THE BIBLE WAS NOT ATTACKED 
washed and tormented to the utmost by a nurse, 
then the little helpless creature Is only allowed 
24 hours’ rest, when It is put through the same 
performance again. I fall to see why a baby, 
after Its first washing, should require so much 
cleansing. The Idea, especially in cold weather, 
of bathing an infant all over every morning. Is, 
to my mind, actual cruelty, r bathe my boy 
once a wepk all over, and every day wash his 
face, neck, hands, etc., but t fear lie would not 
be alive now If I had followed the dally bathing 
plan. When my baby was born, from some un¬ 
accountable cause he was a •• living skeleton,' 
didn’t weigh over four or live pounds. 1 never 
saw anything alive so poor. The women all sliook 
their heads and said he couldn’t live. I was 
afraid so myself, but I thought I would do ray 
best and trust to rny Heavenly Father for success 
The child has often laid lu my lap, looking Just 
like a dead child. Many are the tears I shed over 
Ills little sleeping form. I knew the usual style, of 
dressing would not suit him. I abandoned linen 
the war the son settled In Pennsylvania, married 
but did not visit his early home until the Centen¬ 
nial year, and when he did so, he was accompanied 
by his wife and two daughters, and—his naughty 
habit. I would like to cbroDiele for my own satis¬ 
faction and the good of my readers, that, his father 
whipped him soundly, but cannot state facts. He 
arrived home In the night and the dear old father 
doubted that it was Ogden, until he said, '* My 
wife and children are In a carriage outside, tired 
almost to death.” And then the dear aged parents 
hastily opened tlmlr arms, hearts and homes to 
them all. Now, I want to be more successful In 
bringing up my boy than Ogden s father was with 
his. There is not a drop ot tobacco taint In bis 
veins for several generations, and now as I write, 
he climbs up to love and kiss me, bothering me all 
he can. I earnestly desire that his Me may be as 
pure and his breath as sweet twenty years from 
now, as it. Is at present. Ilow can I accomplish 
this? Who can tell? 
THE EIRE-FLY HAND HOE 
Is another Implement that Is becoming very pop- 
ular in the gardens. 
It Is premium No 
6(5 ot our P re mium 
list, and we ofTer It 
for a club of five 
subscribers. It has 
An honored correspondent,, one whose good opin¬ 
ion we highly esteem, has written us as follows, 
and thinking, perhaps, other readers may have 
misinterpreted the article in question we publish 
both his complaint, and our explanation: 
“ Permit me a piece of criticism; I was very sorry 
to find In the Rural of Nov. 8, that extract from 
the Atlantic Monthly. It was the first time I have 
seen anything in Its columns that I was not willing 
my six children should read. 1 would not tor the 
world have their faith In the Bible undermined 
as a matter for their good In this hfe, to say nothing 
of the life hereafter, and in my opinion i he ruin of 
this nation is sure whenever the majority of Its 
people become disbelievers In Dlvlno Revelation. 
No other power than belief In the truths of the 
Bible will restrain the tendencies to vice and 
crime. m. b. b. 
Prof. Gold win Smith does not afilrm anything 
against, the Bible; he merely states, what Is the 
fact, that, to a large and Increasing number of 
people, the Bible is not the sacred book It once 
was. He deplores most heartily that religion Is 
losing Its hold on the masses of the people, and 
prognosticates dire evils as the result of the pre 
vailing lack of interest in things spiritual. No one. 
would be more astonished than Prolessor Smith 
himself to know that what he Intended as a note 
or warning should have been construed into an 
attack on religion. 
The Christian Union of November 19 says ol this 
same article: *' Professor Smith argues with great 
force and abundant wealth of historical illustra¬ 
tion that the decadence of faith has always been 
followed by an Interregnum or morality. He as¬ 
sumes that, the present age la one of decadence 
of faith; and he summons from contemporaneous 
history some very significant facts to show that 
Bhore ts already In England the beginning of an 
intf rregmun ot morality. rite article Use!/ is melt 
worthy the Uvjwjhlful audit of tat rasters and 
teachers and parents.” 'l lie italics are ours. We 
quote from our religious contemporary only to 
show that others beside ourselves considered the 
article worthy of the serious attention of the best 
classes In the community.—[Eos. 
been recently in- >X 
troduced by S. L. ^ 
Allen & Co.. Phil a- 
delphla, and every- 
where it meets 'afii 
with approval. Its 
construction and mode of 
cut. 
working are seen in the 
Communications beceivbd i 
Saturday, Deo. 20. 
W. F. II.—w. V. B.—D. F 
L. B. S.—W. J. B.--G. H. T 
C.—A R.—J. D. P.—J, R —O 
W.—T. H.-P. B. B.-C. C. I 
T. H. II.—E. L. M.—J. H. 8. 
W. H. C., M. D.—M. N. N., 
B. F. R._s. F. R.—A. H.—O. 
-F. H. D.-VV. D. B.-G. C. C 
A. M. L.—W. C.C.— J. \V. B. 
S.—L. T.—L. F.—N.-N. R. 
M. E. 8.—D. E. J.—J. W. B.- 
-M. B. McL.-T. Q. L.—L. £ 
R., thanks.—F. D. C.—F. J. 
M.—J. S. S.—E. 8. K.—W M. 
H. II.—M. E. H.—J. W. W.—< 
CHEMILOONS 
About a year ago, I read In this department a 
short article In favor of a merino waist Instead of 
the chemise, for ladles underwear. I thought the 
Idea very sensible, and only differed with the wri¬ 
ter in regard to ehemlloons. She did not like 
them, but I hope no one will be deterred from try¬ 
ing them on that account. HavlDg worn them for 
four years. I have no wish to change for any other 
style of garment. Ore advantage Is in having one 
garment to make, wash, Iron and mend, Instead 
of t wo, which, in the present rather elaborate state 
of woman’s wardrobe, seems quite desirable. 
Probably the best thing to be said for It Is, that Its 
weight is supported by the shoulders, as Indeed, 
the weight of all clothing, especially for woman, 
should be. 
Physicians agree that not a feather's weight 
should be suspended from the lilps. In these de¬ 
generate days, when the race grows weaker more 
perceptibly than wiser, too much attention can 
scarcely be given to straps and strings and but¬ 
tons, as related to the proper physical develop¬ 
ment of girls. How many mothers attend to this, 
and to the corset question? They control their 
girls on all other subjects, It may be, but they 
rather Uke to see them look trim, like other girls, 
as they gently remonstrate against abuses worse 
than Chinese damsels Inflict on themselves, but 
they do not stop them. Will women with weak 
backs and ribs pressed together over lungs and 
heart and stomach, be likely to produoe a race of 
robust men? The Idea of tampering with the 
form God made and “ bringing It Into shape!” And 
this shapeliness does not even look better to the 
least artls tic eye. It looks better to the slave of 
fashion as do the nose-rings to the Hottentot, and 
the tiny pointed shoe to the Celestial. But 1 have 
wandered from my subject. 
Do a Clever Thing 
for your wife. She does many for you—bakes, 
cooks, scrubs and mends. Her work is never done! 
Get from your grocer a package of Gilt-Edge But¬ 
ter Maker for twenty-five cents. She can churn 
In half the time, get ten per cent., more butter 
and of a color that she will be proud of. The val¬ 
uable hook, “ Hints to Butter-Makers," Is given 
away by all store-keepers. 
Nova Post-Office, Ashland Co. Ohio, ) 
May 28, 1879. / 
The Holiday Shipping Guide, which has just 
been published by Mr. F. Loypoldt, 15 Park Row, 
New fork, la Intended as a convenient pocket di¬ 
rectory lor Holiday shopping in the Retail Center 
of New York City. It ts tutended chiefly for the 
ladles, and will save them much lline, anxiety, 
and fatigue during the rush of Christmas shopping. 
It alma especially to answer the questions whteh 
so often perplex the shopper: What can I get ? 
Where can l find It ? Wfiat other stores have It? 
Which Is the nearest ? What stores are on my 
way 7 Where shall I stop? What for? Where Is 
such and such a store t What car, etc., takes me 
nearest? Where Is the nearest Druggist, l unch 
Place, Telegraph and Messenger Office ? Etc., etc. 
This little book, In neat paper covers, sells tor 
ten cents, and can be found at any bookstore or 
news-stand. We can recommend It to our readers 
as a practical and handy shopping guide. 
Butter Improvement Co, 
ChrUlemen—M y attention was called by your cor¬ 
respondent of Elyria, Mr. Boynton, to your Gilt- 
Edge Butter Maker, and wished me to give It a 
trial. We churned one gallon of cream according 
to your directions In your letter to Mr. Boynton, 
with the following result, time of churning 12 
minutes, produced lbs, color good and quality 
far better than any thing that I have tried previ¬ 
ously. 1 have been engaged In the dairy business 
more or less for the last 15 years. Also took of the 
same cream, the same time and from the same 
bulk, omitting your powder, as per directions with 
the following result, time of churning 20 minutes, 
three pounds, quality interior, short of what Is re 
qulred In our market. 1 would further say, I made 
a second trial with about the same result. 
Truly Yours, G. S. Van Amann. 
HOW CAN MOTHERS FIGHT TOBACCO 
SUCCESSFULLY ? 
BY MARGO EKITE 
1 am a mother and have a son almost three years 
old. Doubtless, many will think me prematuv- 
on the tobacco question: so far as we are con¬ 
cerned, when 1 ask the above, but I scorn the 
weed, despise the habit, and think that tew at¬ 
tain a perfected manhood who use it—none, lr they 
commence early lu life. Think ot the money 
worse than wasted which might be used to en¬ 
noble the Immortal part ot mu.fi 1 Think ot the 
homes bearing the Impress of poverty, and of the 
wives and Children who suffer for the common 
cornfomof body and soul while a dally liberal al¬ 
lowance la made by the husband and father tor his 
usual tobacco supplies. 
When Fred was an Infant I stepped to the outer 
door of my husband's place of business one even¬ 
ing and found about a dozen boys on the platform 
who were hardly in their teens and each one was 
smoking as Intently as If the fate of the nation de¬ 
pended on hi a doing fils very best. 
Not every one smoking I hope," 1 exclaimed. 
“Yes” said one between puffs. “Just what 
your boy will be doing some day.” 
“ Never It 1 live,” I said emphatically and I hope 
I spoke truly'. 
“ Oh well," remarked another, “ my mother did 
not intend that I should, but I commenced it for 
the toothache and when that was cured I could 
not stop.” 
(Query. I wonder why tobacco Is so good lor 
boys’toothache? I never hear It pi escribed for 
girls.) 
A gentleman dined with us this week and I in¬ 
quired after the baby. 
“Oh he Is a fine little fellow, and generally 
well, but just now lie is troubled wlih worms. 
SVlfe had asked me to get medicine tor him when 
1 was down street but neglected it, and last night 
an old man staid With US who smoked an old strong 
pipe. During the evening baby gut hold of it 
auu blew through It and sucked at it for a long 
time. Wife intcrlerrod but the old man said to 
leave him alone, ” It was good medicine,” and 
that he would be welllu the morning and he is, 
“ 1 would have Interierred too,” 1 said. 
••so would t," said rny husband. “He will ac¬ 
quire a taste for It soon enough.” 
“ If my boy wanls tobacco he can have it,” said 
our visitor. “ I ’ll never oppose him.” 
“1 wlUmtue,” salfi 1. 
“ It Is of no use, M rs. Lee," ho Said. “ My father 
told me that If 1 ever used it he would whip me, 
even It 1 was as big as Joe Stevens, and he meas¬ 
ured six feet live tuehesin his stockings. When 
he Loid me we were sawing logs together, and I 
had a quid ol' tobacco In my mouth then, and 1 
had been using It for t wo years. I was neat about 
It though and kept the corners ot my mouth clean, 
and never spit upon the lloor as some ot me 
neighbors' boys did." 
“ How long before he found you out ?” was 
asked. 
“Never, until f had been lu the army for some¬ 
time, and t'ueu he wrote me that he had sent a 
box to my broihor, and was going to send one to 
rne, and if there was anything 1 wanted particu¬ 
larly to let him know, l wrote back, * for heaven's 
sane, to put. In a pound of good chewing tobacco,’ 
and when l opened the box It was there 1” 
This father lived in tar away Vermont. After 
OLD MAIDS 
A sensible writer expresses his opinion of old 
maids In the following manner: “lam Inclined to 
think that many ot the satirical aspersions cast 
upon old maids tell more to their credit than Is 
generally Imagined. Is a young woman remark¬ 
ably neat In her person ? ‘ 8he will certainly he 
an old maid.' Is she perfectly reserved towards 
the other sex 7 4 She has all the squeamishness 
of an old maid.’ Is she frugal In her expenses and 
exact In her domestic concerns ? She Is cut out 
for au old maid. If she Is kindly, humane to the 
animals about her, nothing can save her from the 
appellation of an old maid. In short, I have al¬ 
ways found that neatness, modesty, economy and 
humanity, are the never-falling characteristics of 
that terrible creature—the old maid. 
It Is no doubt a terrible thing to be an old maid, 
but so long as men drink rum, chew tobacco, 
smoke cigars, and act like fools, and even worse, 
It Is not the worst thing that can happen to a wo¬ 
man. indeed, we should not have to hunt very 
far to find plenty of women who are not old maids 
but who would give all their boots and shoes If 
they were: and who tn bitterness and sorrow 
lament the day when they suffered a yoke to be 
placed upon their necks, which ts grievous and 
hard to be borne. Marriage ts honorable In all, but 
If it Is honorable It should he honored, and those 
who make It a burden and a calamity, need not 
wonder that Intelligent and considerate women 
fear to take the risks It Involves. 
In 1850 the " Bronchial Troches” were In¬ 
troduced, and from that time up to the present 
their success In Colds, Coughs, Asthma and Bron¬ 
chitis has been unparalleled. No household should 
be without “ Brown’s Bronchial Troches as by 
their early use most troubles of the Throat In¬ 
duced by cold can be overcome. 
CONDUCTED BX MISS FAITH RiFLEY. 
IT WAS A DREAM 
Why let ladles and-ehlldren run their shoe heels 
over ? Prevent It by using Lyon’s Heel stiffeners. 
It was a dream— 
As a lily fair 
Bends o'er the placid waters low, 
My couch she bent above. 
Her eyes 
Seemed heaven’s self—so pure, so true ! 
Her dewy lips in cadouee rare, 
Lisped " Darling, 0,1 love but you I ” 
I had bowed to the spell ol the tender voice 
so oft’, 
To-night within me welled. 
In eestaoy, my inmost bouI ; 
Her face touched mine— 
Could I refrain '! 
In silent bliss I hugged and kissed— 
My brain grew wild my nose quite fiat 
Heavens'! It was my old Tom cat 
[Charlie .1, Fischer 
“ That medicine goes right to the spot, refreshes, 
revives and cures.”—A patient on Hop Bitters. 
Congress adjourned last Friday for the holidays, 
having accomplished little. On last Friday week 
the House passed the Fortifications and the Pen¬ 
sions Appropriation Bills, the latter calling for 
$32,404,000. During the week Mr. Warner has 
asked for information as to what oarne of the bi¬ 
metallic mission to the governments ot Europe, 
for which f2<),yoo was appropriated; and Mr. Mor¬ 
rill tor the effect on the revenue of the repeal of 
the duties on tea and coffee. Resolutions have 
been Introduced expressing sympathy with the 
Irish Nationalists In their effort for equal laws and 
self-government, and the hope that they may soon 
become owners of the soil they cultivate; and 
equally buncombe speeches have been made over 
petitions tor enriching the soldiers and sailors of 
the civil war by the difference between the gold 
value Of the greenbacks In which they were paid 
and their nominal value. This impudent proposi¬ 
tion of course comes trom the demagogues who 
denounced as nilnous the measure which was to 
remove the discount on greenbacks. 
Now Orleans, Dee- 21—Major George W. Carey, 
late of the firm ot Richardson <k carey, a large 
dry goods house, who waa Indicted a few days 
ago for embezzlement and forgery, was brought 
here from Mobile today on a requisition from 
Gov. Nlcholls, and remanded in default of a bond 
of $10,(HW. The Chamber of Dupuitcs at Rome 
has passed a bill authorizing the Government to 
take Immediate steps tor the prosecution of the 
public works Hi order to relieve the distress of the 
working classes by lundsblog them with employ¬ 
ment. A correspondent at i’esth says telegrams from 
Sophia state that <W Mohammedan refugees whom 
the Bulgarian Government had refused u> admit 
to their former homes, have died of cold and 
starvation in the open fields. 
A Cairo correspondent states that Gordon Pasha 
has been recalled. . . A Vienna dispatch reports 
that thu Montenegrin representative In Constanti¬ 
nople has demanded his recall in oousequence ot 
Urn difficulty of his position in regard to the Gut- 
A MOTHERLY LETTER 
Dear Miss Ripley Reading the excellent let¬ 
ter of Mrs. Griffith— Rural, Nov. 29— In regard to 
children, 1 would say that she very forcibly de¬ 
scribes a good many things that come under one’s 
dally observation. 1 echoed the remark when my 
baby was born, that I ivas •• glad lie was a boy 
not but that I love girls, but because, look¬ 
ing down the dim vtslaot years, I see more chance 
for a man tUan a woman. Take, for example, a 
young man and woman ot average age starting 
out In life, If the girl makes the slightest faux pas 
even though It he but once, aud she tiles to re¬ 
deem herself, how will she prosper ? All respecta¬ 
ble people, especially our own sex, will give her 
the cold shoulder aud treat her with contempt. 
Let the young man, however, go from bad to 
worse, aud be sunk Hi the depths of immorality 
and drunkenness; let him, I say, resolve to 
“straighten up,” and what ts the consequence V 
Why, in a few years ho Is tolerated Hi the best 
society, aud “swings around the circle” as If to 
the manor born. I heard it urged onee that a 
reitnned man made the best husband; It may fie 
so, but God forbid my girl should mate with 
such—and why not apply this argument to 
women ? then such sad eases as that of “The Un¬ 
fortunate," described lu the New York Sun, could 
or would never have taken place. The ilUfeient 
latitude granted to the sexes has always been an 
enigma to me, b«t while time endures l suppose it 
will remain the same. 
I fully endorse what your correspondent wrote 
In regard to frequent bathing, particularly lu tho 
case ot Infante. After a new-born babe has been 
MATTHEW’S HAND SEED DRILL 
Every nurseryman, gardener and amateur horti¬ 
culturist, knows how valuable and time-saving 
machine a good seed-drill Is In the spring, when 
work Is pressing. Nobody 
who raises vegetables for \f ^\— 
the market can, from a 
labor-saving point, of view, 
br.-i lu tne lnarfcat. 
We offer It as a premium to any oue who will send 
us a club of 28 subscribers, aud never was there a 
better time to get up a club than just now, during 
the holidays, when work Is slack aud friends are 
visiting aud plans are laid for the coining spring 
This drill will open a furrow, drop seed accurately 
at the desired depth, cover It, roll it lightly, and at 
the same time mark the next row. It. sows with 
an evenness aud rapidity Impossible tor the most, 
sklltlul hands to do, aud can be adjusted to sow any 
variety or garden seeds, from the size or peas to 
tbul of catnip seed. The drill Is complete Lu all lte 
arrangements, and very durable. 
