THE RURAL HEW-YORKEH. 
SEPT IS 
tion. Our readers can do themselves and the 
public a real good by sending for the ques¬ 
tions and answering them honestly. We hope 
they will take an interest in the matter, and 
help to make the report comprehensive and 
valuable. Send to Dr. C. Hart Merriam, U. S. 
Department of Agriculture, Washington. D, C. 
Cornish Organs. —Circular from Cornish 
& Co.. Washington, N. J. The instruments 
described in this circular are low in price, aud 
yet appear to be well made and durable. The 
prices for musical instruments have been 
greatly reduced of late and such establish¬ 
ments a-s this of Cornish & Co., have doue 
much to bring about the reduction. The in¬ 
fluence of music is ennobling and refining, and 
he who labors to place the means of producing 
it more extensively among the masses, is in a 
sense a public benefactor. Washington N. J., 
is noted all over the world as a manufactur¬ 
ing place for organs, The old idea that a 
large manufacturing establishment to be a 
success, must be located iu a great city, has 
been disproved. Many highly successful con¬ 
cerns have pushed out of the city into some 
smaller towns of easy access where the cost of 
rents, taxes and labor can be reduced to a 
minimum. The establishment of Cornish & 
Co., is an immense affair. The firm proposes 
to reduce the price of good organs to the low¬ 
est possible point, by dealing directly with 
purchasers, and thus avoiding all commissions 
to agents aud middlemen. Those wanting 
organs should send for the catalogue. 
Entomology.— Report of the Government 
Entomologist for 1885.— A pamphlet, of 150 
pages, with numerous plates, giving an ac¬ 
count of the work doue by the entomological 
section of the Department of Agriculture. A 
considerable portion of the report is devoted 
to silk culture. We learn that 300 ounces 
of eggs were imported from France in 
1884, and distributed in 1885 among some 850 
applicants. Most of the applications came 
from Illinois. Most of the eggs were distrib¬ 
uted in lots of one-twentieth and one-tenth of 
an ounce. Some 000 ounces were distributed this 
year. Some 8000 mulberry" trees were distrib¬ 
uted to serve as food for the worms. Nursery¬ 
men urge the Department to encourage the 
setting out of large mulberry plantations, as 
necessary in fostering silk culture ; but for 
good reasons the distribution of mulberry trees 
has not been pushed. Attention is called to 
the Osage Orange as a food plant In Central 
Illinois, where this shrub is used as a hedge 
plant, it is now the common materia) used as 
food for silk-worms. We do not see that the 
advocates of silk culture can glean much en¬ 
couragement from this report. The business 
has been extensively advertised as suitable to 
old persons, invalids and children. The Ento¬ 
mologist distinctly states that such advertise¬ 
ment is calculated to do harm. There may be 
no heavy physical labor needed, but a most 
careful watchfulness is necessary, and a con¬ 
stant care involved which the fawner’s wife 
with her multitude of household duties or the 
person with enfeebled constitution, cannot be¬ 
stow. At the Experimental Stations silk has 
been produced at a cost, per pound, including 
raw material aud labor, of $7,58, at Philadel¬ 
phia, and $5.90 at Ne w Orleans. This silk sold 
at $4.40 per pound. The remainder of the re¬ 
port is devoted to an account, of experiments 
with various injurious insects. The habits, 
history and description of such insects are 
given, with best methods of fighting them. 
IDommtslDotrR. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY L. TAPLIN. 
OMENS. 
The corns Ilk tassels on the ridge 
Are bronzing In the sun; 
The elderberries by the bridge. 
And aLI along the run, 
Grow purple through the golden days; 
Barberries by the wall 
Gl w crimson In the silver haze 
That ushers In the Fall. 
old Ocean dreams lu slumbers deep 
Of wintry storms to come; 
In far-off mountain caverns sleep 
The winds; the brooks are dumb. 
The partridge. In lone country lanes. 
Whirs low a speckled wing; 
Silence through all the woodland reigns, 
The birds forget to sing. 
From yellow cornfields slowly pa&s 
The crows, with clanging cry; 
All day upon the orchard grass 
Ripe apples fall. A sigh 
Escapes the earth at thought of death. 
For sum mer's life so brief. 
And, fluttering on that sigh’s faint breath, 
Falls down the first red leaf! 
—Annie iff. Libby it» Good, Housekeeping, 
OF INTEREST TO WOMEN. 
Among modern occupations for women, the 
Pall Mall Gazette reckons the profession of 
druggist. There is quite a community of 
feminine druggists in England, and it offers a 
better field for educated women than dentistry. 
The English papers are still denouncing the 
slaughter of birds for adornment. Says the 
Echo; * 'In reckoning the factors of modern evo¬ 
lution, the future Durwiiuwill have to take ac¬ 
count of Fashion, which i u some countries must 
be more potent than natural selection or the sur¬ 
vival of the fittest. It is the women of Eu¬ 
rope and America who are, doubtless unwit¬ 
tingly, working a change in the bird life of 
the tropical countries, by the demand they 
create for bird skins; and possibly, when the 
facts are brought to their notice, they will at 
once stop the present rate of slaughter by re¬ 
turning again to artificial flowers and feathers 
as suitable trimmings for their head-gear. The 
large number of bird skins sold in the mer¬ 
chants’ auction rooms of Loudon give no indi¬ 
cation of the actual number of birds destroy¬ 
ed, for at a moderate computation every skin 
that is salable represents at least six birds, so 
many of the skins being irretrievably ruined 
by the methods employed to capture the birds. 
Of humming birds, lmpeyan pheasants, birds 
of paradise, aud other tropical beauties, some 
million skins are annually sold in London 
alone, to which must be added a large number 
of skins of torn aud gull. Some spots on the 
Atlantic Coast of North America have been 
almost denuded of birds with snowy plumage, 
and if the present rate of slaughter continues, 
even the Brazilian forests will be depopulated, 
for any bird with handsome plumage is the 
prey of the hunter. No one lias ever yet dis¬ 
covered the leaders of fashion, so an appeal is 
made generally to the women of Europe and 
America to discourage this wholesale slaughter 
of birds by refusing to wear any ornament 
which involves the death of the creature pro¬ 
ducing it. and it is to be hoped that the appeal 
will not be made in vain.” 
A contemporary says “the newest aud latest 
jewelry craze is a curious little porte honheun 
said to be more ellieacious iu commanding 
fortune thau oven the horseshoe of the fath¬ 
ers, It is said to have originated in Egypt in 
the years when the pyramids were young, aud 
bears the original name of Oudja, which sig¬ 
nifies happiness tempered with good luck. It 
is in the form of a thin, flat, oblong of metal 
intaglio, and bearing the eye of the Sun-god 
Horus, from which a tear-drop falls, intended 
to represent, the mysterious origin of the river 
Nile. The Pharaohs regarded it as a talisman, 
capable of warding off adversity as well as of 
promoting prosperity, aud it is found sculp¬ 
tured on the rocks, cut on pillars, and engraved 
on mummy cases. In London this now charm 
is becoming quite the rage, ordinary furor be¬ 
ing stimulated by the curious history said bo 
have attended its introduction into England 
and modern civilization. The fair young 
wife of a gallaut officer in the Guards received 
one from her husband fighting in the Soudan 
with the legend: ‘This is the charm which 
protected the cultivators of ancient Egypt 
against misfortune: may it act likewise in 
your favor and insure brilliant days for your 
future.’ A report came soon after that the 
guardsman had fallen a victim to duty and 
honor. But the young wife had conceived a 
superior faith in her Oudja and refused to be 
lieve, despite published official new's of his 
death. An extraordinary escape and unex¬ 
pected return of the officer has been ac¬ 
credited to the protecting influence of the 
Egyptian talisman, and in fashionable cir¬ 
cles the Oudja is speadily becoming all the 
wear. ” 
OUR SINGLE BLESSINGS. 
A clever botanist once proved, with remark¬ 
able distinctness, that the clover crop of this 
great country depends entirely on the number 
and distribution of our crop of spinsters. 
Clover, be it known, must be fertilized by bees. 
Now' the great enemy of the bee is the com¬ 
mon field mouse, and as the mischievous ro¬ 
dent is only suppressed by the domestic cat, the 
existence of the bee, and consequent fertility 
of the clover, depends on this useful animal. 
Old maids are proverbially given to the cul¬ 
ture of cats; the clover crop is dependent there¬ 
fore on these self sacrificing members of soci¬ 
ety.—Q. E. D. 
But the spinster’s usefulness does not stop at 
the production of clover. Don’t we all know 
some helpful, benevolent,spinster, some radiant 
Aunt Jane or Hester, who eschews “cats, 
scandal and Bohea?” Thrice blessed is the 
family to which she belongs. To her the chil¬ 
dren take their wounded fingers and wounded 
feelings alike; she is always mistress of the 
revels, and at Christmastide is in great request 
as confidential advisor among young and old. 
She is equally an authority on catnip tea and 
cats-cradles, and will give judicial advice ou 
the set of a kite’s tail or a doll’s frock with 
equal readiness. To the elder members of the 
family she is an ever sympathetic friend, nor 
does she confine her efforts to her own people. 
She is a good Samaritan to the dweller of high¬ 
ways and hedges, according to the advice of 
the scholarly Apostle. Such a woman—and 
she is by no means rare—gives lustre to her 
much-maligned class. But why should we hear 
so much of the crabbed ness and general ugli¬ 
ness of old maids? It is our deeply-rooted con¬ 
viction that they are much more useful, ami¬ 
able, aud self-sacrificing thau old bachelors. 
So there! 
The average man holds, as soundest doctrine 
the opinion that every woman w’ould marry 
if she had the ghost of a chance. This is 
doubtless true in many cases, but it is not by 
any means an invariable rule. Many a faded 
spinster bears deep in her faithful breast the 
memory of some early love, lost, but unfor- 
gotteu; many a one has toiled and crucified 
self for home and kindred, to meet with little 
reward save the sense of duty done, and the 
title of “old maid.” 
We must admit that w'e occasionally meet 
with very unfavorable representatives of the 
class. Prying, inquisitive, gossippy, unat¬ 
tractive in dress and manner. They offer a 
convenient text to support the popular im¬ 
pression of spinsters. But don’t we all know 
married women who display all these objec¬ 
tionable traits? It ri the native disposition, 
not the result of her conditiou. When a 
woman appears soured by single life, it dis¬ 
plays a radical defect in her education. Every 
woman should be trained to be a good wife, 
but she should be trained to make a success¬ 
ful spinster also. Then she is prepared for 
either fate. Marriage is an holy and honor¬ 
able estate, but we can’t all marry—the 
census says there are not enough men to go 
round—and believing that old maids are a 
blessing to every community, let us bear in 
mind the advice of a sage equally remarkable 
for wisdom and bad spelling; “It is better to 
be laffed at becoz yew are not married thau 
to be unable to laff yourself becoz yew are. ” 
TAKE CARE. 
MRS. S. H. ROWELL. 
“I have been all night over with Ella Nor¬ 
ton, helping her take care of her children! I 
wish to gooduess there was a law to prevent 
people who do not know enough to take care 
of their children ever getting married!” ex¬ 
claimed Jenny Saunders, as she rushed uncer- 
emoniously into her sister’s house, oue hot 
moruiug in August, threw off her hat and 
drew a chair up to the breakfast table. 
“Give me a cup of coffee, please Hattie, I 
am tired out, sleepy and cross,’’she said laugh¬ 
ing, and kissiug a little bright-eyed youngster 
who sat in his high chair eating a bowl of 
broad and milk. “Auntie is glad that Rob¬ 
bie’s mamma knows how to take care of him. ’ 
“What, is the matter with the Norton’s, Jen¬ 
nie? You have not even given the top of the 
morning to us," said George Elliott, as he 
passed the plate of hot rolls to her. 
“I am too much out of humor to be polite. 
I do not often forget my manners you know, 
but, good morning, Mr. Elliott. Well, last 
ni.gbt, (you know mother had the headache yes¬ 
terday) there came a tremendous ring of the 
doorbell after eleven o’clock. I slipped ou 
my dressing-gown and ran to the door and 
asked w'ho was there. ‘Mi's. Norton’s little 
girl is dreadful sick, wants your mother to 
come over as quick as she can; I called at the 
doctor’s ami he is not at home,’ said the boy, 
who lives at Mr. Norton’s. 
“ ‘Mother is sick herself, she cannot go,’ I 
answered.” 
“ ‘Oh. dear! cannot you come, Miss Jennie?’ 
“Well, I thought I would go, so I dressed as 
quick as possible aud went with him. The 
child was in terrible distress and seemed quite 
unconscious; bis eyes were rolled up in his 
head, and he would cramp up his legs and 
scream. I was just frightened myself and his 
mother was as white as a sheet. Mr. Nor¬ 
ton was lighting the fire. 
“ ‘What has he been eating,’ I asked. 
“ ‘I guess he ate too much ice cream and 
cake,’ she replied. 
“ -We must give him an emetic then,’so I 
flew around but not a thing had they in the 
house that would answer the purpose till 1 
thought, of mustard, 1 stirred up a tea. 
spoonful as quick as I could in some 
warm water which we had to force dowu; 
his mother telling him it was good. Then I 
heated some flannels to put on his stomach. 
Just as we were giving him the last 
spoonful little Ella began to scream. Well, 
we did have a li vely tune. She was in as great 
agony as her brother, and cramped dreadfully. 
I dosed her with mustard and wrapped her in 
flannels, and told her she must keep us quiet, as 
she could, for Johnuy was dreadfully sick, then 
I asked her if she had been eating icecream. 
She said they had it for supper, aud afterwards 
she aud Johnny asked mamma if they might 
have some more, aud they took some spoons 
and went to the freezer and ate all they wanted. 
By and by Johnny commenced to throw up, 
and I fancy he will not want any more ice cream 
for a while. Iu half an hour more EUa had 
got rid of her supper, I kept changing the 
flannels, so as to have them hot all the time. 
The little boy went to sleep first, about three 
this morning; then their mother gave up and 
I reckon she had hysterics. Her hus¬ 
band got her ou the bed and sent 
again for the doctor. Wlicu he came he said 
the mustard had saved the children’s lives. 
That ice cream was seasoned with vanilla so 
strong that it was fairly sickening. Oh, dear! 
what fools there are in the worl 1.” 
“What a blessing it is, Jennie, that there are 
a few old maids loft to look after fools aud 
their children. I. for one, am thankful that 
there is one left in our family,” said Mr. 
Elliott, as he took his hat and turned toward 
the door. 
“You insinuate that I am au old maid, 
George Elliott! Thank you. I know enough 
not to feed babies on ice cream, aud 1 always 
keep medicines on band for au emergency.” 
“Of course, you do. So does every one of 
your mother’s girls—thunks to her for her wise 
teachings! If she had not been a wiser woman 
than Mrs. Norton’s mother her girls would 
not have been more intelligent or thought¬ 
ful than Norton’s wife. I think l shall tell 
Norton of the bill you are going to present to 
the Legislature. I wil l vote for it, any way,” 
said he. “Hattie, why don’t mothers take 
care of their children ?" 
“Just because they do not know how. Mrs. 
Norton has lost two little ones, aud it does 
seem as if she would try and be more careful 
of their diet. Oue you know died in a fit, 
caused by eating currants and drinking milk 
afterwards, and the other one had the croup, 
and they did not call in help till it was too late” 
said Mrs. Elli >tt. 
“She says that there has not been a week 
since her first baby was bora, but what they 
have had a physician called. I should think 
she would learn, ‘that an ounce of prevention 
is worth a pound of cure,’ But I must go 
home, or Mother will think I am lost. Take 
care of Robbie: this hot weather, one cannot be 
too careful of the little ones, aud try to keep 
them well.” 
WOMAN IN POLITICS. 
M. IV. WILKES. 
“Women know 
The way to rear up children (to be just): 
They know a simple, merry, tender knack 
Of tying sashes, fitting baby shoes, 
And si ringing pretty words that make no sense, 
And kissing full sense Into empty words; 
Which things are corals to cut llfo upon." 
This tribute to women by Mrs. Browning 
would never be accorded to men. Yet here is 
Burns’ tribute to the stonier sex: 
“Princes and lords are hut the breath of kiugs 
Au honest man's the noblest work of God." 
Men and women have their respective fields 
of work. The creator knew what was best 
when, in the garden of Eden, he said to the 
man, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat 
bread.” 
The heavier, coarser, manual work should 
be done by men. Women do it in some coun¬ 
tries, but Amorieuu womeu do not aspire to a 
coarse face and figure and bra wny red arms. 
Coarse brain work is in the field of politics. 
There are flinty rocks and accumulated debris 
which men can hardly work through, and 
should women eventually enter the lists, they 
would become coarse, unlike the modest, 
refined, thoughtful, and more than all, deeply 
spiritual women every one loves to remember. 
Women would become practical, scheming, 
and ambitious. How' many who have read 
the late Disraeli’s Endymion wish to emulate 
tiie women found there, who are continually 
plotting for the lordship, even premiership of 
their favorites? 
If womau votes, she will be unwilling to re¬ 
main whore her uplifted hand may be counted 
but beyond the reach of her voice. To 
become an important factor in politics she 
must eugage actively iu law-making, for we 
have already seen that the ballot of women 
will not tip the balance of votes. No woman 
can eagerly wish for fat office ; surely not the 
mother of dinging children. A truth well 
endorsed by this verse: 
"I have been flattered by u-lmlrlng oven, 
Rome words have writ which critic's said were wise, 
Have spoken to the plaudits of the crowd. 
Had thanks Tor kindness till my heart was proud, 
But ne’er had praise which thrilled me through and 
through, 
Like baby's lisp —‘you old dood muzzor, you!' " 
Better taxation with never a representation 
if it will taint the whole, even part of the 
home. Woman knows, for God has written 
it in her heart, that she should be virtuous 
let. what will befall. Formed with quick in¬ 
tuitions, given the open Bible, the Creator de¬ 
signed woman for a bulwark of virtuous 
strength to this nation. Meu see the ueed for 
reform and are working for temperance and 
purity, but real reform is slower through 
legislation than through earnest individual 
effort, The universal bad°t Will avail 
