have seen no commotion or hurrah like what 
Mrs. Swift is in.” 
“That is not my way of doing the work. I 
take one room at a time, and only work at it 
part of a day at a time. You see that I have 
learned wisdom by experience.” 
“Who helped you, I should like to know?” 
he inquired. 
“No one yet; I do not take my carpets up 
in the fall except in the sitting-room. I 
washed the muslin curtains with the family 
washing, and the chambers look ‘real’ nice 
and clean. The beds are all aired, and the 
carpets and blankets are all ready for winter 
use.” 
“When you need help for anything, be sure 
and call for it; if I cannot help you, I will 
hire a man to come, and do be careful not to 
get cold or overdo,” he said. 
“1 shall not need any one till I take up the 
carpet and I shall like to have the kitchen 
either whitewashed or kalsomined. The flies 
have been so thick this summer that I 
think that will have to be done; and a man 
will have to clean the cellar; I never do that, 
you know.” 
“Hire just what help you need, and I will 
foot the bills,” said Mr. Sawyer, as he put on 
his hat and left for the store. His wife 
cleaned the dinner-table, and took her work 
into the pleasant sitting-room, where there 
was a cheerful fire, but being rather tired, she 
laid down on the lounge and took a paper to 
read for a while, before commencing her sew¬ 
ing. Very soon Mrs. Swift came in the back 
door and finding the kitchen vacant, rushed 
unceremoniously into the sitting-room. Her 
dress was soaking wet, and she had neither 
bonnet nor wrap on her head. 
“You lazy woman! You do take life easier 
than any person I ever saw. I am tired al¬ 
most to death. I am all out of soap, and I 
forgot to ask Swift to send me down some, so 
I had to come to borrow a bar, if you have it. 
When are you going to clean your house?” 
she asked. 
“I hope if the weather is pleasant to finish 
next week. It is too cold and windy for me 
to wash windows now. I finished my pantry 
this forenoon, and I was so tired I was taking 
a little rest before I went to sewing.” 
“I did not know you had commenced clean¬ 
ing yet. I’m going to finish mine this week. 
I hate to be forever at it. I despise cleaning 
house, I always get soaking wet.” 
She took her soap and ran home. Next day 
it rained a continuous, driving rain. Mrs. 
Sawyer did not do any cleaning, but did her 
ironing. Mrs. Swift took out her sitting-room 
windows, and washed the casings. The next 
day was clear, warm and bright. Mrs. Saw¬ 
yer had a man come to assist her to take up 
the sitting-room carpet, and set up the cham¬ 
ber stoves. Mrs. Swift had a sharp pain 
between h6r'shoulders, and a lame back, but 
dragged around the house all the forenoon 
and after dinner had to go to bed, and when 
her husband came in for tea he found her in 
a high fever, and went directly for a physi¬ 
cian, who, when he came, looked very solemn, 
and told Mr. Swift he must get a nnrse to 
take care of her, for she would not be able to 
leave her bed for days, perhaps not for weeks. 
He was right. The poor woman was a great 
sufferer, and for days, there was but a narrow 
chance for her life. The house-cleaning was 
not finished that fall, neither did she ever 
clean house again during her life. Her hus- 
baud was disheartened and discouraged. The 
two children missed a mother’s loving care 
and attention. It was a sad state of affairs 
generally, and every one said her illness was 
occasioned by imprudent exposure while 
cleaning house. Some of the neighbors 
thought she ought to have known better, but 
very likely they will do the same thing. 
Mrs. Sawyer was not a strong woman, but by 
prudent management, she kept herself in com¬ 
fortable health, and had no severe illness, nor 
did she require the services of a physician. 
She always managed to keep ahead of her 
work, and never made a great mess or splurge 
over her household work. Her aim in life was 
to keep her house in order, and her family 
comfortable and happy. Her husband always 
found a bright, cheerful home on his return 
from the toilsome duties of his office, and the 
children were always welcomed with their 
mother’s sweet smile when they bounded in 
from school or play. mrs. s. h. rowell. 
rising morn into the full radiance and glory of 
perfect day. 
The one adds no motives or encouragements 
from anything beyond this earth, the other 
stimulates and cheers its possessor with the 
assurance that the sufferings of this present 
time are not worthy to be compared with the 
glory which shall be revealed in us. The one 
compels us to look downward to the whirl and 
tumult of the world, the other raises the eye 
and soul upward to the peace and fruition of 
Heaven. 
Dr. Me Leod said that there are no men 
or women, however poor they may be, but 
have it in their power, by the grace of God, 
to leave behind them the grandest thing on 
earth, character; and their children might 
rise up after them and thank God that their 
mother was a pious woman, or their father a 
pious man... 
Sanctified afflictions drive us from the world 
to God, teach us to live by faith, warm the 
spirit in prayer, and urge prayer into suppli¬ 
cation. We usually send up faint prayers in 
time of prosperity, when halcyon calms are 
upon our tabernacle; but in stormy times we 
fly to our Rock.. 
Persistence and labor in our every-day 
business life are always based upon faith, and 
are almost invariably successful..... _ 
What wo need is more faith and with it 
persistent labor. 
Bushnell says: “My own experience is 
that the Bible is dull when I am dull. When 
I am really alive, and set in upon the text 
with a tidal pressure of living affinities, it 
opens, it multiplies discoveries, and reveals 
depths even faster than I can note them. The 
worldly spirit shuts the Bible; the spirit of 
God makes it a fire flaming out all meanings 
and glorious truths’. 
Kindness, sympathy, and encouragement 
shown toward the erring, will accomplish a 
thousand times as much as rigid severity. If 
instead of harsh words that almostinvariably 
exert the influence of crushing, wounding and 
destroying the better impulses of the soul, the 
hand of love is extended, the noble nature in 
the erring one will be awakened, and the life 
redeemed. 
THE VOICE, when hoarse and husky 
from overstrain or irritation of the vocal 
organs, is improved and strengthened by the 
use of Ayer’s Cherry Pectoral. Clergy¬ 
men, Singers, Actors, and Public Speakers 
find great relief in the use of this prep¬ 
aration. A specific for throat affections. It 
relieves Croup and Whooping Cough, and is 
indispensable in every household. 
Ayer’s Cherry Pectoral, 
Prepared by Dr. J. C. Ayer & Co., Lowell, Mass. 
Sold by all Druggists. Price $1; six bottles, $5. 
PRESSEY’S BROODER. SSSTE* 
Hammonton Incubators, two sizes, $2r> and 815. Lang 
shall Fowls and Eggs for sale. Circulars free. 
G. W. PIDASEV , i I :t III moil! OI1, N. J. 
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 tbooeand 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. 
erable colored woman, who had just gone 
through a painful operation for cataract in 
both eyes, we asked her if she did not feel 
anxious during the weeks she lay in a dark 
room, uncertain whether she would ever see 
again in this world, “Why, no,” she said, 
“ I’ve got a fine memory, so I know my pray¬ 
er-book by heart, and there’s always kind 
folks willing to read to me, so even if I was 
blind I’d have lots to be thankful for.” There, 
that’s a whole sermon on thankfulness, with¬ 
out any comment. 
* * * 
Some philosopher—we don’t know his name 
—counted any day lost which passed without 
at least one hearty laugh. Would that every 
woman would take that view! We don’t 
mean that people should go through life on the 
broad grin—far from it. But chronic good 
humor is conducive to health and long life; 
worry has more victims than work, and—im¬ 
portant to womankind—good humor is cer¬ 
tainly a great producer of good looks. Not 
only expression, but even the complexion we 
are usually anxious to preserve depends upon 
the temper, whether amiable or the reverse. 
Just remember that. 
* * * 
In a recent number of Harper’s Bazar, 
Christine Terhune Herrick speaks of the ne¬ 
cessity for inducing regular habits in the care 
of babies. Regular hours for bathing, eat¬ 
ing and sleeping must be kept to from the 
first. Mrs. Herrick also speaks about the 
practice of hushing baby to sleep in the moth¬ 
er’s arms. There is no doubt that the moth¬ 
er’s cares are greatly lessened if she can teach 
baby to go to sleep when he is laid down in 
his blankets. A loving mother certainly en¬ 
joys hushing her infant in her arms; but it is 
often a blessing to a busy mother if her child 
has become accustomed to go to sleep with¬ 
out trouble when simply put to bed at bis 
usual hour. Some babies will do this from 
the first; but, unfortunately, babies are not 
all pattern cherubs. 
* * * 
Quite an aesthetic-looking substitute for a 
sofa can be cheaply arranged in a room where 
there is a recess, such as oue often sees at one 
side of a fire-place. Fix in this recess a 
broad, low, shelf; put on it a thick mattress 
cushion. Cover this with cretonne or chintz 
in artistic coloring, with a frill along the 
front. Put a wedge-shaped bolster at each 
end, covered with the same, and add one or 
two pretty sofa pillows! It will not be quite 
as comfortable as a real sofa, through lack of 
springs; but it is fairly easy and prettily fills 
a vacant space. 
A similar seat may be made of a low, long 
chest, utilized in storing away unseasonable 
clothes in a house where there is little closet 
room. The mattress-cushion should have a 
broad tape stitched along the back, which 
might be tacked to the lid of the chest to keep 
the cushion from slipping forward. A flounce 
should hang to the ground, and square cush¬ 
ions should be reared against the wall at the 
back. As such a storage chest would be 
opened but rarely, no special inconvenience 
would be caused by the cushion. 
* * * 
One of the little “occasional” or gypsy 
tables is both a convenience and an ornament 
in a room; but they are often quite expensive. 
However, a handy woman can transform the 
plainest little stand into a pretty piece of 
furniture, and a handy man can make the 
table itself, if he will. The prettiest ones 
seen now have straight legs, with a second 
shelf below; instead of the crossed-tripod of 
the gypsy tables. Very pretty are those with 
a triangular top, about 34 or 30 inches each 
way, and three legs, oue at each corner. An 
under shelf, also triangular, is fitted in about 
12 inches from the ground. This is very 
handsome if the legs are gilded, and the top 
and shelf covered smoothly with olive or 
terra-cotta plush. Another handsome style is 
to paint the legs with black or white enamel 
paint, and then cover the top and shelf with 
old gold plush. It will be less expensive and 
equally pretty if the entire table is enameled, 
and any little scarf may be thrown over the 
top. A little ingenuity may alter these styles 
indefinitely. 
MRS. RILEY’S THANKSGIVING. 
Mrs. Riley had finished her washing; and 
the clothes wore floating, like gay banners, in 
the afternoon breeze. The good woman 
stood, sun-bonnet on head and arms akimbo, 
waiting for me to wrap up some pieces of 
cake for the “olive branches” looking for her 
from the windows of the little house under the 
hill, where the last moving in April had 
landed her and her numerous family, whom 
she and her stalwart husband supported by 
working out by the day. 
“How are you going to keep Thanksgiving, 
Mrs. Riley?” I asked, as I handed her the 
cake: I made the remark, more for some¬ 
thing pleasant to say than from any motives 
of curiosity on the subject. 
“Sure; mum; Oi ’m goin’to help cuke the 
Thanksgivin’ dinner up to Misthur Ray¬ 
mond’s big house, where they has summit to 
give tbanks fur. What ud the loiks ov me be 
kapin’ Thanksgivin’ fur? Or what has we to 
give thanks fur, ony way, mum? Oi has all 
I can do, mum, by workin’ ivery day, to kape 
the bread in the childer’s mouths.” 
“You and your children are never sick, 
Mrs. Riley,” I said. 
“No mum! How could oi iver git enough 
fur thim to ate? How could Pat and me 
purvide fur so mony, if they was sick?” 
“Well isn’t that something to give thanks 
for, Mrs. Riley? Just remember how sick 
Squire Raymond’s children were with scarlet 
fever, last Spring, aud little Josie died. 
Surely that was great affliction. Would not 
you rather be poor than lose one of your 
children?” 
“Dade Oi wud, mum,” wiping a tear from 
her honest eyes with the corner of her apron, 
that served for a stove holder, to lift the 
kettles off, or as a handkerchief as need re¬ 
quired. 
“Then, Mrs. Riley, you have a good honest 
husband, who gives his earnings to his family. 
He doesn’t drink them all up like poor Mrs. 
Thompson’s husband. Think how poor and 
sick she is. I went down to see her a few 
days ago, and the poor soul had not so much 
as a potato in the house. And then you have 
a good garden; haven’t you, Mrs Riley?” 
“Faith, mum, we has as foine a bin of per- 
taties as ye ever see and a fat pig, and sure, 
mum, Oi’le be afther carryin’ some pertaties 
down to Mrs. Tumpson the noight.” 
“Well, Mrs. Riley, you have good health, a 
good, honest husband, rosy, healthy children, 
plenty of food, and are able to earn enough to 
make you all comfortable. Don’t you think 
those blessings are enough to keep Thanks¬ 
giving on ?” 
“Faith, mum, Oi niver looked at it in that 
way. Oi has things to be thankful fur that 
some rich paple has’en’t. May the howley 
Virgin, and the blessed Saints forgive me fur 
not seein’ ’urn afore. Oi’le be afther makin’ a 
little Thanksgivin’ fur Pat and the childer 
afore Oi goes up to the Squire’s. Oi’ve got a 
chicken Oi’le kill and cuke, and that and per¬ 
taties will make a foine male. 
“ Well,” I said, “I mast have a hand in the 
dinner too. I will send down some jelly, and 
a cake, and pie, and Pat and the babies shall 
have a Thanksgiving dinner they will not 
forget all the rest of the year.” b. h. g. 
CLEANING HOUSE. 
“I Declare, Mrs. Swift is cleaning house 
this raw, cold, windy day I She has hardly 
got over her cough, that resulted from her 
sickness last spring, and now she is just go¬ 
ing the same road again. I wonder Mr. 
Swift does not set his foot down on such do¬ 
ings,” said Mr. Sawyer, as he came in to din¬ 
ner, one chilly day the last of October. 
“Yes, some one ought to put a veto on such 
imprudence,” said Mrs. Sawyer, as she placed 
the dinner on her nicely arranged table; “but 
I hardly think Mr. Swift ever interferes in the 
domestic arrangements; his wife would not 
permit it!” 
“Well, I should rather do it than to have 
such a doctor’s bill to pay as he had to settle 
the other day. It would be much cheaper to 
hire the house cleaned than to have such an 
expense; but every one to his liking, I sup¬ 
pose.” Mrs. Sawyer looked quite sober and 
thoughtful for a few minutes. Her husband at 
length asked her what she was thinking about 
so seriously. 
“I was wondering if I ever made myself 
sick by my own imprudence. I can think of 
but one instance since I Commenced keeping 
house,” she replied. 
“When was that? I do not remember it.” 
“Oh! the next fall! I took the windows 
out of the sitting-room to clean them and 
stood in the draft, and caught a terrible cold 
and had an attack of pleurisy. Mother come, 
and she read me such a sermon that I have 
been pretty careful ever since. It was a hard 
lesson!” 
“I do remember about it; I reckon you 
have never taken out the windows since then. 
I bought a window brush.” 
“Yes, and it was a profitable investment, 
too. It makes the windows nice and bright, 
does not crack the putty, or break the sash, 
aud it is so much easier cleaning them. I 
wonder brushes are not more generally used,” 
she said. 
“When are you going to clean house this 
falD he asked. 
“Oh! it is almost cleaned now, the cham¬ 
bers, closets and cupboards are all done, aud 
the pantry and hall.” 
“I should like to know when you did it;.I 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
Moody says light-houses don't ring bells 
and fire cannon to call attention to their shin¬ 
ing ; they just shine. 
The Observer says there is this difference 
between the hope which arises from a sau- 
guine temperament or from recklessness and 
atheism, and the gospel hope: the one fades 
like the roseate hues of sunset as the night 
comes on, the other changes like the glow of 
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