4888 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
543 
Various. 
CORRESPONDENTS’ VIEWS. 
Another Contest Plot.— I feel quite 
proud of the prospect for my Potato Contest 
Plot so far. The season has been very good 
for potatoes We had enough cool showers 
to keep them growing without need of irri¬ 
gation until they were in bloom and begin¬ 
ning to set. Then one irrigation was all they 
needed. A potato grower near here thinks I 
have in my plot the best prospect that he 
has seen in the county. Potato beetles are 
plentiful, but with the sprinkling of a solu¬ 
tion of Paris-green twice, they have been 
kept from damaging the plot. At present 
the vines (rows three feet apart, 10 inches in 
row), completely cover the ground. The kinds 
planted are the Carter and Paragon. In a 
plot last year they yielded very largely. 
Fort Collins, Col. E. H. s. 
Cultivating Potatoes in Nebraska.- 
For raising potatoes I plow the ground rea¬ 
sonably deep; then harrow until the soil is 
thoroughly pulverized, then with marker lay 
off the land in rows three feet apart. Then 
with a small pair of mold-board shovels on 
my cultivator set three feet apart, I go twice 
in a row making a nice furrow. Then I drop 
the potatoes, which are cut in small one to 
three-eye pieces, one piece in a hill. Next 
a one-horse cultivator with a wheel on one 
end and two shovels behind does the work 
completely. Just before the vines appear I 
harrow and do so again once or twice after 
they are up. Then I use the cultivator three 
or four times, hilling up very little. 
Phelps County, Neb. w. h. a. 
A Handy Weeder.— With a cold chisel, 
cut six inches from the point of a worn-out 
scythe; then cut two inches of the blade part 
off the back; put on a light handle; then bend 
two inches of the point on a curve so that the 
point and handle will be at right angles, and 
you will be surprised to see how handy it is. 
Birmingham, Conn. o. w. d. 
Woman s Work. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY LOUISE TAPLIN. 
WHAT WOMEN ARE DOING. 
^HERE are (50 women among the 16,000 
dentists of the United States. 
* * * 
In Detroit, 2,700 women registered to vote 
for school directors, and they have elected a 
woman to the school board. 
* * * 
The California legislature has passed a bill 
permitting women to vote for school trustees. 
A bill giving full municipal suffrage to 
women was defeated in the Senate by a close 
vote, 15 to 18. 
* * * 
In British Columbia, where single women 
and widows have had municipal suffrage for 
many years, a proposition was lately brought 
before the local parliament to make them 
eligible to municipal offices. It was defeated 
by one vote—six to five. 
* * * 
Says Daughters of America: “A peculiar 
fact about American literary women is that 
many of them are domestic in their tastes and 
have great ability as housekeepers. Lucy 
Stone is a noted home-maker. Mrs. Elizabeth 
Cady Stanton’s domestic propensities are well 
known. Mrs. Annie Jenness Miller, the 
lecturer and advocate of dress reform, has a 
husband who worships her. Mrs. Livermore, 
the lecturer, is another good housekeeper, and 
in addition to her public and private duties 
takes care of an invalid daughter.” 
* * * 
The plau of the Brooklyn training school 
and home for young girls is to take girls be¬ 
tween the ages of 12 and 18 years, who have 
been left to their own exertions to earn a 
livelihood, and train them in various occupa¬ 
tions; in addition to this, positions will be 
provided for them. Fifteen prominent Brook¬ 
lyn women have this matter in hand, and 
have already been assured of assistance. A 
building has been secured on Pacific Street, 
where the home will be established for the 
first year. 
* * * 
A novel savings society has been started in 
Salt Lake City. Two sisters named Mather, 
in their desire to help sewing and servant 
girls, suggested saving by depositing small 
sums each week, and a society was formed, 
each member agreeing to take a share, and 
deposit 25 cents each week in the bank. When 
the whole deposit reaches $200 or $300, it is 
loaned on a mortgage, at good interest. Some 
of the girls take two or three shares. Business 
men, who have been consulted, have become 
interested, and help the girls in making their 
loans. This is a sample of what may be done 
through small savings. Merchants point to 
the fact that nearly all the gew-gaws brought 
to the city are purchased by servant girls, 
who seem to have no desire to save their 
money, and they think this society will cor¬ 
rect this common practice of useless expendi¬ 
ture. All the work of president and secretary 
is done gratuitously. 
* * * v 
Frances Power Cobb is an exponent of 
so-called Woman’s Rights, but she says that 
the making of a true home is really our pe¬ 
culiar and inalienable right—a right which 
no man can take from us; for a man can no 
more make a home than a drone can make a 
hive. He can build a castle or palace, but, 
poor creature! be he as wise as Solomon and 
rich as Croesus, he cannot turn it into a home. 
* * * 
Says Daughters of America: “Let our 
girls become really thorough saleswomen, 
both wholesale and retail, even if it comes to 
traveling; let them practically learn printing, 
engraving, designing, light cabinet work, sten¬ 
ography, book-keeping, watch-making, gold- 
smithing, dress-making (at which the practi¬ 
cal woman sometimes makes a fortune)—any 
of the hundreds of things for which their nim¬ 
ble and delicate fingers, native wit and taste, 
quick perceptions, and faithful perseverance 
fit them—and let them learn it as a business, 
thoroughly, honorably, with a determination 
to be first-class work-women, and soon they 
will share the pay as well as the work of men. 
And our girl will be no les3 fitted to be a good 
loving wife and mother, if she sees fit to 
marry; and she will not bo driven into a 
thoughtless marriage to escape the drudgery 
of earning the pittance which will not sup¬ 
port her, nor of making a sacrifice, which is 
generally considered to be even more dis¬ 
graceful than that. Think of this, you who 
bemoan the thousands of unhappy marriages 
and the frequency of divorce. And if she is 
left, as many women are left, with children 
depending on her for support, she is in no 
worse condition than the widower who is left 
with them to care for. Think of this, you who 
may be widows. 
Some men have objected to this idea, say¬ 
ing that if women are self-supporting they 
will not care to marry. Surely if a man de¬ 
pends upon his money alone to attract and 
keep her, the time has arrived when woman 
should compel him to make himself worthy 
of her love and possession.” 
v * 
The same paper says, that if parents would 
teach their daughters that they have equal 
rights with their sons, and that they must in¬ 
sist on having those rights treated with the 
same respect; if they would teach them about 
our national government, instead of giving 
them novels to read; if they would teach them 
trades, whereby they might become self-sup¬ 
porting; if they would teach them independ¬ 
ence in thought and action—we would have 
fewer unhappy women than we have now.” 
ABOUT VACATIONS. 
OLIVE E. DANA. 
I T is with vacations as with many other 
things in this world of ours, those who 
need them most are not always the ones who 
get them. 
Yet I wonder if it isn’t sometimes the fault 
of the stay-at-homes themselves. 4nd “vaca¬ 
tion” doesn’t necessarily imply travel,—does 
it?—though indeed one might think so, from 
the very general use of both the word and the 
thing. 
Why could not a busy person, (who was al¬ 
so a weary one) determine to get all the rest, 
change, refreshment, and pleasure that should 
come in her way (for we will suppose that 
this busy and tired person is a woman and a 
housekeeper; for a certain period? Why 
should not such a one person promise herself 
that she would make each day’s tasks, fora 
few weeks, as few and light as should be con- 
sisent with household comfort, securing to 
every hour the solid rest possible to her, and 
enjoying every little outing or bit of pleasure 
that should come in her way? Would such a 
resolution be selfish, either in its spirit or its 
fulfillment? Would it not rather be not only 
for her own good but the good and pleasure 
of others, in its consequences? There are force 
and truth in a late editorial utterance of 
“ Zion’s Herald.” “ If it is felt that the daily 
round of duty must be made, then the toiler is 
becoming unconsciously an automaton and 
this is the first approach of mental imbecility 
and physical paralysis. ” 
There are wont to be, in every path, little 
pleasures which we slight because of their lit¬ 
tleness. Yet they make a great difference— 
plus or minus as we may make them—in the 
sum total of comfort. The short drive, even 
if it be wedged between bitspf housework, the 
longer one that a free afternoon affords us, 
the calls'on old friends, the day’s visiting, the 
renewal of old acquaintance with nature and 
human nature, the stroll to the rivers brink, 
the walk in the meadow when the grass is 
mown, the excursion down the river, the 
neighborhood tea-party or picnic, all these 
are not to be despised or forgotten as factors 
in the problem, “how to get a vacation.” 
And I sometimes think the people who take 
vacations, and whose work both allows and 
demands them, have it in their power to de¬ 
termine quite largely whether certain other 
folks whose occupations are quite different, 
shall have a taste of summer leisure and 
pleasure or not. I heard of a pretty plan the 
other day. A young lady teacher, just re¬ 
leased from wearing school-work for the long 
vacation, and herself not unworn by it, had 
had hardly a week of freedom before she 
gravely invited her mother/on whom fell nat¬ 
urally the burden of home-work and care in 
tbeir little household, to visit her for a week. 
She, the daughter, was to manage domestic 
affairs and do the housework, and the mother 
was to be her guest. 
I wonder if some tired women, on whom 
fall far heavier and steadier tasks than this 
mother knows, would not be glad of such a 
vacation? And I wonder how many daugh¬ 
ters would be thoughtful enough, or tender 
enough, to give it to them? 
Speaking of vacations, it occurred to me the 
other day to look up the meaning of the word. 
It comes, as I had guessed, from the Latin, 
from vacatio, which is again a derivative of 
the verb vacare , to make empty or void. 
And accordingly, the first definition Web¬ 
ster gives of it is, “ the act of vacating, mak¬ 
ing void ; ” and the second, “ freedom from 
interruption, trouble or perplexity; leisure.” 
I don’t quite like the suggestion of empti¬ 
ness about the primary meaning of the word; 
yet, doesn’t it well describe some vacations 
we have known of, perhaps some we ourselves 
have taken ? And were they not wearisome 
and disappointing? Were we not glad when 
they were ended? I think, really, that the 
vacation or visit which one crams with work 
she had no leisure for before, writing articles 
that have haunted her, letters that should 
have been sent long before, reading “ solid ” 
books, or domg many pieces of sewing or 
fancy-work: I think such a “vacation” is 
far more enjoyable and restful, and more 
conducive to health and happiness than the 
“ empty ” sort. Between the two, however, 
lies the golden mean. Who is so wise and 
fortunate as to find it? 
Meanwhile, can we not be seeking it during 
the mid-summer heats? And if the longer 
leisure of weeks of rest and recreation and 
travel is denied us, shall we not be taking all 
we can, in installments? 
HOW TO KEEP WELL AND HAPPY. 
MRS. S. H. ROWELL. 
^ TT WONDER who is sick at Mr. 
JL Jeffords?” said Mrs. Bly, as she 
glanced out of her sitting-room window’ when 
closing the blind, “ the doctor has just gone 
in there.” 
“ It seems to me as if they had a great deal 
of sickness this summer. I really believe the 
doctor has been there as often as twice a week 
ever since they moved here,” remarked Mr. 
Bly. A quick step on the back porch inter¬ 
rupted them, and Mrs. Jeffords opened the 
door. She was in a flutter of excitement. 
“Have you any dry mustard, Mrs. Bly? 
Mr. Jeffords and the boys are both terribly 
sick; I think they must be poisoned.” 
Mrs. Bly hastened to get her box of mus¬ 
tard, and as she handed it, inquired with 
anxious sympathy. 
“ Cau we do anything to assist you, Mrs. 
Jeffords ? ” 
“Oh, if you would only come over—I am 
so nervous and tired.” So she went over. 
Mr. Jeffords lay upon the sofa, retching and 
writhiDg with pain. The two boys had 
pillows on the floor, and were evidently 
suffering a great deal. The baby was crying 
in the cradle, and the family physician had 
Mr. Jeffords’s hand in his, feeling his pulse; 
while an anxious expression rested on his face. 
It was evidently a most distressed family. 
“What is the trouble, Doctor? What can 
I do to assist?” asked Mrs. Bly. 
“ I want some mustard plasters spread as 
quickly as possible. It seems like a case of 
poison. They were all well before noon.” 
‘What could they have taken to affect 
them so terribly, Doctor ?" 
“ I have not ascertained yet. I wish I could 
get them to throw up.” 
“ Some mustard stirred in warm water, is a 
good emetic.” 
“So it is; suppose, Mrs. Bly, you prepare 
some as quickly as possible.” She did so, and 
spread the plasters on the pits of their stom¬ 
achs. The emetic operated quickly, and Mr. 
Jeffords began to be relieved, and the little 
boys grew more quiet, and finally dropped to 
sleep. 
“Doctor, what on earth ails us; can you 
tell? I was as hungry as a bear when I came 
in to dinner; the boys were not home from 
school; but I did not wait, and was nearly 
through when they came in. My wife said 
she was too tired to eat; and she is not sick, 
you see; so it is something we have eaten.” 
“ Yes, probably. What did you have for 
dinner, Mrs. Jeffords?” 
“ Baked fresh pork, turnips and potatoes, 
with bread and butter. I was ironing all 
the morning, and was so tired that I could 
not eat.” 
“Don’t you think, Doctor, it was the fresh 
pork? I do not think it a very safe article of 
diet in hot weather,” said Mrs. Bly. 
“I don’t know really. This family are 
predisposed to sickness. I am afraid there is 
something about the premises that is not as it 
should be. We eat a good deal of fresh pork 
at our house. ” 
The sick ones seemed so comfortable after 
a little space, that the physician left, saying 
he would call later in the evening. 
Mr. Jeffords remarked, after he h a d gone, 
that he had done nothing at all for them, only 
felt their pulses round, while Mrs. Bly gave 
all the medicines, and prepared them, too. 
“Now, really, Mrs. Bly. what do you think 
was the matter with us ?’ 
“Well, I think it was the meat you 
ate. I do not think you were poi¬ 
soned, and of couree the vegetables 
were harmless, unless you put in too much 
butter to make them good. We never eat 
fresh pork in hot weather, as we do not think 
it safe. Indeed we eat very little fresh meat 
of any kind. Eggs, rice, nice bread, berries 
fruits and vegetables are our living, with an 
occasional meal of dried beef or salt fish 
cooked in a cream or milk gravy.” 
“Don’t you use meat at all, in your family, 
Mrs. Bly?” 
“I boil a bit of salt pork with my beans, 
peas and cabbage, to give them a relish, and 
Mr. Bly sometimes eats a bite; and once in a 
while I broil a little ham to have a change,” 
she answered. 
“You cook chickens and turkeys, I suppose 
then ?” 
“Not during the hot summer months: they 
are so apt to give one colic or bowel com¬ 
plaints in warm weather, but we use them 
plentifully in cold weather, as well as meats 
of all kinds. We use salted fish in the sum¬ 
mer, and this plain diet seems to agree with 
us all, for we keep hearty, well and happy.’j 
“I know you do: you never have a physi¬ 
cian I see. We have to call in a doctor 20 
times a month, I expect,” said Mr. Jeffords, 
as he rose from the sofa. “I think you were 
right, that it was that meat that made us 
sick. I will leave word and that doctor will 
not Deed to call again, and I’ll save one bill! 
And if we can all keep as well and happy as 
your family are, I would never buy another 
pound of meat.” 
“Mr. Jeffords has often said he wished our 
children were as well and happy as yours. Ours 
are sick so much that they can neither feel 
well nor happy.” said the poor mother, sadly. 
“ Allow me to tell you wherein the difficul¬ 
ty lies, or at least where I think the trouble 
is; you will not be offeuded?” 
“ Offended! No indeed! I wish you would, 
for I am worn out taking care of sick child¬ 
ren; not to speak of my own poor health.” 
“ In the first place, you use too much lard 
and butter, in your cookery; you make and 
eat too much rich cake, and you give the little 
folks too much candy and sweet-meats. They 
are always eating either cake or candy. You 
do not think of it; their little stomachs have 
no chance either to digest their food or to rest. 
They cannot feel well, and consequently are 
not happy. If you and your husband would 
think about it, you would see for yourselves 
that it is an injury to keep children surfeited 
on sweets, and the less meat they eat in warm 
weather, the better they will feel. I am glad 
you have all got over this attack so quickly, 
and I do not fancy you will get ‘ poisoned 
on fresh meat again this summer, especially on 
fresh pork. The lighter the diet one gives child¬ 
ren the better; 1 saw the doctor did not ac¬ 
cept this idea of the cause.” 
“ I expect he likes business, but it is pretty 
costly business to employ a physician as much 
as we have always done,” said Mrs. Jeffords. 
1 Yes, it is much pleasanter to keep’well, 
and we shall all be happier for It.” 
