1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
487 
Waifs and Strays. 
Part IT. 
All undismayed by her situation, Kit 
had been deciding for herself, and now, 
her deliberations ended, she went di¬ 
rectly up to Adam, put her hand in his, 
and said confidingly: "I’ll go with you. 
Jenny’s tired, you’d better carry her.” 
And bewildered Adam took the kitten 
unresistingly, amid the laughter of the 
crowd. Millicent watched them closely; 
she had decided to take the little one 
herself, but now she would wait to see 
what Adam would do. Poor Adam! He 
had no family of his own. The Widow 
Wells was his housekeeper, and she did 
not care for children and disliked cats. 
He really wanted to take the child. It 
was such a short time, perhaps she 
might be willing. “Turn,” said the little 
one, impatient of his thinking. “Let’s 
do home. Kit’s hungry.” This decided 
him, and exclaiming “All right, baby; 
we’ll try it,” he lifted her in his arms 
and turned to go. As he did so, grateful 
Kit threw her arms around his neck, and 
and with a deep, satisfied “Fank you,” 
kissed him fervently, to the delight of 
his neighbors, who cheered them lustily 
as they disappeared down the road. 
This was too much for Millicent. What 
a hero he was to her just then, to bear 
the laughing remarks of the crowd as 
he did! He never could care for that 
baby; she must get him to let her have 
it. “Hadn’t you better get in and ride, 
Adam?” she asked, as she overtook him 
on the road, and Adam, who was already 
beginning to wonder what he should say 
when he met the widow, accepted glad¬ 
ly, realizing that here was a real help 
in trouble. Kit looked at her for a 
few moments, and then deciding that 
she was all right, asked: “Are you his 
mudder?” and receiving a negative an¬ 
swer: “Don’t he want you to be his 
mudder?” Poor Adam! He would 
gladly have answered yes if he could 
not have her otherwise; but Kit fol¬ 
lowed up this question with one to him: 
“Does you get junk sometimes?” And 
amid the merriment caused by this un¬ 
expected query they arrived at the farm, 
and all went in to meet the widow. She 
objected seriously; she did not so much 
mind the child, but she had a natural 
horror of cats, and could not stand the 
kitten, but Kit and Jenny cou'l'd not be 
parted. Millicent begged for both, and 
at least coaxed for the cat, but in re¬ 
sponse to all her efforts Kit’s only an¬ 
swer was to sidle up to Adam and say 
decidedly: “We’s goin’ to stay wif you.” 
And they did stay. 
During the weeks that followed the 
footpath between the farms became 
again well worn. Milly and Kit were 
firm friends. It was Milly who made 
her new clothes, Milly with whom she 
spent a good portion of each day, Milly 
who curled her hair and petted her cat, 
and she grew very fond of her. But 
it was Adam who had her warmest re¬ 
gards (“Fader Adam,” as Milly had 
taught her to say), and she went back 
to him every night if by any chance he 
did not come for her. Between Kit and 
the Widow Wells there was no love, and 
the cat had been a continual grief. At 
last there came a day when it distin¬ 
guished itself and brought about an end 
of the trouble. Since the day when 
Adam, coming suddenly into the kitchen, 
had found the housekeeper, mounted on 
a chair, while the kitten rubbed, purring, 
against its legs, he had tried to keep it 
out of the house; but the cat, like its 
mistress, knew its own mind, and its 
special delight was the kitchen hearth. 
On the day in question it lay there, 
stretched at full length in comfort, while 
Kit was playing near by. Mrs. Wells 
came in and stooped down to look at 
some pies that were baking in the oven. 
The kitten, with a playful purr, sprang 
to her shoulder and began rubbing its 
head against her. In a frenzy of fear 
•she flung it from her and it struck in its 
descent the handle of a saucepan which 
was full of boiling water, upsetting it 
over itself, the widow and Kit. The out¬ 
cries of the three brought Adam in haste 
from a nearby field, to find Mi’s. Wells 
with a badly scalded foot, while Kit, 
with one hand wrapped in her apron, 
carrying the yowling kitten in the other, 
had started across the field to Millicent, 
the tears streaming down her cheeks as 
she went. 
First helping Mrs. Wells, whose injury 
was severe, and calling some one to wait 
upon her, he started after Kit, and ar¬ 
rived just in time to see her throw her¬ 
self into Millicent’s lap and hear her ex¬ 
claim between her sobs: “Oh, Milly! Do 
turn and be our mudder! We wants you 
so! Adam and I does—please turn and 
take care of us!” And dropping on the 
settle beside them he found voice to say: 
“Yes, do come and take care of us, 
Milly, we want you so—at least Adam 
does. Will you, Milly?” 
Later in the evening when the burns 
of Kit and the cat had been dressed, and 
they were both sleeping, and Adam had 
explained that he had rather have her 
as a wife than as a mother, happy Milly 
said to him: “You stupid old Adam! I 
believe you never would have told me if 
it hadn’t been for Kit.” Then seriously: 
Let’s keep her always, Adam. I could 
not bear to think of her going back to 
that awful life.” Adam agreed heartily. 
And so it came that when shortly after 
this Adam brought Milly home to take 
care of him and his, Kit, dressed in 
white and looking very different from 
the little New York waif, divided honors 
with me bride. And the kitten, deco¬ 
rated with an elaborate pink bow, 
stretched itself in undisputed possession 
on the kitchen hearth.—New York 
Tribune. ____ 
One Point of View 
Is not one reason we women so often 
dread company because we are such in¬ 
veterate critics? We think that our 
friends will not really make allowances 
for any lack or mistake, and it frets us. 
My husband likes to have occasional 
company to tea just cosily, but I hardly 
dare to do it, for I feel that my house 
must be in immaculate order, and the 
table set daintily, with the food perfec¬ 
tion. When I don’t really care so much, 
the baking turns out nicely, “good 
enough for anybody,” he says, out when 
I take extra pains, oh, dear! that is just 
the time I’m sure to fail. If I didn’t 
know that the women gossip over what 
this one had, and the other one didn’t 
have, and expect something especially 
nice when invited to tea, it might make 
a difference, but as it is, to invite or not 
to invite is becoming a serious question. 
I’d like best to have my friends come, 
and entertain them as I can best afford 
with thin pocketbook and small 
strength, but the fear of women over¬ 
powers me. 1 suppose I ought to rise 
above it, and never mind what “they 
say” or think, and perhaps some time I 
Shall! IIOMEKEEPEE. 
Concerning Hairdressing. 
Dress your hair simply always, even 
on great occasions, says the Woman’s 
Home Companion. Who has not seen 
girls made almost unrecognizable by 
some fashionable hairdresser on gradua¬ 
tion day, when the usual style of wear¬ 
ing the hair would have been infinitely 
more becoming? Your new hat will 
from time to time oblige you to modify 
your hair-dressing slightly, but do not 
let any of the crazy bulgings and stuff¬ 
ings and pullings about of hair indulged 
in by many misguided persons draw you 
out of your rule of simplicity and ar¬ 
tistic harmony. While conforming in a 
way to the popular mode of arranging 
your hair, always be cautious of the ex¬ 
tremes and exaggerations affected by the 
ultra-fashionaJbl i, which tend to distort 
or detract from the best of features. 
Above all things avoid crimped and 
frizzed locks. No amount of style in the 
coiffeur can offset the untidy disheveled 
appearance of a bushy arrangement of 
the hair; the contour of no woman’s face 
is ever enhanced thereby, unless she be 
a Hottentot or Zulu, with ideas of beau¬ 
ty considerably confused with the ambi¬ 
tion to inspire fear. 
So, too, any noticeable display of 
fancy pins anu ornamental combs in the 
hair suggests the barbaric adornment of 
the native beauties of the islands of the 
sea. No matter who does it, do not imi¬ 
tate the present flashy custom of wear¬ 
ing cheap rhinestone-adorned combs and 
pins. Cheap ornaments in the hair are 
as vulgar as imitation jewelry, and even 
more conspicuous. Eccentricity is par¬ 
donable in some cases—we all like Betsy 
Trot wood and Mrs. Poyser—but eccen¬ 
tricity is never agreeable in a girl. Of 
course, you can’t put on or off for occa¬ 
sions the expression of your face, but 
that is really the important point in 
everyone’s appearance. How often we 
see a beautifully-dressed girl or woman 
scowling, frowning or grimacing all un¬ 
consciously, or wearing an expression of 
discontent, superciliousness or empty 
vanity as she walks along the public 
way, a mark for anything but admiring 
glances. I always want to say to such, 
“Do put on your good looks with your 
good clothes.” A girl’s bright, happy 
face gladdens the world, whether sne 
wears a new hat and gown or not. She 
who goes forth scowling and sullen, even 
iin the bravery of new attire, will be out¬ 
shone by the first contented, smiling girl 
who comes along in her last year’s well- 
worn garments. 
or an altruistic mind. Surely, if we 
want to be happy in this world of per¬ 
plexities, and of visions, too, the only 
way is to be selfless; our lives then un¬ 
consciously express themselves in big 
and little noble deeds through our self¬ 
lessness. 
The mission of women on earth; to give 
birth 
To the mercy of heaven descending on 
earth; 
The mission of woman; permitted to bruise 
The head of a serpent, and sweetly infuse, 
Through the sorrow and sin of earth’s reg¬ 
istered curse 
The blessing which mitigates all born to 
nurse, 
And to soothe and to solace, to help and 
to heal, 
The sick world that leans on her. 
—Owen Meredith. 
Tiie harm of a creed is in converting 
ilt from a staff into a club.—Ram’s Horn. 
There cannot be a surer proof of low 
origin or of an innate meanness of dis¬ 
position than to be always talking and 
thinking about being genteel.—Hazlitt. 
Be sure, if you do your very best in 
that which is laid upon you daily, you 
will not be left without help when some 
mightier occasion arises.—Jean Nicolas 
Grou. 
$2100 in Premiums. 
No Lottery. It costs nothing for our cus¬ 
tomers to compete. Our clothing catalogue 
with large cloth samples and our lithograph¬ 
ed carpet catalogue showing Carpets, Rugs, 
Art Squares and Draperies in their realcolors, 
both free. Expressage paid on clothing- 
freight paid on carpets; also lining furnished 
free, and sewing free. Address this way: 
JULIUS HINES & SON, Baltimore, Md. Dept. a>0 
About Being Happy. 
There is a “Little Sermon” in Harper’s 
Bazar that deserves to be quoted, for the 
differing definitions of happiness that it 
gives, it says that when we have no 
selif-eonsciousness, when we are eager to 
do right because it is right, to love be¬ 
cause love is the fulfilment of the law; 
when we care for culture and health to 
use them for the sake of others, and 
when we care for ourselves—as care we 
do—only to use ourselves for others— 
then is self lost in service. In Worces¬ 
ter’s Dictionary 10 miserable kinds of 
self-consciousness, not including their 
sub-divisions, are named, against eight 
good varieties. The bad kinds center in 
selfishness, the good ones cluster about 
self-control and self-sacrifice. As for 
self-control, one can never be a leader 
of others, to say nothing of one’s self, 
without it. And as for self-sacrifice! 
Truly there is no such thing, for it is 
never sacrifice of one’s self to do the 
right; it is sheer folly for this world 
and the next not to do it. It is much 
more convenient, satisfying and enno¬ 
bling to get rid of self and strip one’s 
self alike of conceit or morbidness, of 
ancestral and family dignities or of per¬ 
sonal rights, and just be one’s self and 
take comfort in nature, books, friends, 
prayer and work. The cordial, easy dig¬ 
nity of the well bred, the ready grace of 
tender sympathy, the transforming of 
the daily drudgeries of self-support into 
angelic errands of duty—all these are 
tests of the art of selfishness, to some an 
almost inborn faculty, to others an art 
acquired through character. 
Children feel when they are “observ¬ 
ed” (the school word). Foolish or undue 
importance is attached to their drawings 
and remarks; the “contents of their 
minds” (again the school term) are 
classified. Verily, if the mind of the 
modern child, with 'its modern append¬ 
ages for or of improvement, should be 
thoroughly explored self-consciousness 
would be found in the brain of the little 
one. One’s mind may be a comfort, ac¬ 
cording to the old adage that one’s mind 
is nis kingdom; but average people find 
that the truth of the saying depends 
upon whether one has a self-conscious 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use“Mrs.Wins- 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best.— Adv. 
B.*B. 
Shelf emptying 
Been in business 31 years. 
Selling choice Dry Goods at prices that 
save people money is the constant feature 
that’s brought constantly-growing re¬ 
sults. 
Surpassed all records this season. 
And this 1900 shelf-emptying by far 
the most important of any yet. 
Larger odd lines—more vigorous price 
work. 
Odd lines of 75c. and Dollar silks 500. 
Foulards. Fancy Taffetas and all kinds 
of silks right in line for immediate use, 
witli prices to create enthusiastic atten¬ 
tion. 
Broken assortments of 75c. and Dollar 
Dress Goods, Suitings and Skirtings 
fiOc.— genuine opportunity for fine 
choice things. 
Fifty-cent Dress goods Uf»c. 
12)^-cent wash goods 7 %c. 
l()-ceut wash goods />o. 
Fine Dress Cottons reduced—15c., 20c., 
25c. 
Lot of D. & J. Anderson's 40 cent 
Madras 15c. 
Suits, Skirts, Shirt Waists—all summer 
merchandise—none exempt from the 
price cutting. 
Now’s the time to make your Drv 
Goods Wants 
Known—save good money. 
64 Departments Participating. 
BOGGS & BUHL, 
Department O, 
ALLEGHENY, PA. 
THE 
JOSEPHINE 
CURES 
CHILLS and FEVER, 
Malaria and that Tired Feeling. NEVER 
FAILS. Price, 80 cents of druggists, or $1.50 
for larger bottle, prepaid to any address in the 
United States, by express. Address 
THE JOSEPHINE COMPANY, 
Salisbury Mills, Orange Co., N. Y. 
COE’S 
ECZEMA CUKE, SI at druggists. 25c. 
size of us. Coe Chem. Co., Cleveland. O. 
' I UU IIIMAL Pil— H UH I CMO I 
Gold, Silver, Nickel and Metul Plating. 
At home or traveling, talcing order., using, .elliug 
Prof. dray’. Machine.. Plate. Watches, 
■ Jewelry, Tableware, Bicycles, all metal 
I goods. NOKXPKK1KNCK. Heavy plate. 
J Modern method.. No toys. We do plat- 
| ing, make outtlts, all sites. Complete, 
ah tools, lathes, materials, etc., ready 
-for work. The Royal, new dipping 
process, quick, easy. We teach you the art, furnish secrets, 
formula, free. Writ* today. Pamphlet, samples, etc . FREE. 
I». CRAY At CO.. Plating Works. CINCINNATI. O. 
