88 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 4 
From Day to Day. 
The newspapers describe a western 
woman who is employed by the Union 
Pacific Railway to gather up idle laborers 
and set them to work for the railway in 
Colorado, Wyoming, and other western 
States. The wes 4 ern papers call her 
“ the Hobo Hustler.” She is a young 
and agreeable woman, whose pleasant 
manner enables her to “ round up ” the 
most unapproachable tramps. 
A Cleveland judge was recently asked 
by an anxious father how long it was 
permissible for a young man to extend 
his evening visit to a young woman in 
whom he felt a tender interest. The 
judge handed down the decision that 
such visits should certainly cease at 11 
p. m., holding that from 8 o’clock until 
11, standard, or 11:30, sun time, was cer¬ 
tainly ample time for a single sitting of 
this character. Any sensible young 
woman will agree with this decision, 
and a general adoption of the opinion 
expressed would certainly do away with 
a great many time-honored jokes. 
* 
In Great Britain, free rural mail de¬ 
livery has been in vogue for many years, 
and one energetic mail-carrier is a Scotch 
girl only 16 years old. Her daily route 
is nearly 20 miles long, and she covers 
it afoot. Every morning at 9:30, after 
sorting the mails, she starts out. She 
wears a short skirt and the stoutest of 
boots and leggings, and on very stormy 
days, a waterproof uniform provided by 
the authorities. About 4 p. m., she re¬ 
turns, and after sorting the afternoon 
mails, delivers telegrams in the village. 
She was only 12 or 13 when she began 
letter-carrying. Her route leads through 
such scattered farmsteads and through 
so many brooks and braes and hedges 
that a bicycle or a horse would be of 
little service to her. 
* 
In Hawaii, swimming is the favorite 
social amusement; people swim just as 
we walk or drive, and riding and swim¬ 
ming parties are often combined. We 
read, in a recent book upon Hawaii, of 
moonlight swimming parties following 
informal dances, the guests changing to 
bathing costume, and swimming in the 
moonlight, while flower-wreathed sing¬ 
ing-boys chanted strange native songs. 
It sounds delightfully dreamy and poet¬ 
ic, here in New York, when we think of 
the ice-burdened ferries and down-drop¬ 
ping mercury, varied only by the mis¬ 
eries of a January thaw. But flower- 
scented moonlight and silvery waves are 
not the whole of life in Hawaii, and 
when we think of some conditions un¬ 
derlying that joyous atmosphere, we 
feel inclined to paraphrase Tennyson, 
and exclaim, “ Better fifty years of Jer¬ 
sey than a cycle of Hilo !” 
* 
We so often hear tight lacing referred 
to as a purely feminine weakness, that 
it is well to remind our masculine critics 
that the worst cases of tight stays have 
been seen among men. In New Guinea, 
the young men wear a belt of stiff bark, 
about eight inches wide, drawn in as 
tightly as possible, so that the adjacent 
flesh hangs over it in folds. Some of 
the most diabolical corsets ever invented 
were originated by Catherine de Medici, 
infamously remembered in connection 
with the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 
Madame Catherine’s corset, warranted to 
reduce any waist to 13 inches,was of steel, 
fastened with immovable hasps, and her 
sons were fastened into them, until, as 
one historian puts it, they rivaled their 
mother in slenderness of waist, but not 
in strength of understanding. 
Taxidermists who make a specialty of 
mounting pet animals, say that they 
have a good many odd experiences with 
weeping women who bring the remains 
of dogs, cats and parrots to be mounted. 
One of these men tells of the grief of a 
small girl who accompanied her mother 
on one occasion, when arrangements 
were made for stuffing a dead parrot. A 
few days later, the same little girl, with 
a tearful face and a small bundle under 
her arm, arrived at the taxidermist’s 
alone. She explained tremulously that 
she had brought Bess to be mended, be¬ 
cause he had mended Polly so beautiful¬ 
ly. On being asked by the taxidermist, 
who sympathizes with childish griefs, 
whether poor Bess was dead, the small 
girl responded gravely, “ N-no, I don’t 
think she’s dead all over yet, but her 
stomach has all leaked out.” This start¬ 
ling statement gave the taxidermist a 
severe shock, but on unrolling the bun¬ 
dle, he discovered that poor Bess was a 
doll, from whose interior the sawdust 
had disappeared I The kindly taxider¬ 
mist did not laugh at the small girl’s 
childish faith, but assured her that Bess 
should be mended, and made her very 
happy, a few days later, by returning a 
plump and rejuvenated doll containing 
her full allowance of sawdust. 
making up shirt waists. It is well, how¬ 
ever, to try colored materials in the 
wash tub before making up. We have 
seen a fine black-and-white madras, a 
material one would expect to stand any 
usage, which could not be damped for 
ironing without displaying ugly brown 
blotches, and which had to be washed as 
tenderly as an ailing baby, while deli¬ 
cate blue, which seemed hardly fit to 
risk in the wash, emerged from repeated 
launderings without a change. 
The great American cranberry is rec¬ 
ognized as one of our most wholesome 
Winter fruits, and there is no doubt that 
its use is of distinct hygienic benefit. It 
is anti-scorbutic and, to people who eat 
much heavy food during the Winter, 
would appear of especial value. During 
the grip epidemic, cranberry sauce was 
strongly recommended as an aid in al¬ 
laying fever; cranberry poultice is an 
old remedy for erysipelas, and the fruit 
is a valued preventive of scurvy. One 
English housekeeper of our acquaintance 
first met with the cranberry nearly 40 
years ago in a famous English garden, 
whose owner prided himself con his col¬ 
lection of American plants. During a 
visit to Russia, the owner of the garden 
tasted cranberry tarts, and requested a 
trial of the same dish at home ; but the 
cook, to whom cranberries were a com¬ 
plete novelty, filled her piecrust with 
raw fruit, which came to the table very 
sour and only half cooked. Our friend, 
to whom the dish was equally novel, de¬ 
cided on the daring experiment of stew¬ 
ing the cranberries before putting them 
in the pie, and it was not until she came 
to America, years afterwards, that she 
learned that she had hit upon the right 
way of preparing this fruit. 
Before the Christmas novelties were 
out of the way, during the week between 
Christmas and New Year’s, opening dis¬ 
plays were made of cotton fabrics and 
shirt waists. The style of the new waists 
does not greatly differ from that of last 
season, except that the sleeves are small, 
and the fit is snugger under the arms. 
There is a yoke in the back, usually made 
with two points instead of one. Stripes 
seem to be favored as to pattern, and the 
thinner materials are lavishly tucked, 
the tucks running vertically, diagonally, 
horizontally, and “ every which way.” 
Thin white waists are seen with hem¬ 
stitched tucks. White piqu6 shirt waists 
are offered as freely as last Summer. In 
buying them, or in buying material to 
make them, a light-weight piqu6 should 
be chosen, for they are heavy to wash 
and, laundered carelessly, they soon turn 
to a bad color. Swiss or batiste all-over 
tucking and insertion may be bought by 
the yard for use in making fancy waists, 
and they are much more cheaply made 
at home than bought readymade. This 
is a good season of the year to begin 
On Wash Day. 
“ That woman,” said my friend medi¬ 
tatively, as she looked out of the win¬ 
dow, “ probably thinks that hanging out 
clothes is the worst part of washing day. 
Is it any wonder ? ” 
I looked. My next neighbor was out 
in her yard. She had a very small shawl 
over her head. The cold wind whipped 
her skirts about her ankles. Her arms 
were upstretched and her hands and 
wrists were a brilliant pink. I shivered 
in sympathy. 
“I used to be just like that,” said my 
friend, “ and hanging out clothes was 
prolonged misery ; but I have learned 
better now, and rather like it.” 
“ How ? ” I questioned. 
“ Well, I make up my mind that I am 
going to have a good time, and then I 
take steps to insure it. When the clothes 
are all ready to go out, I dry my hands 
carefully. If I am overheated at all, I 
wait till I have cooled off. Then I put 
on rubbers or overshoes, an old warm 
jacket and something over my head, or¬ 
dinarily a cap, but if it is very cold, a 
hood. Lastly I put on a pair of knit 
mittens. Then I go out, put up my line, 
and with my clothes-pin bag around 
my neck, proceed to enjoy my work. In 
this way, the air does me good, and I 
don’t take cold.” 
“ Aren’t mittens very clumsy ? ” 
“ That argument is used against them, 
but it is a question in my mind as to 
which is more clumsy, a warm hand in¬ 
side a well-fitting mitten, or a bare hand, 
stiff, numb and aching with cold. Even 
if the mitten is more clumsy, which I 
don’t admit, I would rather take a little 
more time, and be comfortable. Oh, I 
believe in mittens, thoroughly. They 
are good to wear while making beds in 
cold rooms. Just try it.” 
SUSAN BROWN ROBBINS. 
g 
Pleasant 
Money - 
Earning 
A little booklet with 
pictures of successful 
workers for The 
Ladi es’ Home 
Journal, and ex¬ 
tracts from their 
letters showing just 
how they succeeded. 
It will be sent free 
to any one. Address 
The Curlla 
Publishing Company 
Philadelphia, Pa. 
mmmmmmmmmsmn 
If you are going to paper one 
room or the whole house,write 
us for our hook for new designs 
Every kind of wall paper from 
the simplest design to the most 
elaborate embossed effects, at 
one-third the ordinary price. 
The right buying of wall paper 
Ik the difference between an 
artlxtlchome and un ordinary 
houKe. The danger of wrong 
buying Ik eliminated when He- 
lcctloiiK are made from our cat¬ 
alogue. 
Agents Wanted in every town 
to sell wall paper from our sam¬ 
ple books. Large commission. 
Write to-day for particulars. 
Oil AS. M. N. KII.LKN, 
1281-1233 Filbert St., Philadelphia, P», 
BROWNS 
Bronchial 
Troches 
the popular cure for 
IRRITATED THROATS. 
Fac-Simile 
Signature 
on every 
box. 
Throw Away the Washboard! ^ 
Save Your Back and Arms! 
cr 
w- 
The “Blue Monday” is no longer 
possible for progressive women who are 
open to conviction. Never mind what 
your previous experience with washing 
machines has been—the confidence we 
have is so great that we will send out 
ft 
n 
0 
.,2> 
I 
5,000 ‘Wonder’ Washing Machines 
WITHOUT ONE PENNY OF CHARGE 
until you are convinced that it is just what you want. That a child can run it. That it will 
wash the most soiled clothes perfectly clean, without hand rubbing, as fast as six women can wash 
at the tub. That it is a marvel of efficiency and durability. If we can introduce our “Wonder" 
Washer into 5.000 more homes at once, we will be sure of selling 30,000 soon, as one machine by its 
own merit will sell six more. So we make a special intro¬ 
ductory offer at less than one-half price of actual value. 
The Proprietor of “ Ivory Soap ” Says: 
“ I am using your ‘ Wonder’ Washer in my family. 
It is entirely satisfactory. I have highly recom¬ 
mended it andpurchased twenty of them to distribute 
among my friends." — Will. A. PROCTOR, of Proc¬ 
tor &r= Gamble, Cincinnati, Ohio, Proprietors of the 
famous “Ivory Soap." _ 
Our Marvelous FREE Offer. 
Send us your name and address for full par¬ 
ticulars, and we will send you (charges prepaid) 
one “Wonder” Washer, at our special introduc¬ 
tory price of $ 7 . You may use it for two weeks’ 
washing FREE, if after this trial you don’t 
want it, for any reason whatever; if you don’t 
think it washes clothes cleaner in one-quarter 
the time and with one-tenth the labor; if you 
don’t think it will pay for itself in one year by 
saving your clothes — SEND IT BACK. No 
questions asked. 
Easy payments if desired. Write us fully—we answer every inquiry. Don’t lose this chance. 
Good agents can get rich. Don’t let to-day pass without at least writing us. 
WHIPPLE BROTHERS CO.,Mfrs., 20 Post St., Westerly, R. I. 
REFERENCES: Washington Nat’IBank, Westerly, R. X. f and Publisher of this Paper. 
MAN? 
