296 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 21 
l Woman and Home ] 
From Day to Day. 
“There is no death,” the flowers say, 
“In faith we hide our souls away, 
While tempests desolate the earth, 
And patient wait the promised birth.” 
The south wind chants, “There is no death, 
J come and Winter is a breath: 
Against his falling walls I set 
The snowdrop and the violet." 
Glad prophets of the life to be, 
A kindred spark abides in me, 
That, like the wind, no tether knows, 
And yet is comrade to the rose. 
Thus mother earth, thy gracious breast 
Gives all thy tired children rest, 
Where, sheltered from the storms they 
bide 
The coming of the Easter tide. 
—From “Sword and Cross, and Other 
Poems,” by Charles Eugene Banks. 
• 
The Youth’s Companion tells about a 
small boy who went from his home in 
the New Hampshire hills to visit his 
grandmother in Worcester, Mass. John¬ 
ny was not used to town life, and he 
was prepared for a good many differ¬ 
ences in familiar things: 
Johnny arrived in the early afternoon, 
and long before tea-time his grandmother, 
who lived most simply, told him to run 
out to the pantry and get a bowl of milk 
which she had left there “for a hungry 
boy.” 
A moment later she followed him, and to 
her amazement beheld her grandson 
bravely at work on a bowl of spearmint 
tea, which she had forgetfully put in the 
place where she had told him to find the 
milk. 
“Why, child,” she cried, seizing the bowl 
from poor Johnny, “don’t you know this 
isn’t milk?” 
“I—I knew it wasn’t like Hillbury milk,” 
stammered Johnny, with a final gulp, “but 
T thought maybe it was the kind folks had 
in Worcester!” 
• 
Johnny’s idea of town milk recalls 
the ideas of some city dwellers concern¬ 
ing country food. We heard recently of 
a Chicago man who said that he would 
like rye bread if they would only leave 
the rye out of it. Then he carefully 
picked out the caraway seeds, which he 
regarded as rye, and ate the bread with 
a relish! Another city man remarked 
sympathetically last month that he 
feared the snow would interfere with 
the harvesting of Winter wheat. They 
try to teach something about agricul¬ 
ture in the Chicago public schools, and 
here is a sample composition from one 
of the pupils, taken from the Chicago 
Record: 
Wheat is used for baking of bread for 
the use of man without bread we could 
not live. The farmer goes out into his 
field he plows and rakes the grond, and 
then he drags it and then he takes a rub¬ 
ber tube with which he plants his seeds. 
They have a plat-form and thrashing ma¬ 
chine and they thrash the wheat and the 
binders bind it into stalks. They put eight 
stalks at the bottom and two at the top, 
and then they put it in their bin. After 
a couple of days they send it to the millers 
who immediately grinds the wheat to flour 
between two rollers. The principal wheat¬ 
growing states are Minnesota, Dacota, 
California, Illinois. 
* 
The complaint is sometimes made 
that the fashion pictures published by 
papers having a large circulation among 
women of moderate means, who live in 
the country, te^l how to make up silks 
and expensive wools, but say nothing 
about pretty calico or gingham. It is 
undoubtedly true that most of the styl¬ 
ish wash dresses figured in fashion 
plates are so made that they cannot be 
laundered, except by experts who may 
devote hours to the one garment. On 
the other hand, many designs given for 
foulard and other Summer silks may be 
carried out in washing materials, the 
exceptions being those with perfectly 
tight waists. In such matters as these 
the fashion plate must be made sub¬ 
servient to the good sense of the maker. 
Anything which might iron crooked 
should be avoided. The tunic skirt, 
showing a frilly underskirt, looks 
charming in sheer Summer material 
when first made, but it would be a most 
exasperating erection to launder, and 
would, most likely, look crooked, in 
spite of care. We would recommend, 
for wash dresses, a well-cut gored skirt, 
trimmed at the foot with frills, either 
two or three close together, or spaced or 
festooned—anything to give the fash¬ 
ionable flare at the bottom. Besides, 
when trimmed in this way the skirt will 
never Iook “slimpsy.” The bodice may 
be the plain shirt-waist style, or a 
more elaborate round waist, but it 
should blouse a little in the front, and 
the sleeves, though plain and tight-fit¬ 
ting, should not be tight enough to be 
uncomfortable; besides, tnere is always 
some risk of shrinking. The white 
guimpe and sleeves, which made wash 
dresses so pretty last Summer, seem 
likely to be equally popular again this 
season. 
* 
A wealthy woman in Chicago is 
making a new departure in household 
economics, having divided her servants 
into two watches, as the sailors would 
say, one set going on duty at 6 a. m., 
and working until 2 p. m., the others 
working from 2 p. m. to 10 p. m. She 
thus establishes an eight-hour day. 
From 10 p. m. to 6 a. m. the house ser¬ 
vants are off duty. While believing 
that, in too many cases, household help 
is expected to work during far too many 
hours, it must be remembered that, ac¬ 
cording to recent statistics, 85 per cent 
of the housekeepers in this country do 
not keep any help, and of the remaining 
15 per cent, a large proportion employ 
only one maid, and the eight-hour di¬ 
vision of labor becomes an impossibil¬ 
ity. A Kansas paper makes this com¬ 
ment upon the new plan: 
It is unfortunate that the Chicago 
woman who is inaugurating an eight-hour 
day for servants, can’t have some influ¬ 
ence in urging upon the world the neces¬ 
sity of an eight-hour day for mothers. 
The average mother begins her day’s work 
with daylight, and, in addition to working 
hard every minute of the day, is often 
kept up all night with sick children, and 
all the sleep she gets is with one ear open. 
Mothers do not organize labor unions, get 
up strikes, etc., but they have every reason 
to. They are really the over-worked por¬ 
tion of the world, and make the least de¬ 
mand for sympathy. 
* 
In a recent breach-of-promise case at 
Boston, Mass., the counsel for the de¬ 
fence made the plea that a marriage 
contract made on Sunday night was 
void, under the general Sunday law. 
The presiding judge ruled that the Sun¬ 
day law did not apply to marriage con¬ 
tracts, observing: “In the part of the 
country where my youth was passed, 
though it may have been only a pleas¬ 
ant delusion, we used to think that such 
engagements were among the things 
that Sunday, and especially Sunday 
evening, was instituted for.” However, 
the defence 'toon an exception, and the 
case will go to the Supreme Court. 
What a cruel blow to Sunday-night 
courtships! The idea that a fickle 
young man may legally repudiate 
the offer of his hand and heart, 
when such offer is made on Sun¬ 
day, may well arouse feminine in¬ 
dignation. On the other hand, we may 
remember that Puritan practice caused 
the Sabbath to begin at sunset on Sat¬ 
urday, and to close at sunset on Sunday, 
thus making it a secular evening. 
Hence, in old-fashioned New England, 
Sunday evening courtships were not re¬ 
garded as Sabbath-breaking, and it is 
more than likely that in rural com¬ 
munities a majority of the marriage 
contracts were made upon this evening. 
It will be interesting to learn how the 
Supreme Court decides this difficult 
question. 
Household Notes. 
A BIT ABOUT HOUSECLEANING AND SOME 
SCRAP 8 OF HOUSEWIFE’S WISDOM. 
Buy fine copper wire by the pound for 
hanging pictures; it is very much cheaper 
than cord or twisted wire, and perfectly 
safe. When cleaning house this Spring 
perhaps some picture may be found 
whose back is not tight, and it is be¬ 
ing slowly spoiled by dust. This can be 
remedied by pasting firm, Drown paper 
tightly over the back, after the picture 
and frame has been taken apart and 
thoroughly cleaned. if the picture 
frames need rebronzing or gilding, var¬ 
nish first, and when they are just dry 
enough to be sticky, put a bit of can¬ 
ton flannel over the finger and put on 
the dry powder with that; when all 
covered, polish carefully with a clean bit 
of the flannel. 
The great trouble with keeping rich 
cake for any length of time is its dry¬ 
ing up. A couple of plump apples 
placed in the box will prevent that, and 
if renewed as they wither the cake will 
keep indefinitely. 
Before putting new lamp wicks in, 
pull out two or three threads close to 
the edge on each side; they will never 
stick on the cogwheels if so treated. 
Don’t pack cucumbers in the old-fash¬ 
ioned way by layers, but fill the tub 
two-thirds full of very strong brine, and 
put in the cucumbers as they are gath¬ 
ered, keeping a weight on to keep them 
under the brine. It is handier, as there 
is but one bother with salt, and the 
pickles keep perfectly. 
If you mean to renew the sitting 
room this Spring, try staining the floor 
an antique oak shade, varnish and cov¬ 
er the centre with a Kensington art rug, 
or one of the carpet squares that come 
in such pretty shades and patterns. 
Paint the woodwork a deep cream, and 
use wall paper with the same tones, and 
frieze of cream and ecru shades-with a 
little gilt, and a few touches of pale old 
blue. Use a gilt picture rod, and ecru 
Holland shades. For bedrooms, pale 
green walls—paint—and woodwork of 
dull red, makes a clean, dainty-looking 
room. Cartridge paper cut in two, mak¬ 
ing it about 15 inches wide, is the cheap¬ 
est and best kind of frieze. 
Wrapping paper, the fine grades that 
come on a roll, bought by the pound, 
makes a pretty and cheap wall paper, 
with the addition of a wide border; it 
is a most effective background for pic¬ 
tures. Clean all closets, bureaus, etc., 
before beginning the general houseclean¬ 
ing. MRS. EXPERIENCE. 
“Life is always grimy and sordid and 
material if you stick your nose into the 
dirt.”—Brander Matthews. 
Will you have me bear poverty? 
Come, and see what poverty is when it 
strikes one who knoweth how to play 
the part well.—Epictetus. 
The world is large and full of varied 
scenery. But the man wbo holds his 
own photograph directly in front of his 
eyes shuts out mountains and rivers 
from his vision.—Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 
We live in our own souls as in an un¬ 
mapped region, a few acres of which we 
have cleared for our habitation, while 
of the nature of chose nearest us we 
know but the boundaries that march 
with ours.—The Touchstone. 
The Best Food 
for Infants 
Nature planned that infants 
should have only milk for at 
least the first year of life. But : 
thin milk, skimmed milk, will 
I not nourish. It’s the milk that ;■ 
is rich in cream, or fat, that 
; does the work. This is be¬ 
cause fat is positively neces¬ 
sary for the growing body. 
Scott’s Emulsion 
* * 
«• * ► 
contains the best fat, in the 
: form of Cod-Liver Oil, for all ; 
delicate children. 
They thrive greatly under its use. i 
Soon they weigh more, eat more, 
: play better and look better. It’s just ; 
j the right addition to their regular 
| food. The hypophosphites of lime : 
[ and soda in it are necessary to the 
1 growth and formation of bone and : 
I teeth. 
At all druggists; 50 c. and }i 00 . 
* SCOTT & BOWNE, Chemists, New York. : 
L- M I I.m —tu — H — - 
The Advantage of Permanency. 
Since the SINGER sewing-machine Was first invented, more than four hundred 
different makes of sewing-machine have come and gone. Now it is a well known fact that 
sewing-machines wear out in parts; if such parts cannot be duplicated, the whole machine 
is no longer of any value to its owner. 
All SINGER parts are absolutely interchangeable. Exact duplicates of each and 
every part are always and instantly obtainable at SINGER salesrooms in every city in the 
World ; this makes the SINGER everlasting. 
WHAT A CONTRAST WITH THE ANONYMOUS MACHINES 
SOLD BY IRRESPONSIBLE DEALERS. 
Many a woman has experienced the annoying loss of some small part from one of 
these machines and has then found that the dealer had no duplicate or that the manufactu¬ 
rers had gone out of business and she must get out of her dilemma as best she could. 
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. 
Sold on Instalments. Old Machines Exchanged. 
The Singer Manufacturing Co. 
SELLING ONE MILLION MACHINES ANNUALLY. 
