422 
THE BUBAL HEW-VQBKEB. 
JUNE 2® 
career of a strong, healthy man ought to rest 
with himself. 
Tommy’s First Speaker. Published by W. 
H. Harrison, Jr,, Chicago, HI. 
Every mother likes to have her little boy 
learn to “speak a piece.” There is nothing 
more “cunning” than the sight of some bright 
little fellow standing up before the company, 
making wise gestures and talking like a man. 
Many a mother’s heart has magnified the 
little speaker into some mighty orator that 
the years have in training. This vision may 
be seldom realized, yet the idea of teaching 
children to memorize and recite simple poems 
or portions of essays is a good one. The 
momory is cultivated, a confidence in our¬ 
selves awakened, and an ease and grace of 
manner are developed. It is hardest to find a 
“piece” that will be suitable for the very little 
people who cannot remember a long poem and 
who cannot be expected to understand a 
thoughtful production. The little poems 
found in the hook under consideration are 
admirably suited to supply this want. They 
are short, simple and bright. There are no 
long words, but the diction is such that any 
little boy cau understand all the poems. The 
book is said to be edited by Tommy himself. 
“Tommy” is evidently a pretty old boy, but 
like ftII who grow old gracefully, he remem¬ 
bers his youth. 
Handbook of English History. By Francis 
H. Underwood, A.M. Published by Loo & 
Shepard, Boston. Price $1.20. 
This book is based on the lectures of the late 
M. J. Guest. The list of English histories is 
already large. The number of people in ac¬ 
tive life who have time to read several histor¬ 
ies for the sake of comparing the opinions of 
the various historians is limited. Perhaps for 
this reason this volume may be useful. It has 
the merit of being condensed and carefully 
written, The original production, lw>ing writ¬ 
ten as a series of lectures, was comparatively 
wordy. No attempt is made to introduce 
descriptive passages. The story of the battle 
of Waterloo is all told in two pages, and curt, 
short sentences are the rule, For this reason 
the present volume will be useful as a text¬ 
book for the student who desires to use it os a 
skeleton, and to till iu with readings from 
other authors. The comments on political 
events appeal' to bo us impartial and truthful 
as any we have seen. 
Lyrics of Like, by John Grosvenor Wilson. 
Published by the Caxton Book Concern. 
Limited. 
All men, at some period of their lives, write 
poetry. Most of us have the disease before we 
are 80, and pass the rest of life in trying to 
hide all evidence of our contributions to poetic 
literature We can see uo reason why the 
present volume should have l>ren published 
unless friends of the author wished to show 
their friendly appreciation by buying a book- 
which ]jersoual association alone can make 
readable. We surely could not advise our 
friends to buy it. The world is crowded with 
rhyme, but the list of real poets does not ap¬ 
pear to grow very rapidly. We prefer to 
read Whittier or Longfellow or Tennyson 
over and over again, than to spend time upon 
this fledgling poetry. 
Wmumt’s UWh. 
CONDUCTED DY EMILY L. TAFLIN. 
SPRING. 
The sontj of a woman who does her own ivork. 
8PBUXG! 
Tn be sure—so It. Is—anil I'm going to sing, 
Not the times that the regular poets rehearse 
In ridiculous verse. 
I've nothing of winds aromatic to say. 
Nor pansies, nor tulips, nor hyacinths gay. 
I live In the city. 
And discover uo pretty 
Green leaflet or bud 
Sticking out or the mud; 
Nor do I hear warble of black bird or blue; 
Yet I kuow It Is Spring Just as well as you do. 
Aye. I know it ton well, for It’s all spring to uio; 
Front long before breakfast till long after tea. 
I spring with the mats and the rugs out-of door; 
spring to cho carpets—drag them from the floor; 
I spring up step-ladder* mill wush down the walls; 
I spring to the windows, I spring to the hulls; 
I sprl ng to each corner, each closet, each nook: 
1 spring at each dust-laden picture and book; 
I spring to the garroi, where cobwebs abound; 
I spring Ilf I may lie allowed the expression) to the cel¬ 
lar, half-way underground; 
I spring—but, good gracious! to toll everything 
I spring at would take me the whole of the Spring. 
And when Spring Is over I feel, I declare, 
As though my springs, were broken beyond all repair. 
Spring! 
To be sure—so It Is—but lot nobody bring 
Any poems lo me about beautiful flowers, 
Or life-giving showers, 
Or vine-covered bowers, 
Or sunshiny hours. 
For realy such things seem extremely unmeaning 
To one on whom springs a lot of spring cleaning. 
Harper’s Hatar. 
OF INTEREST TO WOMEN. 
French batiste comes iu very pretty com¬ 
binations, with cream qt ecru as a prevailing 
ground tint. An over-dress of the plain color 
is usually made with skirt of the combination, 
cream and navy blue or cream and seal-brown 
is the favorite combination. Next to the 
batiste, which is really like a very fine smooth 
linen, crinkled seersucker may rank in pretti¬ 
ness and durability. It is very pretty in 
cream color, and above suspicion as a washing 
fabric. It has the added charm of being very 
inexpensive. 
According to American silk manufacturers, 
staple articles, such as dress goods and hand¬ 
kerchiefs scarcely pay for the making, owing 
to extreme competition. The most profitable 
branch of the business now is making tailors 
tags for sewing on overcoats and the like 
which ha ve the tailor’s name woven in the silk. 
Crazy work has bail its day, which is u mat¬ 
ter of congratulation to many. Its successor 
is silk strips woven together like rag carpet, 
which makes a very heavy anti rich fabric, 
suitable for portions and upholstery. It is 
especially effective when tinsel is woven in 
with the silk. 
Just at this season, when dwellers in the 
country or suburbs are surrounded by a 
wealth of blossoms, it is only just to remem¬ 
ber the sick and suffering among the city poor. 
The New York Flower Mission gladdens the 
eyes of thousands by its work, both in tene¬ 
ments and in city institutions. The flowers 
distributed come from anywhere within a ra¬ 
dius of 50 miles; they are generously trans¬ 
ported free by the railways, and ou their ar¬ 
rival at the Mission are made into bunches be¬ 
fore distributing. All flowers are acceptable, 
but fragrant ones are always chosen for the 
blind. 
Last week we spoke of the “Plumage Socie¬ 
ties” organized in England, intended for the 
protection of birds. In this country it is im¬ 
possible to mention the number of birds 
slaughtered for millinery use, but we hear of a 
single collector bringing to a taxidermist the 
skins of 70,000 birds, killed iu one district dur¬ 
ing four mouths. To combat this wholesale 
evil, it is proposed to form an association for 
the protection of wild birds mid their eggs, to 
be known as the Audubon Society. Its mem¬ 
bership is free to any one willing to aid in this 
work. This work is to prevent, if possible, the 
killing of any wild bird not. used as food; the 
destruction of nest or eggs of any wild bird, 
and the wearing of birds as ornaments or dress 
trimming. All desirous of joining this society 
should send their names to the “Forest and 
Stream,” 40 Park Row, New York. 
Says the Detroit Free Press; “A wife’s life 
is made up of little pleasures, of little tastes, 
of little cares, aud little antics, but. which, 
when added up together, make a grand sum 
total of human happiness. She is not expected 
to do any grand work, her province lies in a 
contrary direction—in gentleness, in cheerful¬ 
ness, in contentment, iu housewifery, in care 
aud management of her children, in sweeten¬ 
ing her husband’s cup of life when it is. as it 
often is a bitter one, in abnegation of self— 
these are emphatically a “woman’s rights;” 
her heritage, her jewels, which help to make 
her crown of glory. 
"The trivial round, the common task, 
Would furnish all we ought to ask; 
KOOIfl to deny ourselves: a road 
To bring us dally nearer God.” 
There is in “Crablie’s Poems” a conversation 
supposed to take place bet ween husband and 
wife, which Is very beautiful, containing ad¬ 
vice to both. The husband addresses the wife 
thus: 
"Each on the other must In all dejtend— 
The kind advisor, the unfailing friend; 
Through the rough world we mud each other aid, 
Leading and led, obeying and obey’d: 
Favored and favoring, eager to believe 
What should be t ruth; unwilling to perceive 
What might offend, determined to remove 
What has offended; wisely to Improve 
What pleases yet, and guard returning love!” 
NEHEMIAH’S PLAN. 
When pious Nehoiniah saw the melancholy 
estate of his fellow Jews after the captivity, 
unable to protect themselves iu their ruined 
city, he did not sit down aud lament their 
fallen condition; he just built up the city wall 
nearest his own dwelling. Unmoved by the 
ridicule showered on him, he kept on with his 
work, and gradually pursuaded his friends to 
do likewise until the wall was rebuilt, the 
temple re-consecrated, and the people returned 
to their father’s worship. Nehemiah’s plan 
seems a fine rule for every-day use, if wo con 
understand its true significance. It teaches 
us to do the duty that lies nearest us—often 
the hardest of all things. How much easier it 
seems to do some great work than to accomo¬ 
date ourselves and our frailties to the friction 
of home life! Says Thomas ft, Kempis; 
“It is no great thing to live peacefully with 
the good and gentle, for this is naturally 
pleasing to all, aud every one likes to bo at 
peace, and prefers those who agree with them. 
But to be able to live in peace with those who 
arc bard and obutiu&te, or wbp arc undisci¬ 
plined and contrary, is a great grace, and a 
highly praiseworthy and manly line of con¬ 
duct.” 
“If I could only do something rather than 
these narrow tasks and homely duties,” sighs 
many a dreamy girl. Ah, dreamer, if you 
would only follow Nehemiah’s plan! 
“A servant with this clause 
Makes drudgery divine; 
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws, 
Makes that and th' action flue.” 
It is not wlmt you do, but how you do it. 
Little aids and kindnesses, little acts of self 
denial—bow much they may mean if we could 
only see the pattern our life is weaving! 
Said a bright girl to the writer; 
“The greatest cross T have in my life is the 
necessity of staying home and trying to be 
good, when I've always wanted to be an hos¬ 
pital nurse, giving up my whole life to char¬ 
ity.” 
Dear girl! she is the sunshine of her fath¬ 
er’s house, and surely her gentle ministry is 
as much the quintessence of charity as if she 
devoted it to the highways and hedges. To 
do the work that lies nearest us, that is the 
very pith and marrow of our usefulness. 
Think of Mrs. Jellyby, with the gravy boat 
full of envelopes and the tea-kettle lying on a 
guest’s dressing table, while the serene hostess 
dictated philanthropic letters about Booria- 
boolagha! Charity begins at home, though 
too many are willing to let it end there. 
If we do the work sot before us in our own 
immediate circle new interests and new op¬ 
portunities will surely present themselves. 
One single work of love—who can judge its 
effect? It is like dropping a stone into a 
silent pool, with its ever-widening circles and 
ripples. Nor is it solely the effects on others: 
every effort for a higher plane of thought and 
character strengthens and perfects us; every 
labor of love widens our sympathies. Plain 
living and high thinking—let those be our 
watchwords until wo attain our ideal life. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
The portrait of Mary Wager-Fisher in a 
recent issue of the Rural is a most welcome 
surprise that every reader will appreciate. 
How much her intelligent far® resembles her 
letters; clear, frank, perspicuous and determin¬ 
ed. I like it. No such face ever goes through 
the world without “amounting to something,” 
because there is force of character and indi¬ 
viduality back of it thataru bound to leave an 
impress which lasts through coming centuries. 
In the modest, sketch of her life, she leaves the 
reader slightly in doubt in regard to the fiery 
temper of her youth : how she managed to 
control it in later years, or whether it ever be¬ 
came fully under subjection. 1 write this uu- 
der the impression that, Mrs. Fisher is still off 
on the Pacific Coast, of course. 
In this brief sketch, which all school girls 
may read with profit, it will be noted that t his 
lady was born and reared upon a farm, where 
she learned to make butter and bread, to sew 
and to knit, all of which accomplishments she 
says served her well afterwards. She “hated 
to knit,” but has found that the only way to 
get anything done was “to do it.” If she can 
full} 7 impress this simple lesson upon the girls 
and maidens of America, hers will be a grand 
life work indeed. Fur too many of the girls 
of the present day, in the country as well as 
the towns, are idly drifting into womanhood 
wholly without aim or object. They indulge 
in the filmy fabric of a hope that bas neither 
warp nor woof, while the mothers are making 
the bread and batter in the kitchcus ami car¬ 
rying out the realities of existence. A wife 
who can’t make a good loaf of breud with her 
own hands isn’t worth having. There now' 
I’ve said it, and its true, if I do get in a Rural 
bee’s nest for it. H. h. 
CANDY AND CHILDREN’S TEETH. 
I wonder how many mothers of young 
children read this department? How many 
mothers of grown children will read it and 
will kindly give their experience of the ef¬ 
fect of candy on children’s teeth. 
All our children have bad teeth ami were 
literally crammed with sweets. My own ex¬ 
perience with children began with a step-son 
four years old, who would cat little else' than 
pound for pound preserves, sugar, cream and 
candy, with cake anti cookies, instead of bread 
and vegetables. He looked fat, but was light 
as a feather,and very small. His teeth decayed 
so that all his double ones had to bo filled 
before ho was 15, aud he suffered terribly 
from toothache. 
I made up my mind that my children 
should never have candy, and the holidays 
brought them fruit, books, pictures, nails 
and hammers, miniature tools, etc., but no 
sweets. None of them ever hud toothache 
while under my care. None have ever yet 
had even on their “Baby teeth” the least 
sjteck of decay or discoloration, the eldest 
now living being years old, When my 
eldest, as a lad of 16 first went from home, 
it occurred to him, so he told me afterward, 
that he could eat candy. He bought a 
pound, ate it in the course of 10 days, and 
had the toothache for the first time in his 
life. 
“Oh, mother,” he said “it got so bad before 
I could have the tooth drawn, that neither 
chloroform nor lnmlamum helped me to 
sleep. That six weeks misery with an ul¬ 
cerated tooth made me sure it was not ‘a 
mere whim’ that caused you to deny ils candy.” 
Dear lad! T have had torture enough from 
ulcerated teeth myself to know how he must 
have suffered. aunt e. 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
There are a good many people who carry 
their religion as though it wore a basket of 
eggs—all the time afraid that it will break.. 
Great thoughts are among our most 
precious anti abiding treasures. They en¬ 
lighten our darkness, they people our solitude, 
and while other things fall from us, like the 
leaves which are loosened from the green¬ 
wood tree, these remain, like the atoms whieh 
go to build up its girth, heing woven into the 
very substance ami tissue of the soul. 
An ability and art opportunity to do good, 
ought to l»e considered as a call to do it. 
We shouhi novor go in the way of tempta¬ 
tion for the purpose of trying the strength of 
our virtue... 
Bishop Whatkly says: “If our religion is 
not true, wo are bound to change it; if it is 
true, we are bound to propagate it.”. 
At the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Union 
Theological Seminary. Dr Hitchcock said: 
“Character always decides a man’s condition. 
A man of character will rise above the cir¬ 
cumstances in which he is placed. The greater 
part of poverty is culpable. Annihilate 
whisky and yon almost annihilate poverty. 
The industrial classes should bo taught how 
to bo economical. The American laborer 
spends three or four times as much as the one 
in England or Germany. The laborer should 
share in the profits of the production, but not 
iu the direction of the capital employed.”- 
Arbitration cannot be successful to any 
great, extent in settling differences l»etween 
employers and their employes, tiecause it in¬ 
volves the surrender of the liberty of both 
parties..... 
Beside the welfare of the individual, the 
common weal must lie looked after. It is 
possible that in the future restricted immigra¬ 
tion may be necessary for this country. 
Labor is weaker than capital, hence legislative 
protection Is necessary. Eight hours are 
enough for a day’s work, but the question of 
how much shall be paid for a day of eight 
hours remaius to lie derided... 
“No man is more severely punished than he 
who is subject to the whip of his own remorse," 
is as true to-day as it was in the days of 
Seneca.... .. 
Smiles emphasizes the necessity of self- 
restraint; liesays; “For want of self-restraint, 
many ineu are engaged all their lives in light¬ 
ing with difficulties of their own making, and 
rendering success impossible by their own 
cross-grained ungcnt’.enoss; whilst others, it 
may be much less gifted, make their way and 
achieve success by simple patience, equanimity 
and self-control.”... 
A well-known lecturer says: “The most 
beautiful thing God ever made is n five-year- 
old girl, fifty springs in each heel, a hundred 
day dawns iu each cheek, and a whole flock of 
morning larks and nightingales in her throat. 
Religion makes no distortions, aud the child, 
for all its piety, should be none the less a 
child.”. 
“We see,” says Mr. Beecher, “the principle 
of heredity set forth in the passage, ‘Visiting 
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children.’ 
Thut. is, making tho children bear the result 
of the parents’ conduct. It is a principle well 
established, that the faults of the parents do 
visit themselves upon the children, lioth men¬ 
tally and phsically. A man who leails a 
virtuous life ham Is down virtue to his chil¬ 
dren, and the man who is a Christian through 
his life, hands down, as it were, the Gospel to 
his children, while the parent whose life is a 
violation of law, sends down an inheritance 
of damnation to his descendants. Retribution 
is a part, of the economy of God. It is not an 
exception to divine goodness, but a port of it, 
and it is especially designed to hold men in 
the right, way ami to warn thorn when they 
step out of it thut they are going iu a wrong 
direction”. 
Few great preachers have so many words of 
comfort as Dr. Tulmage, “ ‘Cast, thy burden 
upon the Lord.’ Does your head ueho? His 
wore the thorn. Do your feet hurt.? His were 
crashed of the spikes. Is your side painful? 
His were struck by the spear. Do you feel 
like giving way under the burden? His weak- 
