BUBAL NEW-YORKER. 
so occupied. But we are surprised to find that the 
mule has such a good memory.” 
One of a party of six Boston hoys who are spend¬ 
ing their vacation at Konnehunk. sent the follow¬ 
ing expressive letter : “ We dug a woodchuck out 
of hl3 hole ; It was a skunk; we slept In the barn 
that night.” 
All the clothes Adam had for a long time was 
the close of day, while a mantle of night was his 
bed-clothes. 
<#oi: 
OONDUJTBD BY MISS FAITH RIPLEY. 
A YARN ABOUT SPINNING. 
That the arts of obtaining food aud clothing 
have been practiced from the earliest period is 
known to all. But while the tailor and gardener 
have each claimed the greatest antiquity lor his 
respective professions—the former on the ground 
that Adam did nut till the earth until expelled 
from Eden, bub followed the craft of tailor, by 
sewing together fig-leaves—we must assert that 
the human race Is much more Indebted to the 
spinsters, who. making the first advance W civiliza¬ 
tion, relieved mankind from the necessity of weal¬ 
ing the leaves of t rees, or the skin of beasts, 'the 
literature, proverbs and superstitions of most 
nations have reterouee to this fact; while the dis¬ 
taff and spindle have been the symbols of woman’s 
Industry in all times and countries. Among the 
many popular fancies of the middle ages, none was 
more firmly held, or mure deeply rooted, than the 
belief that Eve was the first spinster. The lines, 
“ Wheu Ailum delved aud Eve spun, 
who was thou the Kuuttanau?" 
formed the rallying cry in some English insurrec¬ 
tions, during feudal times. 
The expulsion of our first, parents from Eden 
was a favorite subject with the medieval painters, 
aud the first pair are usually represented in i nis 
wise. Adam, who passes out first, receives w ith an 
air of abject submission, a spade, riom Lire attend¬ 
ant angel; while Eve, already supplied with spin¬ 
ning materials, walks boldly forth, carrying her 
distaff and twirling her spindle. 
The allusions to spinning in the sacred writings 
speak of the antiquity of the art, while praising its 
professors. Abraham refused to take a thread of 
the spoil; flax Was cultivated In t he time of hoses ; 
the women who were wise-hearted spun with 
their hands; aud she, the wire woman, par excel¬ 
lence, whose worth was above rubies, laid her 
hands to the distaff and t he spindle. 
By the classical writers of Greece and Home, Mi¬ 
nerva,the goddess of wisdom, was made the Inven¬ 
tor of spinning homer speaksoi a distaff as being a 
present lit tor a queen; and every one has heard oi 
the labors of Penelope, though Valerius, in corio- 
lanus, says spitefully, “ all the yarn she spun In 
Ulysses's absence, only served to fill Ithaca full of 
moths.” 
Plmy tells us chat the distaff and spindle of 
Cala, Queen of Tarquhiiuus Prisons, was pre¬ 
served in the Temple of Fortune, 'this royal 
spinster was considered the model of a good wife; 
hence a dlsiaff, charged with wool, aud a spindle 
were carried before a icomau bride, aud when the 
procession ieaoncd the bridegroom s house, the 
bride was asked her name, to which she replied, 
“Cala.” The three lutes, who, according to 
ancient mythology, presided over man s mundane 
existence, were spinners; one held the distaff, an¬ 
other spun, aud the third cut the thread of life. 
A picture on the wall of a house in Pompeii rep¬ 
resents a woman spinning In etftctly the same 
manner as that described by the auelent poets; 
and the Italian peasants spin now Just as they did 
In the days oi Cora, bong ere •• Romulus ana Re¬ 
mus bad been suckled,’’ us wo learn from paintings 
In the tombs of Beni-Uassau, the yarn tor the “dne 
linen of Egypt” was spun in the same manner; and 
so do the wretched lelluhs still spin in the shade of 
the pyramids. Mummies have become merchan¬ 
dise; pharaoh has been sold for balsam; even the 
eagle and lasers, symbols of Imperial and consular 
power, nave been swept away; but the distaff aud 
spindle, emblems of domestic peace and household 
cares, still remain. Their history, could it be 
written, would be the history of the human race— 
the same hopes and wishes, tears and aspirations, 
have been experienced by millions of the various 
tribes and religions who have used these simple 
Implements. 
Among the Saxons, spear-half and. splndle-half 
expressed the male or female lines of descent, and 
In their tombs a sword was laid by the remalus of 
a man, a splnuio by those oi a woman. 
The French law, by which -no woman shall suc¬ 
ceed In Salic laud,” is popularly expressed by the 
words, “the kingdom of France never tails under 
the distaff.” 
Previous to the introduction of the spinning- 
wheel worked by the foot, spinning, though a nec¬ 
essary arc, was merely the occupation ot female 
lclsuro-the employment of iich and poor in the 
Intervals of more serious business. But through 
the more rapid production or yarn by the wheel, 
spinning became a mod.; of obtaining- a livelihood, 
and consequently the art sank la the social scale. 
A somewhat similar change lias been produced by 
the Invention of the machine and consequent ex¬ 
tinction of the wheel. No w ir is persons of much 
lower social standing who wait In the halls or the 
glam 8team, io tend the whirling, many-bobblned 
mule aud Jenny. 
The quantity of yarn spun in a day by a good 
spinner depended on Its fineness, in Scotland a 
hank, or twelve cuts, was considered a fair day’s 
work. But the spinners of Tyrone, the best In 
Ireland, thought two dozen no extraordinary task, 
and at their contests of skill they often produced 
as many as four dozen In one day. Edward Eggle¬ 
ston, in the “Circuit Rider,” speaks of “Patty spin¬ 
ning her two dozen outs a day.” 
The distaff and spindle, besides being the uni¬ 
versal symbols and companions ot the softer sex, 
could be used as offensive or defensive weapons. 
In the south of Europe the pointed steel spindle Is 
sometimes used as a, stiletto, while in the north the 
heavy distaff may be used as a club. “ We’ll 
thwack him hence with distaves,” says iiermione, 
In “A Winter s Talc.” Goneril, in “ e mg Lear,” 
says, alluding to the “cowish terror” of her help¬ 
mate, “ 1 must change amis at homo, and give the 
distaff into my husband’s hands." 
lu France, Queen Bertha of the long-foot; in 
Italy, Bertha or the horn; In Germany, Frau Berta 
the fairy, and la England, Bertha the saint, are 
spoken of as the patronesses of spinning. They 
are all derived from the same source, the Scandi¬ 
navian mythology, and arc the more modern rep¬ 
resentatives of nerthua, or Freeya, the Norsemen’s 
Inventor of spinning. 
It was considered a very Inauspicious omen by 
the Romans for a traveler to meet a woman spin¬ 
ning; and nearly two thousand years later tne 
same idea prevailed in France, in the isle or 
Mau, and also in Northern Germany It was con¬ 
sidered sinful to spin on Saturday, in Scottish 
farm-houses the wheel was put away early ou 
Saturday, not lrom any feeling or superstition, but 
in reverence for the approaching day of rest. 
Like the black-jack, tlio wheel of the turnspit 
dog, and the pack-saddle, the spinning-wheel is 
now almost unknown, save as a relic of the past. 
And when we take Into consideration that a steam 
engine will whirl lou.ouu spindles at ouee, rattling 
off 30,000 miles of .yarn every horn; at au expense 
of less than a cent, for every six miles—that the 
thousands oj women lending splnulug-muohines 
earn more In a day than they would la a week at 
hand-spiraling—wo may, in splieofall the pleasant 
recollections of the spinning-wheel, be content to 
leave It on the shell: Its work Is done—our yam Is 
spurt- Emily Louise ’1’aphn. 
WOMEN AS BLACKSMITHS. 
A correspondent of the Ball Mall Gazette wilt¬ 
ing from Rowley Regis-a Lancashire village— 
thus describes one of tne strange sights of that 
strange district :— 
I came hero to inquire lor myself how much It 
would cost to deliver one hundred tons of coal a 
month by Lite Rowley Colliery company at two 
or three given localities within a distance of ten 
miles; and having satisfied myself on that point., 
much to my pleasure 1 continued my walk trow the 
coalpit up through the fields to Rowley old Church. 
1 came to a place called Bell End, which Is appar¬ 
ently a new part of the old village. Through a 
small window l observed a female head bobbing 
up and down; soon I heard tlio sound or a ham- 
uier; and never having seen any riveting done by 
human hands, I threaded my way through some 
brick passages until r came to the little smithy 
where-Alice” was at work. This was Ole name 
by which her father called her, v, fiom I met on ruy 
way, and Lo whom I am indebted for the following 
remarkable piece of knowledge. 
Alice, I may say. was a young wife engaged In 
blowing bellows, heatingplecesor Iron lna ■‘glued" 
forge, and producing rivets from an anvil at the 
rate of a.ouo a duv. For this manual labor, Alice, 
her father proceeded to tell me In her presence,’ 
gets from the Warehouse is. &d., out ot which she 
has to pay tor wear and tear of tools id , carriage 
id., and a lilve sum for gleods, a kind of small coke 
made expressly for nail and rivet forges. On 
Monday she does her washing, ou Saturday her 
cleaning up, so that she only works at rivets four 
days In the week, and.her gross earnings therefore 
amount to as. 3(1. lor forging 12,000 rlveia. I have 
said nothing of rent which Alice would pay, and 
which might amount to one shilling a week. she 
was a sedate young woman, well spoken, with 
very fair hair and a low sweet voice. John Price 
(Alice’s father) then, at my request, took me to see 
Ids neighbors, Edward and Phyllis Tromans, who 
lived and worked at making nails close by. Phyl¬ 
lis is a handsome woman, with beauiinii white 
teeth and abundance of flesh, which Rubens might 
have painted, It is so plentiful and rosy, this 
woman was forging large nails, and the manner In 
which she made a nail with a point, and a head an 
inch and a halt in circumference, Uy off a piece or 
hoc Iron was marvellous to behold. 
She works from eight o’clock In the morning un- 
Lll nine at Dtglvt, and In tour days will forge fifty- 
four pound weight of clout nalLs, for which she 
will reoelve the wondrous price of 3 s. sd., out of 
which she has to pay fiwpenee for gleeds and two¬ 
pence for tools. Her husband works “as hard as 
he can drive ’ from six o clock lu the morning un¬ 
til eleven at night; ami his week’s wages amount 
to 12 s., from which tenpence for gleeds and rour- 
pence for tools will have to be deducted—to say 
nothing of rent. Edward Tromans was only forty- 
three years old, but looked much nearer seventy. 
T\\ r o other young women were hammering away 
at rivets m company with Puylus; and never as 
long as 1 live shall I forget that little black smithy. 
1 once traveled many miles to see •• vulcans 
Forge" by Velasquez: but there was In that fa¬ 
mous picture no figure equal to that of Phyllis 
Tromans, and I shall remember Phyllis to the day 
of toy deat h. That such a woman oho old be slav¬ 
ing In soot—blowing bellows, now with her leit, 
and then wielding a hammer with her right hand 
—forging clout nails for twelve hours a day, in 
order to cam less than forty pence in a week, Is a 
phenomenon that l would never have believed as 
being possible In England if i had not seeu It. 
--. 
AIR CASTLES. 
Dear Miss Hiplev;—I thought it might please 
some ot the Rukal readers lo have me tell them 
how 1 make some kinds of air castles. 1 will try 
to explain first about those made of straw. 
You will want some red woolen stuff, and If you 
have a pinking iron, cut rounds out of the woolen 
with It. Y'ou will want forty-five small rounds 
and five larger ones. Get your straws—pick those 
that are straight and of a uniform size, and I 
would select the yellowest ones for the large cas¬ 
tle. You will want six straws eight Inches long, 
and three straws four Inches In length. Now with 
a stiletto bore boles in your five large rounds of 
woolen cloth, and push four straws through one 
round and fasten securely with a fine needle and 
thread—In short, fasten those straws all together 
so as to form one large diamond. Now for the 
smaller diamonds. Cut fifty-four straws two and 
one-half Inches long, and with the small rounds 
fasten together In six diamonds. For the smallest 
ones, cut twenty-seven straws an inch and a half 
long, and make three small castles to fasten them 
together. You will require, one yard of red wors¬ 
ted. Now take your large diamond, and on the 
shortest length rrom top to bottom fasten three 
of the second 3ize on the three shortest corners, 
and use one for the top, to hang It. up by. Now 
fasten two ou the longest part, and place the other 
large one In the center of the large diamond; now 
put the three small ones ou the corners of the top 
one, and you have your castle done, and if right. 
It looks very pretty In the corner over your what¬ 
not. 
To make a castle out of horse-halr or hog’s bris¬ 
tles, you will want some wax, colored red. Cut 
your horsehair into lour pieces, each one and one- 
halt inches long, aurl fasten all together at one 
end by winding and tying thread around them, 
dip the end in the wax and lay to cool. Fix four 
more the same way and fasten all together in the 
form of a diamond, with red wax on the six cor¬ 
ners. This la a strut 11 diamond, and you can make 
as many as you wish and fasten them together In 
every variety of form. 
in all probability you know bow to make castles 
out of cardboard ; but If you never have made 
them, try one of silver cardboard embroidered 
with blue zephyr, aud see how the result pleases 
you. oats gathered while green, and dried, wbl 
make a pretty castle. Miss In coon it a. 
--— 4 » » - 
FACTS, NOT IDEAS. 
Dear Miss Ripley:— Y’ou ask tor Ideas. In 
this marvelously hot country one cannot originate 
ideas as freely as oue could wish, especially during 
tills awful weather; but I can give you a few' 
facts, and perhaps ideas may suggest themselves, 
it is a fact that a few years ago the Idea of a 
woman being manager of a newspaper, either in 
whole or in past, was simply too ridiculous to be 
tolerated: but now the Idea has become a reality, 
and it Is not ridiculous either. Perhaps In your 
social circles now, the idea of ladles of culture and 
refinement potting around In their houses over 
mud iloot's, with mud waits, ceilings and roots and 
wooden or cotton windows, if any at all, would 
seem not only ridiculous but Impossible; but I can 
tell you that Is iw> the case with many In South¬ 
ern Arlzoua. Tile advent of the S. P. R. R. may 
change things some, (t hope it may change the 
climate, tor during June. July, August and most 
parlor September the thermometer ranges from 
•JO at sunrise to 110 deg. In a lew horn's until about 
sunset.) The Idea which especially Interests me 
Is, how shall a woman of average blood and nerve 
get through all the dally routine ot duties to her 
family, her house, herself and her neighbors with¬ 
out degradation or death to herself or some of her 
family Mks. L. R. s. 
Phoenix, Arizona. 
-♦~»~ 4 -- 
TEMPERANCE WORK PERPETUAL. 
In one respect temperance work is like house¬ 
work. Women are sometimes heard to wish that 
they could get this dusilng, and darning, and dish¬ 
washing done up once for all. as a man builds a 
barn, clears a wood-lot or digs a well, and Is 
through with lr. It is tedious to keep pegging 
away at the same hum-drum task to-day, to-mor¬ 
row, and the year round, as long as oue lives— 
always doing it but never gelling lr, done. But 
that is what temperance people must make up 
their minds to do. There is no discharge in this 
war. We may whip in many a sklrmish and carry 
many an entrenchment; we may burn the enemy’s 
supply trains and break up bis camps. But "so 
long as human nature is human nature, so long as 
men love self-indulgence, we shall have to keep up 
a running fight with this toe. To call this task a 
“reiorm” Is misleading. It will not be like the 
crusade against slavery. T hat evil has been wiped 
out. When Intemperance Is wiped out we may 
expect to hear the trumpets blowing for the mil¬ 
lennium—Editor’s Table; Good Company. 
- 
We sometime knuckle readily to difficulties, 
and take eomplaceneo in our serene submissive¬ 
ness to Providence, when a little mere pluck and 
persistence on our part would overcome the ob¬ 
stacles. We mistake laziness for Christian resig¬ 
nation. 
--— 
CORRESPONDENTS’ CORNER. 
Will some reader or the Rural please send the 
words In lull of • Home Sweet Home?" 
I have a small collection or Postage Scamps 
ooUected In iso?-.;, some very rare, which I would 
like to dispose of. tv here can I do so to the best 
advantage ? Ai w B 
Monument. Mass. 
Ans— If A, \V. B. is acquainted with any col¬ 
lector who wishes to procure stamps included In 
his collection, they may be disposed of to the 
best advantage in this way. 11 not, I would ad¬ 
vise hi in to correspond with a reliable stamp 
dealer. 1 have had dealings with several parties 
in this business, and would recommend Win. P. 
Brown ot 115 Nassau St., New York city, us having 
given me the best satisfaction, it the collection 
mcludes very rare stamps as stated, there will be 
no difficulty lu disposing of it; but no collector or 
dealer would make an offer wTthout seeing the 
stamps, as their value will depend on their con¬ 
dition. Pkakbama. 
“ WHILE THEE I SEEK, PROTECTING 
POWER.” 
While thee I seek, protecting Power, 
Be my vain Wishes stilled; 
And may this consecrated hour 
With better hopeB be filled. 
Tby love, the power of thought bestowed. 
To thee my thoughts would soar: 
Thy mercy o’er my life has flowed; 
That mercy I adore. 
In each event of life, how clear 
Thy ruling hand I see; 
Each blessing to my soul most dear, 
Bocause conferred by thee. 
In every joy that crowns my days, 
In every pain I bear. 
My heart shall find delight in praise, 
Or seek relief in prayer. 
When gladness wings my favored hour, 
Tby love my thoughts shall fill; 
Resigned when storms of sorrow lower, 
My si ml shall meet thy will. 
My lifted eye, without a tear. 
The gathering storm shall see: 
My steadfast eye shull kuowno fear; 
That heart will rest on thee. 
Some expressions of this hymn have direct ref¬ 
erence to the stormy scenes In France about the 
time of the Revolution. It wap written In France 
when the political sky was very dark and threat¬ 
ening, and no one felt secure. Its author was Miss 
Helen Marla •A Ultarns. She w as born In the North 
of England In 1762. She went to I.oridou at the 
nge of eighteen, where she won much reputation 
as a poet, she afterwards went to Paris, where 
she lived during the breaking up of the monarchy, 
and where she publishe d works In prose and verse. 
She w as a very devout woman, and relied on the 
strong arm of God at the time of peril. She held 
a high place in religious society, both In London 
and Paris .—story of the Hymns, hy American 
Tract Society.. * 
CHRISTIANS THE GUARDIANS OF THE 
SABBATH. * 
BY KEY. IJ. T. RAYMOND. 
Much has been said and done to secure a better 
observance of the Sabbath, lias it occurred to 
you, Christians, that you are the guardians of this 
day? if you wish others lo respect. Gods laws 
you mui, respect them. If you wish others to 
obey God’s commands you must obey them; and 
you must be particular about that obedience. If 
you seek your pleasure by driving out with your 
family on the Lord's day, your non-Christian, 
neighbor, who has different tastes, will see no 
harm In seeking his wirh dogs and gun. If you 
patronize Sunday trains, even for the purpose of 
seeking the church of your choice, the non-Chris¬ 
tian community will see no harm m using the 
same Sunday trains to seek places of their choice. 
And I might continue. A strict observance of the 
Sabbath by the church Is the only vote of the 
church for a decent observance of the day by the 
world. 
T he fourth commandment 13 the dyke which 
keeps back an oceau of corruption. Through a 
break in the dyke any sin can enter. Shall we, 
Christians, wich hands washed clean In the blood 
of him who plants the dyke, scoop out the sand 
and roll away the atones, while the merciless 
ocean laughs, and hisses, and leaps with, playful 
treachery into the breech we have made r 
Do l mistake ? There is power enough In me 
church to save the Christian Sabbath In America. 
But If this power Is not exerted, or is used In the 
wrong direct ion. whose 13 the pen that dares ven¬ 
ture a description of the consequences? While I 
was muslig ou the T en Commandments, I seemed 
to see a string of invaluable pearls. Their lustre 
was glorious as you looked at them in the light ot 
the -'Sun ot Righteousness.” And they were an¬ 
cient, too I saw them committed to the church 
tor safe-keeping. And ho who committed them 
said: "In keeping ot (hem there is great reward." 
And while i was watching I saw the shadowy 
hand oi no uncertain personage stretched out over 
one oi the brightest of them ail. And a siren voice 
whispered in the ear ot the church, "Let me have 
just this one." But the church answered promptly, 
“No.” Meanwhile the shadowy hand remaining, 
artfully covered the brilliancy of the pearl. And 
after some time had passed, the siren voice whis¬ 
pered again: -Let me have this one, for it has lost 
Its lustre and the day oi its value baa gone by.’’ 
And the church looked at the shaded pearl, but 
answered not a word. Stealthily the dark fingers 
clutched the coveted prize and began to draw it 
away, and, as i beheld, the nine ioliowed the one, 
for they were untied and inseparable. 
Use sin as It will use you; spare it not. for it will 
not spare you; it is your murderer and rhe murderer 
of the w hole world. Use it, thereiore, as a mur¬ 
derer should be used; kill it before It kills you; 
and though It bring you to the grave, as It did 
jou Head, It shall not be able to keep you there. 
You love not death; love not the cause of death.— 
Baxter. 
The Bible docs not need defence so much as pro¬ 
clamation. It defends itself wherever It Is known. 
Deep In every soul there dwells forever a witness 
to the truth, whose clear eye and steady voice will 
see and respond to It wherever it Is known — 
W. M. Taylor. 
Hickness should teach us what a vain thing the 
world Is. what a vile thing sin is,—what a poor 
thing man is,—and what a precious thing an In¬ 
terest In Christ Is.— Mrs. Savage. 
A string of opinions no more constitutes faith, 
than a string of beads constitutes holiness.— J, 
Wesley. 
