SEPT 4 
THE RURAL HEW-Y0RKER. 
Womans Work. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY L. TAPLIN. 
DAISIES ON THE FARM. 
She painted them on canvas 
With a rapt, artistic air. 
She wore them In her bodice, 
And in her raven hair. 
She thought farm life Idyllic, 
And said ius greatest charm 
Was lent it by the daisies, 
The daisies on the farm. 
“Do you not love the daisies?” 
To the farmer's son she saith, 
But all the praise he uttered 
Was underneath his breath. 
It sounded energetic. 
But she felt a vague alarm 
That he did not love the daisies, 
The daisies on the farm. 
She read to him a poem, 
A pastoral complete; 
He seemed unsympathetic, 
Though her voice was very sweet. 
With some repressed emotion 
Ills face grew dark and warm, 
For Its burden was the daisies, 
The daisies on the farm. 
Soon the charming summer boarder 
To her city home returned. 
For a soul of higher longing 
Her aesthetic nature yearned. 
And the farmer’s son, undaunted, 
With his scythe upon his arm 
Went to battle with the daisies, 
The daisies on the farm. 
—From Texas Siftings. 
OF INTEREST TO WOMEN. 
The London Queen describing novelties in 
fancy-work, says that fancy canvas scarfs are 
used now for decorating chair backs, by being 
cut and joined to the required length, with the 
ends resting ou the back, and with a large bow 
of Surah silk tied round the middle, placed on 
the top of the chair. Sometimes one end is of 
Surah, and the other of canvas, with the two 
materials twisted up together to form the 
bow. These scarfs are also cut out and ar¬ 
ranged as lamp shades, over a ware frame¬ 
work, with a ribbon tied round, near the top, 
and finished off in a bow; a frill of lace stands 
up above. Muslin window curtains are tied 
back with the scarfs, with one end turned 
over the other, and hanging below it. Bird¬ 
cages are also surrounded by them, so that 
there are several ways of utilizing what is a 
bygone fashion for dress, and will n«t be worn 
next Summer. 
The same authority states that pretty square 
toilet, pincushions, brush covers, glove and 
handkerchief sachets can be made with small 
squares of plush, satin or silk, an inch and a 
quarter, joined together by the points. The 
square is cut out in card-board and then neatly 
covered in the ordinary patchwork way; the 
card-board is not withdrawn, and should be 
quite hidden. For an ordiuury-sized pincush¬ 
ion sixteen squares will be required in four 
j'ows of four, all joined together, with a pearl 
at each join. The cushion would measure 
seven inches square, and be of satin edged 
with lace, with a small bow of ribbon match¬ 
ing the squares, or little tassels of pearls at 
each corner. A grey satin cushion with 
cream-colored lace and squares of ruby plush 
looks handsome, or a white satin with yellow, 
pale blue, or pink, according to the color of 
the toilet table drapery. The sachets are 
made in exactly the same way, only have silk 
cord instead of lace. Cushions for chairs, and 
sofas have squares measuring about three 
inches, of one or more colors. This is nov&J, 
effective, and a capital way of using up even 
the smallest scraps. Iu making articles for 
bazaars or presents, ouc always has small cut¬ 
tings, which appear too insignificant to do 
anything with, but these will all come in for 
this work. 
Chair backs worked in the four corners and 
gathered up with a bow of silk cord and tas¬ 
sels in the middle, are of recent, introduction. 
The cord matches the color of the embroidery 
and one end hangs down lower than the other, 
from the top of the back of the chair. Two 
cornel’s fall over the back and two over the 
front. Russian cross-stitch is more usual for 
the working of the corners, or a small appliqu4 
design. Perforated colored cloth, for cross- 
stitch. is excellent, and can be had adapted 
for slippers, cushions and valances. For a 
knitter, the new Penelope knittiug cases are 
charming little gifts: they fold up like a letter- 
case, and have straps containing nine sets of 
knitting-needles, all numbered. Sets of plush 
table napkin rings, each of a different color, 
or two of each, have been recently sold at ba¬ 
zaars, or given as presents. They are either 
made over apiece of stiff buckram. one and 
one-half to two inches wide, lined with sarse¬ 
net or satin, and neatly joined together, and 
made to look as if they buttoned over, by two 
good-sized beads as buttons, and two rings of 
little beads as loops; or else they are drawn 
over a piece of rope, carefully joined, and fin¬ 
ished off with a tie and bow of satin ribbon 
over the join, _ Plush d’oyleys are not unheard 
of, but they are only used for “very best,” and 
have been known to have a real flower and 
spray of maiden-hair pinned to one side by a 
pearl-headed pin. Violin bow covers in plush 
or satin are sometimes made by skillful fingers, 
as a present to some great friend of musical 
ability. They require a length of 30 inches 
and width of five inches. The piece is first 
lined with tolerably stiff brown paper, and 
then with'satin or some other material. If 
anyone is wi-bing to make one. the best pat¬ 
tern is a brown pajier cover from a musical in¬ 
strument shop, such as is usually sold with the 
bow. 
OLD-FASHIONED GIRLS. 
We don’t mean dowdies, careless in dress 
and ungraceful in manner. Nor the hard- 
featured. raw-boned young woman, who, to 
the public eye, bears the mark of spinster fore¬ 
ordained on her uncompromising brow. Wo 
mean girls after the typo of Miss Alcott’s Polly, 
brightest and best of old-fashioned girls. 
Our old-fashioned girl is often pretty—very 
pretty, in a demure, somewhat Quakerish 
style. Even if her features are not beautiful 
she has a look of placid intelligence and gen¬ 
tle sweetness that brings her more than half¬ 
way towards actual beauty. Her features 
are merely the screen through which her dear 
and radiant soul transmits its light. Herein 
lies the secret of her attractiveness; it is all 
the difference between mere dollish prettiness 
and spiritual beauty. 
The old-fashioned girl affects a trim sim¬ 
plicity of dress. She wears softly falling 
brown frocks, with a knot of scarlet at the 
throat, making her look like a beuevoleut 
Robin redbreast; or soft dark silk—wo may 
notice particularly that her silk gowns never 
have the aggressive rustle we notice in others. 
Or she robes herself in bright muslins fresh as 
her own true heart, that set off her modest 
face as costly silk and satin never could. 
The old-fashioned girl is not an exclusive 
product of country districts, as is often sup¬ 
posed. There are some quiet., half-forgotten 
nooks even in busy New York where, like the 
heroine of our uursery rhyme, ’‘she makes 
music wherever she goes.” She may be a 
school teacher or daily governess, or earn her 
daily bread and butter iu any of the thousand 
and one employments open to women, or she 
may be the busy vestal of some domestic 
shrine, the mainspring of the household ma¬ 
chinery. In either case she is the same bright 
helpful spirit— 
" A creature not too bright and good 
For dally use and dally food.” 
What, then, is her peculiar charm—the trait 
distinguishing her above all the fair “ rose- 
garden cf girls?” Rather a difficult matter 
this to reduce au impalpable charm to cruel 
prose. 
Miss Alcott’s Polly, we may remember, is 
noticeable for her cheery helpfulness and pa¬ 
tient unselfishness. Perhaps this is the secret, 
after all. The determinations to help others 
will always help us ourselves, ami the unselfish¬ 
ness that enters into all the hopes of others 
smoothes many rough places for our owu feet. 
“Inlove preferring oue auotber.” The gen¬ 
tle, gracious mind, self-abnegating spirit and 
cheery heart, these are the crowning gifts of 
the old-fashioned girl we try to paint—none 
the less a heroine in that her victories aro of 
the mind and heart only. 
What if her gentle graces fail to win the 
love that all women hope some day to possess? 
Her life is not a failure because she mast 
write herself femme-sole to the end of the 
chapter. She has worked, and planned, and 
prayed for others—she has crucified seif, and 
such are indeed the very salt of the earth. 
So, if these are our old-fashioued girls, like 
Abou Ben Adhem, may their tribe increase, 
leaveuing this careless world with their brave 
spirits, until claimed by that old, old fashion, 
Death! 
WOMAN’S WORK. 
THIRD PAPER. 
Again we take up this subject for discourse, 
because there are hardly two other words that 
imply so much in our existence as woman’s 
work. In these words there is so much com¬ 
bined for pleasure and profit that much might 
be said to guide the footsteps of mankind, high 
up beyond the foot-hills of this mountainous 
journey. For many obstacles might be over¬ 
come, that are lying iu our pathway, if we 
but build the ladder ou which we rise, 
and that means to inform ourselves in the 
best modes and methods to pass through the 
things that may encumber our pathway each 
day. And in order to inform ourselves, we 
should see that we have placed within our 
reach an abundant supply of good literature, 
It should be grasped at with more zeal than 
rubies and precious metal; for if we ponder 
.well on the depths of good and solid 
reading, we shall have a ship of thoughts 
deeply freighted with truth aud beauty,and its 
effect has upon us a lasting influence, which 
cannot easily lie effaced by the stroke of time. 
An intelligent old lady once said: “I can 
always tell upon entering a household what 
kind of people they are by seeing the literature 
they have within their roach.” So it is when 
we come In contact with persons; we can 
easily toll by their speech as well as their 
looks the benefit they have derived from good 
literature. Have you not in reading the in¬ 
teresting articles from Mary Wager-Fisher 
uoticed that she still continues her study and 
that she associates with those who are of her 
stamp; those who give her in exchange, words 
that should never die? When we have fully 
attended to our mental capacities, we should 
soe about our companions and associates. 
What are your associates? What company 
do you keep? What class of people do you 
love to mingle with ? Is it those of a higher 
nature—those who would have a tendency to 
elevate you; or is it those that are not your 
equal, aud who seek to destroy that very part 
of your better nature? As it has been said, 
“Let your companions be select; let them be 
such that you cau love them for their good 
qualities, and whose virtues you are desirous 
to emulate.” How much then ought we to 
impress upou youth the value of good litera¬ 
ture aud good companions; for out of these 
springs the source of the finest fountain in 
youth. Good literature and good companions 
go hand in hand; wherever you see oue you 
must invariably see the other. The great re¬ 
sponsibility concerning the youth’s associa¬ 
tions, depends largely upon the parents and 
home surroundings. The parents should lay 
the foundation of their children’s character 
and when this is carefully done, and the right 
kind of example set before them from day to 
day, they will have a love for the things that 
will elevate them; aud have no desire to go back¬ 
ward, to be hurled iu some fast-destroying ele¬ 
ment. to perish by their own misguided foot¬ 
steps. As you have noticed—a vino will run 
its course os it is trained; so will a child. 
Then parents should be very careful in the 
culture and growth of their children, that they 
may, when mature, be persons whom you may 
feel justly proud of, both mentally and moral¬ 
ly and who will always be as a shining light 
at home and abroad. In building or making 
anew, it pays to furnish the best quality for 
such uses; and so it is in building up children’s 
characters, it more than repays to furnish 
them with such material as will help to lay a 
solid foundation for their future career. 
Shakespeare says: “’Tis the mind that makes 
the body rich,” so we should not first be desir¬ 
ous of riches, but seek to develop the mind. 
Remember a good name is rather to be chosen 
than great riches. No one can rob yon of your 
good name, but cau take from you your 
wealth. Mothers, be not iu a hurry to clothe 
your daughters in flue silks and costly rai¬ 
ment, better by far clothe their minds with 
that which is more lasting, aud which will 
ever befit them to live in (lewis, not years, in 
thought, not dress. For by thought miracles 
have been wrought, and by dress extrava¬ 
gantly displayed riches have soon vanished to 
poverty and utter destitution. 
Cummings said: “Dignity and rank and 
riches are all corruptible aud worthless, but 
moral character has an immortality that no 
sword-point can destroy, that ever walks the 
world aud loaves it lasting Influence behind.” 
Every oue leaves behind him influences for 
good or evil that will never die, and it should 
be our highest aim and endeavor to sow good 
seed along oar pathway in life, that we may 
in due time reap our just reward. 
MARY D. THOMAS. 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
The Christian minister who is satisfied, in 
any sort, with serving as an echo for the re¬ 
ligious ideas of his time, will be a reed shaken 
by the wind. 
The best thiug to take people out of their 
owu worries, is to go to work and find out how 
other folks’ worries are getting on. 
Fe.melon says: “ We dote upon this world as 
if it srere never to have au end, and we neglect 
the next as if it were never to have a begin¬ 
ning” ... 
From Geo. Eliot’s Adam Bede: “If a man 
does bits ’o jobs out o’ working hours—builds 
a oven for’s wife to save her from going to the 
bakehouse, or scrats at his bit o’ garden and 
makes two potatoes grow instead o’ one, he’s 
doing more good, an’ he’s just ns near to God, 
os’f he was running after some preacher an’ a- 
praying an’ a-groaning.” . 
Dr. Coles says there are but three kinds of 
animals which generally use tobacco. The 
rock goat of Africa, whose stench is so insuf¬ 
ferable that, no other animal can approach it; 
the tobacco worm, whose intolerable visage 
gives to every beholder au involuntary shud¬ 
der; and one other nondescript auirnal, whose 
tobacco frothings aud spittings defile his own 
visage, bespatter and bedaub everything 
within his reach; who besmudges and pollutes 
the atmosphere with his nauseous fumiga- 
tious, and whose stygian breath seems to de¬ 
note approximation to some bottomless pit... 
The same objects, seen from three different 
points of view, the past, the present, the fu¬ 
ture. often exhibit three different, faces to us; 
like those sign-boards over shop doors which 
represent the face of a lion as we approach, of 
a man when we are in front, and of an ass when 
we have passed. 
Emmons says: “I could never think well of a 
mail’s intellectual or moral character if he 
was habitually unfaithful to bis appointments. ” 
In all charity believe that your brot her de¬ 
sires to hold only Christ’s truth; but do make 
sure that you hold it yourself, whether he holds 
it or not. This is the best undenominutional- 
ism in the world. . 
Mrs. Whitney says: “There is never a 
’Might-have-been’ that touches with a sting, 
but reveals also to us an inner glimpse of the 
wide and beautiful ‘May-be.’ It is all there; 
somebody else has it now, while we wait.”.... 
In the memoir of Dr. E. N. Kirk, it is re¬ 
corded that some oue asked him how a Christ¬ 
ian could beet show himself a Christian in so¬ 
ciety. His reply was; “I always try to put 
myself in this attitude before leaving home: 
‘Lord, give me an opportunity to honor thee, 
and a heart to embrace the opportunity.’ This 
is all our Lord requires.”. 
The wise man seeks the cause of his defects 
iu himself, but the fool, avoiding himself, 
seeks it in all others beside himself. 
Domestic Cccwotmj 
CONDUCTED BY MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
HOUSEKEEPING IN C’ALIFORNIA.-XIV. 
MARV WAGER-FISHER. 
When in San Francisco, which was not 
often, we sometimes went on a tour through 
“Chinatown,” which if not sweetly odorifer¬ 
ous, is very picturesque and interesting. The 
Chinese provision shops are of the most curi¬ 
ous character, for what they do not turn to 
Recount would be hard to mention. Like the 
Indians, they dry a great deal of fish and 
meat. One sees dried fowl’s gizzards strung 
like pepper pods, dried ducks, aud the eutrails 
—I take it—of animals no worse than sausage 
stuffed iu the same way. Among the shell fish 
they dry, is the abelone—each vowel should 
l»e pronounced—and as they were the first, I 
think, to eat it. it is uot generally considered 
u fit food for fastidious palates. But oue day 
a friend said to me that she had eaten it dried- 
aud that it tastod very like dried l>eef, so a few 
days afterwards, when we were ut Monterey 
driving along the beach, we came upon a 
Chinese camp where these abelones were dry¬ 
ing in the suu, aud we bought two. They 
asked for them five cents a piece. After An¬ 
aximander had pared off the outer surface 
thoroughly, we proceeded to eat, and the gen¬ 
eral verdict was that if the meat had been 
sal ted and then smoked and dried, and had 
tastod a little less abelonish, we should have 
like 1 it. But it was not bad by any means, 
and a whole abelone will make dried, or fried, 
a full meal. The shells the fish live in are 
magnificent, aud the Chinese sell them for five 
cent* each. We found some beautiful ones 
on the beach, whore they abound, growing on 
the rocks, but often washed in while alive. 
Another food of the Chinese consists of 
sprouted seeds. They take evidently any kind 
of seed that is cheap—beans for example—and 
sprout them in water. How they cook them 
I do uot know, but they are always to be seen 
iu buckets iu their markets. Possibly they are 
cooked and served something after the manner 
of spinach and make a dainty dish. 
While we were at Monterey, we found our¬ 
selves Overtaken by hunger iu one of our 
tramps, and so wo dropped in at the flret res- 
tauruut we came to. It was clean and had a 
sanded floor, the white, fine sand of the beach 
being well fitted for the purpose. It was the 
laddie’s first sight of such a floor, and I had 
only soon one once before in au out-of-the way 
place in southern Ohio. The waiting maid 
brought us beefsteak, black beans, bread and 
butter, coffee and most delicious water. We 
wore hungry enough to relish almost anything 
and thought the black beans delicious. I con¬ 
cluded that they had been cooked in that ex 
celleut way—boiled until tender and then 
baked 24 hours iu a closely covered earthen 
pipkin buried deep in hot. ashes. But i was 
silly enough to ask how they had been pre¬ 
pared, and the maid said, “boiled until done, 
then fried in lard, and water added for gravy,” 
a regular mess;but they tasted good, never¬ 
theless. At Monterey there is a place called 
Pacific Grove, planted with cottages, where 
families come at all times of the year to rent 
cottages for a mouth or more, or put up tents 
