warns against regarding every trifling ail¬ 
ment or attack of pain as requiring immedi¬ 
ate attention. Turn your thoughts to some¬ 
thing else, and it is not at all unlikely that you 
will be surprised after a time to remember 
even that you had a pain. Instead of medica¬ 
tion try the efficacy of hot or cold applications, 
poultices, or mustard pastes, for paius which 
can often be relieved in this way. Try simple 
remedies, if any, for the hous -hold ailments, 
such as peppermint, Jamaica giuger, aromatic 
ammonia. Ask your family physician to 
give you some plain directions as to what you 
shall do in case of emergencies, and look to 
him rather than to books or newspaper pre¬ 
scriptions. 
HOUSE FURNISHING. 
“will you walk into my parlor?” 
And in order to walk in you must pass 
through a tiny hall, that cannot be dignified 
by the name of reception room. Straight be¬ 
fore you as the outer door opens, is the stair¬ 
way, concealed by a portifcre of some Turkish 
material, of which the prevailing tone is a 
rich dark red. This cost $1,150, being an odd 
curtain, one of a $5. pair, sold at a sacrifice 
because of its having no mate. You will 
notice a good many bargains in my house-fur¬ 
nishing, and any one who has the advantage 
of New York bargain counters, as I did for 
three months before I started housekeeping, 
will have plenty of opportunity to go and do 
likewise. On either hand of this little hall 
is a long window, at which hang grenadine 
curtains trimmed with antique lace. 1 used 
these because I happened to have them on 
hand--original cost $3 00 per pair. Three poles 
and rings at three cents each, $1.11. The car¬ 
pet of this hall (for my objection to carpets 
does not extend to a hall, which should be 
bright, warm, and inviting-looking) was a 
rich velvetinreds and.browns. I bought it 
from the last tenant together with the stair 
carpet for $10. The hat-rack was a beveled 
glass in a cherry frame, with pegs for hats, 
cost $3 50, The only attempt at ornament 
was a handsome blue china umbrella stand— 
Japanese, and a gift. I do not tell you of 
this hall as a model. It was simply the best 
we could do with a small amount of money. 
Undoubtedly even this small amount could 
have been expended so as to produce a more 
striking effect. There might have been 
a wretched fern or a palm or two in jardi¬ 
niere, to catch in skirts, or get knocked over 
when two or three people were moving about 
in the small space, but I have never regretted 
that I did not ape anything in the way of dec¬ 
oration which was not suited to my small 
house. 
The cost of this hall, including two antique 
chairs, or rather a modern imitation of the 
antique, in old oak, was $30 11. These chairs, 
by the way, sometimes grace the parlor, and 
again the large veranda outside. 
Two doors one at the right, the other at the 
left of the staircase, led one into the dimug- 
room, the other into the parlor. In the sum¬ 
mer these doors are removed from their 
hinges and gauze draperies suspended from 
brass rods take their place, giving an effect of 
space that is much needed. The parlor floor 
was stained cherry, cost about $2 00, it being 
a larger room than the dining-room. 
A Bromley rug, of excellent manufacture, 
9x11. cost $20, and looks nearly as well as it 
did the first year. Tne center table of pol¬ 
ished mahogany was one of the heirlooms 
over which Howells is so sarcastic—one of the 
kind picked up for a song at a second-haud 
furniture store. It was really a bargain at 
$7. A scarf of old gold plush, with a little 
embroidery in gendarme blue chenille, the 
materials of which cost $2.00, harmonized 
nicely with the reddish browns, and olives, 
and blues in the rug. 
We had a quantity of books, and the prob¬ 
lem of bookcases bade fair to be a puzzling 
one, until Fred who possessed considerable 
skill at cabinet work, manufactured a very 
presentable low book case of four shelves, 
made of solid oak, for which the materials 
cost $8 00. Fortune smiled on us, and at a 
village furniture store we came upon a book¬ 
case of French make, another heirloom, and a 
beauty in ebony, with quaint carving on the 
sides, all for $14. 
Chairs and a lounge came next. There are 
sets that can be had from $37 all the way up 
to many hundreds of dollars. The first did 
not please me—the last were out of my power 
to purchase. So we shopped once more until 
a wide, low sort of divan luxurious in shape 
but covered with disgracefully ragged ola 
raw silk, was discovered for $7. I had the 
old covering taken off and re-covered it my¬ 
self with dark cretonne, at a cost of $1 00. A 
ten-dollar lounge rug thrown over this, and 
it might have cost $50 for all any one could 
tell. A large Turkish easy-chair, and a rocker 
to correspond, cost respectively $25 and $15, 
which was not much more than half their 
value, as they were reduced on account of 
being what is called shop-worn. 
Three wicker chairs of light workmanship 
—one a rocker-cost $5. A light oak table of 
a clover-leaf pattern placed in the bay win¬ 
dow was $4.50 and is delightful for serving 
afternoon tea. Having spent $122 50 on 
this room, I began to draw the strings of my 
purse, and shopped very closely for the cur¬ 
tains necessary for the arch of the bay win¬ 
dow, the front window drapery, and that of 
the mantel, bringing them all within $130. 
Pictures and wall decorations in the way of 
bric-a-brac cannot be counted, for they were 
either gifts, or have been picked up from time 
to time since, but the general air of this room 
is home-like in the extreme, and our guests 
say “ I like your parlor,-it is so odd.” 
I had an idea when I began this article that 
we had only spent $300 at first for furnish¬ 
ing, and I have already accounted for §268 37. 
The spare room was not furnished until later, 
and cost, as I have described to you in a 
former article, $25. The other sleeping rooms 
were eked out in like manner, or with still 
greater economy, including much second-hand 
mahogany furniture that made a very elegant 
appearance after it came from the hands of 
the cabinet maker, and possesses besides the 
merit of being more durable than cheap fur 
niture of the present day. There is not a 
carpet in my house except the hall carpet 
mentioned above. By degrees, every room 
has had its comfort, and I think beauty 
also, enhanced by the addition of a “ rag rug,” 
that is, rag carpet woven from carefully se¬ 
lected and arranged materials, with a wide 
border of solid colors. 
I shall be glad to hear from “ other coun. 
ties.” MRS. C. A. H. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Since the publication of “ A Summer Bed¬ 
room”, in the Rural I have received requests 
for the address of the old book stores in New 
York at which such etchings as I referred to 
might be purchased. A trouble of the eyes 
which has made all but the most absolutely 
necessary correspondence impossible, has kept 
me from answering these personally, and as 
this has not yet left me, I must beg that 
courtesy which the Rural always extends to 
its subscribers and correspondents, and ask 
for a little space in its columns. 
I do not think the stores furnish catalogues 
of such etchings, as they are second-haud 
and being what are known as “job lots,” are 
not always on hand. The ones I referred to 
were by Farrar, a well known artist, and 
were without name. One of the prettiest was 
a study of trees in winter, and it gives me as 
much pleasure as any picture in my little 
parlor, although I number among the latter 
some rare etchings and engravings. 
In size they average 9x12, that is, the board 
on which the 5x7 etching is mounted. My 
first purchase was made at a book store on 
Vesev St. near Broadway, where my husband 
and I purchased several etchings at 35 cents 
each. Shortly after, going up Barclay St. 
one day, I was attracted by a quautity of 
etchings and engravings on a stand at the 
door of a second-hand book store, and marked 
“10 cents each.” I selected three, that partic¬ 
ularly pleased me, and somehow seemed 
familiar, although I could not tell where I 
had seen them. I carried my purchase home, 
intending to surprise my husband with the 
“bargain.” When he reached home he 
proudly opened a small parcel, and proudly 
displayed three etchiug identical with mine, 
which I produced, and we had a hearty laugh 
over the similitude of our tastes. The next 
day 1 asked him to bring home the etchings 
we had purchased a few weeks since on Vesey 
Street, and which he had retained at his office, 
until we were ready to have a number of 
other pictures framed. When they came I 
saw why my purchase seemed so familar; we 
had three copies each of threedifferentetchings. 
The best way for a person living in a dif¬ 
ferent State would be to ask some friend 
in New York to look out for a similiar op¬ 
portunity, and make the purchase for her. 
MRS h. a. c. 
AUNT ELLEN’S STORY. 
Lucy Morton came into the bright, cheer¬ 
ful sittiug-room, where Aunt Ellen, her 
mother’s sister, and the favorite aunt of all 
the little Mortons, sat in a low wicker rocker 
carefully looking over the garments fresh 
from the laundry, and mending the tears, 
little and big. There was a cloud on Lucy’s 
usually cheerful face. 
“Oh! Auntie,” she said, “when I went to 
town yesterday, I thought mamma gave me 
money enough to buy all those things on my 
memorandum, but, do you know, when I 
came to get my shoes, I found I had only 
money enough to buy my ticket for my return 
home? And I had not bought the calico I 
wanted for my dress either.” 
“Why, my dear child! are you sure you did 
not waste any of your money?” 
“Why no. Auntie, how could I have wasted 
it?” 
“Bring me your memorandum, Lucy, and 
let us go over the items carefully. Did you 
buy nothing but the articles that are men¬ 
tioned here?” 
“Oh! I spent only a few cents for some 
things that were so cheap.” 
“Go, dear, and bring all your purchases.” 
Lucy brought the package, and careful 
Auntie opened it, and compared the articles 
with the memorandum to see what were 
extras. 
“ What did you pay for this ribbon, Lucy?” 
“Let me think. Oh! that was only five 
cents.” 
“Five cents for all of it ?” 
“Ob, no, four yards at five cents a yard !” 
Auntie noted the amount down on a piece of 
paper. 
“Now, what did this lace cost ?” 
“ Ten cents a yard. Three yards.” 
That also was set down. 
“ What did you pay for these sleeve-but¬ 
tons ? ” 
“These were only 25 cents. Are they not 
pretty to wear with my coral pin ?” 
“ Did you need them, dear ?” 
“ Why, no; but they cost so little.” 
This also was noted down. 
“ This ruching I see is not on the mem¬ 
orandum.” 
“ That I did not need, but it is so pretty to 
wear with my pin and sleeve buttons, as it 
had a pink edge. It was a remnant for 15 
cents.” 
Then followed a fancy hair pin for 25 cents: 
a pretty handkerchief, 25 cents ; a pair of 
pretty, cheap vases, 50 cents, for the mantel¬ 
piece in Lucy’s bed-room, which was already 
groaning under its load of bric-a-brac. 
“And now,” said Auntie, “did you pay for 
those tin types you and Susie Moore had 
taken ? ” 
“ Only half, as we were taken together; my 
share was 25 cents.” 
“Did you buy candy, bananas, ice-cream, 
etc.?” 
“Yes, one pound of candy, 25 cents; four 
bananas, 10 cents, and it was so warm that 
Susie and I each had a plate of ice-cream, 
which I paid for—30 cents.” 
“ Nothing more ?” 
“ No ma’am; that is all.” 
“Then we will count up.” When it was 
done Auntie said, “ It amounts to $2.25. 
“Why, Aunt Ellen!” was the surprised 
exclamation. “ I never dreamed it cost over 
75 cents altogether.” 
“No, my dear child. I did not suppose you 
did. I will tell you a little story I read when 
I was a girl about your age. It was to the 
effect that two people with the same means 
would go to town with the same amount of 
money to spend. One would buy a yard of 
ribbon that was cheap. It only cost a few 
cents. Then she would see some lace that was 
pretty, that also was only a few cents. Then 
a trinket in the jeweler’s window was attrac¬ 
tive. She did not need it but, like the other 
articles, it was only a few cents, and so on 
until she had nothing left to buy the articles 
which were a real necessity. And on her re¬ 
turn home she would have a collection of arti¬ 
cles she did not need, and which she had no 
particular use for. She had simply purchased 
them because they were “so cheap.” On the 
other hand, the other would spend her money 
for what she needed and come home with a 
good package of necessary articles. 
Now before I read that piece in the paper I 
had traded very much like the one who spent 
her money foolishly. But those few words 
made such an impression on me that although 
20 years have past since I read them, I never 
go shopping without thinking of them, and 
the result has been that I buy what I must 
have first, and then I find I have neither the 
money nor desire for such articles as will be 
of no especial use to me. At least I find I can 
get along just as well, and appear just as nice 
without them. Now, my dear Lucy, if you 
are again tempted to fritter away your money 
try my plan of buying what you need, and 
don’t get a thing because it is “ so cheap ” for, 
in nine cases out of ten, you will find it dear 
in the end. b. h. g. 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
The Examiner says that the doctrine of 
election has been a stumbling block to a great 
many people, but we have never seen the prac¬ 
tical side of it better put than by a colored 
waiter, of whom a celebrated politician once 
asked: “Do you think I am elected to be saved ?” 
“Scasly know, Massa Vance,” was the prompt 
answer, “but I never heerd of any one bein’ 
elected that was’n a candidate.” This is the 
gist of the whole matter, and the most learned 
theologian could add nothing to that state¬ 
ment of the case.. . 
Dr. Cummings once said that a devout 
thought, a pious desire, a holy purpose is bet¬ 
ter than a great estate or an earthly kingdom. 
In eternity it will amount to more to have 
given a cup of cold water, with right motives, 
to an humble servant of God than to have 
been flattered by a whole generation. 
V e should regard the preacher, says Ruskin, 
whatever his faults, as a man sent with a mess¬ 
age to us which it is a matter of life and death 
whether we hear or refuse; as a man set in 
charge over many spirits in danger of ruin, 
with but an hour or two in the seven days to 
speak to them; but 30 minutes at a time to get 
at the hearts of a thousand men, when, breath¬ 
less and weary with the week’s labor, they 
give him this interval of imperfect and lan¬ 
guid hearing; but 30 minutes to convince them 
of all their weaknesses, to shame them of all 
their sins, to warn them of all their dangers, 
to try by this way and that to stir the hard 
fastenings of those doors where the Master Him¬ 
self has stood and knocked and none opened; 
but 30 minutes to raise the dead in!. 
Webster truly concluded that it is what a 
man does for others, not what they do for him, 
that gives him immortality. 
There is an old story of a Scotch dominie, 
who after relating to his scholars the story of 
Annanias and Sapphira, asked them: “Why 
God did notstrike every body dead who told a 
lie.” After a long silence, one little fellow got 
to his feet and exclaimed: “Because, sir, there 
wadna be onybody left. 
The Christian Union says that God often 
makes use of afflictions as a means to reduce 
those to Himself, who have wandered from Him. 
Sanctified afflictions humble us for sin, and 
show us the vanity of the world; they soften 
the heart, and open the ear to discipline. The 
prodigal’s distress brought him to himself first, 
and then to his father. 
Dress and the way it is worn are indica¬ 
tions of character, says an exchange. If the 
heels of the boots are blacked, you may be 
pretty sure that the boy or man is thorough 
in whatever he undertakes. He learns his 
lessons not because ho must, but because he 
desires to learn. When he is sent to clean up 
the garden he rakes the dead roots and vines 
in a pile for burning; there are no stray piles 
hidden in the bushes near the fence. He 
blacks the heels of his boots.. 
A delicate and refined taste is of inestim¬ 
able value to its possessor. A man with his 
mouth saturated with tobacco juice, or throat 
parched with spirituous liquors, does not 
know anything of the delicacies of taste. He 
loses very much of the enjoyment of eating 
and drinking. 
Thatcher’s Orange Butter Color is the oldest 
and most favorably known of any preparation 
of its kind on the market. Be sure and try it. 
Thatcher Mfg. Co., Potsdam, N. Y.—Adv. 
Domestic (£ coiumn) 
CONDUCTED BY MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
EXTRACTS FROM “ SUNDAY EVENING 
TALKS ” AT RURAL GROUNDS. 
I know of friends who have bitterly cried 
over sorrow;—over the breaking up of 
families, the loss of fortune. I know of those 
who faint at the sight of blood; who pray for 
the suffering, for the poor and needy. They 
are as sincere as was Christ, maybe. I know 
of those who spend thousands of dollars for 
needless luxuries (so-called), while the poor 
girl in their employ needs a new gown; those 
who would give a thousand dollars to a public 
charity, who would refuse five to a stricken, 
obscure family. I know of those whose hearts 
are tender and susceptible, who pray God to 
help the suffering, while their own efforts 
gHisrcIIaucouief 
When Baoy 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 
