1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
217 
Softening Hard Water. 
One annoyance which met the early 
settlers in the West, parts of it, at least, 
was hard water. There were so many 
things that had to be done on the land 
first, that women had to wait for cis¬ 
terns until it was convenient for the 
farmer to have them made. An occa¬ 
sional shower, when enough rain water 
could be caught to do a washing, was 
always welcomed. What was called 
cleansed water came into general use. 
There were different ways of preparing 
this. Some lye was made in a kettle by 
throwing in a shovelful or two of ashes; 
this, boiled and settled, made the lye for 
use. Into a boilerful of hot water a 
quart or so of this liquid was put in and 
well stirred. This caused the l'ime in 
tue water to become separated and rise 
to the top of the water in a thick scum, 
wmch was skimmed off, leaving the 
water ready to use for the washing; and 
if this operation nad been skillfully 
done it was said to make clothes look 
better than even rain water. Clothes 
needed to be carefully rinsed when 
washed this way, to remove all traces of 
the lye. Another way to prepare this 
cleansed water was to fill a rain barrel 
vu one was so fortunate as to have one) 
with well water, a couple of days before 
it was wanted, and throw in two or 
three shovelfuls of dry ashes, accord¬ 
ing to their strength, the lime settling to 
tne bottom of the barrel, leaving the 
rest of the water soft and excellent for 
washing clothes or the hands. 
Colored clothes and flannels washed in 
this water soon lost their color, and 
flannels shrunk badly. New ways were 
constantly being tried to ease the labors 
of washing day. The pounding barrel 
oecame a common article of furniture 
in the kitchen, and aside from being 
somewhat destructive to buttons, was a 
great help, saving both time and 
strength. The custom of putting borax 
into the soft soap prevailed. A pound 
dissolved and well mixed in a barrel of 
soft soap was found very useful. House¬ 
keepers wrestled with the problem of 
making housework easy, as they had so 
few conveniences for work that the best 
way was hard enough, but they worked 
cheerfully, and met socially without 
much formality, and many of these wo¬ 
men now enjoying prosperity say, “We 
took more comfort then, than we do 
now.” AUNT RACHEL. 
Sunshine People. 
Take a bird’s-eye view of your friends 
and acquaintances, says a writer in The 
Woman’s Home Companion. Of how 
many of them can you say that they are 
always in a good numor? That really 
cxever and cultivated woman who drop¬ 
ped in for a cup of tea yesterday after¬ 
noon, and held forth in a strain that 
was deeply and darkly blue on every 
i..:id of subject, from Chrysanthemum- 
growing to kindergartens, gave you 
gloomy views of life for the rest of the 
evening. On the other hand, some 
dheerful soul may be downright stupid, 
but you are sure to be a little better for 
me sound of her genial laugh. That 
golden temper is an infinitely more 
precious possession than the philoso¬ 
phers stone itself could be. It trans¬ 
mutes everything it touches with its 
own fine glow—the hue of sunlight. 
The art of being companionable is a 
secret worth finding out, even if it 
takes lime ana patience to learn it. 
Some people are born with the happy 
knack. There 'is a spontaneous gaiety 
that you expect women to have, just as 
you expect the birds to sing and the sun 
to shine. The intangible L.ng we call 
charm springs from it. An old man was 
telling some girls of their mother’s 
youth the other day. 
“She had a bright word for every 
one,” he said. “Some of us oldsters 
were talking of her not long ago. One 
said he remembered her at a party one 
night. She had just come downstairs 
after leaving her wraps in the cloak¬ 
room, and an awkward chap stepped on 
her frock, tearing a great rent in the 
gauzy stuff. We all expected an out¬ 
burst of rage. Instead, she caught up 
the torn piece of the skirt—it seemed to 
be in innumerable layers—and smiling 
through the hole, shook her head at the 
culprit, ’land exclaimed, roguishly, that 
she would have to play Cinderella for 
the rest of the evening.” That bit of 
lively good-humor had been remembered 
for more than 40 years. 
Many a very bau quarter of an hour 
has been averted in the domestic circle 
oy a bright laugh or a gay rejoinder. 
The laugh may be saucy and the re¬ 
joinder a bit of verbal buffet, but if it is 
only done good-naturedly it will be all 
the more effective. It used basely to be 
said of men that the only way to make 
them happy was to feed them well. 
Tnat could only have applied to a small 
and commonplace minority. Of course, 
no one wants an uninterrupted round of 
even the most brilliant smiles any more 
than he would wish to make three meals 
a day off meringues and biscuits glacis, 
but it is safe to say that countless num¬ 
bers of willing and delighted masculine 
captives may be led by the lightest 
chains that gaiety and good-humor can 
forge. One result of a great deal of the 
imperfect education that is dealt out by 
the handful nowadays is that some wo¬ 
men are apt to set undue value on mere 
book-learning and the gift of contro¬ 
versy. This kind of person looks upon 
your little joke as beneath her dignity, 
and she treats you to a somber harangue 
on the necessity of having serious views 
of life at the moment When you are 
striving to look at things cheerfully in 
an effort to forget cares and anxieties. 
People may make all kinds of scathing 
remarks about the danger of degen¬ 
erating into a toy, or of serving no 
higher purpose than a moment’s pas¬ 
time, but at the same time it is a wo¬ 
man’s privilege to lighten the shadows 
and be all that is gracious and oright on 
the ornamental side of life. She may 
have h'igh ideals and lofty aims, too. 
There is no incongruity in doing all of 
it to the best of her ability. It is a good 
plan to let much learning sit as lightly 
as possible and to get into the habit of 
making “little troubles pass like little 
ripples in a sunny river.” 
For the noblest desires are of a 
jealous nature—they engross, they ab¬ 
sorb the soul, and often leave the sple¬ 
netic humors stagnant and unheeded at 
the surface. Unheeding the petty things 
around us, we are deemed morose: im¬ 
patient at earthly interruption to the 
diviner dreams, we are thought irritable 
and churlish, for as there is no chimera 
vainer than the hope that human heart 
shall find sympathy in another, so none 
ever interpret us with justice; and none, 
no, not our nearest and dearest ties for¬ 
bear with us in mercy! When we are 
dead and repentance comes too late, 
both friend and foe may wonder to 
think how little there is in us to for¬ 
give.—Lord Lytton. 
If one is beginning life with a few 
fixed rules, one of them may well be: 
“What is it that is best worth doing? 
Can I do it? And if I can, is it worth 
While throwing away time and strength 
upon what is not?” Take the matter 
of our reading. One of the things that, 
when we are young, we do not realize is 
that, when we are older, and find our¬ 
selves among other people and hear 
them talk of what we know nothing 
about, one of the keenest mortifica¬ 
tions of life will be the consciousness of 
our own ignorance. We will remember 
then, perhaps, the books we have read, 
and of what poor stuff many of them 
were; and we will realize that, if we 
had given the time that they have cost 
us to books worth reading, we would 
have been fit companions for educated 
prople, and happy and at ease in their 
society.—Bishop Potter. 
ARMSTRONG * McKELVY 
Pittsburgh. 
BEYMER-BAUMAN 
Pittsburgh. 
DAVI8-CHAMBERS 
Pittsburgh. 
FAHNESTOCK 
Pittsburgh. 
ANCHOR ) 
> Cincinnati. 
ECKSTEIN ) 
ATLANTIC 
BRADLEY 
BROOKLYN 
JEWETT 
ULSTER 
UNION 
SOUTHERN 
SHIPMAN 
COLLIER 
MISSOURI 
RED SEAL 
SOUTHERN 
New York. 
| Chi 
Chicago. 
^St. Louis. 
JOHN T. LEWIS A BR08 CO 
Philadelphia. 
MORLEY 
Cleveland. 
8ALEM 
Salem, Mass. 
CORNELL 
Buffalo. 
KENTUCKY 
Louisville. 
P 
RACTICAL painters say that when 
they come to repaint a house 
which has been painted with ready- 
mixed paint or combination White Lead 
(so-called), it costs more to prepare the 
surface than to apply the paint. 
The moral is to use only Pure White 
Lead, because it is not only more durable, 
but is always in good condition for repaint¬ 
ing. These brands are genuine. 
For colors use National Lead Company’s Pure White 
| liKEL L< ea <i Tinting Colors. Any shade desired is readily 
obtained. Pamphlet giving full information and show¬ 
ing samples of Colors, also pamphlet entitled “Uncle Sam’s Ex¬ 
perience With Paints’’ forwarded upon application. 
National Lead Co., ioo William Street , New York. 
“I’LL 
BET 
$ 5,00 
Veterinary Pixine will cure any sore any horse 
ever had.” An actual conversation overheard 
between residents of Indian Fields, N. Y. The 
merchant in same town sent us from another 
townsman this telling indorsement: 
Indian Fields, N. Y. 
Tried everything known for several months, and 
owner before me had tried most everything to cure 
bad collar sore without success. One box of Vet 
erinary Pixine cured it permanently. 
Henry Ahlhoff. 
Oak Hill, Greene Co., N. Y. 
Dear Sirs: 1 had a horse with the scratches, and 
below the fetlock a raw sore. His leg was swollen to 
the body. I used half a box of Veterinary Pixine, 
and the horse was cured. Isaac Spencer. 
Frankllnton, Schoharie Co., N. Y. 
Dear Sirs: Veterinary Pixine is a great healer of 
sores. The best for scratches I ever used. 
Yours truly, NELSON ARMLIN. 
On speed cracks, sores and any skin disease on 
domestic animals, this pure and scientific oint¬ 
ment is the one absolutely sure and speedy cure. 
One trial box convinces. At all dealers and drug¬ 
gists, or mailed postpaid. 
pitTnt j 2-oz. box, - 25c. 
•PRICE j g. oz b0X) . 50c _ 
TROY CHEMICAL CO., 
TROY, N. Y. 
Thrice-a-Week World 
Gives yon all the news of the whole world 
every other day. It’s the next best thing to a 
daily paper—18 pages a week, 156 pages a 
year. It is independent, fearless, and is with 
the plain people as against trusts and mono 
polies. We can send It in combination wit! 
Tans Rural New-Yorker, one year, for il.65 
SI 8 to $85 
WEEKLY I MEN and WOMEN 
And EXPENSES | At Home or Trawling. 
Mr. Smith, of Ind., made *927.50 first 
6 months. Albert Hill, of N. J., *2i8 first 
month. Mr. Muncy, of Texas, *12.60 first 
| 2 hours. Carrie Williams, clerk, *144 in 
6 weeks. Mrs. Hitchcox, $222, besides 
housekeeping. Lida Kennedy. *S4 while 
teaching. LET US START YOU- 
| No experience needed. Our Agents 
I made over 947,000 OO lust month 
I supplying the enormous demand for 
lour famous Quaker Bath Cabinet, and 
I appointing agents. Wonderful seller. 
"Everybody buys—business men, fami¬ 
lies and physicians. No scheme, fraud or fuko methods. 
Write today for our Proposition. New Plan, etc. Free. 
World Mfg. Co., 47 World B’ld’g, Cincinnati, O. 
[IVe recommend above firm as reliable. — Editor\ 
Cft 7 c Buys n Bicycle Cora- 
*r i ^ plete. Unguaranteed. 
tt/C CA Buys an l'p-To-Ilale 
f IU,JV Model. Fully guaranteed, 
too CA Buys a Full Racing 
J\J j|„d t .i. Shop - worn 
Bicycles from *10 up. 2nd Hand 
^ Wheels from *5.00 up. We want 
. If||| agents every where. 64pagecata- 
’ lngue of bicyclo parts and repairs 
free. Writo for catalogues and see 
I how you can get a Bicycle free hy 
helping us advertise. A-Mnw Dept. 
nFPfftlT VICTOR MANFG. CO. 
1/K.rUaJI I 161-167 Plymouth PI. .Chicago, III. 
1900 BICYCLE FREE 
H For distributing 1000 catalogues for us. One 
» Agent wanted in each town, (live references 
and send for catalogues. Enclose stamp. 
■ MEAD CYCLE CO. Dept. 293} ,Chicago 
The Domestic Sheep. 
Its Culture and General Management. 
By Henry Stewart. An up-to-date book 
on sheep. The most scientific, practical 
and useful book ever published on this 
subject. Indorsed by the world’s high¬ 
est authorities, press and sheep public 
everywhere. It contains 372 pages of 
“ boiled-down ” knowledge and 165 plates 
illustrating the recognized breeds and 
every department of sheep life. Price, 
$1.50 postpaid, or free for a club of four 
subscriptions at $1 each. 
Half-a-Century’s Product. 
During the last half-century nearly Seventeen Million 
Singer Sewing-Machines have been made and sold. This 
tremendous product would make one gigantic machine 
head that would reach from the Singer factory at Elizabeth, 
N. J , to the factory at Kilbowie, Scotland. Its base 
would be about three thousand miles long and twelve 
hundred miles wide. The top of its needle-bar would be 
fifteen hundred miles above the earth. 
ONE MILLION SINGER SEWING-MACHINES 
WERE SOLD DURING THE YEAR 1899. 
The reason Singer machines are so much preferred is 
because of their uniformly easy operation, great capacity 
and durability. A Singer machine outwears all others 
because of its superior construction from the best mate¬ 
rials ; every part can be exactly duplicated in any City in 
the World. 
SOLD ON INSTALMENTS. OLD MACHINES EXCHANGED. 
The Singer flanufacturing Company. 
SALESROOMS IN EVERY CITY IN THE WORLD. 
