302 
THE RURAL. NEW-YORKER. 
for fyt gouttg. 
TALKS BY UNCLE MARK. 
Now then, the girls are getting a series of 
remarkable lectures in this Rural. It is a 
pretty hard scolding, isn’t it? I am sorry 
some of the writers are so severe, because they 
talk just as though all girls are mean and self¬ 
ish and cruel. 1 know better than that, I can 
tell you, and if nobody else will talk in favor 
of the good girls, I propose to do it. I am 
sorry to say that I know of girls who are 
willing to let mother do all the hard work 
while they do easy work and look pretty. Our 
writers can’t hit such girls any too bard to 
suit me, but I want the line drawn sharply be¬ 
tween good girls and bad girls, and I want the 
good girls praised just as much as the bad 
ones are blamed. No praise that any man can 
write or speak is any too strong for a good and 
dutiful daughter. To have father or mother 
say that their daughter is “the best girl that 
ever lived” is one of the richest crowns that a 
woman ever can wear. I know plenty of 
farmers’ girls who will feel hurt at some of 
these articles because they will think that it 
is implied that all farmers’ daughters are 
mean and selfish and only anxious to get 
away from the farm. I know that isn’t so, 
and so do we all, but we want to make the 
picture so strong that the careless and mean 
girls will be ashamed of themselves and change 
their w ays of living. 
The boys needn’t think they are going to es¬ 
cape. They will get their share in due time. 
Before they know it we will picture the boy 
who lets his mother blacken his boots and his 
faiher do all the hard work. There are lots 
of boys that shirk and they fully deserve to 
be pictured. Don't let them think they are 
going to escape. 
We have been having just about the worst 
weather for the past three weeks, that I ever 
saw. It has rained every day—no not rained 
but just simply poured down. Such weather 
is bad in every way. Farmers can’t work 
their ground and many of them have not even 
plowed potato ground yet. I have about an 
acre that I had planned to plant potatoes on 
which is just about like a mud puddle at 
present. The way I feel now is that I will 
just wait and put potatoes on that piece if I 
have to wait till July. It may be though that 
I shall get weary after two more weeks of 
waiting and put corn in. It is pretty hard for 
people to be happy during such weather, isn’t 
it? You want to do so much and you have to 
realize that the chances for getting things 
well started are vanishing. It is hard to keep 
good-natured, I say, but it don’t pay to worry 
und get discouraged. Feople do a great many 
things that “don’t pay,” however, and I sup¬ 
pose that some will worry and fret over this 
weather. All I can say is, don’t do any more 
of it than you can help. Remember the words 
of the old song, 
“Don’t worry, don’t fret; 
There are many worse off than you.” 
It is a good thing to remember the last 
line of this quotation. No matter how dis¬ 
couraged and blue you may feel, you may be 
very sure that there are other folks that con¬ 
sider themselves worse off than you are. You 
wouldn’t change places, if you had to give up 
your real individuality, with anybody in this 
world, and you know it. “Brace up I” Some 
people think that is a slang expression that 
should never be used. To my mind it means 
a good deal and is very practical advice. It 
won’t hurt any of us to try it awhile. 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle Mark: As I have often read 
of country boys who have a longing for city 
life, I will give you my experience though a 
short one for those boys and girls of the 
Rural who have a like desire. 
In the fall of 1884 I had just such a longing 
as, it seems, many country boys and girls have 
1 was visiting in the city when a person, who 
knew my desire, urged me to enter the em¬ 
ployment of a man for whom he worked. He 
said I would get but $2 a week at first, but 
would get upwards of $20 a week in the course 
of a year. As my relatives put confidence in 
the person I went to work. 
The man in whose employ I was had a book- 
biudery. It occupied the sixth and seventh 
stories of a large building which extended far 
above the surroundiag ones. It was badly 
ventilated, being filled with the odors of 
mouldy paste, burnt glue and other disagree¬ 
able smells—and it had but one fire-escape. 
Whatareadful accidents might have happened 
to the women and girls in case a fire broke 
outl 
After I had been there for a few weeks, I 
learned that the wages were raised only once 
JUNE 0 
in six months, no matter how diligently you 
worked, and not then unless you asked two or 
three times, at the risk of a severe scolding. 
And I also learned that only one or two of the 
hands received $20 a week and did not get 
this till they had many years of experience. 
To a person living in the city, two dollars a 
week to board and clothe himself did not seem 
like getting rich fast. I was fortunate enough 
to get board for $1 75 a week, while the other 
25 cents went for clothing. After I had been 
there for six months, with no signs of improve¬ 
ment in wages, I considered country life at 
$10 a month and board, with pure air, good 
health, and perfect freedom, preferable to 
city life at $2 a week, with foul air, bad health, 
temptations to go with low companions, and 
shut up all day in a place little better than a 
jail, and of course, with such wages, I could 
not have any of the amusements that boys 
think of having when they get to the city. I 
left the city with a strong dislike for it as a 
place in which to live, but wiser as to the 
value of money. Possibly my case was a 
little worse than others, but from what I saw 
and heard I think it was mostly like other 
cases. Such an experience will certainly cure 
a real country boy of a longing for city life, 
who does not know what restraint means, and 
who can enjoy the beauties of nature. 
Baltimore Co., Md. thomas mcgirr. 
[Judging from my own experience, I think 
your case is not so much an exception. When 
I was a boy I went to work in a book store in 
the city. I got $8 per week, and could not get 
decent board for less than $8.50 per week. 
Let the Cousins figure up how much money I 
must have made in a month at this rate. 
After several years, of course, I got more, but 
I never got enough to enable me to save much 
money or to live as I wanted to. I was glad 
enough to get a chance to work on a milk 
farm. You will find hundreds of country 
boys in the large cities who would tell the 
same story that Thomas has told if they were 
not ashamed to admit that their parents knew 
more than they do. Stick to the farm, boys, 
if you have any chance at all.—u. m.] 
Dear Uncle Mark: I am one of the Cous- 
sins, but I have not written for over a year 
so I don’t know whether you count me among 
them or not but I hope so. I am glad to see 
the Cousins’ letters again for I missed them 
very much, though I enjoyed reading “Ander¬ 
son ville Violets.” I agree with Edgar Uber 
in some things. I think a man ought to know 
how to sew and cook, although he may never 
have such work to do. I think the house is 
the place for a woman and she ought to do 
the work in it. The barn is the place for a 
man and he should do the work in it. I am 
not in favor of making a woman milk cows 
and tend to the hogs and chickens as some I 
know do. Neither am I in favor of the hired 
men making their beds and caring for their 
rooms. That is a lady’s place and she must be 
pretty lazy not to do it. I think that every 
farmer’s wife and daughter should know how 
to harness and “hitch up” a horse. I don’t 
think it is her place to do it any more than it 
is a man’s place to sew; but it comes handy to 
know how in case of any accidents while the 
men are in the field; or if you should want to 
go away in a hurry and no man is arouud. I 
don’t think “hired help” should be treated es 
our equals or given our best beds to sleep in; 
but I think they should be treated as human 
beings and with kindness. Your Niece, 
anna weaver. 
[I don’t wan’t a man to stay at the barn all 
the time. I don’t think it is a good plan to 
say that a man’s place is here and a woman's 
place is there and that they must not stir out 
at all. A woman ought to do some work out¬ 
doors and surely a man is better off for know¬ 
ing what to do in case the women folks are 
sick.—u. M.] 
Dear Uncle Mark: I have not written to 
you before and am not yet a Cousin, but I 
hope to have my name on the list. I am 18 
years old and weigh over 120 pounds. I live 
on a farm about a mile and a half from the 
school-house and go every day. I like to go 
to school. Pa takes a good many papers and 
of all the farming papers he thinks the Rural 
the best, and would not do without it. I al¬ 
ways read the Cousins letters first. I have an 
organ and am taking lessons. I have taken 
two terms. I like to play and hope to make 
a good player some time. A good many of 
the Cousins tell about their pets, but I have 
only a little dog. He is about 10 years old 
and is blind in one eye; I don’t believe Uncle 
Mark ever had a dog as old as that. We have 
about 20 little chickens and more hens set. 
Last year the cholera got among them and 
killed about 200, young and old. We have a 
church about a mile and a half from our house 
and there is preaching every other Sunday 
and Sunday School every Sunday. I go when 
ever I can. Yours truly, flora tharp. 
Kewanee, Henry Co., Ill. 
[No, I never had a dog as old as that. He is 
quite an old fellow, I am sorry he is blind 
—u. m.] _ 
Dear Uncle Mark: I am 14, and though 
we’ve had the Rural in our home since my 
memory runs not to the contrary, I have not 
written since I was six. I have two small sis¬ 
ters, Jean and Lizzie. Jean is such a lover of 
animals. She claims and pets all the young 
things on the farm. She has two cunning 
white mice. My brother Wilkie died at three 
years of age. I have only one other brother, 
Frank Wysor, 16, but we do not know if he is 
living. He became tired of the farm, and left 
a year ago. We heard of him at Baltimore, 
September 20, 1887. He spoke of shipping as 
cabin boy, but we have reasons to think he 
did not, unless under an assumed name. He 
is a magnificent specimen of boyhood, large 
and strong; dark eyes and hair, large mouth. 
On the lower part of the right ear is a small 
mole. Several of the lower front teeth are 
gone, or replaced by artificial. He hated the 
farm, and wished to join the navy. Nothing 
can exceed the anxiety and suspense we suffer 
at home! If any one reading this can send us 
the smallest scrap of news, it will be received 
15000 
Machines in actual 
use testifying to its 
merits. 
Can be carried into the field and attached to Mowing 
Machine " he. 1. Send for new Descriptive Catalogue. 
Hlt.GAMJM iUANUK’G. CORPORATION, 
Main Office: HIGGANUM, CONN. 
Successors to R. R. Allen & Co.. 183 Water St., N. V. 
FENCES E! 
FARMERS 
PRETTIEST, 
CHEAPEST, 
MOST 
DURABLE. 
SOMETHING NEW. 
Any one oan make it at home and clear 
$10 to $25 per day. Full particulars with 
testimonials. Illustrated Catalogue Free. 
STANDARD MFC.OO.Cincinnati.O. 
with infinite relief and gratitude. 
Newbern, Pulaski, Co ,Va. ethel wysor. 
[I hope you will hear from him. Sad, isn’t 
it, to think of running away from a good 
home?—u. m.] 
Dyspepsia 
Docs not get well of Itself; it requires careful, 
persistent attention and a remedy that will assist 
nature to throw off tlio causes and tone up the 
digestive organs till they perform their duties 
willingly. Among the agonies experienced by the 
dyspeptic, are distress before or after eating, los3 
of appetite, irregularities of the bowels, wind or 
gas and pain in tlio stomach, heart-burn, sour 
stomach, etc., causing mental depression, nervous 
irritability and sleeplessness. If you are dis¬ 
couraged be of good cheer and try Rood’s Sar¬ 
saparilla. It has cured hundreds; it will cure you. 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
Sold by all druggists. $1; six for $5. Made 
only by C. I. IIOOD & CO., Lowell, Mass. 
IDO Doses One Dollar 
and fnultry. 
Ohio Improved Chesters 
AJP Warranted cholera proof. 
i Express prepaid. Wins 1st 
prizes in the States and For¬ 
eign Countries. » weighed 
2800 lbs. Send fordescrip- 
tion and price of these fam¬ 
ous hogs, also fowls. THE 
L. B. SILVER CO., CleTeiand, 0. 
Send for facts, and mention Rural New-Yorker. 
A a p Wcancrs and 8 ucklng Cow Muz- 
la r zles. The best in the world. Send for 
Circular. II. C. RICE, Farmington, Conn. 
© 
Warranted to put horses and cattle in 
good condition when all other means fail. 
COLORADO SHORT LINE 
Colorado 
From ST. LOUIS via. 
KANSAS CITY to Pueblo, 
Denver, Colorado Springs 
Manitou, Pikes Peak, 
Salt Lake City, Ogden, 
and all other Resorts in 
Utah. Very Low Round Trip 
Rates via. this “FAST MAIL ROUTE, 
IT ERADICATES all HUMORS 
that may be in the animal, and produces 
a fine glossy coat. Guaranteed to free 
stock from worms. 
SURE CURE for MILK FEVER and GARGET. 
SURE CURE FOR HOG CHOLERA. 
$100 will be paid for anything poisonous 
found in our food. If your feed dealer has 
not got it send for circulars and price list. 
VALLEY&MILL CO., Brattleboro, Yt. 
JCmi£5 
AYSthe^FR EIGHT 
i To* Sc-aIcs. 
Ir»* L.reri, StMt Eo»rt*gi, Bruit 
Imhiaal lwn In fcr 
s©o. «■ 
Z tn rr aim Seele. f tr tree prict lb- 
*>WtUM «.U .4B4, u*d A-idrtM 
JOttlS *r IIHOHAKTSH, 
BINGHAMTON. N. V 
UNIVERSITY ol the STATE ofNEW YORK 
AMERICAN 
Yorlr, 1875, and by special act of the Legislature In 18S6. 
Tho regular Course of Lectures c jmmenced in Oc 
tober. Circular and information can be had on ap¬ 
plication to Dlt. A. LIAUTAR1). V.S., 
Dean of the Faculty. 
Veterinary Department. 
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
SESSION 1800 80. 
OPESS OCTOBER 1st, 1888. 
For Catalogues address 
K. S. HUIDEKOPEK, Dean. 
CIIICAGrO 
VETERINARY COLLEGE. 
INCORPORATED 1883. 
Facilities for teaching and Clinical Ad¬ 
vantages UNSrRI’ASSED. Session of 1888-0 
commences October 1st. r?~For Catalogue and 
further information, address the Secretaiw, 
JOSEPH HUGHES, M. K. C. V. S.. 
2537 and 2530 State Street, Chicago. 
Order on trial, address for circular and location of 
Western and Southern Storehouses and Agents. 
P. K. DEDERICK 4. CO., Albany, N. Y. 
DEDERICK’S 
PRESSES. 
the customer 
keeping the one 
that suits 
If your dealer does not keep the "MACOMBER HAND, 
COKN and BEAN PLANTER,” send $2 and get one. 
Money refunded. If it does not suit. 
S. 1U. iUACOMBKK, Adams, Yt. 
to 88 a day. Samples worth $1.50, FREE. Lines 
not under the horse’s feet. Write Brewster 
Safety Rein Holder Co„ Holly, mien. 
Choice CHESTER WHITE PIGS, from pre¬ 
mium registered stock, of all ages. Prices low. 
A. Darlington Strode, WEST CHESTER, PA. 
JERSEY BED, rOLAND-CIIPfA, 
Chenier White, Berkshire k York* 
Southdown, CoUwold 
Down Sheep and Lamb* 
Shepherd Dog* and 
Bend for Catalog** 
THOROUGHBRED Geese, and Turkeys, 
from the best strains. Bred for Health, IHeat and 
Eggs. Standard Birds. For prices of Eggs and 
BirdB, address DR. B. BURR, POCASSET, MASS. 
Raise No More Wheat 
But make your money out of the Barn and Poultry 
Yard, as the Dairy. Poultry and Doctor Book tells 
For flve 2-ct stamps. C. G. Hirner, Allentown. Pa. 
ttlCTjr LAVAL, (Beam 
—Separator s 
xUnDDI rc WEST CHESTER,P«. 
ifoa PM-oHARPLE5- vv elginjll. 
General Advertising Rates of 
THU RURAL NSW - YORKER. 
34 PARK ROW, NEW YORK. 
The following rates are invariable. All are there¬ 
fore respectfully informed that any correspondence 
with a view to obtaining different terms will prove 
futile. 
Ordinary Advertisements, per agate line (this 
sized type, 14 lines to the Inch).30 cents. 
One thousand lines or more,within one year 
from date of first Insertion, per agate line, 25 “ 
Yearly orders occupying 14 or more lines 
agate space.25 “ 
Preferred positions.25 per cent, extra. 
Reading Notices, ending with “Adv.,” per 
line, minion leaded.75 cents. 
Terms of Subscription. 
The subscription price of the Rural New Yorker is 
Single copy, per year.$2.00 
“ “ Six months. MO 
Great Britain. Ireland, Australia and 
Germany, per year, post-paid. $8.04 (12s. 6d.) 
France. 3.04 (1614 tr.) 
French Colonies. 4.08 (2914 f r.) 
Agents will be supplied with canvassing outfit on 
application. 
Mntered at the Post-office at New York City, N 
as teoond olass mall matter. 
