fUatong tor % fomtg 
THE BIRDS’ PARTY. 
LAURA 8. HAUSER. 
The birds ^ave a party one bright summer'B day— 
’Twas bisid in a meadow of newly-mown hay, 
Close by an old orchard, where apples of June 
Kept the throats of the choristers sweetly in tune. 
A hedge of wild roses this meadow concealed 
From the farmers at work in a neighboring field ; 
■While the hum of the bees, and tbe inurnni ring brook, 
Made a paradise quite ot this sweet little nook. 
The first to arrive was the Carrier-dove, 
tVho brought the regrets Of Uel' l'riende of the grove. 
The pouters and nuns, who had sorious reason 
To give for thus slighting the ball of the season. 
Then wuue the Cock-Robin with sweet Jenny Wren, 
The Blackbirds, a family party of ten. 
The Thrushes in brown, and the Jaybird in blue— 
With wild Bob-o-liukum who makes such ado, 
The King-bird and suite, next arrived, 1 am told, 
With the Oriole dressed all in velvet and gold ; 
W’hiie the cardinal thought it. no shame to be seen 
In humble attendance upon the gay queen. 
The sweet Meadow Barit was tbc hostess that day, 
Of manners so gentle and temper bo gay ; 
Tho’ 'tis whispered discreetly, half earnest, half fun. 
That her graces were learned at the court of the sun. 
Ill strutted the Peacock, a vain, gaudy bird, 
And rendered himself by his airs quite absurd, 
But. tbo Daws in a corner just whispered together. 
And soon the poor creature had scarcely a feather. 
In a bower of ivy screened oil’ from the day, 
The Owl and tho Bat dozed the morning away; 
While the Woodpecker’s tap, and the Cat-bird’s wild 
scream, 
Failed to rouse the dull souls from their indolent 
dream. 
Neath a wide spreading locust the banquet was spread, 
W hose clustering blossom a rich odor shed, 
Where seated ou couches by Nature designed. 
On the sweetest of berries they merrily dined. 
(But alas for tho plans of the ebildreu of clay ! 
The farmer that moment remembered his hay.) 
The dessert had been placed, and in bumpers of dew, 
Many toasts had been given, when over there flew 
A pert little Sparrow whom nobody knew. 
“ Farmer Seedwell,” he cried ; " Ladies, fly for your 
lives!’’ 
Then iuto a sheltering thicket he dives. 
The birds gave a flutter, and oil they all flew 
Without even bidding their hostess “ Adieu 1” 
- «♦« - 
“BUD BROWN.” 
BY HOTE LEDYARD. 
A story? Well, I’ll try. You like a true story 
best, I know, so 1 will tel) you ot a little black boy 
I became acquainted with when r went to Atlanta 
to attend the grand Sunday-school Convention. 
I had a letter introducing me to some people at 
Atlanta, and so one afternoon 1 resolved to hunt 
them up. I was told to take the “ Ta.vlor 1X111'' 
car, but as I asked my way I passed a row of car¬ 
riages. Such looking carriages you never have 
seen, 1 am sure. The linings were torn or the 
windows broken, they were dirty and old and 
rickety, and the horses were to match. Still, l 
was tired, and as they told me 1 would have to 
walk some distance if I took the cars, 1 was 
tempted to take one of these affairs, and the dri¬ 
vers surrounded rue, begging me to “ take a car¬ 
riage.” 
Among the men and boys was one little fellow 
not more than eight, years old, almost lost in a 
crowd. I lauglied at the earnest, comical looks of 
the negroes. 
“ sho r said one big fellow whose hat was re¬ 
markable among the rest us having a complete 
brim, “ the lady don't want a carriage—none o' 
your ole tings, l fyar’s the one, madam 1” pointing 
with a flourish to a double carriage which certain¬ 
ly was a trifle cleaner and more whole than the 
others. 
" Thank you,” I answered, “but 1 want tills lit¬ 
tle chap’s carriage. show me yours, my boy.” 
The older fellows laughed good-humoredly; 
many of them, no doubt, had their own plclnln- 
nles, and were not vexed that the boy should be 
chosen. 
To tell the truth, after I had gotten into the 
one-horse, carryall, and my boy was seated In 
front, my heart failed me a little. The horse, 
though bony, had considerable spirit, and “ Bud 
Brown,” as he told me he was called, drove In reg¬ 
ular darkey stylo, letting the reins hang loose, and 
flicking the. horse’s ears with his whip every mo¬ 
ment. 
“ Can you take me to Mrs. Ware's ?" I asked. 
“ oh ya-as 1 I know all ’bout dem folks—Col¬ 
ored University, I’m gwlne dar rnysef.'’ 
“ But then you ought to go to school to get 
ready—not drive round.” 
“ Oh! I was late this mornln’, so I missed 
school; but I know my lessons. G’lang! (to the 
horse.) Do you see that little house? That’s 
where we live. I’ll get you some roses If you’ll 
stop a minute.” 
I was quite ready to wait for the roses, and ad¬ 
mired theueat little garden. Then we drove on, 
chatting together until l almost forgot my fears. 
My call was made, and my friend decided to 
come hack with me to the convention, -she had 
no pocket In her dress, and unknown to me she 
handed little Bud—who was a complete stranger 
to her, remember—her purse, telling him to keep it 
for her, and to call again ai lour o’clock to drive 
her out, 
When I heard what she had done, I was startled; 
she might never see- her purse again. " There 
was not much In It, and how can that boy prove 
he Is honest unless he Is tried?" said my friend. 
Now, remember, this was a poor boy, very igno¬ 
rant, and no doubt with many ungratlfled wishes 
as to candy, books and pictures. At four o’clock, 
though, as we left the church, there was our hoy, 
and with a bright smile he handed hack the purse. 
“ Bud.” I said. “ who taught you to be so hon¬ 
est?” 
“ Why, Miss, I go to Sunday-school, and I’m 
gwlne to the University. I’m bound to be honest.” 
—Swncla {/-school Times. 
AN INDIAN LEGEND. 
There was once a beautiful damsel upon whom 
one of the good genii wished to bestow a blessing, 
lie led her to the edge of a large Held of corn, 
where he said to her: “Daughter, In the Held 
before us t he ears of corn, In l he hands of those 
who pluck them in faith, shall have talismnuie 
virtue, and the virtue shall be in proportion to 
the size and beauty of the ear gathered. Thou 
shalt pass through the held once, and pluck one ear 
It must lie taken as thou goesi forward, and thou 
shalt not stop In tliy path nor shalt thou retrace 
a single step m quest or thine object, select an 
ear full and lair, and according to its size and 
beauty shall be its value to thee as a talisman.’’ 
The maiden i hanked the good genius, and then 
set forward upon her quest. As she advanced she 
saw many ears of corn, large, rlpo and beautiful, 
such as calm judgment might have told her would 
possess \ irtues enough ; but in her eagerness to 
grasp the very best she left t hese fair ears behind, 
hoping that eh’ might flnd one still fairer. At 
length, as the day was closing, she reached a 
part of the Held where the stalks were shorter and 
thinner, and the ears very thin and shriveled. 
She now regretted the grand ears she had left be¬ 
hind, and disdained to pick from the poor show 
around her, for here she fount! not an ear which 
bore perfect grain. She went on, but alas! only 
to flnd the stalks more and more feeble and blight¬ 
ed, until in the end. as the day was closing, and 
the night coming on, she touud herself at the end 
of the Held without having plucked an ear of any 
kind. No need that the genius should rebuke her 
for her folly, She saw it clearly when too late; and 
how many’ in all climes and in all ages, in the 
evening of life call sadly and regretfully to mind 
the thousand of golden opportunities forever lost 
because they were not plucked In their season. 
CONDUCT NOT POLITE. 
Seventeen tilings in which many young people 
render themselves very Impolite* 
1. Loud laughter. 
2 . Reading when others are talking. 
3. Cutting finger-nails In company. 
4. Leaving meeting before it is closed. 
5. Whispering in meeting. 
6. Gazing at strangers. 
7. Leaving a stranger without a seat. 
8. A want ol reverence tor superiors. 
9. Reading aloud In company without being 
asked. 
10. Receiving a present without some manifesta¬ 
tion of gratitude. 
11. Making yourself the topics of conversation. 
12. Laughing at the mistakes of others. 
13. Joking others In company. 
14. Correcting persons older than yourself, es¬ 
pecially your parents. 
is. To commence talking before others arc 
through. 
16. Answering questions when put to others. 
17. Commencing to eat as soon as you get to the 
table, 
-- 
IIow Many Were There 7-Henry, upon being- 
asked how many boys were in his Sabbath-school 
class last Sabbath, replied: “If you multiply the 
number of Jacob's sons by the number of times 
which the Israelites compassed Jericho, and add 
to the product the number of measures ot barley 
which lioaz gave Rttth; divide this by the number 
of Homan's sons; subtract the number of each 
kind of clean beasts that went into the ark; mul¬ 
tiply by the number of men who went to seek 
Elijah after he was taken to heaven; subtract 
from this Joseph's age at the time when he stood 
before Pharaoh; add the number of stones in 
David’s bag when he killed Goliath; subtract the 
number ol furlongs that Bethany was distant from 
Jerusalem; divide by the number ot anchors cast 
out at the time of Paul’s sliipwreck; subtract the 
number of people saved m the ark, and the re¬ 
mainder will be the number of boys In the class.” 
llow many were there? 
-- 
THE PRIZE PUZZLE. 
Numerous answers to the prize puzzle published 
August 23d, have been received, and a large ma¬ 
jority of them are correct. I am inclined to think 
that the puzzle was too easy, (a fault which can 
readily be avoided In the future) for the correct 
answers have great ly outnumbered my supply oi 
books. Not having books for all, and being loth to 
disappoint anybody, ] have procured some very 
pretty steel engravings, each or which cost $3.60 
at wholesale, and instead of a hook, i have sent 
one of these to each cousin who gave the answer 
correctly. Uncle Mark. 
-- 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle Mark.— Will you please admit me 
as a member of the club, one of my brothers sub¬ 
scribed for the Rural last spring; he gave me all 
the seeds, but the wheat and millet, which lie 
received from the Rural. Everything came up 
and Is doing nicely hut two sorts of the flower 
seeds. The Acme tomatoes were well planted in 
hills in the open ground, and are loaded with large, 
perfect fruit. 1 have planted a row of the Beauty 
or Hebron potato from seed matured tills summer 
from the potato we received Though I nave 
worked some In the vegetable garden a couple ot 
summers before this, this Is the first year that l 
have paid much rime and thought to gardening. 1 
am trying various experiments In my garden, if 
Uncle Mark and the cousins wish I will tell of 
some of them In future letters. [Please do.] I 
have Kentish Invlcta peas now ripe, which were 
planted from seed raised this year. Turnips arc 
doing nicely in place of the late peas. Melons are 
running riotously over the early pea patch. To¬ 
matoes are looking contented and at home, where 
in the spring grew the lettuce, cress, &c. Oh 
dear, here 1 am on the very verge of that dreadful 
waste basket. Good-bye, all, from a friend to you 
all—from Beyond the Mississippi. 
Kearney, Neb. 
Dear Uncle and cousins: —I received those 
seeds you sent, to me all right, and am ever so 
much obliged to you for them. 1 planted them 
according to your directions. Uncle Murk, 1 Wish 
to know wli it makes corn mix when the different 
kinds are planted near each other. My garden is 
doing very well, but It needs rain, the wheat 
crop around here was damaged considerably by 
the frost l:tst winter, and It has suffered also from 
the Hessian fly. I send my love to Uncle Mark and 
all the cousins. Yours truly. Lake Side. 
Wesleyvllle, Pa. 
[Corn bears flowers as do all of the cultivated 
grains. Now, If you have studied the lesson on 
the flower which appeared lately In the Rural, 
you know that there arc two sets of organs In a 
flower, the stamens and the pistils, that are ne¬ 
cessary In order to produce seed. If a flower has 
stamens and no pistils. It Is called a stamlnate, or 
female flower, and If It has pistils and no stameus, 
It is called a pistillate, or female flower. The stum- 
in ate flower can never produce seed, but though 
there are no stamens in. the pistillate flower, it can 
produce seed If the stamlnate flower is so near 
that some pollen can fall upon the pistils. These 
are Just the conditions we have in the corn. There 
are two kinds of flowers; the tassel on top of the 
stalk bears sin minute flowers and the silk Is the 
pistillate, or female flower, and the pollen falls 
from above down upon the silk and fertilizes It. 
Now it two varieties of corn are planted so near 
together that the wind can blow pollen from one 
kind over upon the silk ot the other, the two kinds 
ot corn are said to “ mix ;” that. Is, the corn in the 
ears will nave some point In common with the two 
parent plants. You can easily learn this for your¬ 
self by planting black and white sweet corn In 
two rows close together. The two will “ mix,” and 
a great deal of the young corn will be neither black 
nor white but red. Uncle Mark. 
Dear Uncle Mark :—l would like to Join the 
Horticultural Club: our garden is much longer 
than a hoop though not very large. We raise all 
the vegetables we use in the summer; my brothers 
and 1 have to take care oi the garden together. 
Mother inis always raised flowers ever since l Can 
remember, anti I always have some plants or bush 
of my own. The seeds mother received Rom the 
Rural are doing first rate, considering how late 
they were planted, there were but two or three 
that dldn i come up. We have to Irrigate twice a 
week and use the watering pot a great deal to get 
anything to grow here. 1 read the cousins letters 
with much interest, and also the answers to the 
correspondents. 1 would like to propose a plan 
by which to give the names of plants, but 1 don't 
know as 1 ought to, this being the first time I have 
written to you, but It may bo of considerable In¬ 
terest to the members of the club, l see a great 
many send In plants to bo named such as the Dog¬ 
tooth Violet and other plants, I may have seen 
them a good many times, for there are a good 
many wild flowers here, and I know some of them, 
and some 1 don't. Now, If you could give pictures 
of those that arc seut In, it might prevent others 
from sending in the same plants and then we 
could all know how the plants looked that were 
named. I guess tills letter is long enough for my 
first. I am eleven years old. Yours truly, 
Grant Co., Oregon. Robert Lockwood. 
Dear Uncle Mark :—Seeing that there are so 
many joining the Horticultural Club, I thought 
I would like to join too, and I would bo very much 
pleased to have my name placed upon the list. 
Borne of all the seeds we got from the Rural came 
up except the Aqullegiaa. 1 planted them In 
three different kinds of soil and to the house and 
out-doors but none or them came up. The orna¬ 
mental beets are growing nicely and I wish to 
ask if they are edible? (Tea.) There were two 
Plnus edulls trees that eamc up one mot with a mis¬ 
hap and died the other is growing well. I planted 
all the seeds in May, out-doors and some of them 
did notcome up until July. There was onlv one 
ol the sweet-scented shrubs came up, and after 
they had been planted so long I thought I would 
see if I could find any of the seeds and while 1 was 
stirring the sou l broke one off that was coming 
up. 1 have several kinds of flowers and among 
them I have a silver-tipped Geranium, the center 
of the leaf is green and the edge is white. The 
plant sent out. two sprouts one of which la clear 
green, and the other is clear white, it Is two feet 
high. This is the first time 1 ever wrote to the 
Rural. I live In the Province of Ontario and 
also in the county of Ontario about seven miles 
north of Lake Ontario. l. h. 
othawa, out. 
Dear Uncle Mark:—I would like to join the 
Horticultural Club, l do not have a garden of 
my own, but 1 have several flower beds. The 
largest Is seven or eight feet across. It Is made 
by placing stones about a foot and a half through 
In a circle, and then making a smaller circle Inside 
the larger one and then tilling It up with dirt. Ou 
the upper one I have in llie center a Bronze Rl- 
clnus, and Tbuubergla vines around the edge to 
run over the stones. On the lower there are Portu- 
luca, Petunia, Phlox, convolvulus, Sweet Alys- 
sum, etc. Mother has a good many flowers besides, 
and I help take care or them. We have a few 
plants of every variety of seed the rural sent us, 
except Vitus heterophylla and Yucca. Mother 
has planted some more of the Yucca seed. Do the 
seed of the Villa require any special treatment? 
Can you tell me the name of the plant, a piece of 
which I send. It Is an annual. Perhaps If you 
accept my letter I wLU write again. 
Cuyahoga Co., Ohio. Edith A. Hunt. 
[The plant Is perhaps Fumaiia officinalis, the 
flower was 100 much crushed when received to de¬ 
termine It. wItli certainly. The Vltls seed does not 
require any special treatment,.—U. M.J 
Dear Uncle Mark :—As It has been some time 
since I wrote you, I will try again. I have a gar¬ 
den, which was manured last spring It Is close 
to the Blount com. .1 dug It up and raked It; it 
was just alter the first good ratu. which was in the 
last part of July, and it worked up very well. I 
planted potatoes, sweet corn, bush beans, turnips, 
and 1 am a Lao raising some cabbage for father. 
My garden Is w> by 63 feet, i planted my potatoes 
on the 23d of July, sweet corn on the 24th of July, 
beans on the 25th or July and my turnips on the 
13th of August. My pop-corn looks flue; 1 lia7e 
never seen so many cal's on a stalk. I have one 
flower bed. In which-1 planted Geraniums, Cocks¬ 
combs, Bachelor’s Buttons, Pinks, Snapdragons 
and Zinnias, l have got 25 Geraniums and six 
foliage plants. Mother's flowers did not come up 
very well, but what have come up are doing finely. 
We are having a nice August rain; the ground Is 
plenty wet here. I like Wm. J. Mason’s letter. I 
have not seen many letters from Illinois, so please 
print this. Robert L. Harney. 
Morgan Co., Ills. 
Dear Uncle Mark :—I grew up with the Rural 
New-Yorker In the house and now that I have 
a home of my own It finds Its way to our house, 
weekly, and is a most welcome visitor t assure 
you. As ever. I take a deep interest In the cous¬ 
ins letters, and am highly pleased with your en¬ 
deavors to create a taste in the youthful rural- 
ists for flowers and rural surroundings. I am very 
fond of flowers, and have some line ones. I have 
an Oleander, now four years old, which Is at the 
present time loaded with buds ana blossoms. I 
have practiced the same treatment which you 
recommended to a cousin a few weeks since, and 
consider It the true course to pursue If one wishes 
to have a beautiful shrub. It acceptable, I should 
like to Join the Horticultural Club, and will from 
time to time, pen short notes of my success or 
failure In the horticultural Hue. Emily. 
Corning, N. Y. 
Dear Uncle .Mark :—For a long time I have had 
a desire to join the Horticultural Club, but was 
afraid that l was too old. I am 23 years of age, 
am a young farmer's wife. I have a nice flower- 
garden with over thirty varieties of flowers. The 
Bronze Hlelnus sent us Is a perfect beauty; It Is 
of a rich, bronze color; ts now four feet high and 
Covers as many square reet of ground. Hollyhocks^ 
Vitus and Hibiscus, are all the flower seeds that 
came up, Ii you have room in one corner, I would 
like very much to become a member of the club. 
1 am sorry you do not approve of exchanging 
seeds. 1 should like very much to exchange seeds 
with Home or the Rural cousins. If you accept 
me as a member, I will endeavor to report my suc¬ 
cess as a florist. Yours truly, Azilca. 
Lluesvllle Station, Pa. 
[Azilca Is heartily welcome, and so Is Emily, 
above.—U. M.j 
Dear Uncle Mark:—I have often thought that 
I would like to be one ot the cousins, and write to 
the Rural. My father has taken It since 1S59 
every year until two years ago he thought he 
would try something else; but this year he sub¬ 
scribed lor the Rural again, and we were all glad 
to see it. l read the “Reading for the Young” 
first, and always find It Interesting. My sister 
and I have a flower-garden; it is twenty feet wide 
and forty feet long, We have quite a good many 
kinds of flowL’rsaud are quite proud of our garden. 
The solution of the prize puzzle In the Rural of 
August 23d la ■■ Man-slaughter.” and 1 hope 1 am 
entitled to a prize. Well, I guess I will close for 
this time. Libbie c. Dey, 
Seneca Co., N. Y. 
Dear Uncle Mark As so many of the boys and 
girls have Joined the Horticultural Club, I thought 
that I would like to Join, so please put my name 
on your long list, t do not have any house plants 
tills summer, but I have some running vines out in 
boxes and hanging-baskets. 1 have a good deal 
of Ivy, which I tlfluk Is very nice. 1 think the 
Rural Is a splendid paper, and i love to read the 
letters rrom the cousins, 1 should like to write 
more, but I am afraid I will take up too much 
room, as my letter Is quite long now. 
Niagara Co, 7 N. Y. Mary H. Tryon. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— l wish to t-hanlc you for 
the seeds you seut me, the Hollyhock, Bronze 
man us, Celosla and Erynglum Leavemvorthil 
grew. The Celosla looks nice all covered with 
blossoms. The Erynglum Is full of buds. The 
potato you sent us had twelve eyes, all of which 
grew. There wits two-thirds of a bushel from the 
twelve eyes, and they were earlier than the Snow¬ 
flake and Early Rose that grew right beside them. 
1 remain your friend, N kttie. 
Sturgis, Allch. 
Dear Uncle M akk My garden la doing nicely. 
The Beauty cf Hebron potato was first-rate, and 
the Rural tomatoes were the first to ripen and are 
very good. 1 received the Dolly Dutton corn, for 
which l t hank you very much. Must we cover the 
plants grown from the seed you distributed, or will 
they live through the winter without? [The plants 
need not be covered.—U. M.j 
Barnstable Co, Mass. Gkorgie W. Bourne.- 
Dear Uncle M pm1 am now 14 years old. 
We have some flowers, six or seven kinds of Roses, 
three kinds of Hollyhock, some Gladioli, Pansies 
and yellow and blue Irises. We have some chick¬ 
ens. I will not tire you with too long a letter this 
time. Florence N. Chandler. 
Cameron Co., Pa. 
