4886 
THE AURAL NEW-YORKER 
849 
A common dodge of swindlers, male and 
female, is to pretend they are begging dona¬ 
tions for some real or pretended charity, or 
for some real or pretended unfortunate. 
Great caution should be exercised in giving 
anything to persons begging for known chari¬ 
table institutions, unless one is acquainted 
with the “begger.” Many impostors pretend 
they are authorized agents for such institu¬ 
tions. In case of doubt it is always best to 
say “No” emphatically and stick to it. Even 
if the agent is authorized to make collections, 
he or she is working, not for charity, but for 
the percentage allowed out of the amount 
collected, so that there is really no reason why 
one should be over-sensitive with regard to 
the person’s feelings. The percentage varies 
from 15 to 50 per cent., averaging probably 
25 per cent. The leas known or less meritor¬ 
ious the charity the greater the percentage, 
because the harder must be the agent's work 
to weedle the shekels out of the public’s pocket. 
If you want to give a douation, give it per¬ 
sonally or send it direct. 
Years ago the E.-O. was taken in by a charit¬ 
able fraud, and has several times refused to 
be taken in by a similar trick since. Quite a 
ponderous, well dressed and respectable look¬ 
ing man called with another rather shabbily 
attired. No. 1 very blandly introduced No. 2 
as a poor man who had just lost his wife and 
some children by an accident in a different 
part of the town, and who was seeking charity 
to bury them decently. In a fine Tuvydrup 
style he expanded on the hardship of the ease 
and the merits of the petitioner, and was sup¬ 
erbly thankful for the contribution given. 
It was only after the pair had left that it 
struck the E-O that he knew nothing about 
either of the men. and “just for fun” he fol¬ 
lowed them and had soon ample proof that 
they were a couple of rascals. The swiudle 
varies considerably in details; but is 
always fundamentally the same. What, 
in the name of common sense, is the 
use of an introduction of a stranger by a 
stranger! The latter stranger may be an ac¬ 
quaintance of a couple of days' or even weeks’ 
standing, but if you know nothing about, him 
or his business except what he tells you, he is 
really a stranger still. A great many of the 
swindles perpetrated on poor, simple-minded 
people are successful, because the dupes are 
takeu in through the introduction of one 
. stranger by another. The more t euevolent, 
honest, open-hearted and in every way plaus¬ 
ible stranger No. 1 is, the greater the danger 
and need of caution. The mau who looks, 
talks or acts like a rascal or worthless fellow, 
can have little influence for evil in tins line; 
it is the oily or brusk talker, the dapper or 
ponderous embodiment of respectability or 
jolly-good-fellowship, that does all the mis¬ 
chief. Beware of all strangers, and consider 
every man a stranger till you learn a good 
deal more about him than he has told you him¬ 
self. 
About a year ago, the Bubal urged the 
Department of Agriculture to take up the 
exposure of swindles on farmers, aud gave 
some very cogent reasons why it should do so. 
It followed our advice shortly afterwards, 
inentioniug a number of frauds already ex¬ 
posed iu the Rural. Though no credit was 
given, wo were glad of the wider circulation 
thus given to our exposures, and are very 
much pleased that the Department has again 
had recourse to this department in a late issue 
of its monthly report. Old readers of the 
E.-O. will remember that the fallowing frauds 
have been denounced here, some of them sev¬ 
eral times. We mention them briefly as a re¬ 
minder to old aud a caution to new readers: 
One fraud is the taking of orders for some 
subscription book—in some cases the revised 
New Testament—and converting such orders 
into notes, Still another is the one operated by 
the pretended agent, of u Bible or tract society, 
who presents himself at u bu rn house about 
dinner-time, and accepts an Invitation to diuo 
on condition that he may be allowed to pay for 
l..*o.„i TU.., I. „ . b A,_ . 
his meal. The society, he says, requires that 
he should pay bis wav, and to prove that, he 
has done so he asks the farmer’s signature to 
a form of receipt which he carries with him. 
In course of time this receipt, comes back to 
the farmer in the form of a note for some 
money filled in by the plausible swindler. A 
lightuing-rod agent agrees to put lightning- 
rods about a house for 85, and presents a bill 
for 8105 —$100 for the rods and $5 for putting 
them up. The collection of royalties on some 
patented article found in the farmer’s posses¬ 
sion, the sale of worthless recipes for the 
manufacture of fertilizers, the sale of rights 
for a worthless patent process for curing to¬ 
bacco, the collection of fees by pretended ofll- 
cials, such us boiler inspectors, the “ drive- 
well fraud,” a variety of insurance frauds, 
and the sale of wort hless recipes for the cure 
of “ hog cholera ” or other animal diseases, 
are among the numerous swindling devices 
mentioned by the Department. 
As long as*there is rascality on the one side 
and undue credulity on the cither, such swind¬ 
les will continue to lie practiced to a greater 
or less extent; but they are now practiced 
shades, the silk and lace-trimmed parasol ones 
get larger and more elaborate, and for candle 
shades, exact representations, full size, of the 
Lilium auratum, or of a monkey's head, or 
enlarged colored pansies. 0 r of butterflies, are 
much in vogue. Another form of the candle 
shades, or candle screens, as they should be 
called, for they only shade one side of the 
flame, are small colored paper screens, having 
in the ceut.re a transparent medallion, with a 
group of Kate Greeuaway figures, which, with 
the light shining through them, are seen to 
advantage. 
The newest wall pockets are either plush, 
embroidered with bright colored flowers in 
the shape of an envelope with the flap cut off, 
or small baskets made to hang on the wall and 
fitted with pincushion, scissors, etc. Our 
grandmothers Used to say every* woman should 
be provided in every room with a pincushion, 
pair of scissors, ami a duster. As regards the 
two first-named articles most ladies, if they 
have seen the scissors now being made with 
handsome brass handles and brass sheath, will, 
I am sure, be wanting a pan*, and also one of 
the brass pincushions to match; but as to their 
requiring the duster nowadays “Tie m'en 
doute unless, indeed, it should be a particu¬ 
larly artistic one. 
Of all the new materials produced in recent 
years, probably there is nothing prettier or 
more artistic than that now used in place of 
silk for ribbons, scarfs, sashes, etc. It is a 
material called canvas, and has various silky 
colors mixed with gold threads introduced 
into it. Some of these canvas materials make 
very pretty chair backs, borders for curtains, 
etc., as the colors are blended with such excel¬ 
lent taste that they look like the productions 
of some Eastern loom. English and French 
manufacturers seem year by year to improve 
in the art of arranging colors, and in this re¬ 
spect can no longer be considered as in any¬ 
way inferior to the far-famed natives of the 
East. 
Ruskinasks: “What do you think the beau¬ 
tiful word ‘wife’ comes from ?’ It is the great 
word in which the English and Latin languages 
conquered the French and Greek. I hope the 
French will some day get a wonl for it instead 
of that otfemnie. But what do you think it 
comes from 1 The great value of the Saxon 
words is that they meau something. Wife 
means ‘weaver.’ You must either be house¬ 
wives or house-moths, remember that. In 
the deep sense, you must either weave men’s 
fortunes and embroider them, or feed upon 
and bring them to decay. Wherever a true 
wife comes, home is al wavs around her. The 
stare may be over her head, the glowworm in 
the night’s cold grass may be the fire at her 
feet, but home is where she is.” 
WHILE WE HAVE TIME. 
Over the fire-place in the sewing-room of a 
certain busy charity guild, is a panel of brass, 
bearing an inlaid seroll with the society’s 
motto: “ While we have time let us do good 
unto all men.” A noble text, even without 
its prophetic ending—•• for the night cometh, 
wherein no man can work.” While we have 
time—that is the key-note of our success or 
failure. Not only material success, but also 
in the finer graces of the spirit. Our kindly 
words aud gentle deeds; thoughts of sweetness 
aud works of charity—all must be accom¬ 
plished—while we have time. 
But perhaps we spend all our lives in a 
hurry of seemingly sordid cares, too much ab¬ 
sorbed to thiuk even of these finer graces. 
How many women say they would gladly do 
something, anything, for suffering humanity, 
only they can never find time; Dear anxious 
Martha! cakes aud pies are good things, and 
so are well-kept rooms and tasteful gowns; but 
they are very small and trivial if they cause 
us to neglect the I-a/nr us within our gates. 
And supposg your duty to your neighbor does 
uot seem very plain iu this direction. Per¬ 
haps there is no one actually iu physical want 
within your range of vision—though this 
Utopian condition is rare. Then you 
must cultivate mental charity; kindly words 
aud gentle deeds, whether in the home circle 
or in society, will make life easier for yourself 
and others. Aud you need not look very far 
for objects of material charity. We do not 
recommend Mrs. Weber's charity circle, 
which supplied red flannel waistcoats aud 
moral pocket-handkerchiefs for the benighted 
Africans. “Charity begins at home,” as the 
much-quoted and much-abused maxim says. 
AVe must first care for the stranger wit hin 
our gates; then turn our attention to far-off 
lands. AVe once read of a generous woman 
who kept a certain savings which she called 
her love-pui*so. It consisted of money obtain¬ 
ed by self-denial—all sorts of trifles which 
would be overlooked by other women. This 
she devoted to charitable works. Her 
generous plan might be followed by many; we 
can ail offer our mite. 
We must always bear in mind that if weaver 
