church, costing $45,000 to the Italian Mission 
of the Episcopal Church in New York. 
This season fashionable girls have been 
seized with a craze for donkey carts, that un¬ 
assuming but determined animal having come 
into style. The fancy is for a white one, 
which is handsome, but difficult to obtain. Of 
course, these donkeys are more expensive here 
than in England, where a good animal may 
be purchased for two pounds. 
The daily papers are filled with glowing ac¬ 
counts of the fame and fortune awaiting ener¬ 
getic women in the far west. We are told 
that they may take up Government lands and 
rapidly attain wealth by sheep or cattle rais¬ 
ing; while in the towns and villages they may 
make money quickly by their knowledge of 
music aud art. We should like to hear some¬ 
thing more of this from our Western Rural 
sisters. 
Scrap jars made of birch bark are to be 
seen at a New York bazar famous for its 
decorative novelties. The foundation is a 
cylindrical box about two feet high and 10 or 
12 inches in diameter, This is smoothly- 
covered with the satiny bark; around the top 
a slender spray of the birch forms a headiug. 
On one side is a. big bunchy bow of peacock 
blue and dull orange ribbon, having a spray' 
of artificial fruit or filigrette flowers twisted 
amongst it. These filigrette ornaments look 
like skeletonized flowers or leaves of tinsel, 
and are very effective in decoration. 
Charming pongee tidies are decorated with 
a combination of painting and embroidery’ 
An outline design of wild roses being chosen, 
it may be worked in silk, the stems and leaves 
shaded green, the flowers rose-pink. Then 
these outlines may be filled iu with water 
colors of appropriate hue. It is extremely 
easy work, and charming in effect. 
A Fourteenth St. bric-a-brac store recently 
displayed a quantity of pretty little ornaments 
in Derbyshire spar. This substance, which 
may be unfamiliar to many, is an earthy- 
crystal, appearing in delicate shades of cream 
and pink. It is common throughout the Peak 
of Derbyshire, a picturesque district much af¬ 
fected by tourists, who are great purchasers of 
these local souvenirs. 
Relative to women’s work, Ruskin says: 
“You may see continually girls who have 
never been taught to do a useful thing thor¬ 
oughly; who caunot sew, who cannot cook, 
who caunot cast an account nor prepare a med¬ 
icine, whose whole life has been passed either 
in play or in pride. You will find girls like 
these, when they are earnest-hearted, cast all 
their innate passion of religious spirit, which 
was meant by God to supy>ort them through 
the irksomeness of daily toil into grievous and 
vain meditation over the meaning of the great 
book, of which no syllable was over yet to be 
understood out through a deed; all the instinct¬ 
ive wisdom, and mercy of their womanhood 
made vain, and the glory- of their pure con¬ 
sciences warped into fruitless agony concern¬ 
ing questions, which the laws of common ser¬ 
viceable life would have either solved for them 
in an instant., or kept out of their way. 
Give such a girl any- true work, that will 
make her active in the ilawu and weary at 
night, with the consciousness that her fellow- 
creatures have indeed, been the better for her 
day', and the powerless sorrow of her enthu¬ 
siasm will transform itself into a majesty of 
radiant and beneficient peace.” 
CHIPS FROM A COUNTRY WORK 
SHOP. 
What a lot of philosophy there is in just 
letting things slide! We need not be lazy or 
slatternly about it either, but let things slide 
from a high moral standpoint. I rneau this— 
we should not bother our heads and bodies 
too with vexatious superfluities, a very com¬ 
mon failing with ambitious housekeepers. We 
needn’t put I? tuck9 and a frill on our small 
daughter’s frock, just because her playmate 
has as many, when every extra tuck means a 
nail in the tired mother’s coffin, to use a 
homely' old saw. 
We need not be ambitious to set before our 
guests three: kinds of cake and puffy' hot bis¬ 
cuits, presided over by a hostess too tired and 
heated to do more for entertainment than to 
press on her guests the material comforts for 
which she sacrificed the very spirit of hospi¬ 
tality. It is the true essence of hospitality to 
offer mere bread and salt in the spirit of gen¬ 
uine welcome. Wo must offer the refreshment 
of the spirit, the rest we may buy at an inn 
What a lot of superfluous cares we are apt 
to create through our anxiety to please our 
guests! Here is another direction in which to 
let things slide. Do not think I mean that we 
should be slip-shod in our hospitality. No; I 
mean that we should so live that “compauy 
manners” are a thing unknown—it will vexy 
materially simplify matters. This is especial¬ 
ly true in all things connected with the table. 
If the meats are prepared and put upon the 
table with all things done decently aud in 
order, while the olive branches are from the 
first instructed in table manners, the hostess 
js not likely to be annoyed by any unlucky I 
contretemps when guests are present. A very 
useful little work for such instructions is 
“Don’t: A Manual of Improprieties iu Con¬ 
duct aud Speech.” In alluding to the phil¬ 
osophy' of letting things slide, we must not 
forget another valuable preventive of social 
friction, aud that, is, looking at life and its 
mishaps from a humorous standpoint. It 
does not imply making fun of serious things, 
but making high comedy of life., as Horace 
Walpole says Really', we should live a good 
deal longer if, like Mark Tapley, we could lie 
jolly under a variety' of circumst ances. So, if 
you have a keen sense of humor, cherish it as 
your most valued friend; if not, try to cul¬ 
tivate it, for it forms a sovereign shield against 
the blows of adverse fate. e. t. i,ynn. 
THE READING OF HISTORY. 
HOLLY DEAN. 
In a previous article we have attempted to 
show, that home study' is not a mere myth, 
hut on the other hand may be made product¬ 
ive of most excellent results. In the present 
instance we shalJ present something in the way' 
of illustration, and suggest the way in which 
these general principles may- be applied. An 
eminent educator was recently asked the 
question: “How shall we read?” and in re¬ 
ply gave it as his opinion, that no general rule 
was possible, but that this was on a par with 
the equally unanswerable question; “How 
shall we breathe?” There is some truth in 
this observation, and yet experience gives us 
certain general rules, which are applicable in 
all cases. First, in choosing what to read, we 
must remember that we cannot read every¬ 
thing, aud that this, even were it possible, 
would hardly lie desirable. Much is written 
now-a-days, which is far from profitable read¬ 
ing. Never before has the literary market 
been so full of works, good, bad and indifferent 
and a nice discrimination has been never 
more necessary t.hau now. But even when 
we have drawn in the over-full literary' net, 
and cast the bad away, we find our mental 
fish baskets too small to contain the residue, 
aud are so forced to make a second division. 
Our subject leads us away from the wide 
and interesting field of fiction, and remands 
our attention to the question of historical 
reading. Its value as a means of culture is 
undoubted, aud we only need to inquire, how 
a jierson with limited time, and small purse 
may be able to utilize this means of culture in 
the best possible way. History is the most 
accessible branch of study, open to those who 
are deprived of the benefits of instruction. 
Scientific works are largely obscured by' a 
terminology peculiar to themselves, and this 
terminology' must first be mastered before we 
can make any great progress, l^anguages 
may be studied in private with great advant¬ 
age, and yet, au imperfect rudimentary knowl¬ 
edge of the rules of languages in general, may 
cause the home student much perplexing and 
discouraging trouble and delay. But history 
may' be read and studied by any who can read 
at all, and forms an excellent preparation for 
more difficult work to follow. A year’s course 
in some iiuoof historical reading must result in 
the gaining of much useful, and practical 
knowledge, and even though the time devoted 
to the work each day is small, especially dur¬ 
ing the summer seasou, a single fact secured 
daily aud thought upon in its several relations 
sufficiently compensates for the time and 
trouble bestowed. We must guard against 
two extremes, i. e., grasping too much aud 
laying hold of little, or nothing. If we run 
over a large territory, and retain little or 
nothing of what we have read, the results are 
to say the least unsatisfactory. Ou the other 
hand, if we confine ourselves to the acquire¬ 
ment of the names of a few persons and places, 
aud the dates of a few chief events, wc have 
come far short of the true aim of historical 
study; we have laid a fouudation, but reared 
no superstructure upon it. This calls to our 
notice another frequent cause of failure in 
this direction. The rule of progressive 
knowledge is “ branch out,” instead of this, 
some persons are uuder the constant necessity 
of branching in. Their progress may be com¬ 
pared to that of a ship, which, having pro¬ 
ceeded a certain distance from a known point, 
is forced again to return to that point in or¬ 
der to “take bearings,” aud a second time 
start from the same place to go a little farther 
than before aud again return. 
It is good for a traveler iu a strange country 
to make himself familiar with the rood along 
which he is passing, as otherwise he may easily 
lose himself, and the same advice is applicable 
to the mental traveler, who enters an unex¬ 
plored region. Be sure you know where you 
are, aud then go forward always keeping your 
eye on some familiar landmark. Who can 
thoroughly enjoy Carlyle’s admirable History 
of the French Revolution, without first thor¬ 
oughly learning the facts connected with the 
event fi om some other source? Such writers 
presuppose this rudimentary knowledge, and 
proceed at once to their discussion in detail. 
W hatever line of historical reading you choose 
to pursue, first acquaint youself with the out¬ 
lines. Construct a skeleton first, and theu 
clothe it with flesh, and it at once becomes 
to you a thing of life. 
History is a broad subject, and it is general¬ 
ly best to begin “near home,’’ and gradually 
widen our circle of investigation, Some 
knowledge of our own national history is first 
essential. A brief and, at the same time, com¬ 
prehensive American history is a desideratum, 
which genius aud labor has yot to produce. 
Barues’ Brief History is a fair outline; Quack- 
eubos’ a little more full and certainly more 
interesting, while for those wbt> desire to pur¬ 
sue the subject iu detail, Bancroft’s, when 
accessible, is the undoubted standard. The 
history of England is intimately connected 
with that of our own country. “English 
History” in the Chatauqua text books is an 
admirable little compendium of dates and 
events, and may be purchased at, the price of 
a dime novel. By committing to memory the 
50 small pages therein contained, we have 
constructed a good, firm foundation for sub¬ 
sequent reading. Dickens’ Child’s History, 
though sometimes inaccurate, is written in the 
genial, pleasing style characteristic of the 
author, and deserves a careful reading. After 
this, we have a wide field from which to 
choose. Many have here done yeoman service 
in recording the history of their country. 
Green’s Short History has much to commend 
it to the general reader. It, covers the whole 
period, is accurate, and constructed on a new 
plan, striving to present rather a history of the 
people than a mere detail of wars and political 
intrigues. Every person of liberal culture 
aspires to read Macaulay, and we cannot well 
afford to omit it from our list. 
After this course, we are well qualified to 
read anything in the way of English history 
and may pursue Hume, Lingard, and Hallam 
at pleasure. A general outline of universal 
history is a proper preliminary to further 
reading. Anderson, Williard and Lardner 
have each | iroduced such sketches, of which 
the respective value is indicated by the order 
in which they aro placed. Gibbon’s decline 
and fall of the Roman Empire covers a field 
of history, occupied by no other writer, A 
careful reading of some small history of Rome, 
such as that of Smith or Liddell should 
precede the’ perusal of this more extensive 
work, which may really be considered as a 
general history of the period, of which it 
treats. Space does not admit the further 
specification of particular lines of historical 
reading. We close the article with one gen¬ 
eral suggestion in regard to the use of note 
books. These aids to the memory, are no¬ 
where more profitably employed thau here. 
By judicious use of pencil and paper, it is pos- 
ible to compress a chapter of Hume or Mac¬ 
aulay into the limits of u few closely written 
lines, and so arranged that a reference to these 
notes recalls much that has not been written. 
Aside from this, the practice of condensing 
thought into the fewest possible words is ac¬ 
quired, and in this form, facts are most read¬ 
ily retained, anil easily utilized. Question 
books may either accompany or partially take 
the place of note books. In these, questions are 
written out, the answers to which include the 
statement of facta, especially important in 
their bearing on the general subject. In 
either case, the same caution is necessary. Do 
not try to make a note book a transcript of 
the printed page. In this case, much time is 
lost, and, besides, nearly all the benefit de¬ 
rived from judicious note-taking. Make your 
notes few and brief, and as lur os possible 
suggestive. A couple of lines will often recall 
a live-page argument. Review your uoto- 
buok frequently. Do not think that when 
written full, its usefulness is past, and there¬ 
fore consign it to the waste basket. Mark 
each book with the subject on which it is 
made, and lay it away for future reference. 
Well preserved and carefully written note¬ 
books form a library iu miniature, and are 
especially valuable, when the book ou which 
they are made, happens to lie a borrowed one, 
ana when once read passes out of your hands. 
Much more might be said on this’ point, and 
on the general subject, but what has been 
written has been presented with the especial 
view of aiding tno unaided efforts of those 
who may chance to read this article. In this 
way many hours may be profitably aud 
pleasantly employed, which would otherwise 
bo devoted to trashy reading, or wasted in 
idleness or frivolous amusements, anti a store 
of useful knowledge accumulated, which will 
prove of lasting benefit to the possessor. 
Domestic Coonotmj 
CONDUCTED BY MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
PITHS. 
Varnished furniture should not be wiped 
off with a damp cloth. 
If you do not possess a curpet sweeper, in¬ 
sist upon having one. 
When sweeping, open such windows and 
doors as will create a draught, that the dust 
maybe carried off instead of settling again 
upon carjiet and furniture. 
Soiled clothing, particularly that which is 
damp with perspiration, should never be 
thrown into a dark, non-ventilated closet and 
there left until washday. 
If you would rob ironing day of a part of 
its terrors, provide yourself with good, steel- • 
faced flat-irons and then keep them, when not 
in use, in a dry place wrapped in thick, brown 
paper. 
Water that has boiled for any length of 
time will not make a good cup of tea. Put 
fresh water over the fire, heat to boiling and 
turn at once onto the leaves. Let stand where 
it will keep hot, but not boil, for five minutes 
and serve. Long boiled tea is always sugges¬ 
tive of “yarbe.” 
We have seen a fretful baby quieted by 
giving it a few teaspoonfuls of cold water. 
Cut waist linings across not lengthwise of 
the goods—this to avoid stretching-—and silesia 
makes a much better lining than drilling. 
HOUSEKEEPING IN CALIFORNIA.-VIII 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
While visiting the Citrus fair iu San Fran¬ 
cisco in January, a mau who was one of the 
exhibitors, aud who had a ranch of 900 acres 
near Sacramento, was moved to tell me some¬ 
thing about himself and his family, with 
which I was greatly entertained. He was a 
a son of John Bull, a solidly built man, not 
tall, but very snug and compact in figure, and 
looked the picture of health and strength. He 
was greatly interested in olives, and treated 
us to olives ri|>e aud fresh, and olives pickled— 
the latter having been soaked iu lye, and then 
when reduced to a pale green color, put in 
slightly salted water. He declared that ids 
family lived Well on simply dry bread aud 
olives of which the children—he had five girls 
and a hoy or two, but only the girls seemed to 
be of special account—were very fond. The 
oil in the olives made meat dispensable. 
He thought his girts, girls worth talking 
about! One of them 10 years old, rode to 
school ou horse back, a distance of two miles, 
and in addition, would, for a week at- a time, 
pump water for 75 head of stock. Auother 
daughter of 14 j'ears, would carry a sack of 
flour weighing from 120 to 130 pounds up-stairs 
and think nothing of the feat. He never yet 
sent her in the meadows to catch a horse that 
she foiled to catch, and he had always found 
girls more reliable than boys! She took entire 
charge of a stallion weighing 1,200 pounds, 
would make him i ie down and get up at her bid¬ 
ding, and she would siton him when lying down 
and read a newspaper with as much uncon¬ 
cern as if sitting on a stump. But she didn’t 
play the “pianner” however, she wanted to 
loam, and iu exchange for music lessons she 
would teach one how to feed and water, to 
clean off and bed n horse, to bridle and har¬ 
ness it, and make any horse gentle as a 
lamb. She would hitch one horse on one 
side of the tongue of a big wagon and make 
him draw it; all his girls rode ou horse back, 
but astride. He thought it most ridiculous 
and absurd for girls, or women, to hang them¬ 
selves on the side of a horse, and would I not 
do all I could to encourage astride riding? I 
assured him that I hail always believed iu 
women riding as did Queen Elizabeth, and 
that if I had daughters to ride on horse back 
they should all ride astride. 
He said there was a great deal of nonsense 
talked about what one should eat and drink. 
He himself had not drunk tea or coffee for 40 
years—water was quite good enough for him 
—and his wife had drunk neither for 20 years. 
They were never sick at his house. One time 
just to “experiment," he had gone without 
food for five days, aud worked every day. 
Auother time for weeks, he had worked iu a 
printing office, and lived on 85 cents a week. 
“And did you keepwell?” I asked, “Just as well 
as I am now!” Still another time for a period, 
lie lived entirely on animal food, and an equal 
length of time entirely on vegetable food, 
and was just as well and strong on the vegeta¬ 
ble diet, as on the meat food, and he could at 
anytime carry a sack of flour in his teeth. 
But there was nothing like olives for dyspep¬ 
sia—sure cure. His-14-year old girl, further¬ 
more, would ride 40 miles in a half day, ou 
horse back aud think nothing of it, and take 
care of 100 head of horses. I might have 
questioned bis veracity as to his wonderful 
girls, but I heard from another source of their 
extraordinary doings wit h horses. 
This Anglo-American has lived in the United 
States 34 years, is now 59 years of age, looks 
ten years youuger. He told me also of another 
girl—a young woman who came to California 
from Illinois hoping to find a school to finch. 
But meantime she must do something, and he 
hired hor at $12 a month to work on his farm. 
She, too, understood horses and was not afraid 
of work, and she would harrow with n double 
team, as well as u man. She got a teaching 
certificate finally, aud the school directors de¬ 
clared that any woman who could harrow a 
field as did she could teach a school, and so 
they hired her at a salary of $S0 the month. 
She was a good teacher aud was doiug splen¬ 
didly until a fellow came along and wanted to 
marry her. My informant said he ail vised 
her to have nothing to do with him; that she 
