over a number of years spent as a 
school-teacher in country districts, it gives me 
a feeling of horror to think how few excep¬ 
tions ever met with, to the general rule of 
letting the children do as they pleased; or if 
they were made to mind, it was usually by the 
aid of some severe punishment. In all my ex¬ 
perience, I recall only one or two instances in 
which the child obeyed simply because it was 
right, and because he liked to obey. 
I have observed this subject closely, and 
the more I observe, the more discouraged I 
Del, at the terrible lack of home-training; and 
so I think that it would fill a great want if 
someone could open a school in which young 
women would be taught the true secret of 
motherhood. pandanus. 
HOUSE FURNISHING. 
WHAT I STARTED WITH. 
I am a plain farmer’s wife, or rather I am 
the plain wife of a farmer. I have been very 
much interested in the chats on house-furnish¬ 
ing that the Rural has contained from time 
to time.. They are especially helpful to such 
of the Rural sisters as live in the country, 
and probably a great part of those who read 
it, do live in agricultural districts, more or 
less secluded. We have little communication 
with the “madding crowd”, and in conse¬ 
quence, we do not get crowded with new ideas. 
Since I have confessed that I am a farmer’s 
wife, I may say without offense, that in my 
experience, country houses, even of well-to-do 
farmers, 4 are furnished with far less taste than 
the dwellings of a corresponding class among 
city merchants. This is not because of parsi¬ 
mony, or is it always from want of innate 
taste and love of the beautiful, but from want 
of culture, and an educated appreciation of 
the beautiful. If we have only horse-hair 
furniture, and uninspiring ingrain carpets, 
doubtless we can find nothing better or 
prettier in our village store, and many of us 
live far from any large city. A week or two 
of sight-seeing in New York, or Chicago, or 
Milwaukee would be a liberal education. 
I cannot help seeing that although the furni¬ 
ture of my own house cost far less thau did that 
of some prosperous neighbors, it is more pleas¬ 
ing even to them, than the uncompromising 
stiffness of their own homes. At first my “city 
traps” (there ! it has slipped out, so I might 
as well say that I have not always been a far¬ 
mer’s wife) excited no little amusement, and 
my “ bare floors,” were somewhat contemptu¬ 
ously regarded with looks askance. 
It was only a very few years ago, when 
Fred and I furnished our little house of eight 
rooms, and although our means were small 
we never found it a hard matter to keep our 
desires from outstripping them. I could not 
have furnished my kitchen as did the writer 
of the Times article, for .$50 22, including the 
stoves, wash-tubs, oil cloth for floor, refriger¬ 
ator and every needful cooking vessel, if all 
these articles had to be bought new. My 
wooden ware such as ironing board, clothes 
horse, tubs, chopping and bread bowl, chairs 
for the servants’ room and the kitchen, with 
all the kitchen utensils and china were pur¬ 
chased at Macy’s, and cost $35, but my soup 
kettle and saucepans were of granite ware, and 
will last half a lifetime. I bought a second¬ 
hand stove quite as good as new for $10, and 
for floor covering stained the floor with cherry 
stain, and gave it a coat of varnish at a cost 
of $1.00. Oil-cloth would have cost several 
dollars, and would have been less easily kept 
neat than the painted floor. A new stove, as 
good as the one I bought, with hot air oven, 
and water back, with pipe and fitting would 
have cost me $20. So for $46, I furnished my 
kitchen substantially and thoroughly. 
My dining room was furnished only after 
many visits to different auction rooms, but 
the result paid me for my trouble. I unearth¬ 
ed an old spindle-legged, but evidently aristo. 
cratic article of furniture in the way of a 
dining table. It was of mahogany, but so 
scratched and worn that you would scarcely 
have thought it fit for a kitchen table, for 
which I quite gladly paid the small sum of 
$4., sent it to a cabinet makers, and had it 
polished and fitted with brass claws holding 
mahogany balls, This cost $S 00 additional, 
and for $12 I had a table, valuable on account 
of its antiquity, and far more beautiful 
thau any for $12 modern piece of furniture. 
The floor was stained dark oak, with two 
coats of varnish,—cost $1,25. Of course I 
performed the labor myself, driving in all 
the nail heads that obtruded themselves, and 
pulling up tacks leit by a former tenant. 
Very pretty dark oak chairs (possibly imita¬ 
tion) with cane bottom of close texture, cost 
$1.25 each in New York—$7.50 for half a 
dozen, and $5 paid for a delightful arm chair 
for the head of the house. A new article pat¬ 
terned after the chairs of a hundred years ago. 
Fred’s old college book-case,—an oaken chest 
of four drawers, with four shelves on top en¬ 
closed, aDd with glass doors, was made to do 
duty for a sideboard. I removed the wooden 
knobs from the drawers, and placed in their 
stead old fashioned brass handles, which 
cost me $1.50 for eight. The glass 
doors were taken away altogether, and 
a curtain of gauze to match the win¬ 
dow curtains and mantel drapery, was 
run across on a brass rod with small rings. 
The twelve yards of Madras gauze necessary 
for the double window, a single front window, 
and mantel, and sideboard drapery, were 
picked up at a bargain for $5, and gave an 
effect as to color of dark olives and dull reds. 
You may laugh at my rug, but you would not 
if you saw it. I bought five yards of rag 
carpet of home manufacture (that is the 
rags were cut and sewed in a country 
home, and were of durable cloths and 
woolen garments). This cost me $2.50. 
I cut it in two lengths and sewed it to¬ 
gether. The border puzzled me, for it needed 
a border half a yard wide to make it large, 
enough. A visit to a carpet weaving estab¬ 
lishment gave me the needed suggestion for 
that as well as for the various rugs which I 
could not afford to buy. I purchased small 
remnants of ingrain carpet from a carpet 
laying house at five cents a pound. It re. 
quired 20 pounds for the necessary 14 yards of 
bordering half a yard wide. This I cut into 
strips half an inch wide, and sewed as for rag 
carpet, sent it to the weavers, and had it 
woven in like manner. It made a thick and 
elegant looking border at a cost of $3.50 
weaving and all, and has worn for four years, 
and still looks well. 
My dishes were the most expensive article 
in furnishing this room, for we were singularly 
alone in the world, and had few of the wedding 
presents, which “ Cottage Maid” says, “few 
newly-married people are without.” Ishopped 
for them, however, buying odd lots as far as 
possible. For instance, my soup service was 
of Copeland, my dinner plates of Minton, wiih 
odd vegetable and meat dishes; my breakfast 
plates and oat meal bowls of Japanese and 
Chinese ware of different colors; and for tea* 
coffee and chocolate cups, we had no two alike. 
I still prefer this harlequin style to any set of 
dishes that could have been purchased for the 
same money—$25. The poles and riDgs for 
my windows brought the cost of my dining¬ 
room up to $63 25—about $25 less than that 
quoted in the Times. 
I shall carry you later through my parlor 
and several bed-rooms, if you care to hear of 
my petty economies. mrs. c. a. henry. 
DISCONTENTMENT. 
“A contented mind is a continual feast.” 
How true are these words; and how few 
there are who are content with their lot in 
life. The peasant in his hut, his days filled 
with labor, has his blessings. 
His simple life gives him health and refresh¬ 
ing sleep, without which, all the wealth in a 
nation would be no pleasure. 
With what anger and discontent he views 
the life of those, who, in his eyes, are fortunate 
enough to have a place among the middle 
class. If he could only be as they are, he im¬ 
agines, he would be more than content. 
And they of the middle class are striving to 
gain, a foothold on the round above them, of 
the social ladder. 
And those who have arrived at the pinnacle 
of earthly fame or wealth, with what jealous 
discontent they watch the less favored, fearing 
they may mount beside them or pull them 
down from their exalted position. 
Unless we can better our condition by hon¬ 
orable means, and-without destroying the hap¬ 
piness of those around us, let us try to be con¬ 
tent with the station and surroundings in 
which God has placed us, and, by our exam¬ 
ple, aid others to see that what is our lot, is 
best for us. 
“ Let us gather up the sunbeams,” 
Their warmth will cheer the heart 
Of those who midst life’s labors, 
Of Its joys have no part. 
Let us throw aside the frownlngs 
Of dreary discontent, 
Accepting all our trials 
As blessings Heaven-sent. 
When we pass within the portals 
Of yonder golden gate, 
AVe will find, as has been told us, 
There a prize, for those who wait. 
B. H. G. 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
Youth and beauty, riches and stores of 
worldly goods, with the society of those we 
love, and even life itself, are all of short dura¬ 
tion. Then let not the wise therewith be fas¬ 
cinated.— From, the Sanskrit . 
Whittier says: “Neither present fame, 
nor war, nor power, nor wealth, nor knowledge 
alone shall secure an entrance to the true and 
noble Valhalla. There shall be gathered only 
those who have toiled each in his vocation 
for the welfare of others ” “Justice and be¬ 
nevolence are higher than knowledge and 
power.”. 
A Few years ago a pious church member 
in the western part of this State arose in an 
experience meeting and gave a review of his 
life. When he came to the declaration, “I 
thank God that I owe no man anything,” a 
quiet man in a remote corner jumped up and 
6aid : “ I have a little account against you, 
brother, that you must have forgotten.” “An, 
Brother C.,” said the speaker, unctuously, 
“ that debt was outlawed agood while ago.”.. 
Who wants eternal sunshine or shadow? 
who would fix forever the loveliest cloudwork 
of an autumn sunset, or hang over him an 
everlasting moonlight ?. 
Thank God ! that I have lived to see the time 
When the great truth begins at last to find 
An utterance from the deep heart of mankind, 
Earnest and clear, that All Revenge is Crime. 
—f Whittier. 
Perform a good deed, speak a kind word, 
bestow a pleasant smile, and you will receive 
the same in return. The happiness you be¬ 
stow upon others is reflected back to your 
own bosom. 
In a recent number of the Independent Mr. 
Moody says concerning church choirs, “I 
don’t like to hear singing in an unknown 
tongue. A good many of our high-toned 
choirs sing in Greek, or it sounds like Greek 
to me. I think one of the greatest attractions 
which would make our church service less 
formal and more easy to enjoy, is good sing¬ 
ing by a choir who sing in a known tongue; 
sing so that people can understand what they 
say.”. 
I believe it is just as good to sing as it is to 
preach the gospel. Men like singing as well 
as they like preaching. They like to hear it 
and take part in it. All we want is to get the 
gospel down in their hearts. The angels sang 
‘Giory to God’ on the plains of Bethlehem. 
I believe Cnarles Wesley was raised up of God 
to sing, just as much as John Wesley was 
raised up to preach the gospel. And you 
can’t go anywhere but what you will find a 
man in some church congregation who can 
quote some of Charles Wesley’s hymns, while 
not a single line of John Wesley’s sermons are 
remembered. They are in every land in 
Christendom.”.. 
Messrs. McMahon & Chase, who own a 
large modern creamery, at Stowe, Vt, cap¬ 
tured the sweepstakes premium over all 
creamery butter at the Vermont State Fair 
this year. Iu their report they state that their 
butter was brought to its beautiful shade by 
the use of Thatcher's Orange Butter Col¬ 
or. Dairymen and creamerymen should be 
particular to have their butter colored just 
right, and as Thatcher’s Color is found in 
most prize packages, they should procure this 
kind. Ic is sold everywhere, and is manufac¬ 
tured by Thatcher Manufacturing Co , Pots¬ 
dam, N. Y.—Adv. 
CONDUCTED BY MRS. AGNES E. H. CARMAN. 
House cleaning. 
Fires are usually cheaper than doctors’ 
bills. 
Keep your own and your children’s feet dry. 
Muffling the throat is one sure way of 
courting tenderness and soreness of the throat. 
It is a penny wise and pound foolish kind 
of economy that induces one to go without 
warm underwear. 
Warmth and light are necessaries, not luxu¬ 
ries, if one would make home attractive during 
the winter mouths. 
Anent Fall colds, remember that an ounce 
of prevention is worth more than a ton of cure. 
Some experience with young folks, over 
whom we had no control, during the past sea¬ 
son has clinched former convictions as to the 
injurious effects of candy-eating as indulged 
in by nine-tenths of our young girls. What 
are parents and others having charge of the 
physical (and moral, too, for that matter) de¬ 
velopment of children thinking of anyway to 
allow this wholesale gratification for sweets ? 
We have been told, when protesting, that 
half a pound of Huyler’s or other rich candies 
was the daily allowance and that no ill effects 
resulted from the indulgence. “Why,” said 
one young miss,—she had been without candy 
for two or three days—“ I can’t live without 
sweets ; haven’t you some cut-sugar in the 
house ?” “ No ill effects ! ” But how about 
this morning’s lassitude, that imperfect skin, 
the sick headaches and bilious attacks ? Ah ! 
it is so much pleasanter to ascribe these ail¬ 
ments to heredity, to overstudy, malaria, in 
fact to anything rather than what one puts in 
his stomach. Certain it is that the consump¬ 
tion of sweets by our young people is on the 
increase. Candies never before so tickled both 
palate and eye, and while we haven’t a hope 
that this protest will weigh a straw in the bal¬ 
ance against these tempting stomach upsetters, 
we can’t see this “slaughter of innocence” 
without a mother’s warning cry. 
CONCERNING EARLY EDUCATION. 
MARY AVAGER-FISHER. 
If the period of human life covered eighty 
thousand years, as lived by the race in the 
time of the first age, according to the religion 
of the Calmucks, there still might be a reason 
for early training—the conditions of existence 
being proportionately different. But in our 
present limited sphere of endurance, the gain, 
or saving of time, is unquestionably of vast 
importance. There has been latterly a good 
deal of sentiment disseminated throughout 
the country, adverse to the early intellectual 
development of children, which results in 
retarding what we may be pleased to call the 
“higher education” beyond what seems to 
the writer of this paper to be either needful 
or advisable. 
The course pursued by the father of John 
Stuart Mill demonstrated beyond all doubt 
the possible intellectual development of a 
child’s mind, at least up to the point reached 
in the Mill case, and the lad, after he became 
a man, gave it as his opinion that any child 
could have been similarly educated. He be¬ 
gan to study Greek at three years of age, and 
before he was eight he was an accomplished 
Greek scholar, to say nothing of his English 
and Latin. That a child can as easily learn 
the Greek alphabet at three as Mother Goose’s 
rhymes no one can readily doubt, and that its 
impressionable mind is better nourished by 
nonsense jingles and “baby stories” than by 
literature of intrinsic value is probably noth¬ 
ing more than a current superstition, the 
sooner abandoned the better. However gen¬ 
eral the belief that early intellectual develop¬ 
ment is injurious to the mental and physical 
health of children, it is not confirmed by the 
lives of persons who have had the good for¬ 
tune to be put early at study. The six hours 
of school for five days in the week in the 
United States are, in many localities regarded 
as too many, and are reduced to five and even 
four. In the life of Agassiz allusion is made 
to this, in contrast with the nine daily hours 
of study in the Switzerland school, which he 
attended, and where the boys were “healthy 
and happy.” 
Lera Bacon entered Trinity College at 
twelve years of age, and graduated three 
years later. Our own John Lothrop Motley 
entered Harvard at 13. Wm. Pitt was fully 
three years in advance of most boys intellect¬ 
ual attainments,—a man in intellect at 14, 
and the greatest man in Europe at 25. Lord 
Brougham’s mother certainly did not encour¬ 
age “baby talk,” for she said that her son 
spoke several words distinctly when but 8% 
months old. When barely seven years of age 
he was sent to the Edinburgh High School, 
and before he was 13 he left it dux. At 12 
he read Laplace’s Mdcanique Cdleste, in 
French, and he died at the “early age” of 
90! Mrs. Browning’s education was begun at 
a very early age, as was George Eliot’s. Can- 
ova was initiated into the principles of draw¬ 
ing so soon as his hand could hold a pencil. 
Iu his n uth year he executed two small shrines 
in Carrara marble—still extant. Wm. El¬ 
lery Channing entered Harvard at 14. 
Edward Everett at 13 and became Bachelor of 
Arts at 17 with the first honor of his class 
Flaxman, the great English sculptor was a 
public exhibitor at 12 years of age. Benjamin 
Franklin was placed in school at seven— 
When Baoy 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, she gave them Castorle 
