for iljc Doumv 
HAVE received several bean 
reports during the past week. 
I expected to announce the 
names of the winners this 
week, but several of the 
' Cousins are behind with their 
counting, so I will wait just 
one week more. Remember 
now, this is the last chance. 
Op course, we all had a nice time through 
the holidays. 1 say “of course,” because I 
know that our “good times” are always the 
product of our own thoughts and deeds. Did 
it ever occur to you that we can raise a crop 
of ‘ ’good times” just as wo can raise a crop of 
beans? Sometimes we get angry or naughty, 
and thus lose all the results of our good inten¬ 
tions, just as Jack Frost cut off so many of the 
beans. The point for us all to remember is that 
we make our own good times, and that every 
five minutes spent in anger spoils an hour of 
enjoyment. 
UNCLE Mark saw' a queer looking Santa 
Claus last week. His costume %vas made up 
on the spur of the moment. He had a red 
towel about his head, a scarf tied over his face, 
and a blanket over his shoulders. He came 
limping in, as if he was dreadfully lame. 
There was one little boy who was pretty well 
frightened when Santa Claus came up to 
shake hands with him. But when the old 
man began to take the presents, uhd hand 
them about, the little fellow felt better. He 
stood up aud said: “I'm much obliged to you, 
old Santa Claus, aud I’m sorry yon are lame.’ 
It may be that some of our older Cousins are 
a little too wist' to believe in Santa Clans. I 
hope they will not forget him however. We 
waut to believe in him as long as we can. 
We have had no snow thus far in New York. 
Uncle Mark would like to see a real old-fash¬ 
ioned snow storm. Very likely we shall have 
it yet. 1 have no doubt uutuy of the cousins 
are “snow bound” even now. Up around the 
great lakes the snow is piled in great drifts, 
and i>eopIe are glad to stay at home. Then it 
is that books and papers ami nuts aud fruit 
are most servicable. A thick coating of snow 
is good for the ground. It helps the wheat, 
even if it does close up the roads and choke up 
the valleys, Once in a great while they have 
quite a heavy snow storm in warm countries. 
It is such an unusual thing that people drop 
all kinds of work to enjoy it. Grown men go 
out to snowball or bury one another in the 
snow. Many people gather the snow in bottles 
and preserve the water as a curiosity. In such 
countries the snow goes almost as fast as it 
comes, sis the ground is very soft and muddy. 
Here we have a sad accident, and one often 
witnessed in the city. One man has lost his 
hat, and the other stands a good chance of 
losing his umbrella. It pays to keep one’s 
eyes open and to mind where we are going. 
I hope the boys are carding the cow this 
V inter. Borne people try to tell me that 
t does not pay to card cattle, but I know bet¬ 
ter. I have tried it myself aud know that a 
cow will do better and look better for a good 
brushing every morning. I am sure it does a 
cow just as much good to have her hide well 
rubbed, as it does a boy to have his face wash¬ 
ed aud his hail- combed. On large farms, 
where a great many cattle a?-e kept,, it may Is? 
impossible to card them all, though I do think 
it would pay, but where there is but one 
“family cow,” there is no excuse for letting 
her go uncarded. Here is a chance for the 
boys to do some work that will surely count. 
-—— 
NEW COUSINS. 
Willie E. Smith lives in Oregon. There 
has been no frost there yet. Willie goes three 
miles to school. The pets are a dog and two 
birds.- 
Frank M. Himfrey lives on an Iowa farm, 
He bas nine pigs which he is raising for one- 
half profits. His colt weighs 1,130 pounds. He 
set out 75 strawberry plants, which are doing 
well. He means to put in an acre of potatoes 
this year. The Dumnore and Early Ohio are 
the best varieties. 
Myrtle A. Thompson writes from a Dakota 
farm of 320 acres. They have beautiful wild 
flowers there. Myrtle has a little brother. 
Charlie A. Fitch has a big dog named 
Carlo. They have four cows, a calf and 75 
c ickens. It is pretty cold where he lives,and 
the wind is strong. 
Emma Mohr lives in Pennsylvania. The 
peas were splendid, and the beans were the 
best they ever ate. The corn w as a failure, 
the tomatoes did well, but the Garden Treas¬ 
ures did not come up. 
Emily Cookeram lives in Wisconsin. 
There is plenty of snow there I expect, 
Emily’s father aud mother came from England 
33 years ago, and have lived where they are 
now for 25 years. The wheat and rye were 
good, the peas splendid, but the corn was a 
little late. Emily and her sister had nearly 
1,000 cabbages for hoeing the garden. They 
sold them for three to six cents per head. 
CALIFORNIA FLOWERS. 
Dear Uncle Mark: I promised to tell you 
of the wild flowers that grow in the Sierra 
Nevada mountains in our part of the State. 
The flower that first makes its appearance is 
called snowdrop (although it is not u bulbous 
plant), so thick in some places as to carpet the 
ground. Next, the buttercup, a bright yellow 
flower; soon after, the cream cup, a pale yel¬ 
low flower. Before these flowers are goue such 
a lot. of beauties come that T cannot describe 
them nil. We have two varieties of Nemo- 
phila—a pale blue and a white one w r ith a 
bright purple spot on the margin of each petal. 
The Shooting Star is common to many coun¬ 
tries, and they grow in abundance here. Three 
kinds of Lupins, one pale red, the other two 
blue, one being very small and the other quite 
large. Larkspurs, blue and pink, the last 
growing four feet high. A scarlet pink called 
Indian pink. Cleome, Collinsia aud Godetia 
grow nicely. California Poppy, with its or¬ 
ange-colored, cup-shaped flower, aud there is 
another poppy growing in the shade—a brick 
red with a shining black spot at base of each 
petal, very showy. A pale yellow w allflower 
grows from three to five feet high. A very 
pretty purple flower, looks like a Cedronella, 
but the leaves are not fragrant; it remains in 
bloom over a month. There are a host of others 
that I know- no name for. Of vines we have 
several—wild Morning Glories with creamy 
white blossoms. One called Devil’s Cucumber 
grows almost as fast as the fabled beau stalk. 
It has small, white, star-shaped flowers, fol¬ 
lowed by a long, oval fruit about live inches 
long, covered with spines—very curious look¬ 
ing. When ripe the lower part of the pods 
burst open aud the seeds, which are very hard, 
fall out. The pods turn from green to white 
and are so hard they lay ou the ground for 
months. A tiny vine, with pale yellow flow¬ 
ers not larger thou a pin-head, is very pretty. 
—Clematis I think it must. be. Graveoleus, 
w ith pale yellow flowers, grow in a perfect 
swamp along the streams. Of bulbous flow-ers 
the first is a pink flower, the blossom almost a 
globe, with three sepals at right angles to the 
stem. Peep inside the globe aud it is covered 
with short hairs. The purple grass nutrflower, 
w-ith its honeyish fragrance, comes next. A 
pale purple flower, which we call Wild Amar¬ 
yllis, from its leaves resembling that plant, 
grows from one to two feet high. On the end 
of a stem a dozen wax-like flowers radiate inn 
circle. It remains in bloom a long time, fad¬ 
ing to almost white. A similar flower, blue 
in color, comes later, but is not so long-lived, 
A pink climbing hyacinth also grows hen-. 
Soap-root, with its white flowers, and a variety 
of tulip, with while satin petals spotted aud 
flecked with brown, yellow and purple. 
Of large flowering shrubs, the first to bloom 
is Mauzauita, with pink fragrant flowers, 
Laurel with yellow blossoms. Red-bud next’ 
and a small tree, with yellow flowers, about 
two inches in diameter. I never could find 
any one who had any name for it. Another 
unnamed has dowel's in clusters, each flower 
very small, white in color, so very' sweet-scent¬ 
ed as to make a person feel faint in a thicket 
of it. The sage brush, with its purple bloom, 
makes the whole mountain lovely. Up near 
the big trees, where we went in July, we found a 
shrub called Azalea. Lt l wars flowers in large 
bunches; was a pinkish white. There also we 
found Columbines of various kinds. A lily, 
shaped like a single Tiger, only much smaller 
and nearly the same color, a deep red flower 
looking like a paint brush, and ohl such beds 
of ferns. There ate many more things I should 
like to tell of. bub if LTncle Mark finds a place 
for all our letters, l will surely have to stop. 
We are back in the valley home, but expect to 
spend part of next Summer in the mountains. 
Perhaps I may then find something more that 
will interest, the cousins. Till then, good bye. 
Lemore, Cal. lillie wilson. 
[Thank you for your letter. How beautiful 
the mountains must be! Write again by all 
means.— uncle mark.] 
- — - - ■ 1 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle Mark: Will you allow au 
insignificant little country cousin to join the 
Y. H. C. ? You are such a happy band. 1 half be¬ 
lieve you will. I never saw a copy of the Rural 
until a few weeks ago when my brother took 
advantage of your liberal offer aud sent for it. 
five weeks free, thinking that he would sub¬ 
scribe. I think every family in our country 
should take the Rural aud every other good 
paper they possibly can the coming year, for 
our hogs in this country have nearly all fallen 
a victim to cholera, and 1 fear that ’twill be 
advisable to have our minds draVn from the 
dining table as much as possible. I wonder 
if the Cousius like fauey work. I will give 
directions for a nice shawl and perhaps some 
one may like to try it. Take a square of 
cashmere and button hole the edges after hem¬ 
ming, and work a border of split zephyr. I 
have one that 1 think beautiful and I caught 
the hem down with a fauey stitch, and bord¬ 
ered with shaded zephyr. You can make a 
handsome one at a trifling cost. I wish Uncle 
Mark and all the Cousins would come dowu 
in the Spring and cut strawberries with me, 
we have very fine ones and a great quantity 
of them. We have a flour barrel filled with 
very rich soil and several rows of holes bored 
all round in every stave, aud a strawberry 
plant in every hole aud a few planted on top. 
This is a very pretty and a nice way to grow 
them as the berries cannot touch the soil. 
Well Uncle Mark I'll venture to say that your 
young hunter in the Rural of December 19th 
appears to be kind of lazy and for that, reason 
I should think he cared nothing for the Y. H. 
C. nor an}' thing else except to keep from 
work. How far do 1 miss quessing right. 
Brooks Co., Ga. a country niece. 
[I don’t like to have people call themselves 
“insignificant.” We must all believe we are 
worth more than that. 1 wish we could Come 
and help eat the strawberries. That seems 
like a novel way of raising them. Write 
again.— uncle mark.] 
Dear Uncle Mark: I have been slow 
about writing to the Club, for I had sueh poor 
success with the beans you sent me. Please 
accept my thanks for them, 1 planted them 
all carefully, aud 19 out, of the 22 came up and 
grew nicely, with a fair show of beans, until 
the grass-hop]lei's came. They ate the tender, 
little beans, and only left me 42, which I have 
saved for spring planting. They are my 
favorite of the beau family. The grass-ho[»- 
pers wore the liu’gest 1 ever saw; one could 
scarcely walk for them, they were so numer¬ 
ous. They took possession of our four acres of 
oats, anil damaged the corn and many other 
things for us. We are having very pleasant 
weather now; it was quite cold last week, the 
ground is covered with snow. 1 huve not 
made my fortune yet. I had a pig to fatten, 
but as pork was so low, only two-and-one-half 
cents per pound, I concluded to keep him over. 
I gathered about three bushels of hickory-nuts; 
they were plenty here. I sold two bushels at 
50 cents per bushel. My brother Frank and 
myself can have all the ground we can clear 
for corn; we expect to have about two acres 
ready for spring plauting. We have about 28 
acres of wood land. We do not have very 
much time to give to the work now, as we 
have a mile to walk every morning anti even¬ 
ing to and from school. We have been neither 
tardy nor absent iu the nine weeks we have 
been going. We all continue to like the good, 
old Rural; feel as if it was a friend; I have 
never tried getting up a club since my failure 
last year. Your nephew, 
Grant Co., Ind. hkrueut lbnfkstky. 
[The grass-hoppers and Jack Frost will have 
much to answer for. 1 think you did well to 
keep the pig. Fortunes are not, made iu a year. 
I hope you will have a good piece of laud for 
next year.-^-u, m, ] 
Catarrh Cured 
Catarrh is a very prevalent disease, with dis¬ 
tressing and offensive symptoms. Hood's Sar¬ 
saparilla gives ready relief and speedy cure, as it 
purifies the blood and tones np the whole system. 
“ I suffered with catarrh 15 years. I took Hood’s 
Sarsaparilla and now ! am not troubled any 
with catarrh, and boy general health is much 
better.” I. W. Linus, Chicago, III. 
“I suffered with catarrh six or eight years; 
tried many wonderful cures, inhalers, etc., spend¬ 
ing nearly one hundred dollars without henetlt. 
I tried Hood's Savsepavllla and was greatly im¬ 
proved.” >1. A. Abbky, Worcester, Mass, 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
Sold by all druggists. $ I; six for §5. Made 
ouly by C. I. HOOD & CO., Lowell, Mass. 
IOO Doses One Dollar 
ORGANS: 
HiglicM Hon> 
ors at all Great 
World's Exhu 
b i t S 911 s fdrj| 
eitfhtecnyeari.fi 
One Imndrcd | 
Styles, to \ 
fpoo. For Cash, 
fcasy Payments 
or Rented. Cat- f 
alogucs free. V 
D 
i PIANOS: 
New mode of 
Stringing. Do 
nolrcqutreone- 
quarter as 
much tuning as 
Pianos on the 
prevailing 
“ w res t-pin 
system. Ke- 
matkable for 
I purity of tone 
™ and durability. 
ORGAN AND PIANO CO. 
164Tremont St..Boston. 46 E. 14th St. (Union Sq.), 
N. Y. 149 Wabash Ave., Chicago. 
EPPS’S 
GRATEFUL—COMFORTING. 
COCOA 
HOW TO BE UP > pum p A VXfTT’Q 
IN BUSINESS TOPICS. S U H* 1 1 Alii Hi U 
Business Letter Writer und Book of Commer¬ 
cial Forms, helm* the most Complete and Cheapest 
Book ever published. Containing 200 pages, bound 
In boards, cloth back, price .50 cents. Sent post¬ 
paid, on reeel ot of m-tce 
EXCELSIOR PUBLISHING HOUSE, 
2D & 31 Beckman Street, New 1 ork. N’.Y. 
UNIVERSAL 
BATH. 
Vapor end Water— 
fresh, **'t, Mineral 
A'sw'iss MILK FOOD 
J For Cliildren FAST Teething. 
Write us for testimonials of the medi¬ 
cal profession regarding it. 
ANGLO-SWISS CONDENSED MILK CO. 
1*. O. Box 3773, New- York. 
1,001 Important, things you never know or thought 
of about the human body and its curious organs. 
flow life ixperpetuated, health saved,disease induced- 
Unu :i in avoid pitfalls of ipiun'anceand indiscretion, 
/low to applp Ifome-rfiro tv a ll forms of disease, 
flow to cure ('roup,Old A’.i/r*, Rupture . Phimosis,etc., 
/fow to mate .(is happy in marrinnek have price babies 
m° FRisfe* hmlwm 
Murray Hill Pub. C«„ 12(1 E. 2Sth St., New York. 
ARAKIIC.^ most t> eautI : 
IKIlflNS fill and finest toned 
II II U H II1) In the world. Low 
w# pricea, raay 
payment. Send for Catalogue, address' 
Weaver Organ & Piano Gq„ y pa. k ’ i 
50 Hidden \ nme.iUr. IVrfnmrd Card* A Prize 
10c. CLINTON HltOS, Cllntonvllle, Conn. 
Ohromo or 25 Hidden name Caros, name on, li'e 
Samples & terms, 4e. Crow n I’tg.Co. Northford.Ct 
mi 
/ AMBERS BAB SOAP 
e/MiSfACTV/tCO BY 
'TteeXR K7LHAMS COJ 
ezASTVWBBX cavAt // 
of the PU RE and GOOD, this soap recommends 
itself. For the TO*LET without au equal, for 
SHAVINQ a grout luxury. In pound oars, also 
jn packages of 6 Round or .Square.- Oakes. Ask your 
druggists for It. or send Sk stump for trial sample. 
IT W II.L DELIGHT YOU. 
YonCaDDye an y'color 
With l>iuiiiemd Dyes, for loots They never 
full. lit fust colors. The-y also make Inks, color photo’s, 
etc Send for colored samples and Dye hook. Gold, 
Silver, Copper and Bronze Paints for any use—only 10 
cents u package. Druggists sell or we send post-paid. 
Wells, It Iehurdson A l'o„ Burlington. Vt. 
DATCIIT6 THUS. P.SIMPSON, Washington, D. 
I AIEIII9C. No pay asked for patent until 
pbtaiued. Write for Inventors’ Guide. 
