ilomrstir (Economi). 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY MAPLE. 
INVALIDS—CHAPTER 1. 
MARY BEAL M’LOUTH. 
I HAVE often wished that those who are ca- | 
pable would take up the pen In rebellion 
against so much doctoring; but as all seem 
disposed to let others do as they please, I can 
only use my iutiuence by noting a little of my 
experience. This, together with the conclu¬ 
sions drawn from observations, can bo my 
only excuse for attempting to take up a sub- 
ect, which only a physician of talents could 
handle successfully. I well know when the 
physical strength is weak, that most peo¬ 
ple prefer trying half a dozen kinds of patent 
medicines, calling in two or three physicians, 
or, mayhap, going to bed and doing nothiug, 
to exertion of any kind. If a worker, the 
latter may do as much good as anything, 
but if most of your time has been spent upon 
the lounge, with a novel for company, and 
you have gaiued a listless feeling, that you 
don't want to work, and you wont work, be¬ 
cause you don’t have to; then exercise is what 
you need. I do not think ladies spend enough 
time in the opon air. Those who feel the heat 
or are uot accustomed to work, should not go 
out for the first time on a July day when the 
thermometer and the feelings indicate that 
the heat is intense; but begin in the spring as 
soon as the weather will permit to walk, 
morning and evening, slowly at first, but with 
shoulders thrown back and head erect, and 
walk until tired. The next day walk a little 
farther, and continue this until able to walk 
several miles. I do uot know of anythiug that 
is better for nervous people, and if they walk 
until moderately tired they are always assured 
of a good night’s sleep. 
This, of course, does not apply to the labor¬ 
ing class, who are perhaps already too tired 
to sleep at all. To these I would say: Make 
some arrangement whereby you may be able 
to spend more time out-of-doors. Thoroughly 
air your sleeping rooin6 every day, and if they 
are small aud occupied by more than one, 
have a window open at night. Do not have 
on auy more bedding than possible, aud above 
all things, do not sleep on a feather bed : they 
are so weakening, and cotton mattrasses made 
with perhaps five or six pounds of cotton and 
covered with calico, on top of a good straw 
bed or spring mattrass, are much better. No¬ 
tice when you sleep too warm what a faint, 
all-gone sensatiou you have on rising in the 
morning. If you wish a tonic, iustead of tak¬ 
ing a hot sling or those accustomed bitters, 
oat a whole or even a part of a lemon before 
breakfast, every morning for a week or so, 
as the case may need. 
Of course, there are times when medicine is 
a necessary evil, but generally if one is able to 
sit up, eating small rations aud the plainest of 
food, taking moderate exercise and an abund¬ 
ance of sleep, will do much towards aiding the 
recovery. The “ Yankees,” as a people, bring 
on many of their ailments by irregular eating 
and sleeping, either eating too much, or, if 
they eat but little, it must be of the richest 
kind. I never found a family yet, that did not 
claim they lived very plainly, 60 perhaps my 
readers will not understand the meaning I at¬ 
tach to the expression, without further ex¬ 
planation. For a broth the grease should all 
be skimmed oil. Apples or small fruits sweet¬ 
ened enough to be palatable, are much better 
than preserves of auy kind, and a sweet apple 
baked is the most wholesome of all. A potato, 
baked with the least amount of butter possible 
to give it a flavor, half an orange, a taste of 
peach or pear, or a few grapes, with perhaps 
half a cup of tea, if the patient desires it, are 
sufficient for a breakfast. A slice of bread 
toasted, with a sprinkle of salt, and an egg 
broken in a basin of boiling water and cooked 
until the white is just done, will make a hearty 
dimier. For tea a Graham gem, with a piece 
of butter half an inch square, and a baked ap¬ 
ple ought to be sufficient, with perhaps a very 
little of something to drink—tea, crushed cof¬ 
fee, or water. I nearly cured dyspepsia in my 
own case, by uot drinking anythiug at the 
table. 
A person with fever of any description 
should not drink milk. Lemonade, or a little 
jelly put in water, is a good drink in fevers. 
Never take a patient more than he ought to 
eat—for fear he may think you impolite or 
stingy, even if he is your gue&t. Having ev¬ 
erything cooked nicely, and put on the plate 
nicely and carefully (aud not. thrown on), will 
do much towards making it look inviting and 
palatable. Step carefully, and noiselessly, and 
move about the bed slowly, uot jerking the 
bedding or jarring the bed, or doing anything 
to make the patient nervous. Those who have 
been sick themselves a good deal, know best 
ho\v to treat the sick ; but be as careful with 
an invalid as you would with au infant w f ho is 
weak and helpless. Never accept of any mudi- 
ine which will prevent you using water free- 
. There is not anything more soothing to a 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JULY 26 
person, confined to the bed, than bathing him 
with the hand with water, the temperature to 
suit the comfort of the patient. Do not un¬ 
dress or uncover the whole body at one time. 
Never eat for two hours before, or half an hour 
after bathing, or until thoroughly warm. 
Never refuse a patient a drink of water, but 
give him only one or two Bwallows at a time. 
Always keep the feet warm, either with drafts 
or hot brieks. When recovering, exercise 
enough to keep the blood in good circulation. 
Every one ought to study physiology, and 
make his own peculiarities and the human 
system a study, so as to be able to care for 
himself aud so prevent many diseases which 
are brought on by intemperate habits. I have 
known several who have been taking medi¬ 
cine for year&, aud the more they take the 
more they need; for, when the effect of the 
drug passes off, it leaves them worse than be¬ 
fore—cause and effect increasing until the drug 
finds lodgment in every tissue of the. physical 
fi ame, and shows the effect as perceptibly as 
it does with one who drinks whisky, eats 
opium, or uses tobacco. If the disease has 
left, the poisonous drug is in the system, which 
keeps it very much out of order, and the easier 
way is to avoid getting sick. This can many 
times be doue by proper living. You can do 
much towards throwing off a cold, by not eat¬ 
ing more than once a day and then lightly. In 
short, starve it out; driuk freely of water, 
aud, if feverish, bathe often; but if cold, go to 
bed and cover warmly until you are better. 
Out-door employment is a change and gives 
one something to occupy the mind besides the 
dull routine of housework. Do not say you 
cannot get the time—but let me tell you in my 
next several ways to gain time. 
DOMESTIC RECIPES. 
English Mixed Plckle9. 
One-half peck of small green tomatoes; 
three dozen small cucumbers; two heads of 
cauliflower; one-halt peck of tender string 
beans; six bunches of celery; six green pep¬ 
pers. and a quart of small, w'hitc onions. Chop 
the vegetables quite fine, sprinkle with salt 
and let stand over night. To six or seven 
quarts of vinegar add an ounce each of ground 
cloves, allspice and pepper, two ounces of 
turmeric and one-fourth pound of mustard 
seed. Let the vinegar aud spice come to a 
boil, put in the vegetables, and scald until 
tendor and a little yellow'. 
Iced Coffee. 
Make more coffee than you are in the habit 
of doing for breakfast. Add to it about one- 
third as much boiling milk as you have coffee, 
and set aw ay to cool. Plaee on ice aud serve 
for dinner or tea. with lump sugar aud cracked 
ice in each tumbler. Mary B. 
Fried Cucumbers. 
Pare, cut into lengthwise pieces a quarter of 
an inch thick and lay in cold or ice-water half 
an hour. Take out, wipe with a napkin, sea¬ 
son with pepper and salt, dredge with flour 
and fry to a light brown. 
Creen Corn Pudding. 
One quart of milk; three beaten eggs; one 
dozen ears of corn grated; one tablespoonful 
each of butter and sugar, aud a little salt, 
bake in a covered pudding dish one hour. 
MRS. e. L. 
-- 
QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 
Canary Bird. — We have never known a 
canary to pull out its feathers. Your bird may 
be molting aud you mistake its cleansing it¬ 
self by shaking and picking for plucking its 
feathers. Keep the bird out of all draft, give 
cuttle-fish, sand and daily bath, do aw'ay with 
all fancy food and feed only rape and canary 
seed. 
Mr. James Brooks .—Communication received 
but you have omitted your address. 
fUtos uf tjje 3i.Mli. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Monday, July 21, 1879. 
Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the wffiole State of 
Minnesota are greatly Incensed because Chicago 
capitalists have got hold of tlielr railroads and are 
running them In opposition to local interests. Not 
only have they secured the roads leading to Chica¬ 
go aud those In Southern Minnesota, but they are 
also trying to shut the wheat growers of the State 
Irorn Lake Superior, with its cheap water route to 
the East. The North Wisconsin road has been 
bought for this purpose and, more rcceully, the 
St. Paul and Duluth. There Is considerable fear 
that Chicago will capture the rest of the state’s 
railroads, and an active organization of Minnesota 
buslneas men Is at work to prevent It. The mo¬ 
nopoly already formed is so grasping that It costs 
as much to carry a bushel of wheat 26 miles from 
Farmington, Minn., to St. Paul as to send It 600 
miles to Chicago, and It is estimated that It takes 
nearly 15,000,0(H) annually from the price of Min¬ 
nesota wheat and adds several millions to the cost 
of the State’s Imports. Minnesota means fight 
and, having already organized a commercial league! 
has summoned the strong men of the State to meet 
at St. Paul next Tuesday to see what ought to be 
done. A tailed boy has been discovered at Cincin¬ 
nati, by the name of George Rehn. He has reached 
the age of four years, while the tall has attained a 
length of l-l Inches, being covered with silky, glos¬ 
sy hair. Ills where the tall ought to be, aud, so 
far from being outgrown, promises to outgrow the 
boy. The surgeons Hu (l It Is regularly articulated 
to the backbone, and don’t think It safe to take It 
off. Why should they ? Especially since the boy 
finds It a considerable help In gaining an upright 
position, like the kangaroo’s tall. Is he Darwin’s 
missing link between man and the monkey ? 
Virginia needs some energetic detectives to arrest 
her criminals. Three women and one man have 
recently been murdered and the murderers are 
still at large, one of them, Lewis White, the negro 
who murdered James Law, was last seen at Sav- 
agevllle, boasting that he was waiting for an op¬ 
portunity to kill two negro women, the only wit¬ 
nesses to the deed. 
The Legislature of this State at Its last session 
passed, an act reducing the legal rate of Interest 
from seven to six per cent. The penalties for 
usury were left as they stood In the Revised Stat¬ 
utes, and a question has been raised what the 
effect of the change is. The Mutual Life Insurance 
Company has published a legal opinion furnished 
by Its solicitor, Mr. O. H. Palmer, which shows 
that the Legislat ure has Introduced great confu¬ 
sion into the subject. The act just passed follows 
the section of the Revised statutes relating to 
Interest, merely changing the rate, but provides 
that no contract made before “ the passage of this 
act” shall be affected by it. By another section It 
is provided that the act “ shall take effect on the 
first day of January, The act was passed, 
of course, on the day It was signed by the Gover¬ 
nor ; and the first question arising under It Is: 
What Is the effect of the law on contracts between 
the date of passage and January l, 1880 V The an¬ 
swer seems to be that loans at seven per cent, may 
still be made until that tftte. The second ques¬ 
tion Is, What penalties, if any, exist for the viola¬ 
tion of this law ? The penalties In the existing law 
are all against the taking of interest above seven 
per cent., and the only change made la In the rate. 
The penalties were all made to attach to the old 
rate, and the question is whether the change In the 
rate changes the penal enactment. The statute as 
It now stands seems to be open to this singular 
Interpretation, that after January l, 1880, the legal 
rate of interest will be six per cent., but that there 
will be no penalty for usury unless more than 
seven Is charged. That Is, any rate between six 
and seven is Illegal, while at the same time no 
punishment for talcing it will be enforceable. 
Sojourner Truth Is renewing her youth In her 
lWtii year and proposes to leave her Michigan home 
to see the results of the exodus in Kansas, lectur¬ 
ing on the way to pay expenses. Kentucky Is 
setting some States of better repute an example of 
how gentlemen should conduct a political cam¬ 
paign, Dr. Rlackburn and Col Evans, the derao- 
eratlc and republican candidates for governor, 
went on the hustings In courteous discussion, and 
the doctor shares his private conveyance with ids 
rival in going from one appointment to another 
The statesment comes from Washington that the 
female jenks, smartest of all Louisiana liars, holds 
an $1800 sinecure position in the Treasury De¬ 
partment. 
George Lewis, a negro 19 years old, who mur¬ 
dered his grandmother In January last In Ches- 
fleld count y, Va., aud was sentenced to be hanged, 
having obtained a new trial, was again arraigned 
Monday. The jury, much against the prisoner’s 
wish and the protest of Ids counsel, was composed 
entirely of negroes, and Is the first of that kind 
empaneled In Virginia to try a capital offense. 
The testimony at t his trial Is much strouger than 
at the first, as the prisoner’s confession, showing 
premeditated murder, was admitted as evidence, 
but the Jury, after an hour’s deliberation, returned 
a verdict of murder In the second degree, and fixed 
the punishment at 19 years In the penitentiary. 
This verdict against the evidence, Is held to be 
a proof of the good reason the Virginia Judges 
had for excluding negroes from the Jury box. 
Public announcement was made last week that 
the Government engineer Inspecting the Missis¬ 
sippi Jetties had certified the existence of a chan¬ 
nel whose central depth between them Is thirty feet 
and at the head of the passes twenty-six feet. 
This means the completion of the great enterprise, 
though not, we suppose, the cessation of dredg - 
Ing to keep the channel dear of lumps; and It is 
still too early to settle the original question in dis¬ 
pute between Captain Eads aud the U. S. engine¬ 
ers aboutfhe re-formation of the bar and the con¬ 
sequent necessity of indefinitely extending the 
jetties. Should this contingency arise, however, 
we may hope that we shall already have found our 
profit tu the temporary relief to commerce, as well 
as be able to overcome at a less expense any re¬ 
newal of the obstacles to navigation. The moral 
and political consequences of Captain Eads’s suc¬ 
cess are visible In a closer union of feeling and 
interest between the interior section and that lying 
along the lower Mississippi and the Gulf, and In 
numerous Ill-considered suhemes of Internal Im¬ 
provement. partially staved off in Congress, In 
which the Mississippi occupies the first plaee, and 
in which captain itada is greatly relied upon, in 
other words, we might say that the Jetties have 
contributed their share to the “ nationalizing ’ of 
the Government, just as the yellow fever has done; 
the South, by a sort of poetic justice, being the 
chief agent in both cases. 
The New York chamber of commerce has been 
collecting information about the raLlroad aid ex¬ 
tended by local municipalities of the State, and It 
Is found that the total county, town and village 
bonds issued lor this purpose amount to $ 30 , 978 , 0110 . 
The bonds outstanding lor other purpose amounted 
to $n,4S7,ooo, so that three-fourths of the bonded 
debt Incurred by rural municipalities appears to 
have been for railroads. The cities ace excluded 
from this calculation; were they included, the aid 
extended to railroads would be found to be about 
one-fifth the total local indebtedness within the 
State. 
Shortly after the first alarming reports of yellow 
fever at Memphis, Tenn., the disease seemed to 
disappear from the place; most of the fugitive In¬ 
habitants returned, the quarantine established by 
other cities was raised, the authorities who had 
proclaimed the presence of the plague, were duly 
vilified and an era of business prosperity appeared 
on the eve of setting In. Early In the past week, 
however, the fever once more made Its dread ap¬ 
pearance. and eases of It have become alarmingly 
numerous. The inhabitants are again abandoning 
their homes for dear life’s sake; those, who have 
means are leaving their houses Iff Charge of colored 
servants; merchants are removl ng their goods to 
St. Louis and other safer markets, quarantine has 
been re-established on every side, the municipal 
authorities are sending off the poor, and a com¬ 
plete panic prevails. Other places In the South 
are still reported free of the scourge. 
The total number of publications In the United 
States, at the rate of Increase during the past six 
months, will be 10,000 within a year. When we 
consider that this is only one lor every 4 ,500 peo¬ 
ple, the country win not be too much enlightened 
for some time to come. The United states war 
vessel Wachusetta, engaged in enlisting boys for 
the navy, arrived at New Orleans, Monday. A 
crowd of candidates for the navy, with their rela¬ 
tives and friends, whfie waiting on the Wachusetts’ 
boats, were precipitated iuto tbe water, Thursday, 
by the sinking of the wharf. A hundred persons, 
Including many ladles, went down into the water, 
which was fifteen feet deep, but all were rescued. 
Secretary Sherman Is enjoying experiences the 
spectacle of which must make the public financiers 
of the European despots pale with envy. Ills esti¬ 
mates of tiie receipts for the fiscal year which has 
just expired have been exceeded by $9,600,000. The 
customs have brought in $. 1 , 500,000 more than he 
expected, which Is considered a sign of growing 
prosperity, but which to many people means that 
the American people is once more plunging into 
a course of unbrluled luxury, and contracting 
debts to the foreigner which will some day cause 
the sale of their houses and lands at auction for a 
mere trifle. The Internal revenue has decreased 
by about $2,000,000, owing to the proposal in Con¬ 
gress to reduce the tax on those old Mends of the 
politician, whisky and tobacco, which caused the 
distillers and tobacconists to hang back U om the 
market. Congress did reduce the tax on manu¬ 
factured tobacco from twenty-lour to sixteen cent, 
a pound. There was a gain from miscellaneous 
sources of over $ 6 , 090 , 000 , but this consisted largely 
of profits on the coinage of sliver, and therefore as 
long as the sliver lies in the Treasury Is not real¬ 
ized In fact. In considering the lncveaso in re¬ 
ceipts, the net surplus for tho year being $7,946,664, 
it must be remembered that the expenses were In¬ 
creased by the payment of $ 5 , 500,000 on account of 
the Fisheries Award, the same, amount, on account 
of arrears of pensions, and $1,600,000 paid to Cap¬ 
tain Eads for the Improvement or the mouth of the 
Mississippi. No government In the world can ex¬ 
hibit such a magnificent basis of credit as the tax- 
paying powers of this people supply, aud, In fact, 
their credit has nothing to fear Horn any quarter 
but Congress Itself. 
At a meeting of the receivers, shippers and 
millers, held lately in Chldago, the following 
grades of winter wheat were adopted : 
No. 1 white winter wheat shall be pure white 
whiter wheat, sound, plump and well cleaned. 
No. 2 white winter wheat shall be pure white 
winter wheat, sound and nearly clean. 
No. 1 amber wheat Shall be pure amber winter 
wheat, sound, plump and well cleaned. 
No. 2 amber wheat shall be of the same color 
and variety as No. 1 sound and reasonably clean. 
No. 1 long red winter wheat shall be pure red 
winter wheat of t he long-berried varieties, sound, 
plump, arid well cleaned. 
No. 2 long red winter wheat shall be of tbe same 
varieties as No. 1, sound and reasonably clean. 
No. 1 red winter wheat shall be pure red winter 
wheat of both fight and dark colors, of the shorter- 
berried varieties ; sound, plump and well cleaned. 
No. 2 red winter wheat shall be of the same va¬ 
rieties as No. 1 , sound and reasonably clean. 
No. 2 winter wheat shall Include all Northern 
grown winter wheat and all mLxtures of the vari¬ 
ous descriptions of winter wheat, and shall bO 
sound, reasonably clean, and of good milling qual¬ 
ity. 
No. 3 winter wheat shall Include winter wheat 
not clean and plump enough for No. 2 , and weigh¬ 
ing not less than fifty-four pounds to the measured 
bushel. 
Rejected winter wheat shall Include winter 
wheat, damp, musty, or from any cause so badly 
damaged as to rendered It unfit for No. 3. 
The State of Maryland, with 4 , 000,000 acres of 
unctlltlvated land and 1 , 000,000 acres of wild pas¬ 
turage, has only 151,200 sheep. The reason as giv¬ 
en for this state of things Is that 7 per cent, of the 
sheep are annually killed by dogs. The entire 
south has less than 7 , 000,000 sheep, and of these 
500,000 are said to be destroyed by dogs. Yet the 
South has summer pasturage and winter keep lor 
from 70 , 000,000 to 100 , 000,000 sheep, If rightly man¬ 
aged. A statute law of Illinois requires farmers 
and others to keep their hedges trimmed down to 
a hlght of four and a half feet. The law Is very 
little regarded, 'l'lils year’s peach crop In the Del¬ 
aware, New Jersey and Maryland district Is esti¬ 
mated at rrom four to five million baskets. 
KOKKU1N. 
In Great Britain tho present agriculture 1 depres 
ston is the chief topic of discussion, uot merely In 
country places, but also hi Parliament, the cities 
and the public press, interest in It transcends 
that in tho Zulu war ur even thaL In the doings of 
Sara Bernhardt. Although the crops are almost 
ruined by a backward season and much rain, yet 
prices of grain are still comparatively low. This 
Is due altogether to the enormous qualities u'hleh 
are received at the various ports, or are on their 
way thither. Our latest mall advices are ten or 
eleven days old. At that time the amount of 
wheat In passage exceeded that at the same date 
last year by 3 , 200,000 bushels; and while the de- 
