[889 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
' 699 
nothing fires his spirit of emulation more 
than to hold up the father’s gratification 
as an incentive. There is no end to the ver¬ 
biage that has been written and spoken 
concerning the influence of mothers, and 
what it may accomplish. But if, by some 
hocus-pocus of evolution or conversion, all 
fathers could instantly be made into the 
kind of men they wish their sons to be, what 
more could be desired for the human race ? 
That fathers do not realize the formative 
character of their example, or, realizing it, 
fail to turn it to the best account, is very 
evident. If they did, one would see no 
fathers who smoke or chew, or use vulgar 
or profane speech, who equivocate, or cheat, 
are untidy in their dress or surroundings, 
cruel to their horses or cows, unkind, given 
to outbreaks of anger, selfish or lazy, or ill- 
mannered. 
But as affairs are now managed, or ar¬ 
range themselves, a great majority of 
fathers leave the training of the children 
not only physically but morally, to the 
mothers, as though the inculcation of mor¬ 
als and manners, were a peculiarly femi¬ 
nine business, and as if women were in a 
way the guardians of the social and moral 
forces of society, and so long as women are 
honest, good and true, it would matter so 
much the less what men are—the virtue in 
the world would, in spite of them, be hous¬ 
ed and cared for, and transmitted to pos¬ 
terity! It sometimes happens that boys 
left fatherless, are trained into admirable 
men by the mother alone, in which case she 
is generally regarded as having performed 
a difficult task with great success; when, in 
point of fact, the achievement might have 
been attended with far more difficulty if 
the father had lived. Almost any father, 
after he has been long enough dead, be¬ 
comes a kind of saint or hero to his young 
children, and nothing is easier or more 
natural for the mother than to make the 
most of this idealized character. But with 
the father alive and as un-ideal as possible 
—slovenly, ill-tempered, disobliging, self¬ 
ish, thoughtless, boorish in manners,— 
what headway can a mother hope to make 
in training her sons to be gentlemen? She 
might as well try to make water run up 
hill. If the father smokes, or chews, or 
swears, or “slangs,” why should not the 
boy? Or if he eats like a pig, appears at 
table dirty and unkempt, flings his wear¬ 
ing apparel down for some one else to hang 
up, speaks with crossness and impatience, 
is there any reason in the world why the 
children should not imitate him in these 
things? To honor the father is a Biblical 
command that even the civil law insists up¬ 
on; but those whom children honor they 
must perforce emulate, and to expect that 
the boy will be polite and considerate of 
others, when the father is the reverse, is to 
expect thorn bushes to bear peaches. 
That women exert great influence, goes 
without saying; but that their particular 
influence can counteract the evil example 
of men, is an absurdity. The old doctrine 
that Caesar’s wife must be without re¬ 
proach, although Ca'sar himself may be a 
villain, has borne no end of bitter fruit. If 
a man has intelligence and conscience, he 
can not marry and take on himself the re¬ 
sponsibility of fatherhood, without feeling 
the necessity of making of himself, so far 
as it is possible, a model which his sons 
will do well to imitate, for if ever a man’s 
vices and faults appear to him in an uncom¬ 
fortable light, it is when the eyes of his lit¬ 
tle children are turned upon him. No 
“eye of God ” was ever more alert or pene¬ 
trating than the eyes of children, and every 
man who has a son growing up at his knee 
should never, through inertia or careless¬ 
ness allow himself to forget that he stands 
to the boy as a model of what the child 
himself aims to become—“just like 
father. ” 
If fathers and mothers are better in fact 
than childless people,, as is commonly ac¬ 
cepted, it is solely owing to the restraining 
and developing power of the presence of 
children. For the “ children’s sake ” there 
is much done and left undone. They stim¬ 
ulate to thrift, industry, honesty, respec¬ 
tability, education, wealth, influence, gener¬ 
osity, and sometimes to less desirable results 
when the parents are bad. But if parents 
realize their influence, they must by neces¬ 
sity, if not hardened in sin, keep keener 
watch over their speech and actions when 
children are about than when the home is 
childless. And if men will reflect upou the 
influences they imbibed in their own child¬ 
hood they cannot but see how much they 
gained or lost through the good, bad, or neg¬ 
ative character of their father. A good 
father is as priceless a possession to any 
child as a good mother, and the child 
which has both has the best inheritance 
the world has to ^bequeath. 
Sure cure for indigestion—stop eating! 
Broom— woman’s badge of neatness. 
AUTOGRAPH QTTTLTS. 
T HTS is a day of autograph hunters. 
The epidemic assumes various forms. 
One lady of mv acouaintance has an album 
of several hundred postal cards from peonle 
whom she admits she never saw, and never 
expects to see. Another rage is the nuilt 
autograph. Few people at present have 
the temeritv to aspire to the crazv-ouilt. 
For mv part T have not yet been able, to de¬ 
cide whether T like such things or not. for 
I have seen so manv that, were originallv 
intended to he things of heautv. witched 
and bewitched into what, really apneared 
more the productions of the weakened 
brain of some poor aesthetic lunatic. Tn 
fact. T never see a crazv-ouilt without a 
vivid childhood remembrance of a kaleid¬ 
oscopic view I once had after falling from a 
high swing. Autograph quilts containing 
a block from each State and Territory in 
the Union are also much in vogue. 
Mv idea of an autograph quilt is entire¬ 
ly different, and as it is original with mv- 
self T will give it. I am saving a piece of each 
dress and apron of mv children’s clothes 
from their babvhood up. Upon each niece 
I sew a bit of paper with the date and age 
of the child at the time it were the gar¬ 
ment. After I shall have epaspfi collecting 
T shall make each a quilt of the nieces from 
the dress of each particular child and then 
with indelible ink mark each block with 
the age of the child at the time the garment 
from which it was taken was worn and al¬ 
so with the name of the garment. What 
think voq of mv idea ? Trv it. mothers. 
It. will be something the children can al¬ 
ways keep, and something thev will prize 
above gold, long after dear mother has 
crossed the Mystic River into the great 
bevond. T love to piece quilts and expect 
to be just old-fashioned in that way all my 
life. During our warm summer weather 
we have had sewing classes in which we 
have taught our young girls how to sew. 
and piece quilts, and we find it one of the 
best ways of teaching little girls how to use 
a needle, and reallv an economical wav too. 
for every household has more or less pieces 
to spare, and the quilts are alwavs valu¬ 
able. MRS. E. A. WARNER. 
an improvement that our men and boys, 
during the season of binding grain and cut¬ 
ting up corn should wear long’ stocking 
legs over their sleeves. The feet are cut off 
and the legs drawn up over the sleeves, 
above the elbows, and kept in place with 
safety pins. The juicy weeds stain and 
soil the sleeves so much that they are hard 
to wash and the look of the material is 
spoiled. 
At this season the flies in almost every¬ 
body’s pantry and kitchen are an intoler¬ 
able nuisance; their presence seems almost 
unavoidable. The use of fly-paper is sick¬ 
ening, with flies dropping everywhere, so 
that we almost welcome Jack Frost who 
helps us out. I am told by a handy house¬ 
keeper who has tried it, that a mixture of 
equal parts of castor-oil and melted resin 
spread on old writing paper makes a very 
effective kind of sticky fly-paper which 
one can afford to have and use, and that 
it helps to abate the nuisance. 
AUXT RACHEL. 
CARE OF THE H A.NDS. 
M ISS K. G. IT., says she keeps her hands 
presentable by using lemon juice 
and oatmeal. Will she please tell how it is 
done ? H . D. s. 
Axs.—Rub the hands thoroughly (after 
washing) with a piece of lemon, particular¬ 
ly after doing work that has left the hands 
in a had condition. Then rub with a mix¬ 
ture of oatmeal and water. I do this some¬ 
times two or three times every day and al¬ 
ways the last thing at night. Follow at 
night with a few drops of glycerine lotion. 
Wear gloves when practicable. K. G. H. 
•JELLY FROM TRANSCENDENT APPLES. 
In answer to Mrs. Levi H. Niles, I would 
say that! make jelly from Transcendents in 
the same way as from crab apples. Core 
the apples and stew until soft, then strain 
through a bag. Boil 10 minutes, allowing 
one pound of sugar to each pint of juice. 
It is very nice indeed. 
LAURA WOODBURY. 
EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE 
LETTER. 
A CHAT ABOUT HOUSEHOLD 
MATTERS. 
I T is very much the fashion of fault¬ 
finders to criticise what they call “ fry¬ 
ing” beef, pork, or meat of any descrip¬ 
tion. But is it not true that there is a 
right and a wrong way of doing everything ? 
And a good cook can fry beefsteak and 
make it as palatable as a roughly broiled 
one. To broil meat satisfactorily requires 
good coals and plenty of them and in the 
ordinary wood fires kept by most farmers 
in the kitchen, how manv times in a year 
will there be a bed of coals in shape at the 
right time to enable the cook to broil beef¬ 
steak that will be wholesome ? If cooked 
over a blaze it is apt, to be smoky. One 
thing perhaps that every one may not have 
noticed is, that beef, whether broiled or 
tried, should be eaten at once, and the 
slanders that have been bestowed on beef¬ 
steak fried, are often due to the fact that 
it has stood so long after being cooked that 
it has become tough, before being put on 
the table. 
To fry properly, chop or pound the steak 
well; if there is much fat trim it off and 
fry out the grease to be used in cooking the 
rest of the meat, or put a little butter in 
the spider: have it hot and put in the steak 
and cook fast, turning often and being 
careful not to burn it. Salt it when just 
done, not before, or the juice will run out 
leaving the meat tough. Have the platter 
hot, and when the meat is done lay it on the 
plate and spread some butter over it; cover 
closely and send it to the table as soon as 
possible. Some cooks have the salt and 
butter jnelted together and pour it over the 
meat while it is all hot. Cooked in this 
way, meat that would be called unfit to eat 
if fried in the ordinary way, will be more 
palatable than that which has been broiled 
unless uncommonly favorable conditions 
have accompanied each stage of the broil¬ 
ing. There often seems to be a kind of 
fashionable affectation in the”custom of 
decrying ways which prevail among differ¬ 
ent cooks. Any one who can eat with relish 
the half-cooked, demoralized-looking beef¬ 
steaks often encountered at hotel tables, 
ought not to be finical about eating 
steak’that has-been properly fried. 
This year we have thought it to be^quite 
O UR men folks have to-day completed 
the filling of a large silo—a new ex¬ 
perience, or rather a new departure in farm¬ 
ing for us. In the house we have found the 
filling of it a serious thing, not on account 
of the extra hands, but because while the 
work has lasted we women could not have 
the use .of a horse for any purpose and 
have therefore felt rather confiued. The 
green corn has been run through a feed- 
cutter, and the tread-power used required 
two heavy horses. The two teams required 
to draw the loads of corn from the field ex¬ 
hausted the supply of horses that we could 
drive. Perhaps this is not interesting to 
you, but it is an incident of farm life. 
MRS. B. c. D. 
i ,$ r c U a n c o u $ ^ A v c rt i $ i n tj. 
The Aged 
Who need help in 
their many in^rmi- 
ties. especially those 
afflicted with rheu¬ 
matism, find great re¬ 
lief in 
AYER’S 
Sarsaparilla. 
“One year ago I was 
taken ill with inflam¬ 
matory rheumatism, 
being confined to my house six months, l 
came out of the sickness very much debili¬ 
tated, with no appetite, and my system dis¬ 
ordered in every way. I commenced using 
Ayer's Sarsaparilla and began to improve 
at once, gaining in strength and soon recov¬ 
ering my usual health. 1 cannot say too 
much in praise of this well-known medicine.” 
— Mrs. L. A. Stark, Nashua. N. H. 
Ask your druggist for 
Ayer's Sarsaparilla, 
Prepared by Dr. J. C. Ayer & Co., f.owell, Mass 
Price SI; six, C = . V.'orth S' a bottle. 
BEECHAM’S PILLS 
ACT Xjra.B MAGrIO 
ON A WEAK STOMACH. 
a 
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IMPROVED 
BUTTER 
COLOR 
IF YOU REALLY WISH 
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milk ask for Wellt, Richard, 
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More of It Used than of 
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Send for our valuable circu¬ 
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4 GO., Burlington, Vt. 
GOLD MEDAL, PARIS, 1878. 
W. BAKER & CO.’S 
Breakfast Cocoa 
Is absolutely pure and 
it is soluble. 
No Chemicals 
are used in its preparation. It has more 
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mixed with Starch, Arrowroot or Sugar, 
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costing less than one cent a cup. It is 
delicious, nourishing, strengthening, EA¬ 
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for invalids as well as persons in health. 
Sold by Grocers everywhere. 
W R ATTF.R GO . Dorchester. Mass. 
EPPS’S 
GRATEFUL-COMFORTING. 
COCOA 
9 Cords 
Buns Easy. 
NO BACKACHE 
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the use of this tool everybody can tile their own saws 
now and do it better than the greatest expert can with¬ 
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owns a saw should have one. Ask your dealers or write 
FOLDING SAWING M VCH1NE CO., 80S to 811 
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Send for cata locne. 
WIRE PICKET FENCE MACHINE 
Lowden’s Perfection, Latest Improved. 
Best Field Fence Machine in the U. S. 
Every Farmer his own fence builder 
Write for Illustrated Catalogue to 
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TheOIIO STiTEJOURHll 
Daily circulation. 11.000; Weekly. 25.000; thoroughly 
covers the fitly central and southeastern counties of 
Ohio—the richest district in the Union. Eastern 
Office. 11 Tribune Building. New York. P E. DUFFY, 
Manager Foreign Advertising Department Send tor 
Specimen Copies. 
OHIO STATE JOURNAL CO.. Columbus. O. 
Bkvchvm’s Ptt.ls cure sick headache. 
General Advertising Rates of 
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