JULY 2 7 
802 THE BUBAL MiW-¥OTSK£B. 
MAGAZINE REVIEWS. 
T HE recent death of Father Damien in 
the Sandwich Islands, concluded a life 
of heroic seif-denial and devotion, which has 
seldom, if ever, been excelled or equaled. In 
the century from 1778 to 1S78 the population 
of the islands dwindled from 100,000 to about 
44,000, and much of the decrease was due to 
that dreadful disease, leprosy. In 1865, the 
Hawaiian legislature ordered the removal of 
all lepers to the island of Molokai, where they 
were left to their own resources. Without 
hope, with little food or shelter, these miser¬ 
able outcasts abandoned themselves to the 
wildest excesses. At this point, Father 
Damien, a Catholic priest, then a young man 
of 33, requested permisssion to go and live 
among the lepers. Among these wre'ch- 
ed beings, he has since lived and labored, act¬ 
ing, as he himself wrote, as “ physician of the 
soul and body, magistrate, school teacher, car¬ 
penter, joiner, painter, gardener, housekeeper, 
cook, and often undertaker and grave digger.” 
Thus he labored until released by death, dying 
himself of this loathsome disease. This, 
in brief, is the story told in July Lend a 
Hand, a Record of Progress and Journal of 
Good Citizenship, by Mrs. Bernard Whitman. 
It also contains a report from the Massachu¬ 
setts Society for promoting Good Citizenship; 
extracts from “ The Spirit of Law r s;” a sketch 
of John Frederic Oberlin; an article on “The 
Rights of the Child;” “ TbeMidgton Library, 
A True Story,” and much other matter that 
is calculated to help in making the world bet¬ 
ter. The editor is Edward Everett Hale, D. D., 
and the publishers J. Stilman Smith & 
Company, Boston. 
BOOK REVIEWS. 
T HE GARDEN’S STORY, or Pleasures 
and Trials of an Amateur Gardener, by 
George H Ellwanger, is a recent addition to 
floricultural lore. It relates entirely to the 
flower garden, and is written by a professional 
who has evidently had access to a well-stocked 
library during its preparation. This may ac¬ 
count for his somewhat ornate style, which 
is hardly in keeping with the subject. Still 
there are many good things in it, for 
which we may possibly forgive the author his 
rather free use of foreign words and phrases, 
which sometimes cannot fall to render his 
meaning obscure to the ordinary reader. The 
book starts with the earliest hardy flowers 
and plants of spring, and follows the 
ever-changing procession till it closes with the 
blue monk's-hood, the last to be stricken 
down by the frosts of autumu. Mr. Ellwan¬ 
ger gives as a garden maxim a trite,old truism 
that is applicable in any garden, or on any 
farm—“whatever is worth doing atallis worth 
doing well.” There are none too many books 
of this character, and any additions of merit 
will receive a welcome. D. Appleton & Co., 
New York. 
A PHILOSOPHER IN LOVE AND IN 
UNIFORM, is the title of a small, 
paper-covered novel, by the authors of “Na¬ 
poleon Smith.” It is a reminiscence of the 
Civil War and furnishes some interesting 
summer reading, though some parts of it are 
rather exciting for hot weather. The Judge 
Publishing C ., New York. 
fox i\)t Jjbmtg. 
NOTES BY THE WAY. 
Omaha, Douglass County, Neb. 
Dear Uncle Mark: 
OR many years I have held the position 
of mailing clerk on the R. N.-Y. It 
was my duty to see that each one of its 
thousands of subscribers received Lis paper 
regularly each week from Maine to Califor¬ 
nia. This was no small job, and required 
close attention to business. To have Samuel 
Brown of Oklahoma receive his paper each 
Friday night, was my duty, and how many 
thousands of Samuel Browns you havegotl 
In Nebraska (a very fine farming country) I 
always observed you were well represented, 
and one day 1 made up my mind to take the 
advice of that venerable sage “Greeley” and 
“go West.” Nebraska being the State I de¬ 
sired to locate in, I left New York on one of 
the principal railroads for Chicago. All night 
long we were in New York State asleep, all 
but the engineer and trainmen. They, like 
detectives, never sleep. The morning cast its 
gray light on us near Jamestown in Chautau¬ 
qua County. This is a fine farming section 
as well as 1 could judge from my car window. 
The fences seemed to me very funny. Look 
at those up-turned stumps all in a row. The 
conductor informed me that nearly all the 
farmers in that county fenced in their proper¬ 
ty in this manner. My only reply was “Oh”! 
So much for being a city lad. I was wonder¬ 
ing what I would see next that would surprise 
me. Were I to see a dairymaid pumping 
water into a milk can and mixing in plenty 
of chalk, I would have given the performance 
no thought. I would have turned over and 
gone to sleep again. We next flew through a 
narrow strip of northern Pennsylvania, be¬ 
fore passing into Ohio. Our road took us 
through the northern part of this grand State, 
great in many industries, but especially in 
agriculture. We passed through several large 
manufacturing towns and cities, and I was 
much interested in reading the signs on big 
establishments and factories whose advertise¬ 
ments I have seen so many times in the 
Rural. I cannot give a good description of 
these towns, for one can hardly judge correctly 
of a pi ace by its looks around a railroad station. 
I was much disappointed with what I saw of 
the State of Indiana, but perhaps it grows 
better away from the railroad line. It was 
very late when our train arrived at Chicago, 
the Windy City, which deserves its nickname. 
One can wear a clean pair of cuffs and 
a collar in Chicago only one day and then they 
are ready for “ Wah Sing”, the laundryman; 
while in New York with ordinary care the 
limit is three days. Many parts of Chicago 
are very smoky because there are 
so many mills and factories, but I 
liked the town. A resident asked me 
how I liked it. “My Dear Sir,” said I, 
“ I think it far ahead of New York.” 
“Why, I thought you were from Gotham,” 
said he. “ So I am,” I replied; “but I am 
honest when I say that Chicago is far ahead 
of New York.” Do you ask why, dear 
Uncle ? Ask a man in your town: “How 
can I get to Wall Street ?” The answer will 
be: “Walk five blocks”—a very definite 
answer truly. In Chicago, on the other hand, 
they tell you very politely where and how to 
go. The public buildings, stores, hotels, 
parks, drives, private homes far exceed those 
of New York. State, Dearborn, and Clark 
Streets are the Broadways of the city. I was 
loath to leave the town, but my goal was 
farther west. I landed at last in Omaha. 1 
was much pleased with the State of Iowa 
through a very beautiful part of which I 
traveled. I am not surprised that the 
Rural is so well represented there. I was 
struck with the fact that fertilizer men 
would make a poor living doing business 
here in the West. I was reminded of the car¬ 
toon in one of the issues of the Rural a 
couple of years ago, representing the ghost of 
the exhausted ftrtilityof the old Eastern 
States, which threatened to extend, in the 
near future, its baleful influence to these 
lusty young States of the YV est also. 
All crops hereabouts are in a flourishing con¬ 
dition, especially corn. I never saw such corn 
fields as in Iowa, and Nebraska; the Eastern 
farmers are nowhere in this respect. Omaha is 
a very beautiful city, full of life and push and 
it is growing rapidly. It has excellent news¬ 
papers, and many fine public buildings. 
Your nephew, 
GEORGE T. MOREY. 
Many innocent farmers have been swindled 
in various parts of the country of late by 
gangs of slick sharpers who practice the same 
game with several variations in the details. 
From an account of the tricks of one sec, how-' 
ever, those of the others can be easily learned. 
Take, for example, the case of a number of 
farmers in Bucks and Huntingdon Counties, 
Pa., who have lately been swindled pretty 
heavily by a gang of gentlemanly-appearing 
rogues. Having rcconnoitered the ground be¬ 
forehand, one of the gang drives up to a farm¬ 
er’s house, and requests permission to store in 
the barn a number of pitch-forks, which he 
says are of superior quality. Permission hav¬ 
ing been granted, the farmer is told that the 
forks comprise the last of a large consign¬ 
ment, and will be sold at very low figures to 
close the transaction. A tempting offer is 
then made to the farmer of 50 per cent, com¬ 
mission on all sales made by him while the 
goods are temporarily in his charge, and a 
loug agreement, most of which is in fine 
print, is next produced. The agent alleges 
that it is merely a stipulation with regard to 
the commission, which is for the safety of the 
farmer and the satisfaction of his own princi¬ 
pals. He asks the farmer’s signature as a 
mere matter of form, and often the farmer 
gives it without taking the trouble to read the 
paper carefully. That bit of careless neglect 
is sure to cost him from $100 to $500, however, 
for he soon learns that he has signed a con¬ 
tract to buy a lot of worthless forks at exor¬ 
bitant figures. Some substitute plows, churns, 
or other farm devices for forks; and with 
these exceptions the game is played in sub¬ 
stantially the same way in all cases, and it 
really wonderful how often it is successful. 
Concerns Censured.— Under this head 
the Eye-opener, will, from time to time, give 
the names of concerns he has seen denounced 
in other papers, but which have not been in¬ 
vestigated from the Rural office. The New 
England Shoe Company is advertising pretty 
liberally in country papers; but the Chicago 
Farm, Field and Fireside does not feel jus¬ 
tified in recommending it.The Grar- 
man Detective Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio, is 
denounced by several papers as a fraud. 
There never were so many bogus detective 
agencies as are now flourishing. 
The Como Paper Company advertises great 
bargains, giving its address at 825 Dearborn 
Street, Chicago, Ill., but the latest Chicago 
City Directory mentions no such company in 
the city. It is doubtless one of those frauds 
whose “managers” have their offices in 
their hats, and hire letter boxes in cigar or 
liquor stor»s to enable them to pocket the re¬ 
mittances of their dupes.The bogus 
publication Heart and Hand, is catching it 
hard on all sides. Subscribers complain that 
they have never got even a single number of 
the paper. Doubtless, however, it will do an 
enormous amount of self-puffing during the 
next subscription season.The Em¬ 
pire Co-operative Association is denounced as 
a humbug. 
Cmu. 
“ Every Man is presumed to know the Law. 
Nine-tenths of all Litigation arises from 
Ignorance of Law." 
LAW WITH REGARD TO THE FLOW OF SUR 
FACE WATER. 
J. J. T., Buffalo, N. Y. —The farm adjoin¬ 
ing mine is in some places higher than mine, 
and during a rainy season the water runs over 
and leaches out my land, doing considerable 
damage. Can I compel the owner of the 
higher land to make a ditch to conduct the 
water into his own creek, a job which will not 
cost much? He insists on letting the water 
take its natural course? 
Ans.—W hen two fields are adjacent and 
one is lower than the other, the owner of the 
upper field has a legal right to have the water 
that falls upon his land flow off upon the land 
below. Hence it is held that the owner of the 
lower field has no right to raise an embank¬ 
ment to stop the flow, nor has the owner of 
the upper field any legal right to make any 
excavations or ditches by which the flow of 
water is diverted from its natural course and 
a new channel made on the lower ground. 
Neither can he collect into one channel waters 
usually flowing off into his neighbor’s field by 
several channels and thus increase the rush 
upon the lower field. This is the law in 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, 
California, North Carolina and Louisiana. 
The Courts of New York, New Jersey, Con¬ 
necticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ver¬ 
mont, New Hampshire, Maine, Indiana, Wis¬ 
consin and Kansas, however, have repudiated 
this doctrine. They hold that the lower pro¬ 
prietor may, for the improvement of his 
farm, lawfully fill up low places, on his land, 
although by so doing he obstructs or prevents 
the surface water from flowing thereon from 
the premises above, and thereby injures the 
upper proprietor. 
LAW AS TO CLEANING A DRAINAGE DITCH. 
“ An Old Subscriber ,” Ti'umbull County, 
Ohio. —A drainage ditch runs through my 
land from the farm above me and through 
the land of two farmers below me before it 
empties into a good-sized creek. The man 
just below me allows weeds and trash to choke 
up his part of the ditch so that, after heavy or 
even moderate rains, the water rests for some 
time on my land doing it considerable injury 
at some seasons, because it cannot flow prop¬ 
erly through the choked ditch on my neigh¬ 
bor’s farm. Have I any radress? 
Ans.—I n Ohio every person through whose 
lands any ditch runs, is required to keep the 
same open, free and clear of all obstructions 
on his premises, and in case of failure, he 
shall be liable to pay all reasonable expenses 
of removing the same. On complaint of any 
person aggrieved, the county auditor shall ap¬ 
point a competent person to examine the 
same, who, if he find the complaint to be true, 
shall notify the owner of the land to remove 
the same within a reasonable time, not to ex¬ 
ceed 20 days. If the owner fail to do so, the 
examiner shall cause the work to be done, and 
certify the expense thereof to the auditor, 
who shall place the same, with all fees and 
other expenses in the case, ontne duplicate as 
an assessment on the land. 
LIFE INSURANCE POLICY. 
L. T. N., Elmira, N. Y. —I’m about to 
take out $20,000 life insurance which, in case 
of death, I desire to be paid to my wife, child 
and another, the child’s part to be held in 
trust till he reaches his majority. To whom 
should the policy be made out—to my wife 
or to my estate so that I could dispose of it by 
will and make my executors guardians of the 
child? 
Ans.—T he better way would be to have the 
policy made payable to the executors, admin¬ 
istrators or assigns of the insured. It would 
be well also to have it covered by a deed of 
trust, containing conditions which would 
apply to every possible contingency, includ¬ 
ing revocation. This would leave the policy 
under the control of the assured during his 
life and would insure its being applied accord¬ 
ing to his wishes after his death. 
A WIFE’S BIGHTS OF INHERITANCE. 
M. T., Lodi, N. Y. —A widower with grown 
children, and possessed of personal property 
and a valuable farm, married a second wife, 
but has no ehilaren by her. Should he die 
before she does, to what part of his estate is 
she legally entitled? 
Ans. —In New York if he dies without hav¬ 
ing made a will, the widow will inherit one- 
third of the personal property and will have 
her dower right in the real estate, which is a 
life-interest in one-third of it. But the hus¬ 
band can make a will leaving all his personal 
property to his children and cutting his wife 
off from all but the dower in his real estate; 
of that he cannot deprive her. The property 
rights of married women, and their lights of 
inheritance from their dead husbands vary 
considerably in the different States. 
New Jersey Inquirer. —A man died here 
lately leaving a wife but no children or no 
property. The father of the dead husband is 
living and has real estate; should he die in¬ 
testate, will his dead son’s widow have a legal 
right to any part of the estate? 
Ans. —No. The childless widow inherits 
from her husband only, and as he is dead, ho 
can’t inherit from his father. 
• 
B. S. L., Davenport, Iowa. —If a single 
man makes a will and marries afterwards, 
does the marriage entitle the wife to her tbird? 
Ans.—A will made Defore marriage is void 
and valueless to all parties affected by such 
marriage. If a person has made a will be¬ 
fore marriage, a becond will should be made 
after the ceremony, as the other is of no 
value in any State in the Union. 
IttijscfHaneouis; §Uvfrising. 
DO YOU WANT TO BUY 
A CAR-LOAD OF 
1* UO SP 11.1 TE 
this Fall? If we have no agent near you. we will 
be glad to quote you low prices. Send for circulars. 
FREDERICK LUDLAM 
140 Maiden Lane, New York, 
WARREN, HARPER & BR0., 
Fruit and Produce 
COMMISSION MERCHANTS, 
I IO Dock Street, 
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
Splendid location. Good Salesmen. Prompt Re 
turns. Reference: Sixth National Rank. 
N EW YORK COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SUR¬ 
GEONS and SCHOOL OF COMPARATIVE 
MEDICINE (Chartered 1S57).—Session of 188 a and lSHtl 
begins Tuesday, Oct. 1st, lfS8!L 
For Information and circulars, apply to 
II. 1). LULL, V. S„ 3S2E. 27th St.. New. York. 
WANTED. 
An active, energetic man with capital and experi¬ 
ence, to build up a farm to the standard of "Windsor 
Farm,” Denver, or “ Deerfoot Farm.” Conu. Address 
giving references and experience, C. A. Roberts, 
Care of The Roberts Hardware Co., Denver, Colorado. 
I RRIGATED 
I Htonn soil: abu 
LANDS!? 
Rio Pecos Valley. 
Southeastern New 
Mexico. Choice lime¬ 
stone soil; abundance of pure water; a delight¬ 
ful climate all the year; almost continuous sun¬ 
shine; altitude 8,600 feet; healthiest locality in 
the U. 8„ no consumption, no malaria. SO acre* 
■will yield a competency. Write for particulars, 
naming this paper, to Peeoi Irrigation At In¬ 
vestment Co,, 84 Monroe St., Chicago, Ill, 
\ 
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