430 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
sufficient to instruct her in any of the dozen 
or more trades or professions for some one of 
which she will almost certainly develop an 
aptitude. In Europe the sons and daughters 
of some kings and queens are taught trades. 
A woman who is a skilled engraver, stenog¬ 
rapher, or nurse, or who understands teleg¬ 
raphy, book-keeping or dentistry, will never 
suffer for means of support. Then, too, if the 
years intervening between leaving school and 
mai'riage, are filled with the pursuit of some 
useful study, there will be fewer tempations. 
It is the girl who has nothing to do but dress, 
flirt and visit with her companions, who so 
often brings sorrow to the hearts of her 
parents.” 
Mrs. C. found the scarcity of woman’s 
pockets a matter for immediate legislation. 
‘‘Miss Anthony,” said this staunch supporter of 
woman’s rights, “has condensed a long state, 
ment of the woes and inabilities of woman in¬ 
to the one glaring fact that she has not pockets 
enough. The only pocket which fashion allows 
us, is so secreted that it is only at the expense 
of a disjointed collar bone or a curved spine, 
that we can make daily and hourly use of it. 
We are obliged to make use of muffs, a 
corsage or satchel, and I have seen women 
on shopping expeditions stow away small 
articles in the crowns of their round hats. W e 
carry change in our gloves, and 1 have seen 
ladies, not over-particular, secrete small silver 
in their mouths. A sensible writer who sees no 
reason why a pocket should disturb either the 
symmetry of style or alady’s gown says a very 
fascinating design for a pocket of very bulky 
dimensions capable of carrying the house 
keys, the scraps for memoranda, unpaid bills, 
the 67 different samples to be matched, the 
addresses of a few dear friends and the lady’s 
pin money, can be made of an alligator skin 
ext nsion to the core age, either pendent on 
the c utside of the skirt along the line of the 
waist belt, and tastily decorated with wide 
apple-green ribbons, or attached to the inside 
of the skirt and supported by wire attach¬ 
ments similar to those in a hoop skirt. These 
designs are just as cute as anything the dress¬ 
maker can devise. 
A pretty cynic, brought up the matter of so- 
called “society;” for you must know that 
this little village of B. is noted for its fashion 
able lunches and receptions. There is no 
greater beauty or elegance of dress to be 
found in the adjacent metropolis than that 
which assembles at its charity ball. The 
cheerfulness with which its great ladies spend 
a hundred or many hundreds of dollars on a 
toilet for this ball for charity’s sake, gives 
evidence of the beautiful spirit in which they 
carry out the words of our Saviour: “ Inas¬ 
much as ye have done it to one of the least of 
these, ye have done it unto Me.” 
My fair cynic, however, took exception to 
the present state ot society, and asked what 
was gained by undertaking to make and re¬ 
ceive formal visits from people of whom you 
know- little and you care less, and whom for 
the most part you do not even wish to see? 
Why if a woman can count upon the fingers 
of one hand all the people she really wishes to 
see ana know, should she pretend to want to 
see and know others? Why when she makes 
her tedious round of calls, does she breathe 
such a sigh of relief when the servant says, 
“Not at home”? I often think of a question 
I once saw in an article in Harper’s,“ If all 
the artificial rounds of calls and cards should 
tumble down, what valuable thing would be 
lost out of anybody’s life?” Out of some 
lives everything would go, for, strange as it 
may seem, this same artificial round is the 
“ life” of some people. Did you ever stop to 
analyze a fashionable “At Home,” for in¬ 
stance? Fifty or a hundred people crowded 
together, each without anything special to 
say to any one else, but each trying to say it 
in a Babel of noises that compels her to raise 
her voice like a fish-woman. Conversation in 
an ordinary tone would be impossible. No 
one hears the music. No one hears anything 
that does her any good. All wander round in 
an aimless sort of fashion, go out to supper, 
sip bouillon, eat p&tds and croquettes, salads, 
cake, cream and fruits, bid their hostess 
adieu, and say, “ What a charming time we 
have had,” and go home with this lie on their 
lips, for I do not think so ill of my sex as to 
believe that one woman in 20 really enjoys 
this sort of thing. 
There were practical “gossips” on house¬ 
wifely thoughts intent, who exchanged ideas 
of worth on the domestic machinery, but of 
these I must tell you at some future date. 
ALICE CHITTENDEN. 
There are certain phases of religious exper¬ 
ience which we cannot know until we find the 
presence of the Redeemer in an apparently 
empty world. 
Dr. Collyer recently preached from the 
text, “Live joyfully with the wife whom 
thou lovest.” He said there is no question of 
deeper moment than that which many are 
asking now with sinking heart, and reading 
about in the returns of the divorce courts, Js 
marriage a failure, and if so what then? We 
love to think that husband and wife stand for 
more than father or mother or children, 
because they are the fountain-head. We 
have to wonder, however, whether the new 
generation are not looking on marriage as a 
sort of rollicking holiday business, because 
they feel that if they like, they can throw off 
the yoke and run free. 
We must teach and you must learn, young 
friends, that the truest and best wedded life 
can bloom only out of the best and purest un¬ 
wedded life. The remedy lies not in any 
doctrine of go-as-you-please, nor finally in the 
enactments of the law, which cannot reach 
the root and heart of the evil; nor does it lie in 
the church, but with you and me and yours 
and mine, and in this shall we be pioneers. 
Only to the pure are all things pure. Only 
to the true, loving heart are all things possi¬ 
ble. All true love is blent with reverence, as 
heavenly light is blent with heavenly dew.... 
The Texas Advocate says that if you can 
live gently, patiently, unmurmuringly, amid 
all your frets and irritations, day after day— 
that is heroism. That is your task. You are 
to resolve to do it. No one, not even God, 
will do it for you. Heaven does not put feat¬ 
ures of beauty in our lives as the jeweler sets 
gems in clusters. The unlovely elements are 
not drawn out and replaced by lovely ones, 
like slides in the stereopticon. You must win 
your way through struggles to all noble at¬ 
tainment. It is he that overcometh that is 
made a pillar in God’s temple. 
The Richmond Advocate says we have 
been witness to a sermon served like an ox 
roasted whole—horns, hide and hoofs. It was 
weighty. There was inertia of avoirdupois. 
Tbe cooked carcass, stuffed with extracts 
from countless commentaries and classic 
criticisms, offended rather than invited to a 
banquet. A single sirloin brought out brown, 
with the juice bound up with the crust, would 
have tempted the palate and nourished more 
than the huge mountain of beef. 
Napoleon is reported to have said that he 
feared the newspapers more than a thousand 
bullet t#... 
Wendell Phillips was a living example 
of his statement that no man really believes 
his own opinions who does not give free 
scope to his opponent. Persecution is a want 
of faith in our creed... 
Isaiah Strong says ancient civilization 
was sedentary and contemplative; ours is 
active and practical. In point of experience, 
results, acquisitions, enjoyment and sorrow 
—in all that makes up life, save the mere 
factor of time, the antediluvians were the 
children, and the men of this generation are 
the aged patriarchs.. 
Domestic Ccmtoimj 
CONDUCTED BY MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
EXTRACT3 FROM SUNDAY EVEN¬ 
ING TALKS AT THE RURAL 
GROUNDS. 
P ROVERBS 25—32: “ He that refuseth 
instruction despiseth his own soul, but 
he that heareth reproof getteth understand¬ 
ing.” 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
A S the Pittsburgh Advocate says, what a 
wonderful sense of peace comes to 
those who, far from human friends and in the 
midst of desolation, realize the truth of the 
Master’s words, “ Lo I.am with you alwayl” 
It occurs to me that one of the worst mis¬ 
fortunes that some of us fall into is that of 
setting too high a value on our own opinions. 
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!” 
We see almost daily evidences of the truth of 
this old saw. Almost every smatterer mis¬ 
judges his own powers, and believes that he 
knows about three times as much as he really 
does. In every class that graduates from our 
Normal Schools or our colleges we find men and 
women who might well serve as models for 
the person described in the text. 
“ He that refuseth instruction despiseth his 
own soul.” People of this kind are narrow, 
superficial and bigoted. They have memor¬ 
ized a great many books and can repeat their 
lessons glibly. This makes them believe that 
they have fully mastered what they have 
studied, and we get a class of dogmatic men 
and women who go through life so eager to 
pick out and criticise the little, insignificant 
mistakes they discover that they render them¬ 
selves incapable of grasping large ideas or 
developing large, kindly hearts or broad, gen¬ 
erous natures. 
This world has now been in operation for a 
good many years and several billions of peo¬ 
ple have been adding from year to year the 
results of their thinking and investigation to 
the store of knowledge. Years ago when 
books and papers were practically unknown, 
it was quite possible for the fortunate few 
who could obtain access to the secrets of the 
learned to be dogmatic and overbearing in 
their assumption of wisdom. Wisdom in those 
days was simply a trade secret. It is im¬ 
possible, for example, to conceive of any man 
in this age who could, by his superior know 
ledge of chemistry, acquire such a power as 
that possessed by the men who knew the 
secrets of Greek Fire in the Middle Ages—or 
the first nses of gun-powder later on. Yet al¬ 
most any of our modern chemists knows more 
than these old fellows ever dared to dream 
about. Thus we see that if there was any 
sense in this old proverb at the time it was 
written, there is double sense in it now. 1 be¬ 
lieve it to be a fact that the more a man in¬ 
vestigates and digs at the root of a subject, 
the greater respect he has for the opinions of 
others aud the more perfectly developed in 
him are the charity and kindly feeling that 
go so far to hold the world together and make 
society truly strong. 
Now just a word about the second part of 
the text “ He that heareth reproof getteth 
understanding.” It is a]characteristic of your 
“ know it-nll ” friendj that he never can con¬ 
sider himself deserving of reproof. Speak to 
him ever so kindly about his faults and he 
feels insulted at once. This is a very un¬ 
fortunate condition to fall into. Next in 
value to a fair and candid friend is the ability 
to take a criticism or a reproof in the proper 
spirit. 
Going to'other persons and telling them our 
opinions about their faults or mistakes is not 
at all a nice business to be in for the man or 
woman who attempts to cultivate any refine¬ 
ment of feeling, and yet there can be no doubt 
but that a good square bit of fault-finding, 
earnestly and forcibly expressed, will some¬ 
times prove the kindest and most considerate 
thing we can do for a friend. 
There are different ways of finding fault, 
different methods of reproof. One who 
would do it in the way calculated to bring 
the best resuhs, must study hi? friends. Any 
teacher of ordinary discernment must know 
that it requires a variety of punishments in 
order that a reproof may bring understanding 
regarding the rules of the school. The coarse, 
rougn, bru’al boy may need his reproof in the 
shape of a whipping; while the little girl, con¬ 
scientious and faithful, might cry her eyes out 
at a sharp word or a stern reproof. As a 
rule, we all need somebody to “keep us 
straight.” The people who can gauge their 
own conduct just right and who are not help¬ 
ed by a little friendly criticism are mostly too 
good for this world If a man has good 
friends upon whom he can rely, I don’t know 
but it is a good plan for him to depend upon 
them a little for rules of conduct. 
We cannot get much “understanding” from 
reproof administered by a stranger, although 
I can conceive of a case where a blunt and 
forcible criticism from an unknown person 
might set one to thinking in a way that would 
lead to good results. 
* * * 
I have always felt that the rudest shock to 
our sensibilities, or the bitterest stroke of mis¬ 
fortune might be considered as a reproof from 
which we may gain “understanding,” if we 
will only look at it in the right way. Some 
people only grow sour and bitter and hateful 
in the face of repeated misfortunes; others 
grow patient, with a deeper trust and a larger 
hope. It seems to me that to each one is 
given, to a certain extent, the power of tak¬ 
ing reproof or misfortune in either of these 
two ways. 
* * * 
The man who has no friends,who is simply so 
unlovable that others would sooner lie away 
from him than with him, may be said to be 
preparing for himself a life that will be simply 
horrible in its loneliness. While he has vigor 
and energy and unimpaired powers of body 
and mind he may get on very well with his 
own thoughts and his own estimation of him¬ 
self; but when be reaches the summit of life 
and begins to walk down the other slope! 
Good, true, sound friends who take an interest 
in one’s welfare and can give the kindly 
sympathy, the disinterested advice and the 
generous criticism—are there any better in¬ 
fluences with which one cau be surrounded? 
How are these friends secured—how is the 
generous and helpful friendship picked up? 
Why should we feel impelled to think and 
work for the comfort and pleasure of one per¬ 
son while we must be impelled by some strong 
stimulant before we can bring ourselves to 
come to the help of another? What..is the 
cost of friendship? This world must be made 
up of equal bargains. Nature never intended 
to give something for nothing, and she never 
will do it. 
Friendship is based upon gratitude—the 
golden rule. It is the warm, generous nature 
who delights in doing good, who is constantly 
on the lookout for a chance to perform little 
kindnesses and courtesies, who never stops to 
consider the cost or inconvenience to himself 
when a chance for being polite or useful offers 
itself—such is the one who attracts friends 
and feels a pkasure in attracting'tbem, that 
is keen beyond all expression. Such a nature 
is well worthy of cultivation. 
CONCERNING LIGHT, CUSHIONS, AND 
RATS. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
T HERE is a pretty story told of the late 
Emperor William of Germany in con¬ 
nection with kerosene. When the lamps for 
burning this oil were first introduced into the 
living-rooms of the palace, the Emperor, 
when leaving his apartment in the evening, 
turned down his lamps in order to economize 
in the oil burnt. When he returned, he found 
his room pervaded with an unwholesome odor, 
and upon inquiry, his servant told him that it 
came from turning low the wicks of the kero¬ 
sene lamps, and that it should not be done. 
“ Then, I will not use them,” exclaimed tbe 
Emperor. “ My mother taught me always to 
turn low the wick of my lamp when not need¬ 
ing the light, and I would not willingly forego 
the practice of her economical training. So 
take these new-fangled lamps away!” 
Since then there have been lamps of all 
sorts for burning this coal oil, and people 
have learned either to blow out the lamp, or 
to use a small night lamp for full burning, 
when leaving the room for a length of time. 
But one of the greatest troubles with the use 
of these lamps, is the care and breakage of 
chimneys. Not long ago all the chimneys of 
the student lamps in the house snapped into 
flinders, and I audibly expressed the wish that 
there were lamps that would burn without 
chimneys, whereupon Anaximander described 
one he saw lately in Seattle, Washington 
Territory, in the house of an ex-army officer, 
which had been used for many years in his 
family with entire satisfaction. It burned 
without a chimney, gave a fine, odorless light 
was wound up like a clock, and could be used’ 
also as a stove for cooking. All these quali¬ 
ties especially fitted it for camp life. But the 
name of this lamp, and where it could be had, 
he did not know. 
Some days later, however, upon returning 
from his office in the evening, he was en¬ 
cumbered with a package which he deposited 
upon the library table, remarking: 
*‘M- came into my office to-day, and 
brought me this lamp, which burns without a 
chimney, and is probably a descendant of the 
lamp I saw in Col. H’s house in Seattle." 
“ And what is this curious metallic thing, 
which looks like the bonnet of a Salvation 
Army woman?” I asked. 
“ That’s a shade to be used with'it, and that 
other contraption fits on top, for the coffee 
pot, if you wish to make coffee or tea.’ 
“And what’s this key for, down at one 
side?” asked the laddie. “Why there’s some¬ 
thing inside going! I can hear it when I put 
my ear close!” 
“ That key winds up machinery inside, 
which propels a fan, and I don’t know how 
to stop it. But I will fill it with oil and start 
it going. M-says half a pint of oil will 
feed it for six hours, and give a 50-candle - 
power light; that it can’t explode, or break, 
or smoke”—and paterfamilias proceeded to 
fill and light the prodigy. When it was 
lighted, the room w T as flooded with a light of 
peculiar brilliancy and clearness. 
“ Oh that’s boss!” cried the laddie. “That’s 
like sunlight!” 
Then tbe S. A. bonnet was put on, shading 
one side only of the flame, so that by turning 
the shade, light or shadow could be turned on 
any part of the room. One could sit in the 
shadow and still have the light fall on his 
book or work. 
“The great thing about this lamp,” said 
Anaximander “is that the combustion of the 
oil is perfect, and there cau be neither smoke 
nor odor. The little fan inside explains the 
gHisscfnattcoufl gulvertijeiinfl. 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castor!** 
When she was a Child, she cried for Castorla, 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castorla, 
When she had Childreu, she gave them Castorla 
