374 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. JUNE 1 
MABEL WHITNEY’S LESSONS IN 
FARMING. 
by G. c. 
M ABEL WHITNEY, a farmer’s daugh¬ 
ter, concluded that she wanted a higher 
education than their country school could 
afford her. Her father, a well-to do farmer, 
concluded that the said common school edu¬ 
cation was all that any of his children 
needed. But Mabel thought if she could only 
obtain a situation to teach the common 
branches, she could soon earn money enough 
to pay her expenses, for one year at least, in 
some seminary. An opportunity soon pre¬ 
sented itself, andjher parents’ consent was re¬ 
luctantly given. 
Mabel applied for the position and was ac¬ 
cepted as teacher in the Meltonville school, 
the term commencing the first Monday in 
November, the school during the preceding 
months having been taught by a young man, 
who was forced to relinquish his position on 
account of ill health. The position was 
secured, but not so easily a boarding place. 
“ How is it,” inquired Mabel of one of the 
trustees of the school, “that the people here 
seem so averse to boarding the teacher*” 
“Well,” answered the trustee, “ the people 
about here are mostly retired sea captains, 
or something of the sort. Got plenty of 
money, and their wives and families don’t 
want to be bothered, I suppose; but they are 
wonderfully sociable and kind; I haven’t the 
least doubt but that you will be invited 
around considerably.’ 1 
“ But,” said Mabel, “ where did the young 
man, who was teaching here, board?” 
“ At the hotel,’' was the reply. 
“ I won’t board at the hotel, if I can help 
it,” said Mabel decidedly. “ But haven’t you 
any poor people?” 
“Some few,” replied the farmer; “but 
they are so pesky poor, they can hardly board 
themselves.” 
“Oh!” said Mabel laughingly, “I don’t 
mean that kind, but middle class, I suppose 
you would call them.” 
“My dear young lady,” said the old gentle¬ 
man, kindly, “ Me and my wife would like 
nothing better than to have you board with 
us, for company for her, if nothing else, but 
I live away over here in the corner of the dis¬ 
trict, so far from the school, and it would be 
very unhandy for you, especially in rough 
weather. But, let me see, there is a family 
that live right near the school-house. It 
would be just the place for you, if they 
would only take you, a kind of poor and 
proud family, a Mr. Early, a city man, who 
invested his little all In a farm, and is likely 
to lose it all, if he don’t do better. He has no 
idea of farming, and it seems as though he 
can’t learn, goes behind-hand every year, 
and he is likely to lose his wife, for she grows 
thinner and more siekly-Jooking every year. 
It seems to me affairs would be different, if 
things could be turned around, and she be 
boss. I have seen her more than once trying 
to hoe, pizenin’ potato bugs, or doing any 
little thing she could. They have a little 18- 
year-old daughter that is a host in herself; 
and there are two more little youngsters—a 
boy and a gal. If you would like to go to see 
them, I will take you.” 
Mabel was a little woman, or girl rather, 
for she was only 17 years of age, but she was 
very matter-of-fact. And, like her father, 
whose farm was a model, neatness with her 
was like cleanliness, next to Godliness; so 
when they came to the Early farm, her first 
expression was, “ Shiftlessness! what a shame 
to let a grand old place like this get into such 
a wretched state.” 
“ It was all in good repair when he bought 
it,” replied the trustee. “ but he didn’t keep it 
so long—no bad habits either, only good-for- 
nothing.” On knocking at the door, it was 
opened by a bright little girl, whom the 
trustee addressed as Dora, and whom Mabel 
took at once to be the little 13-year-old 
daughter. She politely ushered them into a 
neatly furnished sitting-room, then, excusing 
herself; went out, presently returning ac¬ 
companied by a delicate-looking lady, whom 
she introduced as her mother. Mabel soon 
stated her errand. The little girl looked 
eagerly at her mother, who hesitated, in an 
embarrassed manner, as though hardly know¬ 
ing what to say. 
“I am afraid,” she remarked, “that we 
could not make you comfortable.” 
Mabel glanced at the tastily arranged sit¬ 
ting-room, and then at, a3 she thought, the 
lovely little girl,and sweet-faced woman. “I 
have no fear of that,” she replied. 
“Oh ! mamma, I think we can,” quickly 
said the little girl. 
It seems the mother thought so too; for be¬ 
fore Mabel left she had engaged board with 
them for the school year. 
It was not until Mabel was fairly establish¬ 
ed as a member of the Early family, that she 
saw Mr. Early, and then, what was her sur¬ 
prise, when, instead of a tired, discouraged, 
worried-looking being, a handsome, careless- 
looking man was introduced to Mabel, by the 
little girl as her papa. The only time that 
his face clouded was when he alluded to his 
ill luck as a farmer. 
“I have made a mistake,” he said, “by hav¬ 
ing too little capital to work with; but luck 
and fate appear to be against me; for in¬ 
stance, this summer, I was heartily ashamed 
of my wheat crop in comparison with my 
neighbors’, but what was a feller to do ?” he 
continued, lightly, “I couldn’t help its freez¬ 
ing and thawing all winter. I believe my 
wheat froze out.” Mabel wondered why the 
freezing and thawing didn't have the same 
effect on his neighbors’ wheat. Every day 
Mabel saw more and more to wonder at, 
thinking how different her papa would do, 
and what the Earlys might accomplish, if 
they only would. The father was always 
trying and always in what appeared to Ma¬ 
bel to be the wrong way. The mother and 
daughter toiled from morning until night, 
now out-of-doors, now in. Mabel kept her 
own counsel but felt so sorry for them. She 
taught Dora at home, for the child could not 
take time to go to school, but out of the full¬ 
ness of her heart, one day Mabel spoke. 
“Dora,” she said, “you poor child, you work 
hard with your poultry; but they don’t seem 
to pay you, do they ?” 
“Oh, no,” replied Dora, wearily; “they 
never do.” 
“What do you feed them with?” asked 
Mabel. 
“ Corn, and they do eat so much of it.” 
“Will you let me tell you something about 
chickens?” said Mabel. “My mother raises 
a great many of them.” 
“ GlacHy.” replied Dora. “ I will be pleased 
to have you tell me anything you will, Miss 
Whitney.” ■ 
“Well, in the first place,” said Mabel; 
“ chickens must have a variety of food. All 
corn is too fattening. They must have some 
green food of some kind, and they should 
have some bone meal, or cracked bones.” 
“Do you take us for millionaires?” laugh¬ 
ingly replied Dora. “ Where are we to get 
all of those things to begin with? It takes 
capital, as papa would say. You don’t know 
the low state of our family purse.” 
“ It doesn’t take quite so much as you im¬ 
agine, Dora dear.” continued Mabel. “ You 
have clover hay, scald some of that for the 
chickens, and you will be surprised to see how 
they will eat it. Throw some of those cab¬ 
bage stumps, that I see out in the field, into 
the chicken yard. Give them a breakfast of^ 
wheat bran or almost anything but corn. Take 
that old boiler that your mother uses for lye. 
When not in use, put in it all the scrapings 
of the table, that you don’t use for Ponto or 
Kitty; boil them with potato parings, cab¬ 
bage leaves, or any green thing you can get. 
When you were showing me the outbuildings, 
I noticed in the root cellar, where potatoes 
were stored, that there was quite a lot of po¬ 
tatoes with long sprouts, left sticking in the 
wall, and on the floor. Gather them together, 
and get some one to bring them in for you. 
Cook them, sprouts and all, with the rinsings 
of your frying-pans, and water iu which meat 
has been cooked. Thicken it with a little 
meal, and in cold weather a little Cayenne 
pepper is beneficial mixed with the food. 
There are bones lying here and there all over 
the place. There is a large pile near the ash- 
bin.” 
i To be continued.) 
* » 9 — 
BOOK REVIEWS. 
The Story op Patsy.—A brief, pathetic 
story of a crippled child in a mission kinder¬ 
garten, is told by Kate Douglas Wiggin in a 
bright yet tender way that captivates the 
reader, and takes him into the very heart of 
the gracious work. A helpful book. Illus¬ 
trated, Houghton, MifHin & Co., 60 cents. 
North American Birds, by H. Nehrling, 
is the title of a new work, part first of which 
lies before us. Mr. Nehrling is an active 
member of the American Ornithologists’ 
Union, as well as a corresponding and honor¬ 
ary member of several American and Euro¬ 
pean scientific societies; but he says that his 
work does not claim to be strictly scientific; 
it is simply intended for the intelligent 
friend of nature. It is his aim to write a pop¬ 
ular, entertaining and instructive book, es¬ 
pecially for our young folks, so that the ex¬ 
travagant destructiveness so often manifested 
by boys may give place to the sentiment of 
affection, and a desire to protect our beauti¬ 
ful native songsters. Part first treats of the 
thrushes, which are a very numerous family, 
scattered over a wide range of territory; the 
American robin, the mocking-birds and the 
thrashers,and contains 48 quarto pages,print¬ 
ed on heavy paper. It is illustrated by three 
colored plates. 
George Brumher, 286 and 288 West Water 
street, Milwaukee, Wis. 81.00 per part. To 
be published in 12 parts. 
A Blind-Pool Land Swindle.— Tyler & 
Co., of Kansas City, Mo., are sending out a 
large number of circulars, extolling in very 
alluring terms their “ blind-pool ” scheme for 
speculating in land. It is based on precisely 
the same principle as the notorious blind-pool 
swindle advertised extensively by Gray, of 
this city, about seven years ago, and that 
advertised by Flemming & Meriam, of 
Chicago about three years ago, and that 
puffed up by W. A. Ingham & Co., alias The 
Speculative Syndicate, of this city one year 
ago. All of these, however, pretended to deal 
in agricultural produce or railroad stock, and 
after a season of profuse, alluring and delus¬ 
ive advertising, all suddenly collapsed after 
swindling their dupes in all parts of this 
country and Canada out of hundreds of thous¬ 
ands of dollars. The first flourished rankly 
for about 18 months and defrauded the public 
out of about §125,000; the second had a “glor¬ 
ious time” of it for nearly three years, and 
then the members disappeared with over 
81,000,000 of their patrons’ money in their 
wallets; the third raked in the shekels freely 
for about two years and a half; the concern’s 
victims are still mourning the $250,000 out of 
which they were swindled by Ingham when 
he fled to Canada—or Timbuctoo, about a year 
ago. All wero vigorously and repeatedly de¬ 
nounced by the Eye Opener during the hight 
of their prosperity, and the final collapse of all 
was announced with no little satisfaction by 
him. Like Tyler & Co., they were all modest 
in their requirements—all they wanted was 
that their patrons should send in their money 
freely to be invested by the sharpers accord¬ 
ing to their own best judgment. The Kansas 
City fraud says: 
“Our system is the combining of a large 
number of small sums of money into one 
large sum; with this amount we can, at a fav¬ 
orable opportunity, purchase options on coal, 
mineral, timber, and other Western lands, 
and get limited time contracts on same. As 
soon as we have secured a contract on lands, 
we immediately place the same on sale at as 
large an advance as possiole. Sometimes we 
make 100 per cent, and sometimes as high as 
1,000 per cent, on the amount invested, ac¬ 
cording to the demand for the property.” 
Here is an alluring extract from the circu¬ 
lars of the same humbug: 
“ In one of our deals we made $100 for 
every $5 invested. For example, we bought 
a three months’ contract on 20,000 acres of 
land at $2.50 per acre, and paid $2,500 down. 
We sold at $5 per acre and realized a profit 
of $50,000, 2,000 per cent, on $2,500 or $20 for 
every $1 invested.” 
Substitute grain for land and bushels for 
acres, and you have substantially a repeti¬ 
tion of the circulars scattered throughout the 
country by the other sharpers. Isn’t it mar¬ 
velous that men who make such enormous 
profits with such unfailing certainty, should 
be so eager to share them with the 
general public on such ridiculously easy 
terms? All this concern asks is that each of 
its destined victims should mail to it $5, for 
which a certificate will be forwarded giving 
the patron a share in the profits. The more 
$5 sent in the more certificates will be sent 
oqt, and the more the crooks will be “in” and 
the dupes “ out.” Since his first exposure of 
Gray eight years ago, the Eye-Opener 
has denounced and kept track of at least a 
dozen blind-pool swindlers in farm produce, 
railroad and mining stocks and other specula¬ 
tive lines, and all of them, without a single 
exception, have collapsed after a deceitful 
run of from six months to three years, during 
which they haa persistently swindled their 
dupes out of all the money they could en¬ 
tice out of their pockets by the most alluring 
misrepresentations and the most bare-faced 
falsehoods. 
A Somewhat new form of an old swindle 
is reported from several parts of the West,the 
latest account coming from Louisa county, 
Iowa. Two men called on a farmer in that 
county and expressed a desire to purchase his 
farm. After considerable parleying, a con¬ 
tract was drawn up, the strangers agreeing to 
pay $9,000 for the premises. This was really 
more than the place was worth, otherwise the 
farmer who had no special desire to sell uutil 
the tempting price was offered, would never 
have consented to the bargain. Just as the 
discussion was about to close, a third party 
appeared, and offered $13,000 for the farm, 
whereupon the two original sharpers agreed 
to throw up their contract if the farmer would 
divide the difference with them. This he con¬ 
sented to do, and the party went to town 
where the farmer drew from the bank $2,000, 
which he at once handed over to the sharpers. 
The third man then said that he must go to a 
neighboring town to draw the money, but 
promised to return next day to complete the 
purchase. At last accounts the farmer was 
still occupying the old place,with a decreased 
bank account but with $2,000 worth of in¬ 
creased experience. Swindles of this type 
have been frequently exposed here by the Eye- 
Opener. There is a strong family likeness be¬ 
tween them all. Sometimes a man offers to 
sell some article, as a violin, a watch or some 
other thing of considerable value, and not 
getting his price, obtains permission to leave 
it for a short time. Meanwhile a confederate 
comes along and manages to bring the talk 
round to the object, and after he has examin¬ 
ed it, he expresses a desire to buy it for con¬ 
siderably more than the price asked by crook 
No. 1. Finding that the “innocent holder” has 
no authority to sell it, he promises to call for 
it again in a few days. Meanwhile the own¬ 
er returns and the holder, having already a 
customer for it at s higher price, buys it, ex¬ 
pecting to sell it at once at a higher figure; 
but, of course, the would-be purchaser never 
turns up, aud the dupe has upon his hands an 
article he does not want and which as a rule, 
isn’t worth a tenth of the price he has paid for 
it. From the above two examples one ought 
to be able readily to detect any of the numer¬ 
ous forms of this swindle which are constant¬ 
ly practiced on the public. 
Concerns Censured.— Under this caption 
the Eye-Opener will from time to time give 
the names of concerns he has seen censured in 
other papers, but which have not been investi¬ 
gated from the Rural office:—F. Andrews, 
of Chicago, is declared to be a fraud by local 
papers. He offers a book, the “Secrets of 
Bee-Keeping ” for 15 cents, and a model hive 
for $3. The fellow cannot be found at the ad¬ 
dress he gives, and those who have any deal¬ 
ings with him are certain to be defrauded.... 
The American Investors’ Co-operative 
Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio, should be left se¬ 
verely alone according to several Western 
papers_The Monarch Laundry Works, 
Chicago, Illinois, is denounced by the Farm, 
Field and Stockman as a catch-penny scheme. 
The same paper denounces the National Prop¬ 
erty Exchange, Temple Court Building, Chi¬ 
cago, as a swindling affair, ready to transfer 
the property of other people from their pock¬ 
ets to its own “with neatness and dispatch.”. 
.. .Investors are cautioned by Western papers 
against the American Building and Loan 
Association of Minneapolis, Minn. Its agents 
are very busy just now in country places try¬ 
ing to get people to take shares in the concern. 
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