THE 
RURal NEW-YORKER. 
463 
from the Inflexible, the defiant yowl was repeated 
and two small sprays ol diluted vitriol were spit 
out at the cat—calculated to arouse the deepest 
Indignation the turbulent breast of a cat Is capa¬ 
ble of. At the same time the counterfeit tall would 
swell up and wave to and fro, aggressively. Tho 
natural result was a closing In of tho now excited 
cat upon the Inflexible, touching a hair trigger 
and releasing the machinery. The barbed claws 
now clutched the victim, the vitriol squirted, there 
was a wriggle, a yell and three yaups, and all was 
over. Then there was a faint click, the Inflexible's 
claws relaxed, the victim dropped to the ground, 
and all was ready for a nother cat. 
The Invention is a perfect success. Although 
only a month has elapsed since its Introduction, 
the boot-jack market Is completely broken, whllo 
crockery and bed-slat, specula tors are selling short. 
Edison has examined the instrument and pro¬ 
nounces It a thorough success. We understand 
that an agency for the Inflexible Is socn to be 
established In this city.— yew Orleans Times. 
A CURE FOR RHEUMATISM. 
The Remarkable Properties of Lelery In this 
Muluily. 
Numerous cures of rheumatism by (he use of 
celery have recently been announced li English 
papers ; but the following, more In detail, la given 
on the authority of the New York Times: “ New 
discoveries—or what claim to be discoveries—of the 
healing virtues of plants are continually making. 
* One of the latest Is that (celery la a cure for 
rheumatism indeed, It Is asserted that the dis¬ 
ease Is impossible If the vegetable be cooked and 
freely eaten. The fact that It is always put on the 
table raw prevents Its therapeutic powers irons 
becoming known. Tho celery should be cut Into 
bits, boiled in water until soft., and the water drank 
by the patient. Put new milk, with a little flour and 
nutmeg, into a sauce pan with the boiled celery, 
serve It warm with pieces of toast, eat It with po¬ 
tatoes, and the painful ailment will soon yield. 
Such is the declaration of a physician who has 
again and again tried the experiment, and with 
uniform success. lie 3dds that cold and damp 
never produce, but develop the disease, of which 
acid blood Is the primary aud sustaining cause, and 
that while the blood Is alkaline there can be neither 
rheumatism nor gout. English statistics show that 
In one year (IST6) 2,040 persons died or rheumatism, 
and every case, it Is claimed, might have been 
cured or prevented by adoption of the remedy 
mentioned. At least two-thirds of the cases named 
heart disease, are ascribed to rheumatism and Its 
agonizing ally, gout. Small-pox, so much dreaded, 
Is not half so destructive as rheumatism, which, It 
Is maintained by many physicians, can be pre¬ 
vented by obeying nature’s laws In diet, llut If 
you have Incurred It, boiled celery Is pronounced 
unhesitatingly to be a specific.’ ” 
- *■■*■■* - 
Pins that Preserved a Man’s Reason.— In the 
show window of one of the leading Jewelers of Vi¬ 
enna Is exposed to view a brooch, magnificently 
studded with gems, in the middle of whose chasing 
Is Inclosed the most singular of centers—four com¬ 
mon, old, bent and corroded pins. This brooch Is 
the property of the Countess Lavetskofky. The 
pins have a history, of course. Seven years ago 
count Robert Lavetskofky was arrested at Warsaw 
for an alleged lusult to the Russian Government. 
The real author of the Insult, which consisted of 
some careless words spoken at a social gathering, 
was Ids wife. Jie accepted the accusation, how¬ 
ever, and was sent to prison. In one of the light¬ 
less dungeons lit which t he Czar Is so fond of con¬ 
fining his Polish subjects the unfortunate martyr 
for his wife’s loose tongue spent six years. He 
had only one amusement. After he had been 
searched aud thrown into a cell he had found in 
his coat four pins. These ho pulled out and threw 
on the floor; then in the darkness ho hunted for 
them. Having found them, perhaps after hours 
and even days, he scattered them again. And so 
the game went on for six weary years. “ But tor 
them,” ho writes In his memoirs, “I would have 
gone mad. They provided mo with a purpose, bo 
long as I had them to search ror I had something 
to do. When the decree for my liberation as an 
exile was brought to me the. jailor found me on 
ray knees hunting ror one which had escaped me 
for two days. They saved my wife’s husband from 
lunacy. My wife, therefore, could not desire a 
prouder ornament.” 
Washington Ikying anu Ei genie.— The gossip 
about the Napoleons set adrift by the tragic oc¬ 
currence In South Africa brings up a letter from 
Washington Irving to his niece. Ho wasin Europe 
In J353, and tho Emperor had just been married. 
“ Louis Napoleon and Eugenie Montljo, Emperor 
and Empress of tlic french 1 one of whom 1 have 
had a guest at my cottage on the Hudson; tho 
other of whom, when a child, I have had on my 
knees at Grenada. It seems to cap the climax of 
the strange dramas of which Parts has been the 
theater during my lifetime. 1 have repeatedly 
thought thiii each coup tie theatre would be the 
last that would occur In my time-, but each has 
been succeeded by auother equally striking. The 
last I saw o( Eugenic Montljo she was one of the 
reigning belles of Madrid. 1 • Am I to 
Uvetosee the catastrophe of her career, and the 
end of this suddenly conjnred-up empire, which 
seems to be of such stuff as dreams are made of v 
* * ’ 1 consider it as liable to extravagant 
vicissitudes as one of Dumas' novels.” lie did not 
live to see the catastrophe, but It came. 
-♦♦♦- 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Tennyson’s — The Lover’s Tales Boston: 
Houghton, Osgood & do. 
TnE circumstances connected with the publica¬ 
tion of this poem give It an Interest apart from Its 
attractions us a literary production. When the 
poet laureate was a youth of nineteen, two pans 
of The Lover’s Tale were printed, and, feeling, as 
he says, “ the imperfection of the poem, I with¬ 
drew It from the press. One of my friends distri¬ 
buted some copies of these two parts without my 
knowledge, without the omissions and amend¬ 
ments I had in contemplation, and marred by 
many misprints of the compositor. Seeing that 
these two parts have of late been mercilessly pi¬ 
rated, and that what I had deemed scarce worthy 
to live Is not allowed to die, may I not be pardoned 
If I suffer the whole poem at last to come Into the 
light, accompanied with a reprint of the sequel—a 
workof my mature lire—‘The Golden Supper?’” 
Those, who have read this last (as who that has a 
copy of Tennyson has not?) will not regret the 
“ piracy ” which Impelled the poet to publish the 
poem complete. 
How to Train lit AYcliery; being a complete study 
of tlie York Hound, comprising an exhaustive man¬ 
ual of long range bow shootiug for the uso of those 
archers who wish to become contestants a t the Grand 
National Association meetings. By Maurice Thomp¬ 
son. author of Tho Witchery of Archery. Now York: 
E. L. Horseman. 
The general theory and practice of archery Is 
not treated of In this work, nor Is the hunting of 
game with bow and arrows touched on. The hook 
Is designed for the advanced bowman and bow- 
woman who, feeling their power, are making ready 
for the highest achlovments In tho most difficult 
Held of archery, the York Round and the Columbia 
and National Rounds. 
Little Pitchers. By Sophie May. Illustrated. 
Boston: Lee & Shepard. Price 75c. 
Tlie name of this author Is the sure guarantee of 
an entertaining book for tho little folks, and we 
venture, the prediction that Polllo and Posy (the 
hero and heroine) will gain a host of friends and 
admirers among the children. The pictures—of 
which there are a half-dozen or so—very prettily 
Illustrate the text. 
Hetty’s Boarder. Boston: Loring & Co. Priee60c. 
A bright little story, which will serve admirably 
for piazza, hammock, railway or steamboat ser¬ 
vice. 
- *-*■* - 
The Century.—' This new claimant for public 
favor Is proving Itself to be one of the most attrac¬ 
tive of weekly publications. The articles are ex¬ 
tracted from foreign sources, and a wise discrimina¬ 
tion and an appreciative sense of what will be 
likely to interest American readers, Is displayed 
In the selections given. The following table of 
contents taken from issue of July 12 will give a 
fair idea of the work The century is doing: The 
Literature of the Assyrians and Babylonians- 
Men of the Times, The Editor of Punch; The 
Lover’s Tale; Victor Hugo’s Political Career; A 
Moral In Lemous; A Buried Lake village; The 
Vicissitudes of Authors; An English Opinion of the 
Rev. Joseph cook; The impressions of Theo- 
phrates Such, IV., a man surprised at HU Origi¬ 
nality’; The Heir of the Boriapartists; A Utopian 
Experiment, The Jesuit Settlements in Paraguay; 
An Egyptian Watering-Place; A British flunkey 
and the King of Italy; America Abroad; Lieut. 
Wheler s Survey Work in Oregon; A Ballad ot 
Babylon; Stray Notes. 
MAGAZINES. 
Contents of the July Number of Eclectic.— 
On the Study of Natural History. By Professor St. 
George Mlvart; A Speech at Eton. By Matthew 
Arnold; The History of Games. By Edward B. 
Tylor, LL.D.; John Brown. A True Story; Syd¬ 
ney Dobell.— A Personal Sketch. By Robert Bu¬ 
chanan ; on Chinese Fans. By Herbert A. Giles; 
Mr. Browning's Dramatic Idylls. By Mrs. Suther¬ 
land Orr; A Problem In Human Evolution. By 
Professor Grant Allen; Mademoiselle de Mersac. 
Chapa. X., XL and XU.; Spring’s Gilts. By Alex¬ 
ander 11. Japp; Two impostors of tlie Eighteenth 
Century; Peter the Great; Literature and Medi¬ 
cine; Flowers and their Unbidden Guests: The 
Melancholy of the Educated English; A Coquette; 
General Albert J. Slyer. By the Editor ; Literary 
Notices; Foreign Literary Notes; Science and Art. 
Cost of Royalty— The dliference In the sala¬ 
ries paid to kings and royally and those paid to 
the servants ot the people tu our Republic is 
striking. The czar of Russia gets $8,230,000 per 
year, or $25,ooo a day. The Sultan of Turkey gets 
annually $6,000,000, or $18,000 a day. Napoleon 
III. had a salary or $.>, 000,000 annually, or $14,000 
a day, Francis Joseph of Austria receives $ 1 , 000 ,- 
000 a year, or $11,000 a day. King William of 
Prussia Is paid $ 3 , 000,000 a year, and Victor Eman¬ 
uel $ 2 , 100 , 000 , and good Queen Victoria manages 
to live on $2,200,000. Now, In addition to these 
salaries, each sovereign is furnished with a dozen 
or more Urst-class residences free of cost. 
Anecdote of Bism arck;.— Prince Blsmark is 
always spoken of as a great statesman. But he 
has other remarkable characteristics, some of 
which are mentioned In Ills biography by Dr. 
Busli. Ills knowledge of cookery is said to be 
prodigious. He can discourse on all the known 
varieties of fish; lie has original views about the 
trying or oysters; he has a wonderful comprehen¬ 
sion ot the different shades of cheese; and he can 
talk by the hour on tlie relative qualities of wines. 
During the war the French were roundly told that 
If they wanted to get a pleasant treaty ot peace 
they must give lilm good dinners, and he threat¬ 
ened to chastise Baron Rothschild's steward at 
Ferrlcres lor refusing to provide tho King with 
some of the many thousand bottles of wine which 
were locked up tu the cellar. He once telegraphed 
to Germany for a fresh supply of git). Happily, 
the strength Ot the great t heologlcal statesmans 
head Is as remarkable as his theoretical acquain¬ 
tance with the mysteries of vintages and malt. 
•' He has beaten topers In beer-houses" with a 
completeness In which he has taken a just pride 
a quarter of a century afterward, aud “ he can 
challenge assembled humanity ” to outdo him In 
tlie art ot remaining perfectly sober under dif¬ 
ficult conditions.— Eclectic for Jala. 
Jfar Moratit. 
CONDUCTED BY MISS FAITH RIPLEY. 
ONE IN A THOUSAND. 
“ Bhf.’s one iu a thousand,” 
Said old farmer Grey, 
As he waded knee-deep 
In the sweet-scented hay, 
“ You won’t find her like, inarm. 
From here to the town— 
That woman out there 
In the calico frown. 
“ If you could have seen her 
That morning In May, 
When I stopped at her father’s 
And took her away 
A likely young bride, maria, 
So blooming and fair, 
And ‘ clipper’ as that little lamb 
Frisking there ! 
“ When first wc were married, 
And all for my eako," 
(And here tho old farmer 
Leaned hard on hie rake.) 
“ She gavo up her music 
Aud gave up bor books— 
No nonsense about her 
You know by her looks !” 
“ And if you should lose her ?” 
I ventured to say. 
Tho old farmer sighed. 
And looked down at his hay. 
“ ’ Twould nigh break my heart!" 
He repliod with a tear; 
“ As now help’s uncommonly 
High about here!" 
--- 
SWEEPING. 
Sweeping, though a common practice, should 
not he done according to the rule laid down for all 
great achievements In life—do not “begin at the 
bottom of the ladder” (or the stair, as the case may 
be,) tor ascension to the highest part of your 
dwelling. Begin at the top of the “topmost” 
room, and, with hair and hands protected, sweep 
the walls well, destroying the “skilful” spider, 
who tolls and spins that you may find no leisure 
for idling. Having closed all doors of wardrobes, 
closets and connecting rooms, dampened the 
broom, sprinkled the floor (If carpeted, with damp 
meal, otherwise, with water), sweep the dirt Into 
the hall, closing tho door behind you. When each 
room has been treated, sweep the hall and state- 
way, each room below, and lastly, the hall below, 
taking the dirt out the back door on to a dustpan, 
or box set with one side beneath the projection of 
porch, or last step. By this time the dust will 
have settled above, and you may go to work vigor¬ 
ously with a duster made of the soft feathers of a 
turkey, sewed with stout thread around a handle 
with a notch In it for holding an occasional wrap 
of the thread. The inside ot each feather should 
be out. In constructing a duster, causing It to re¬ 
semble an expanding convolvulus, or petunia, 
with green morocco calyx tor concealing the 1 «m- 
ends and stitches. The broken handle of a parasol 
Is a good foundation to work upon, and Is usually 
furnished with “hook or crook” for hanging it up. 
If not, tie a red tape around one of the delicate 
grooves. When clone sweeping and dusting, wipe 
up spots upon the floor or carpet, and leave the 
rooms to air. 
Making Coffee, 
Is too frequently done “ by chance.” Pick, rinse, 
and pul to bake (If you have no toaster J In an 
oven or pan, with a close lid. When dry, add a 
small lump of butter to Insure uniformity of color 
i a browning, aud as It gets brow n on top, remove the 
ltd and stir thoroughly, level and replace the lid, 
till all Is of a light-brown and will break by re)'}/ 
hanl pressure of the linger and thumb; take from 
the lire, leaving the lid on (the whole secret of 
oood coffee Res In retaining the aroma, so easily 
freed by parching and bolUng) till cool euoogh to 
add egg without cooking, (in winter when eggs 
are scarce and butter loses its gilt, 1 put the yelks 
In the butter and the whites In the coffee). Stir 
the coffee till all the berries or grains are glazed 
and dry, pul Into a close box or canister. lor 
breakfast, grind the coffee at night, allowing a 
tablespoonlul 01 ground coffee to each cup of water 
to be added, pur. into a clean, sweet, pot, and pour 
over it one cup of boiling water, stop ilie spout, 
and set In a cool place. In the morning fill up with 
boiling water from the grounds ot the previous 
day. For this purpose keep two coffee pots, and 
use them thus alternately, scouring with ashes 
after boiling the grounds, scalding and airing. 
Mrs. M. L. S. 
-- 
MEN AS FINANCIERS. 
It Is a well-known fact that when a business 
man falls. In nine cases out ot ten, it is through 
the extravagance 01 lus wife, his daughter, or 
some oilier relative or friend of the female per¬ 
suasion. Such “ necessities ’’ as tobacco, liquor, 
fast horses and the club,” which he requires to 
make lire comfortable have, of course, no depress¬ 
ing effect on his nuances. Personally he abhors 
debt—has worked Rke a galley-slave to support a 
woman spendthrift, but finally has had to suc¬ 
cumb to an unusual pressure In the money market, 
and he finds himself In middle Rte stranded on the 
reef ot poverty. It Is a pathetic picture, or rather 
would be It It were true. 
There is still another fact which masculine 
writers have striven to impress on the public, and 
that Is. the unfitness of the mind feminine to grap¬ 
ple with problems of finance. Woman may be¬ 
come absolute mistress of any of the arts, but 
when It comes to mathematics ami science she Is a 
failure; so say the gentlemen oracles. Now, I 
dou’t pretend to dispute this; but what I can’t un¬ 
derstand is, why it is that men who, as a sec, never 
contract debts for themselves, aud M ho have, 
moreover, a monopoly of the faculty for managing 
financial matters, should succeed lu plunging 
every city, county and state In the land lu debt. 
The men have all to say about appropriations. 
taxation, etc.; no woman Ignorant of money 
affairs and with spendthrift procUvltles, Is per¬ 
mitted a voice In town, state or national council, 
strange, most strange, that with men and men 
only at the helm, there should be such a report as 
the following: The municipal debt of 130 cities, 
representing a population of only 8,518,249, is $644,- 
378,663. The percentage of Increase in debt hi six- 
years being 200 per cent.; In taxation S3 per cent.; 
In valuation T5 per cent., and in population only 33 
per cent. 
In New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, Wis¬ 
consin, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Connecticut, 
Georgia, and Rhode Island, the total aggregate of 
local debt is $546,285,528. The total local debt of 
the country, at the end of 1378, was $1,051,106,112, 
exclusive of State debts. 
It strikes me that female arithmetic of the most 
Irresponsible sort could hardly do worse than that. 
Cities, counties and townships owing more than a 
billion of dollars, besides which there are state 
debts and the national debt 1 
Men may be superior financiers, but I’d hate to 
have one of them (tuls)raanage my money. I 
should expect to be bankrupt in about three 
months. Linda Brown. 
-- 
A CRUEL AND INFAMOUS LAW. 
While Massachusetts has gone forward, and not 
only by its last Legislature secured for married 
women the right to their own wearing apparel, 
hut also the right for all women to vote for mem¬ 
bers of the school committee, Ohio has gone back¬ 
ward and re-cnacted an old law which enabled a 
father to will away Ills child, born or to be born. 
The Delaware Signal publishes the text of the law, 
and comments as follows 
The Ohio Legislature, at its session last winter, 
adopted a codification of various laws, and among 
them the statute In relation to Guardians of Min¬ 
ors, the 13th section or which 13 In these words : 
“ Any lather, or In case the father be dead, or 
have gone to parts unknown, any mother may, by 
last will In writing, appoint a guardian or guardi¬ 
ans for any of his or her children, whether born at 
the time of making the will, or afterward, to con¬ 
tinue during the minority ot the child, or for a less 
time." 
This Is a re-enactment ot the old law, and prob¬ 
ably the members of the Legislature did not take 
the trouble to read it before they voted tor It, 
Seven years ago, when the law was the same, in a 
letter to Mrs. R. A. S. .Januey, Horn G. T, Stewart, 
on the laws of Ohio as to married women, pub¬ 
lished In the Columbus Gazette, he thus denounced 
this and other laws which deprive the mother of 
her natural right to tlie care and society of her 
children: 
“ But there Is a legal wrong more disgraceful to 
our manhood and more cruel to her womanhood 
than any other. It is that old relic ot the dark 
ages which robs the mother of her children, and 
gives the legal custody of even the young tnfant to 
the father. The Interventions of our courts have 
done something at times to relieve the atrocities of 
this law; but it is oDly a faint relief against a foul 
enormity, r will not defame the beasts of the field 
and or the forests by say ing this Is a brutal law; 
for the whole brute creation concede to the mother 
her natural right to the society, care and custody 
ot her offspring. 
It is the peeuflar Infamy ot man that, by the 
Iron force, ot laws made by himself, he does a 
deed of cruelty that shocks and shames all nature. 
He does what even the tiger and hyena would not 
dare to do—what they would loathe to do. He 
treads down the Laws of God and crushes the heart 
of humanity In Its dlvlnest of lights, In Its most 
sacred of duties. There is no relation on earth 
so near to heaven as that of the mother and her 
child. A heavy retribution wlU fall on any peo¬ 
ple that permits this hoUe6t of human relations 
to be outraged. Often this rifle of law becomes an 
instrument of the most fiendish tyranny and tor¬ 
ture In the hand ot wicked husbands; and many 
a poor wife suffers even unto death me most cruel 
abuse rather than he tom from her children. But 
she suffers and files in silence. 
•■If the public purse Is pinched a little, there Is 
a cry in the markets, and all the people know It. 
Yet myriads of hearts are bleeding and breaking 
In the secret places of domestic life, and the world 
heeds nothing of them until It hears their funeral 
bells. In my practice as a lawyer 1 have found 
eases which aroused my pity for the poor victims 
of this tyranny, and my indignation at tho law 
that sustains It; and I have seen how difficult It 
Is to obtain roller against It in the courts. The 
law is utterly Indefensible on any ground of ar¬ 
gument, and if its converse as a supposition had 
been the prevailing rule, aud tills was proposed as 
a new principle of legislation, It would be uni¬ 
versally scouted with horror and disgust. But It 
Is one ot those barbaric wrongs which have come 
down to us wiifle with the frosts of ages, and red 
with the blood of hearts, and it requires a strong 
moral power to remove it.” 
The State of Kansas has set a noble example in 
tills reform, for it has placed in Its Constitution a 
provision which guarantees to mot here there the 
right by law 10 the custody of their children. It 
seems as If the young States of the West are the 
pioneers In civilizing our laws, as well as our 
territories. Ler uhlo rake Its place In the front, 
aud not in the rear of the grand movement which 
Is sweeping over the world for the emancipation of 
Woman. 
-- 
EDITORIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. 
In response to many requests, I will give illustra¬ 
tions of summer styles for ladles' dresses and hats, 
In Rural of July 26. r. r. 
--»♦ » . — • 
A generation that will listen to “Pinafore” for 
three hundred nights and will read M. Zola's sev¬ 
enteenth romance, can no more read Homer than 
It could read a cuneiform Inscription. It will 
read about Homer just as It. will read about, a cu¬ 
neiform inscription and will crowd to see a few 
pots which probably came from the neighborhood 
of Troy .—Frederick Harrison in the Fortnightly, 
