4886 
THE BUBAL HEW 
848 
lN*addition'to the long lists of humbugs and 
worse, given two weeks ago, we warn our 
readers to have no dealings with the following 
concerns: Sessions, W. P., Kansas City, Mo.. 
Wilcox, Algernon, alias Wilcox Specific Med. 
Co., alias Wilcox Chemical C’o., alias Wilcox 
Chemical Preparation Co., alias the Specific 
Med. Co., 308 North 10th Street, alias Meyers 
& Co., Box 1300, Philadelphia, alias •‘Dr.” 
Jenuie V, Stauton & Co., New York City_ 
Union M’fg Co., alias Empire M’Pg Co., alias 
Pioneer M’f’g Co., 70 Milk Street and 707 
Washington Street, P. O. Box 5100, Boston, 
Mass ...Armstrong, “Prof.” J. H., 737 Race 
Street, Philadelphia, alias Mrs. W. C. Holmes, 
100 E. 12th Street, removed to 058 Broadway, 
New York City, alias “Ur.” J. C. Raymond, 
Brooklyn, N. Y., alias Prof. W. H. Arm¬ 
strong, So. Boston, Mass.....Adee, Daniel, 45 
Liberty Street, New York City_Van Raub, 
B., alias Don Carlos, Leon Springs, Tex., alias 
Byron H. Robb, Cincinnati, O....Foster, S. 
& Co., “Cigar Fraud,” alias Cincinnati Pub. 
Co., publisher of the “Aid” and part owner of 
the Clipper MTg Co., Ciucinuati. Ohio. 
Clark, L. J., alias Favorite Book and Novelty 
Co., alias Western Chroino Co., Wiscoy, 
Minn.. ..Chichester Chemical Co., alias 
Thomas Chiehester,23l8 Madison Square, Phil¬ 
adelphia.. . .Chicago Arms Co., Chicago, Ill... 
Crystallized Photo. Co,, 53 W. 7th Street, 
Cincinnati, O_Tabel, Paul E., alias Ad¬ 
vance Courier, alias Barnett Art Association, 
alias Inter-State MTg Co., alias Asa A. Burn¬ 
ham & Co., Chicago, ILL 
Things To Avoid.— Bohemian oats and all 
swindles of a like nature. These have been 
explained here over and over again. Seneca 
Chief, lted Liue and Gold Dust Wheats are of 
this stripe ... .Signingpapers for unknown 
parties, however inuocent the paper may 
appear. Not a week passes in which we do 
not notice accounts of swindles on farmers 
owing to their excessive readiness to sign 
their names to papers. We have repeatedly 
given instances of this sort of bamboozling... 
..Paying royalty to traveling scamps who 
claim to Tie agents for machines the patents on 
which they say have been infringed in some 
articles already in the farmer’s possession. 
There are many rascals, armed with bogus 
papers, traveling through the country 
swindling farmers in this way. A good bull¬ 
dog is a blessing when these fellows are 
around. 
To Several Inquirers. —We cannot rec- 
commend now. any more than formerly, the 
Reliable Manufacturing Company of Phila¬ 
delphia Pa., nor the Home Manufacturing 
Company of the same place We do not rec- 
cornmend Borden & Edwards of fhis city. 
We strongly advise our friends not to invest 
a cent in the “Imperial Austrian Vienna 
Government. Bonds,” offered temptingly for 
sale by the “International Banking Company” 
and Edward Saunders & Co. It is a mere 
lottery scheme and foreign lotteries are no 
more honest than domestic ones; while the 
opportunities for fraud are more numerous. 
.W. L. Caldwell, of this city, is u “saw¬ 
dust” swindler, who offers to soil counterfeit 
money.“The National Bazar” of this 
city, is reported to be another venture of the 
notorious W. II. Sizer.We do not re¬ 
commend the National Supply Co., Cincin¬ 
nati. Ohio . We know nothing about "The 
Prof. D.W. Moody Co,,” Cincinnati, Ohio or 
its dress-making system... .The Next of Kin 
and Heirs-at-Law Gazette, of this city, is en¬ 
gaged in a disreputable business in so far as it 
intimates that it s manager or conductor is able 
to recover any of the fabulous fortunes which 
are said to be numerous on the other side of 
the water. Whoever has any dealings with 
this concent will certainly lose 81, and is very 
likely to he led on until the loss is much, 
greater_The Von Gruef Troches are a hum¬ 
bug. 
iHifiall.ftn.c0us. 
CATALOGUES, ETC., RECEIVED. 
The American Garden.— Years ago the 
American Garden was issued as a monthly 
trade paper by Beaeh & Co., seedsmen, of 
Now York. The firm gave up business, and 
B. K. Bliss & Sons purchased the name and 
continued its publication in connection with 
their seed business. Bliss & Co. failed, and 
Mr. E. li. Libby purchased the Garden and 
has since published it in Greenfield, Mass, 
while at the same time he has been editing 
“Our Country Home.” Within a few weeks 
Mr. Lawson Valentine, the well-known, good 
and benevolent owner of Houghton Farm, has 
purchased an interest in the American Gar¬ 
den, and hereafter it will be conducted by 
Mr. Valentine and Mr. Libby. 
Mr. Libby, it may bo remembered, was the 
founder, first, of the Scientific Farmer, then of 
Land and Home and, finally, the editor of the 
American Agriculturist, before Mr, Judd’s 
failure. He was afterwards editor of the 
Farmers’ Review, of Chicago, and t hen one of 
the superintendents of the immense house of 
Sibley & Co., the seedsmen, which position he 
relinquished to edit Our Country Home. 
Mr. Libby is a man of remarkable energy, 
originality and perseverance, which, now that 
he is associated with Mr. Valentine, will, we 
are confident, show themselves in making the 
best garden journal of America, and we much 
doubt if his monthly journal has a friend 
that wishes it full success more sincerely than 
the Rural New-Yorker. 
;aira$. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Lee & Shepard publish an illustrated 
edition of Tennyson’s “Dora” which makes an 
admirable Christmas gift. After Enoch Ar¬ 
den, we like Dora better than any of Tenny¬ 
son’s poems. It is a beautiful little story in 
verse. One is never tired of reading it. The 
illustrations are admirable. They add much 
to a proper understanding of the poem. We 
had a. different conception of “Farmer Allen” 
from that of the artist who designed these 
pictures. We had thought of him as a bluff, 
typical Englishman. An entirely different 
man looks out at us from these pages. The 
pictures of the other characters seem more 
natural. Most of the favorite modern poems 
have been illustrated in this way. They 
make beautiful holiday gifts. Dora is one of 
the best of the series and should be popular. 
A Boston Gird’s Ambitions by Virginia 
F. Townsend (Lee & Shepard) is a clumsy 
story. We should expect a far better story 
from this author. There is a good plot, and 
several of the characters are well drawn, hut 
the parts of the story are clumsily put togeth¬ 
er, and the interest is not kept up well. Why 
the book should bear its name is not 
exactly plain. The “Boston Girl” is not a 
typical character by any means. She is a 
country girl who goes to the city with her 
brother with the idea of supporting herself. 
After nearly starving, the brother obtains a 
situation in the usual remarkable way, of sav¬ 
ing the life of a little child. Just as he suc¬ 
ceeds in mastering the business and putting 
himself in the way of permanent promotion, 
he is seized with a desire to study at Harvard 
auil enter a profession. His sister's ambition 
is to help him carry out this plan. He leaves 
his position, and with his sister’s help obtains 
his education and succeeds. If the book 
means anything at all. it means that the high- 
estambition a sister can have is that of adding 
her life to that of her ambitious brother, in 
the hope of matting him greater. Price 61.50. 
Holiday Books. Lee & Shepard issue 
some beautiful books for the holidays. 
Nature’s Hallelujah is certainly one of the 
finest books of the season. It would make an 
elegant Christmas present. We can think of 
no more fitting present for a lover of nature 
than this beautiful volume. The design of the 
book is unique. Each page is given up to an 
extract from some well known poem, which is 
illustrated in the most striking manner. The 
mind of the poet, the pencil of the artist, and 
the skill of the engraver mid printer have all 
combined to render this work attractive. 
What wonderful lessons it would teach, what 
wondrous good it could accomplish if it. could 
be placed iuevery family in this land. Beauty, 
love and faith speak out from its pages. We 
gladly commend it to our readers as the most 
helpful of the holidav books we have seen. 
We wish all could secure it. The price varies 
from $0 to 812 according to the binding. 
Womans Work. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY LOUISE TAPLIN. 
“ALWAYS SUNRISE SOMEWHERE.” 
There Is always sunshine somewhere! 
Though the ulghc be round thee drawn, 
Somewhere still the east Is brlght’uing 
With the rosy flush of dawn. 
What though near the bat is fliitiug 
And the raven croaks bis lay. 
Somewhere still the sun bird’s greeting 
llatls the rising of (lie day! 
Let us lay to heart the comfort 
In this sweet reflection found, 
That however dense our darkness. 
Somewhere >1111 the world around 
Dews are glistening, flowers uplifting, 
Wild birds warbling, as ro-born: 
Lakes and streams and woods and mountains 
Melting In the kiss of morn! 
Ne'er was night, however dismal, 
But withdrew Us wings of gloom; 
Ne’er was sorrow, but a day star 
Hinted of Ihe morrow's bloom; 
Ne'er was woo, but lu Its bosom 
Was the seed of hope linpearled, 
There Is still a sunrise somewhere 
Speeding, speeding round the world! 
—Credit lost. 
OF INTEREST TO WOMEN. 
In spite of all the ridicule showered upon 
the upholders of women’s rights, here and 
there one of the sterner sex views this move¬ 
ment with approval. And of all trenchant, 
witty words on the subject the brightest are 
those of Robert J. Burdette. He says he is a 
woman suffragist because a woman has more 
good, hard, common sense than a man. Be¬ 
cause she makes less bluster about her rights, 
and quietly maintains them better than a 
man. Because she won’t give a dollar and a 
half for an article that she knows very well 
she can get for seventy-five cents. Because 
she does not stalk loftily away from the coun¬ 
ter without her change if the robber behind it 
is a little reluctant about counting it out. Be¬ 
cause she is too independent to pay the land¬ 
lord two dollai-s for her dinner and then pay 
the head waiter a dollar to send her a waiter 
who will bring it to her for fifty cents. Be¬ 
cause she will hold her money tightly in her 
own good little rigbr baud for two hours until 
she first gets a receipt for it from the fellow 
who made her husband pay the same bill five 
times last year. Not any “just give you credit 
for it” for her. “One day,” continues Mr. Bur- 
dett, “a Pullman porter complained to me: ‘No 
money on this trip; too mauy women aboard. 
Don’t never get nothin’ out of a woman ’ceptin’ 
just her reg’!ar fare.’ I had just paid him 
25 cents for blacking one of my boots and 
losiug the other. And when he said that, 
when I saw for myself the heroic firmness of 
these women, traveling alone, paying their 
fare and refusing to pay the salaries of the em¬ 
ployes of a wealthy corporation, I said: 
‘These women have a right to vote. To vote! 
By all that is brave and self-reliant and sen¬ 
sible, they have a right to run the Govern¬ 
ment.’” 
CONFESSIONS OF A COUNTRY GIRL. 
NUMBER ONE. 
I am a rural maiden, and I live in a secluded 
valley, “far from the madding crowd.” Tall 
hills on either side shut out the world beyond, 
until I feel like Robinson Crusoe on his island, 
only, as Mrs. Gamp says, I was born in a wale, 
and must take the consequences of such a situ¬ 
ation.” Rare glimpses of city life make me 
feel as if the outside world was so large, and 
my own corner so small, that I am like a caged 
robin beating his wings against the bars. I 
love the country. To see the rocky, tree-clad 
hills a midsummer day, with blue haze cling¬ 
ing about their rugged sides; to watch the 
chauging landscape from season to season; to 
live ami breathe among the wholesome coun¬ 
try atmosphere is keenest happiness. But, 
alas! suushiue and landscape alone are not al¬ 
lowed to fill the mind of a farmers’ daughter. 
Nature may give a pressing invitation, but 
there’s bread to bake and churning to do; the 
spare room must be swept, and when one is 
not cooking or waging a never-ending conflict 
with dirt and disorder, there are stockings to 
be mended and buttons to be sewed on. Thrice 
happy are men who are not obliged to wrestle 
with their dinner before eating it, and who 
can put on a garment without previous exami- 
ation as to its integrity! You will think from 
my tone of complaint, that I'm not a model 
girl. That is a melancholy truth. I have the 
best intentions iu the world, but I am always 
burning my pies, or breaking crockery, to say 
nothing of ruining my clothes in my wood- 
laud tramps. And when I manage to get a 
new book—it is not often, for literature is 
scarce enough with us—I forget the outside 
world until a cry of “Patty, Patty, where is 
that, child j” interrupts my day dreams, and 
my mother says: 
“You’ve forgotten those towels you were to 
hem, child, and while you are at it, here are 
Father’s stockings to be mended.” 
Then my beloved magazine or still dearer 
romance is put aside, while I try, dutifully 
enough, to fulfill my mother's behests. 
I have been reading some statistics lately, 
telling us how many farmers’ wives yearly 
grow insane. I think it was Washington who 
said: “Agriculture is the most useful, the 
most healthful and the most ennobling of occu¬ 
pations.” Strange, that these three-fold bless¬ 
ings seem to descend upon t he farmer, without 
including his wife. 1 live in a fairly prosper¬ 
ous community, but even here rhe women age 
much earlier chon the men, and have a more 
anxious, careworn look. This ought not to be, 
but it is such a noticeable fact that one is in¬ 
clined to think it doesn’t pay to be a woman. 
Simple domesticity, to the exclusion of every 
other interest, is the leading cause of this con¬ 
dition, The only cure is undoubtedly chauge 
and other mental occupation. An old English 
proverb says, “ He who drinks beer, chinks 
beer,” and the woman who spends eighteen 
horn’s a day in grinding work and cares will 
certainly think only of grinding work and 
cares. But every busy housewife to whom 
this applies will tell you at once that there is 
no possibility of lightening her work. There 
is the possibility, but. it means neglect of some 
so-called duty. Duty ceases to be duty when 
it injures the bodily "or mental health.* Dear, 
dear! I’m only a girl, but I do want to get up 
and tell all the overworked farmers’ wives to 
take a little rest arid comfort as they go along, 
aud remember their duty to themselves as well 
as to others. There, i have finished my litt le 
homily; next week 1 want to say something 
to the girls, if my audience will listen to me. 
PATTY GARTON. 
ECONOMY IN FURNISHING A PRETTY 
PARLOR FOR SEVENTY-FIVE 
DOLLARS. 
Many young people, just starting iu life, 
are sorely exercised in mind by the apparent 
impossibility of combining taste with cheap¬ 
ness. It is hoped that the present article will 
he of some assistance in such a case. We have 
a somewhat difficult task before us—with a 
small sum of money and a large outlay of 
taste and ingenuity we are to produce, like 
Madame Aracbne, 
“The prettiest little parlor that, ever you did spy.” 
We may imagine a plain, square room, 
lighted by three windows; the hard-finished 
walls tinted a delicate flesh-pink, the ceiling a 
soft greenish-gray. Around the wall, next 
the ceiling, is a frieze or border of maroon 
and gold paper, about six inches deep. The 
tint ing is done with kalsomine, and is pretty, 
durable and inexpensive, possessing many ad¬ 
vantages over paper. 
The first thing to be considered in our ideal 
furnishing is the floor, and here arises a most 
important question, to carpet, or not to carpet. 
Looking practically at the matter, a good in¬ 
grain or Kidderminster carpet will certainly 
absorb one-third of our purchasing money— 
the most ordinary Brussels much more, leav¬ 
ing little for more than barest necessaries. 
From an festhetic standpoint, no room has a 
right to a carpet until it possesses some added 
touch of beauty, a graceful vase or dainty 
etching. So we decide to be carpetless, save 
for a large nig in the center of the floor, 
which leaves about three feet of bare floor on 
each side. A second rug is placed in front of 
the fireplace or stove. The boards of the floor 
should be either oiled or stained. If it is 
wood with a handsome grain or color, such as 
yellow pine or oak, oiling will be most effect¬ 
ive. Use linseed c:l which must be applied 
hot; the easiest way is to have a pan of hot 
coals, and stand the oil in a cup on this. Put 
it on the floor like paint; the hotter it is the 
sooner it will dry. A room of the given size 
would probably take about three quarts of 
oil; cost, sixty cents a gallon. If we wish to 
stain our floor, we can buy staining material 
at a paint shop to imitate any wood—cherry, 
walnut, etc.; it costs about the same as the 
oil. and is applied like ordinary paint. Either 
oiled or stained, a coat of shellac varnish 
would greatly improve the floor, giving it a 
very handsome polish. Onr two Smyrna 
rugs, which must show crimson as their pre¬ 
vailing color, will cost about fifteen dollars, 
so the carpet question is solved, both artisti¬ 
cally and economically. 
The windows next claim our attention. We 
should get good shades of Scotch holland; 
they are a pretty tan or dcru, giving a very 
pleasant light to the room. With spring roll¬ 
ers all complete, they will cost a dollar and 
forty cents each. Tne windows may be fin¬ 
ished with poles and lambrequins, the poles 
being ash with wooden rings; they will pro¬ 
bably cost about seventy cents each. The 
lambrequins should be plain breadths of crim¬ 
son felt, or some mingled curtain stuff, three- 
quarters of a yard deep. This should be fast¬ 
ened to the rings, so that it will fall in straight 
folds from the pole. It is impossible to give 
more than an estimate of the price, but poles 
and lambrequins complete need not cost more 
than five dollars. 
Fortunately for us, parlor sets are out of 
date, aud it is not at all necessary to have 
even two chairs alike. So we will buy one 
pretty willow rocker, three quaint little chairs 
of light wood, which lend themselves very 
readily to the decorator’s art, a restful, sleepy- 
hollow chair, and a tete-a-tete lounge, the two 
latter articles being upholstered in jute. Our 
seats should amount to air ait 31 dollars. 
Next we should get a little gypsy table, and 
decorate it ourselves, covering the top with 
crimson felt, drawn smoothly over the edge, 
trimming it with furniture fringe fastened on 
with brass-headed nails. The table and its 
“fixins” will cost but two dollars, and it makes 
a charming little stand for our uiek-nacks. 
We will then be extravagant enough to pur¬ 
chase a library table of ash, the top covered 
with crimson felt, which will cost us 10 dol¬ 
lars. On this we will stand our lamp and our 
pet books, but not the family Bible, carefully 
covered with a crochetted shroud, as is the 
custom iu many country households. Sacred 
and devotional books should find their fittest 
place on the dressiug-table or bedside book¬ 
shelf—it seems wanting in respect to lay them 
side by side with albums and gift books. 
We may now consider our heavier furnish¬ 
ing finisher!; we have our necessaries, and next 
turn our attention to the superfluities which 
may mean so much, or so little according to 
the taste of the designer. We have about 
seven dollars to spend iu this direction, and 
the first object of our care must be the mantel. 
An observant writer says he cau always judge 
a woman’s taste by her parlor mantel, and 
though this may seem a sweeping assertion it 
is iu most cases very nearly true. Marble 
mantels, with that attendant horror, the mar¬ 
ble-topped centre-table are now relegated to 
the eternal shades; whether wood or marble, 
our sin If must be covered by a lambrequin or 
scarf. A new and graceful style is to have 
