242 
Q 
for Women:. 
CONDUCTED BY MISS RAY CLARK. 
REQUIREMENT. 
JOHN O. WHITTIER. 
We live by faltb; but faith Is not the slave 
Of text ami lejteud. Reason's voice and God’s, 
Nature’s and duty's, never are at odds. 
What asks our Father of Ills children, save 
Just lee and mercy and humility, 
a reasonable service of good deeds, 
Punt; living, tenderness to human needs. 
Reverence and trust, and prayer for light to see 
The Master's footprints in our daily ways? 
No knotted seourge nor sacrificial knife, 
Rut the calm beauty of an ordered life, 
Whose very breathing Is umvnrded praise— 
A Lite that stands, as all true lives have stood. 
Fast rooted In the faith that, uod is good. 
GRANDMOTHER’S SOLILOQUY. 
“I wonder,” said Grandmother, as she put 
on her spectacles and took her knitting, ‘'I 
wonder what this world is coming to! I never 
saw such times! Why, when 1 was a girl, men 
worked out for nil cents a day, and could sup¬ 
port their families comfortably at that; and 
now, when a man earns a dollar and a half, 
they say his family suffer for the necessi¬ 
ties of life! Provisions are as cheap now as 
they were then. Cloth is cheaper. I admit 
it docs not wear as well as our homespun used 
to do, neither is it as thick and warm; but 
then it is cheap! I cannot understand why 
the times are so hard. Why, I can look back 
50 years, and I really think people were hap¬ 
pier and healthier and more sociable then, than 
now. Oh, people are changed! They are 
selfish, they do not care for their neighbors. 
Only think of a woman lying sick three 
weeks aud dying, and the nearest neighbor 
knowing nothing about it. Not a soul culled 
on her or ministered to her. Why it looks to 
me as il'people were hard-hearted Death is 
nothing outride of one’s own household. When 
I was a girl, a death in a neighborhood east u 
solemnity over the whole community. Now, 
nobody minds a death; it is nothing to them; 
it is none of their business, and they go on 
their way, just as unmindful of the grim 
messenger as if it would never come their turn 
to die. Yes, times are changed; everything 
has changed, and I don't believe folks are as 
happy as they used to be either, Bucli good 
times as we used to have—evening visits, 
quiltings, bushings, paring bees aud all such 
jolly gatherings! They have all gone out of 
fashion, and you do not see your nearest 
neighbor once a month; and when they do 
come in, it is for a five minutes’ call; they are 
prinked up with their best bib and tucker on, 
and look just like French dolls. All they talk 
about is the latest styles, the new clothes or hats 
such a one has got; aud in five minutes they 
start out. to making more calls. They cannot 
afford to dress up just for one call. Now 
there is no genuine sociability about such 
calls; it is all formality aud show. I some¬ 
times think that the humau heart is different 
from what it was half a century ago. Nobody 
ever feels glad or sorry now-a-days. It is not 
genteel to make any demonstration of feel¬ 
ing, If you have any uatural affection, it 
must all be kept out of sight. It is not fash¬ 
ionable to make any outward display of cither 
grief or joy. I would give more to hear a 
good hearty laugh from a merry-hearted girl, 
or a shout from a laughter, loving boy, than 
to see the simpering smile that is stereotyped 
for every occasion by the young folks uow-a- 
days. Talk of boys aud girls j There are 
none. As soon as a boy gets out of his round- 
a-bout-s, and a girl shetls her bib aprons, they 
are young gentlemen and young ladies, and ex¬ 
pect to be treated with due consideration. The 
first tiling u young lady thinks of is a beau, 
and the lads are flirting with girls before the 
down starts on their upper lips. Oh, what 
lots of fun and good times they lose by sprout¬ 
ing up into ladies and gentlemen so young. 
But all that buoyant jollity must bo suppress¬ 
ed. Oh yes ; crush it down, suppression is 
the fashion; suppress your fun, suppress your 
griefs, suppress your joys, suppress all nat¬ 
ural affections! That is the style of the pres¬ 
ent generation. It is not thought to lx- gen¬ 
teel to laugh or to cry, so the voice of nature 
must be stifled, aud the more stoical aud roclc- 
like a person is, the more genteel and polished 
they are considered. Well, everybody says 
each generation grows wiser, but 1 do not be- 
liove anybody will claim that they are hap¬ 
pier or better. 1 know I am growing old, and 
old folks look backward instead of forward, 
and really 1 think the past held brighter pros¬ 
pects that the future holds. If knowledge 
and wisdom increases, happiness very evident¬ 
ly does not. There! my needle has slipped 
out, aud the stitches are running down. 
GRANDMOTHER. 
A PLEA FOR BACK DOORS. 
What is the difference between a back door 
and a front door ? Why should the back door 
be so persistently ignored, while the front 
door is kept spotless and shitting ? One is for 
visitors and holiday occasions, the owners of 
country houses will toll us. The other is for 
the passage of provisions, and the thousand 
and one articles of daily use, for ashes aud 
dirt, debris and swill. It. is easy to keep a 
front door tidy, but what housekeeper can 
find time and strength to be everlastingly 
scrubbing back doors, aud picking up waste 
papers and strings, and bones, and the litter 
that has to accumulate somewhere! Yes, but 
that back door is very dirty. The finger 
marks, large and small, that have made a fres¬ 
co of filth a yard square or more are enough to 
take away the healthiest appetite. 
But what can lx; done with a door constant¬ 
ly used by your husband, children, and work¬ 
men, you ask! Your workmen would soon 
learn to use the latch or knob, if spoken to 
kindly a few times. It is not so cosy to predi¬ 
cate about your husband, who perhaps feels 
himself privileged to make all the dirt he 
pleases. But the mother, who does not instruct 
her children to open aud close doors by their 
handles, deserves to spend her life scrubbing 
finger marks. 
Then why should you allow this back door 
yard to be littered? There would certainly lie 
very little to pick up if nothing was thrown 
down. 
Then about that swill barrel that blubbers 
iu the summer sun? You have got to save 
your swill you say. That is not saving it. 
It is worse than wasting it. The leavings 
of your table, the fo<xl that you can eat your¬ 
self, without detriment, is none too good for 
your hogs. This pestering, fly-blown stuff not 
only poisons the neighborhood as it stands 
there, but it, is sure to injure those who are 
fated to partake of the pork raised by such 
means. That swill barrel is almost as bad as a 
small-pox hospital next door. You shudder 
yourself when you lift the cover from this 
seething mass, and the great, fat. flies and the 
myriad swarms of tiny insects buzz round 
your ears. You admit it is nasty, but comfort 
yourself with the thought that it is necessary. 
You are mistaken. Pollution means sickness 
and death. Cleanliness, health and life. You 
are never quite well, but you haven't the re¬ 
motest idea what is the matter with you. It 
is the pork in your cellar ten to one—and the 
swill barrel at your back door. The very 
sigut of the back door itself is enough to 
make you sick. So banish the swill, feed your 
hogs on decent food, scrub and paint the back 
door, and then save yourselves, and set an ex¬ 
ample for your neighbors, eleanor kirk. 
SNAP PY SP ELLS, 
We asked a little girl of three or four one 
day, which she liked the best, her mother or 
her grandmother a t whose house she spent so 
much of her time. 
“My grandma,” she answered promptly, to 
my great surprise. “I like nay mamma very 
well, only she has such snappy spells!” I 
wonder if other little ones would not give a 
somewhatBimilar testimony about us mothers, 
if they should speak out of the abundance of 
the heart as did little Lizzie! A little girl 
scut, away to pray over her bad temper was 
heard to add to her little prayer: “And please 
make my mamma better tempered, too.” 
The listening mother stole softly away to 
ponder over the honest, words. 
Everything is catching with children, and 
measles and whooping-cough are not so much 
to be dreaded as the habit of cross speaking 
and feeling. “Snappy spells” iu the mother 
are sure to be repeated in the children, unless 
they are indeed little angels only lent for a 
year or two. We have sometimes known a 
little one who bore with a wayward mother 
so patiently, though griovingly, that it 
seemed most fitting that it should be trans¬ 
ferred to a home whore all was love and 
brightness and all voices were sweet spoken. 
There is often a good deal of heartache left 
for a mother when the chances have gone by 
forever iu which she could have spoken the 
loving words for which the little spirit so 
hungered. 
Said a little oue the day before he was taken 
down with a fatal sickuess, as he gazed earn¬ 
estly into bis mother’s face: 
“Isn't I a good boy sometimes!” I think 
that mother can never foiget, that tone and 
look. 
It, is more a matter of habit, aud perhaps of 
inheritance, this cross speaking, than of real 
provocation. “Trifles light* as air” stir up the 
evil venom and embitter all the household. 
Even when the trouble is great one may 
lighten the skies for themselves even by speak¬ 
ing pleasantly, aud how much more cheering 
for other people. By talking cheerfully after 
awhile one gets in the mood for it. Mr. 
Wesley says: “I no more dare to scold and fret 
than I would to curse and swear.” If only all 
could cherish the same sentiment it would 
hasten the millennium of peace on earth. 
OLIVE. ' 
BABY’S HOOD AND CLOAK TRIMMINQ. 
Use Shetland floss any desired color, and a 
medium-sized bone crochet hook. For the 
front make a chain of 80 stitches. Turn, aud 
in the third stitch make two double crochet 
(by putting thread around the hook once); 
chain one. and make two more in the same 
place. This forms a small shell. Make a 
shell in every third stitch until the end of 
chain. There will be 10 shells. Turn the 
work and make a chain of eight, stitches very 
loosely, and fasten between each shell. The 
third row is the same ns first, making shells in 
the preceding shells. The whole work consists 
of these two rows, keeping the shells ou the 
wrong side, aud the long fluffy loops on the 
right. Make the strip long enough to go 
aroqtid the face, and allow for a cape. Then 
crochet a strip for the crown iu the same way, 
and the same number of stitches, allowing 
for the length of cape in this also. Leave the 
crown square across the top, and sew in. 
Crochet u piece about eight shells square and 
place on the top of the hood letting a corner 
come over the front a little. Place a bow of 
ribbon at one side and at the back where it is 
shirred for the cape. A Cashmere cloak is 
pretty with trimming made to match the hood. 
A drab cloak with blue trimmings and blue 
hood or, a beautiful one can be made of eider¬ 
down cloth with white hood anil trimmings. 
FANNY FLETCHER. 
The fragrance of the alabaster box of oint¬ 
ment has come down through the centuries. 
The willow’s mite is swollen perhaps to millions. 
But God would never have so blessed the mite, 
if it might ha ve been a denarius. 
It will be sweet sometime if we may hear 
the King say touts, “Inasmuch as ye have done 
it unto one of the lenst of these, my brethren, ye 
have done it untome,” I twill be worth every¬ 
thing to us, and how much to the souls we 
have helped in their struggles with sin, and 
saved for eternal life! zea mays. 
Domestic Cetraomi} 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY MAPLE. 
KITCHEN TALKS. 
ANNIE L. JACK. 
“I do not know why I cannot make as good 
puff paste as Auntie Jane,” said the Amateur 
Cook discontentedly, as she rolled the butter 
in the Hour and prepared it for the tart-s. 
There was pathos in her voice, that implied 
more than mere dough, and it, lay in the fact 
that a party of young friends were coming to 
visit us, who would test her cooking, which 
she very much desired should be first-class. 
Our old friend, Aunt Mnbby, was sittiug in 
the kite-hen, busy helping me with some 
rugs. She looked up smiling. “There is 
a little secret in puff paste, dear,” she said; 
“it is to make the butter waxy. You 
should always wash it in cold water, flatten it 
into wafers, and set ou ice a few minutes to 
make it brittle. Then, Instead of kneading it, 
work it in with a knife, flooring your hands 
when you are obliged to touch the paste. A 
very little salt and as much sugar make a 
great improvement if you wish light paste, 
and bo very careful not to add too much 
water; for if the paste is too soft, it eannot be 
handled, aud the working over iu that con¬ 
dition makes it hard.” The Cook thanked Aunt 
Mnbby for her useful hints, and told her we 
often wished that she would go on the recipe 
book for the Rural. Aud then the dear old 
lady put on an apron and made some apple 
custards that were really delicious, Hhe put 
a crust on. the plates, pared some juicy apples 
aud sliced them thin till the plates were half 
full: then poured over them a custard, and 
baked quickly. The top was covered with 
whipped cream flavored with lemon, and it 
certainly was a pretty and dainty dish that 
our guests all seemed to appreciate fully. 
The days lengthen, aud busy housekeepers 
are anxious to get on with sewing and other 
work that can be better attended to before 
spring work comes in. The bright, sunny 
days reveal all the results of the Winter’s 
smoke aud wear, and make one long for 
house-cleaning time. But it is not best to be¬ 
gin too early, even when our lingers ache to 
turn over the hidden dusty corners, and in¬ 
vestigate the stove pipes. Better to get all 
the Hewing and mending done, give ourselves 
the needed rest, and make all preparations to 
begin the con test. As the sunny days render 
the wearing of furs unnecessary, it would be 
as well to put them away before moths find 
lodgment among them. Many things are 
recommended; but we all know that a little 
benzine spriukled il) among them, if the box 
is tight, is sure death to thdsc pests, 
--- 
NOTES AND COMMENTS. 
In looking over the Rural of February 120, 
I noticed some experiences on “Winter But¬ 
ter-making.” I am not a very old housekeep¬ 
er, but I have had several years’ experience 
in butter-making, both iu Summer and Win¬ 
ter, and have had but very little trouble, 
seldom churning more than half an hour and 
very often not more than 10 minutes, and the 
butter comas out yellow and solid. Neither 
am 1 among those who have patent appliances 
and regulators for making butter. I use 
the old-fashioned wooden dash churn and a 
wooden butter tray and ladle for working 
the butter. 
My way of making butter in the Winter is 
to skim the milk while it is sweet, aud when 
the cream jar is nearly full, set it by thostove 
for a day before I want, to churn, so that it 
will sour just a little, and also get sufficiently 
warm to churn easily (I have never met with 
success in trying to make butter from sweet 
cream). I test the cream by dipping the tip 
of my finger in it and touching it to my face 
(I have no thermometer); when it feels just a 
little warm it will not take long to churn. I 
always wash my butter twice and sometimes 
three times, then salt and set away till the 
next morning, when I work it again, and I 
always have good, sweet butter. I did have 
two churnings two or three years ago, that 
seemed very refractory. I don’t know why 
(it was in the summer time), but I put in boil¬ 
ing water till the cream was as warm as new 
milk and then the butter separated from the 
milk in a hurry. Of course, it was white, but 
I would rather have white butter than none 
at all. I have had no trouble since. 
I like “Annie L. Jack’s” method of washing 
on Tuesday. 11 trefer to soak my clothes over¬ 
night. and 1 don’t think Sunday is the proper 
day to gather up clothes anti get t hem ready 
for washing, so 1 seldom wash on Monday. 
The “Oxford Blue” in square packages I think . 
better than the “Ball blueing.” 
•‘Alice Brown” tells us, iu the Rural of 
January 10, of a woman’s conflict with her 
temper. She says; “She was a neat and care¬ 
ful housewife, and her husband and children 
gave her occasion for scolding every day, by 
carelessly leaving scattered about hats, boots, 
books and numberless other things, and she 
never failed to scold t hem sharply. ” At last 
her husband retorted that “she was growing 
to be ns great a scold as Aunt Lizzie Riton.” 
Then she tells us how the wife locked herself 
in her room, and “all day long looked over her 
shortcomings,” and at last conquered her 
temper so that she could speak to her family 
without scolding. Now, while 1 admire the 
spii-it that prompts one to govern an unruly 
temper, I also admire the spirit that prompts 
one to keep from ruffling another’s temper. 
Why is it that some men must always throw 
their coats and hats on the floor or on chairs 
instead of hanging them up?—just as if a wo¬ 
man with a husband and children to work 
for did not have enough to do without picking 
tip after her family. 1 think such a man 
deserves scolding, and more too. Then chil¬ 
dren always think they can do as Papa does, 
aud it is very hard to train them to neat 
habits with such an example always before 
them. The husband ought to look over his 
shortcomings, too. I think if I had such a 
husband, I should throw my things ou the 
chairs anti floor and see how he would like 
that kind of housekeeping. Canadian. 
♦ -• - 
SOME SUGGESTIONS AS TO COUNTRY 
WEDDINGS. 
A WEDDING in the country where guests 
come from a distance and with their own con¬ 
veyances, is more convenient early iu the day. 
Noon is the best time; but on no account 
should it be later than 2 p. m., unless some come 
by rail and it has to be timed to suit the train. 
Neither would I have it eailier than 10 a. m., 
as wedding breakfasts arc hard to manage and 
provide for. An evening wedding where the 
purse is ample, is, ol' course, brilliant and 
dazzling; but even then some of the elderly 
ones whose company is prized the most, will 
be kept at home, by the lateness of the hour. 
The preparations, as far as possible, should 
be made before the appointed day. As 
country people seldom keep servants (iu the 
house at least) but rely upon tin; assistance of 
their most intimate friends, every one that is 
expected to assist in any way should be in¬ 
formed so that he or she may come prepared. 
The house may be decorated with autumn 
leaves and pressed ferns, if in Winter or Hum¬ 
mer with flowers that are in season. A small 
table should be set in the hall or remote cor- 
#U$ceUanco us SUtmtisinjR 
"When Baby was sick, wo gavs her Caatorta, 
When she waa a Child, she cried for Castoria, 
When she became Miss, she dong to Caatoria, 
When tbs hsd C’Uldrsu, aha gars tham Caatoria, 
