Ait 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JUNE 22 
sea coast. We first went due north from 
Philadelphia to Oswego, on the New York 
side of Lake Ontario, where we tarried for 
more than a month, and consumed a full week 
in journeying from there to Boston. 
The lake breezes render Oswego an agree¬ 
able city for a summer sojourn, and the little 
city has quite an extended reputation for its 
beauty The streets are beautifully shaded, 
and I do not remember to have been in an¬ 
other town in which horse-chestnut trees so 
abound, nor where landscapes are painted on 
the wall back of the pulpit in churches—not 
a bad idea, however, particularly when the 
picture is better than the parson. 
The native elms of Northern New York are 
of great beauty and add a large element ot 
picturesqueness to the landscape, and in 
varied scenery New York is peculiarly rich— 
mountains, rivers, lakes, forests—a world of 
beauty in itselt. A friend, who has traveled 
much, aud who knows a great many people, 
always says, when speaking of New York 
State people: ‘'They are the best in the 
world—the warmest-hearted, the most hospit¬ 
able.” Being a New Yorker myself, of 
course, I always coincide with these views, 
while Anaximander looks grim in behalf of 
his beloved Keystone State. Provincialisms 
are not so marked in the different States in 
this country, perhaps, as in the different 
counties in England. Still they do exist to 
' a certain extent. A young man born and 
bred on the Pacific coast, who lately came to 
study medicine in Philadelphia, told me that 
- the way in which Philadelphians emphasize 
words in a sentence struck him as very funny. 
Instead of saying “ Are you going out ? ” the 
question would be “ Are you going out? ” A 
woman from Maine says that she never be¬ 
comes accustomed to the Pniladelphians 
habit of speaking of having lost a friend, 
w'hen the friend has died. New Yorkers use 
“ want ” for “ wish,” and a noticeable provin¬ 
cialism is the use of “boughten” to desig¬ 
nate an article bought at a shop instead of one 
home-made. 
One of the entertainments of Oswego, of 
which Anaximander and the laddie availed 
themselves, was a summer school of languag¬ 
es, which brought together several hundred 
young people for vacation study. The natural 
method of teaching was employed, and in the 
various class-rooms rarely a word was heard, 
except in the language being taught. Of 
course, by being obliged to hear and speak 
only the language studied,an apt pupil would 
soon acquire considerable facility in its use, 
and the confusion arising from different 
tongues to be heard was quite amusing. One 
of the young men in the school was an Arme¬ 
nian who had been born and reared in the 
immediate neighborhood of Mount Ararat, 
aud after having studied English for a few 
months he felt competent to lecture. But his 
English was a curious conglomerate, aud his 
Armenian dress and his nativity smacking so 
strongly of Noah’s Ark, constituted his only 
claims to attention. In no one way is the 
good nature of Americans more manifest 
tban in their treatment of adventurers, wno 
talk for a livelihood, and have nothing of 
value to say. 
There are a number of very beautiful homes 
in Oswego, but the most noted for its almost 
priceless treasures is that of Mr. Irwin, a 
handsome, healthy-looking man, who grew 
up in the country near Oswego, later on en¬ 
gaged in the buying of grain and accumulat¬ 
ed a large fortune, and who has spent it most 
liberally in buying, from time to time, ex¬ 
ceedingly rare and beautiful things—pictures, 
bric-a-brac, and particularly books. He owns 
one of four books in existence, and one of the 
first 11 books—Bibles-^printed in Latin by 
GuteDberg, who used movable types and 
was five years in printing them. A few 
pages were printed, when the types were 
reset for succeeding pages. This one Bible is 
valued at §20,000. When Mr. Irwin secured 
it in Europe, it was in pig-skin binding. It 
has been elaborately rebound at a cost of over 
§400. Many of the valuable books are kept 
in a fire-proof safe, and are more precious 
than gold: among them are a number of ex¬ 
quisitely illuminated missals of the 13th and 
14th centuries. A small print about as large 
as a silver dollar, after a picture by Albert 
Purer—the “ father of German art”’ aud who 
is said to have invented etching—cost nearly 
500 dollars. A copy of the Bible, in 
some 60 volumes and weighing a ton or more, 
contains prints of every picture of value or 
interest extant illustrating Biblical subjects. 
In the drawing-room is a table once owned by 
Marie Antoinette, of France. It is inlaid with 
painted medallions in Shvres china and is of 
great beauty and value. The great charm of 
the Irwin house is the exquisite harmony, to 
the minutest detail, in the furnishing, and its 
extreme homelikeuess. Although every arti¬ 
cle of furniture is as beautiful as money 
could well buy, everything seems to be per¬ 
fectly fit home ftpfi used to being enjoyed by 
home-loving occupants. This is but one in¬ 
stance out of many in this laud of self-made 
men, of little centers of art of surprising ex¬ 
cellence being established in the most unex¬ 
pected places. One cannot but wonder how 
a country lad grown into a busy manhood 
could have time to form so fine a taste in the 
fine arts. 
One of the industries of Oswego is the man¬ 
ufacture of starch by Mr. Kingsford. The 
starch is made of Western corn, which is 
ground wet, and goes into immense wooden 
tubs or vats, 10 feet in diameter and greater 
in hight. The chemicals put in the water in 
the vats have an odor like lye, and the smell 
from the starch factory is very unpleasant. 
After a time the water is drawn from the 
vats, and the contents left therein are drained 
in square troughs lined with white muslin. 
This is now practically starch, and is broken 
up, moved into another apartment where it is 
wrapped in blue papers and put in the drying 
room. When it is dry r , a brown crust which 
has formed on it has to be scraped off, and 
this refuse is worked over into a lower grade 
of starch. About six weeks are required for 
the entire process. Mr. Kingsford is of Eng¬ 
lish birth, but came with his father to this 
country, where they worked in a starch fac¬ 
tory in Jersey City. The starch was made of 
wheat, which was dear, and its cost led to ex¬ 
periments in the use of corn, all of which 
failed. But out of one failure grew success. 
Some discarded buckets of the corn in the 
process of experiment, having been set out-of- 
doors over-nigbt, the contents were found 
next morning to have changed into starch. 
Thirty-five tons of starch a day are turned 
out at this factory, aud to accomplish this, 
much ingenious machinery is used and many 
men and women are employed. The wooden 
boxes which hold about six pounds of starch 
and have a sliding top, cost about 20 cents 
The machine which does the dove tailing of 
these boxes was invented by F. I. Gleason, 
and I was told that he was too poor to patent 
it and other men had utilized his invention. 
The refuse of the factory is bought by the 
farmers in the neighborhood of Oswego for 
hog feed, and they pay for it about 15 cents 
per barrel. One woman whose business it 
wa3 to paste a colored picture on the top of 
boxes was so quick that she pasted on 2,500 a 
day. The women employed were paid half a 
dollar a day and the men double that and 
more. There had never been any “ strikes ” 
SOME DEFINITIONS OF “ CULTURE.” 
OLIVE E. DANA. 
W OULD it not be well for the many 
young “Rural” readers, who long to 
make the best of themselves, intellectually 
aud otherwise, to define to themselves clearly 
the “culture” or education or self-discipline 
for which they long? And would it not help 
them to such definition to read first what 
some wise men and women of our own day 
have said concerning this subject? One or 
two such utterances, thoughtfully pondered, 
might give new direction and impetus, new 
and more intelligent hopefulness to the seeker 
after wisdom. 
A book called “The Philips-Exeter Lec¬ 
tures, 1685-86,” contains as its opening chap¬ 
ter, an address by Edward Everett Hale. Its 
rather uninviting title, “ Physical, Mental 
aud Spiritual Exercises,” conveys little idea 
ot the scope and value of the paper to every 
student. One who wishes first of all to get a 
true notion of what education is—and this 
would seem to lie at the very foundation of 
attainment—should read this discourse of Mr. 
Hale. It may sav^ him from mauy a failure, 
mis'ake, or discouragement. It is the wrong 
track that leads to disheartenment; it is 
better to take care of the beginnings, and 
start right. The lecture to which I refer is 
brief, and enters little into the details of 
study: yet it presents some very practical sug¬ 
gestions. And while our young student has 
the book in hand it may help him or her , (for 
why shouldn’t girls build as wisely aud broad¬ 
ly as their brothers, in their own way?) to 
read some at least of the following chapters. 
Any young person, ambitious of attainment, 
can hardly fail to be influenced, impressed 
and inspired by the closing lecture of the 
volume, that of that always noble and inspir¬ 
ing preacher, Philips Brooks on “Biography.” 
Then there is a book called “Hints on Self- 
Culture,” by John Stuart Blakie, a Scotch 
scholar, professor and author, who died not 
long ago. It was published a few years ago 
in Funk & Wagnall’s “Standard Series,” in 
which form I secured it for the sum of 10 
cents. But its manilla covers have guarded 
it well, and its counsels are as trenchant and 
trusty as ever. Its style is admirably clear 
and interesting, and its substance sound and 
impartial. Matthew’s “Getting oil in the 
World,” is well-known and weighty in its ac¬ 
cumulation of fact, anecdote and allusion. I 
know of no book so full of what may be 
called practical illustrations of success and 
its conditions, including, of course, culture 
and self-discipline as both preliminary and 
crowm of “success.” 
Hamerton’s “Intellectual Life” is full of 
good things. It has become almost a classic. 
To have read it understanding^ and sympa¬ 
thetically is to have taken one sure step 
toward true intellectual discipline. For girls 
especially,Miss Livermore’s “What Shall We 
Do with Our Daughters ?” may be mentioned. 
And Miss Willard’s “How to Win” is wise, 
witty and brilliant. It is so largely written 
out of her own life that it has added value and 
significance. And its racy chapters abound 
in practical wisdom aud words of encourage¬ 
ment. Of course, it is not expected or desired 
that the boy or girl who cherishes “ambitions 
in homespun,” and longs to find the way to 
knowledge, will read all these books. But 
one or two of them may be within reach, aud 
may foster intelligent aims, open near, judi¬ 
cious aud accessible ways of attainment, and 
give hope and courage to persevere therein. 
The book first named is published by 
Houghton, Mifflin & Company, of Boston. 
Any r public library ought to contain it, or in¬ 
deed all the books mentioned. 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
Domestic Cconomij 
CONDUCTED BY MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
HOW TO BIND THE RURAL. 
A LMOST all the readers of the Rural, 
without doubt beep files of their 
papers; but how to bind them, so as to make 
them handy to open, is a difficult matter. It 
is quite expensive to get “ binders ” for each 
volume, and then when the various issues 
are put in the binder, the Rural for a year 
is so heavy and bulky that, the binder does 
not secure it strongly enough for indiscrim¬ 
inate handling, such as my Rurals get from 
my children. By request of the Rural I 
here show how I fix a year’s numbers, and the 
volume has stood a year’s mauling by two 
children, without any ill effects. 
Take two slats the length of the Rural, aDd 
about 23 ^ inches wide; put them in a vice and 
saw out five or six notches as represented in the 
drawing. Then take the volume and jar the 
On the worn features of the weariest face. 
Some youthful memory leaves Its hidden trace 
As in old gardens, left by exiled Hugs, 
The marble basins tell the hidden springs 
—Dr. O. W. Holmes. 
I ewis says that organized structure is the 
J platform of existence; it is the si age 
whereon the star actors—nutrition and prop¬ 
agation, motion aud sensation—play their in¬ 
dividual parts. The play is called “Life;’> 
aud accordingly as the actors perform their 
allotted roles—evenly, irregularly, or unnat¬ 
urally,—so will the piece be successful, medio¬ 
cre, or a dead failure. 
Longfellow said that he venerated old 
age and loved not the man who can look with¬ 
out emotion upon the sunset of life, when the 
dusk of evening begins to gather over the 
watery eye, and the shadows of twilight grow 
broa ter and deeper upon the understanding. 
When one has lost the sentiment of pity 
out of his heart, he is not fit to live in such a 
world as this. He might do for some other 
one where there is no sin or suffering, if there 
be such a one, but here our compassions must 
be in constant exercise if we are to live to any 
good purpose. 
Talmage says that the kindly aud songful 
birds have enough enemies without human 
antagonism. No creatures of God have a 
harder time to live than they; first, they have 
enemies in the animal kingdom, as man has 
in his. The eagles, the crows, the squirrels, 
the weasels, are their assailants. Then the 
hurricanes dash them against the rocks, aud 
beat them against lighthouses, and tangle 
them in the telegraph wires, and toss them in¬ 
to the sea, and drive them back in their semi¬ 
annual migration. And they have their own 
distempers to contend against, and wbat a 
gauntlet of earth and sky they run before 
they come within range of sportsman or tax¬ 
idermist. For the Lord's sake, and for the 
sake of the harvests and the orchards and 
the gardens, of which they are the natural 
defenders, let them, live . 
The Christian Union put the sentence: 
“It is not enough to know a thing; we must 
tecl it,” in large type and it deserves to be so 
emphasized. 
A man mud always ask leave of bis stomach 
to bo happy. 
All physicians are not as frank as the doc¬ 
tor who, having been visited by a lazy man 
who complained of dyspepsia, gave him the 
following prescription: 
recipe: 
Woodisaw,.1 
Cords of wood, .... 5 
order: 
To be sawed into stove length within three 
weeks. 
Grant, O Lord! that our varied experien¬ 
ces from day to day may prepare us for that 
higher life which impends over us. May we 
not shrink from it. May we labor so that we 
shall be accepted of God at whatever hour 
this life may end. May we not count it dear, 
nor seek to prolong it, nor dread its termina¬ 
tion. May we listen for thy call. As men 
wait aud watch for the morning through the 
weariness of the hours of the night, so may it 
be given us to long for our rest—to be home¬ 
sick for heaven.,..,,........ 
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Fig. 156. 
edges on a smooth place, such as a board or 
table, to make lhem even like those of a book. 
Take the slats aud carefully put one on each 
side of the back of the Rural and put the 
volume in the vice, and then set the screw up 
tight. Have a few wires prepared, (those 
for ringing pigs or a little larger will do) 
bend each at right angles, about a-quarter or 
half an inch from one end. Then take the 
• brace and bit, (use a small gimlet bit), and 
bore holes through the back of the Rural at 
the notched places, aud then put the wires 
through; let them run through a-quarter or 
half an inch, and with a hammer turn the 
end of each down flat, holding another ham¬ 
mer or weight against the bent end so that it 
will clinch down solid. Insert all the wires 
in this way, aud you have a very solid book. 
If a patent binder is used for the cover, fas¬ 
ten it to the volume in the same way. It is not 
necessary to put it back in the vice to do this, 
unless to bore the holes in their proper places. 
But if a binder is not used, (and most likely it 
will not be), get a piece of extra heavy, tough 
brown paper large enough for both sides and 
the back, aud with flour paste put it on, and 
it will make a passable cover. It might, 
however, with a little care be put on before 
the rivets are put In. 
M. H. C. GARDNER. 
Niagara County, N. Y. 
THE HOME. 
notes from a lecture by president 
HOLBROOK, OF THE NATIONAL NOR¬ 
MAL UNIVERSITY. 
rpHE following thoughts on the home are 
I gleaned from a lecture given before a 
large audience of young men aud women, 
PimUnucouiei §ulverti$fiufl. 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Caatortfc. 
When she was a Child, she cried for Castorla, 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castorla, 
When she had Children she gave them Cantoris 
