148 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
February 25 
[ Woman and Home \ 
When I Blowed the Organ. 
[REPRINTED liT REQUEST.] 
Often git to tbinkin’ of the days back East, 
When I’s a little feller then with afaith likeyeast; 
Puffin’ all the future up—glad I couldB’t see 
How the snags and snarls of life bad it in for me. 
Often think of old-time friends—Mary Ann an’ 
Jim,' 
Barnes’s folks, an’ Billy Smith—what’s become 
of him ? 
Wonder where they live at now—many of ’em 
dead ? 
Be they happy 1 Such idees wander through my 
head. 
How’s things gone in all them years? That’s 
what I’d inquire, 
Since I blowed the organ in the old church choir. 
Paid me quite a salary to feed the organ breath, 
Four dollars annually, payable at death. 
Leastways I alius found collections mighty slow; 
Didn’t git around to me—treasury was low; 
Pastor had a baby, an’ struck ’em for his pay, 
Said if they don’t pony up ’at he wouldn’t stay. 
Big calls for money there—I was minus—still 
’Fore I’d quit that organ job, you’d a-had ter kill 
Me and blow my ashes out from the steeple’s 
spire, 
When I blowed the organ in the old church choir. 
Once they was a feller come—thought he’s mighty 
smart. 
Said he’d bet a dollar bill ’at I couldn’t start 
Fair, an’ jest by pumpin’in hard ez I could pump, 
Bust the organ bellus out; y’orter see me jump 
Up an’ work the organ pump until I run with 
sweat, 
Lamed my back, but bellus ain’t been a-busted 
yet. 
When I quit, they p’inted me where the wind run 
out 
When the bellus crowded full—what a laugh an’ 
shout 
Was on to me; my spirits then sorter seemed to 
tire, 
When I blowed the organ in the old church choir. 
War’n’t a mite of discount now on our old quar¬ 
tette, 
Memory brings the echo back of their singin’ yet; 
Bass wuz sung by Peter Sears—kep’ the pauper 
farm; 
He could sing ’way down to H—done his lungs 
no harm. 
Bill McKee sung tenor so you could set and hear 
Them sweet notes jest die away in the distance 
clear; 
Pastor's sister sung the air—never split a note, 
Seems as though she had a bird singin’ in her 
throat; 
Schcol-marm sung the alto part way down to 
her feet, 
Tenor’s voice jest stuck right out from her low 
notes sweet. 
When they struck Old Hundred up, I’ll bet that 
Heaven was nigher 
When I blowed the organ in the old church choir. 
Ole Miss Smith was organist, spectacled ole 
maid; 
Jest beats all what tender words that ole organ 
said 
When she run her knuckled hands up and down 
the keys; 
Treble notes jest whisperin’ like a Summer 
breeze. 
When she tetched the lower notes with the bellus 
full, 
That old organ jest gut mad—bellered like a bull. 
I’d jest fill her up with wind till the church would 
shake. 
Don’t make no such music now like we used to 
make. 
Strangers used to turn their heads eyin’ us like 
fire, 
When I blowed the organ in the old church choir. 
Once a stranger woman walked right up in the 
choir; 
Didn’t know jest who she was—warn’t time to 
inquire. 
Sing ? My stars! the angels don’t give no sweeter 
note; 
Echoes from the throne above ’round us seemed 
to float. 
I jest stood there heart-in-throat—clean forgot to 
pump. 
Bellus empty ! Organist on the keys went thump! 
When she quit, ole Deacon Grim, he passed 
around his hat; 
Knowed he’d pick up all folks had with ’em after 
that. 
We all felt jest lifted up —never got no higher 
When I blowed the organ in the old church choir. 
Tell ye, them was good ole days, happiness and 
peace 
All the rugged days of life used to smooth and 
grease 
Till ye slid along through life, happy an’content. 
As fer things that vex folks—we ain’t know what 
they meant. 
Lots of organs run by steam, so they tell me now; 
I’ll bet they ain’t equal to hand work anyhow. 
Wished I’d kep’ my practice up—I can’t play or 
sing; 
Ez fer music, pumpin’ wind’s jest the only thing 
I can do: but maybe I can strike a job up higher 
To help blow the organ in that big church choir. 
From Day to Day. 
A swindler in Pennsylvania has been 
advertising' 10 yards of silk for 81, and 
has succeeded in defrauding a large 
number of confiding victims. He is now 
held for trial on the charge of fraudu¬ 
lent use of the mails. For each dollar 
sent him, he really sent 10 yards of silk 
—thread. 
* 
It is often asserted that women who 
are out shopping are guilty of ordering 
the most painfully incongruous mixture 
of food for lunch, and we have been in¬ 
clined to indorse this opinon, after see¬ 
ing a woman lunching with apparent 
enjoyment on boiled cabbage and choco¬ 
late eclairs. Still, men are equally ec¬ 
centric in their tastes, and we heard re¬ 
cently of a United States Senator who 
was heard, in a Washington restaurant, 
to order pigs’ feet and honey ! We once 
met a man whose daily order, in a quick- 
lunch restaurant, was baked beans, 
crackers-and-milk, and ice cream ! neate 
the baked beans and the crackers-and- 
milk in alternate mouthfuls, and then 
finished with the ice cream. After watch¬ 
ing him eat that horrifying combina¬ 
tion three days in succession, we moved 
to another restaurant. 
* 
A recent New York wedding was 
noticeable for the unusual height of all 
the persons concerned, the bride being 
5 feet 11 inches tall, while the brides¬ 
maids fell little below her in height; 
the bridegroom was 6 feet 2 inches, and 
all the ushers looked like giant grena¬ 
diers. The increasing height of young 
women is often commented on, many of 
the fashionable brides of the past year 
being much taller than their husbands, 
but it would appear that the American 
and English branches of the human race 
are increasing in size. Any one who be¬ 
lieves that our fighting medieval an¬ 
cestors excelled us in physical propor¬ 
tions should examine knightly suits of 
armor (genuine, not modern foundry- 
made) in some museum. It will be found 
that the average medieval suit of armor 
is too small for the average modern man. 
* 
This Winter has been so severe in 
most sections that frostbites have been 
unusually prevalent among those ex¬ 
posed to the weather. A Chicago phy¬ 
sician observes that frostbite is the de¬ 
struction of blood circulation, and the 
utmost care should be exercised in the 
thawing-out process, for it is very easy 
to injure the walls of the blood-vessels 
in the process. Where the surface is un¬ 
broken, tincture of red pepper restores 
the circulation by acting as a counter- 
irritant, and leaves no stain. Laudanum 
or other opiates should be used carefully 
for allaying pain, because of the danger 
of over-abso v ption. Tincture of benzoin 
or carbolized vaseline $re both excellent 
for raw surfaces. After using vaseline, 
the injured portion should be covered 
with cotton or a warm cloth. Whenever 
a frostbite turns a dark color, it should 
receive the attention of a physician with¬ 
out delay, for it is likely to be gangren¬ 
ous, therefore dangerous. 
* 
At a competitive examination in Natal, 
in a paper on health and temperance, 
the following question occurred, “Write 
out some simple directions to be fol¬ 
lowed incases of convulsions in infants ” 
According to the London Lancet, one 
answer ran a9 follows: “ Put the infant 
quickly into a bath of boiling water up 
to the m ck. Put ice on its head. Then 
give him a mild epidemic, followed by a 
teaspoonful of castor oil.” Probably the 
castor oil would be followed by the 
undertaker. This is rather suggestive 
of an oft-quoted story regarding a care¬ 
less printer who mixed up two items in 
the “ answers to correspondents ” column 
of a weekly paper. One paragraph gave 
a recipe for pickling onions, while the 
other gave treatment for twin babies 
with the croup. The horrified mother 
found herself directed to “ undress the 
infants, scald them with boiling brine 
after removing the skins and, before ap¬ 
plying the hot spiced vinegar, rub their 
chests with vaseline, give small doses of 
ipecac and store them away in tigbtly- 
sealed bottles m a cool, dark place.” 
* 
This doesn’t sound like the descrip¬ 
tion of an American official, does it? 
“His ex;ellency was dressed in very 
tight Silk trousers, fastened partly up 
the sides with showy chased gold or gilt 
buttons, a short Eton-cut olive-green 
jacket with an infinity of buttons, white 
socks, ornamented slippers, a red sash 
around his waist, a kind of turban, and 
a kris at his side.” Yet this gorgeous 
person is one of our newly-acquired 
wards and, it is feared, rather a trouble¬ 
some acquisition, too—the young Sultan 
of Sulu. He is a devoted Mohammedan, 
and rivals the much-discussed Mr. Rob¬ 
erts, of Utah, in bis supply of better 
halves. An English traveler, who re¬ 
cently visited the Sultan, says that one 
of the Sultanas was very pretty, or bad 
been so, but the others were heavy, lan¬ 
guid and lazy, and their appearance was 
not improved by having their teeth dyed 
black. They all wore light-colored dual 
garments of great width, and light bod¬ 
ices, and their foreheads were hidden 
under a heavy fringe of hair. The Sul¬ 
tan of Sulu has given a good deal of 
trouble to the Span ards, and does not 
seem very promising material for mak¬ 
ing over into a good American. 
* 
At the New York poultry show, some 
very beautiful pheasants were among 
the birds exhibited, and one of the 
newspapers tells of an admiring young 
woman who hung over the pheasants, 
exclaiming indignantly, “ How can any 
one kill such beautiful creatures for 
food ? ” Several unfeeling men in her 
vicinity smiled at her enthusiasm.but the 
smile was chiefly a oused by the fact that 
the sympathetic young woman wore an 
entire pheasant, tail and all, on her hat! 
It is said t v at a young woman similarly 
adorned called recently on Mine. Lilli 
Lehmann, the great German prima 
donna, with a request for her autograph. 
It happens that Mine. Lehmann, who de¬ 
votes much thought to various humane 
societies, is at present strongly inter¬ 
ested in the crusade against bird slaugh¬ 
ter for millinery trimmings, and her 
misguided visitor received a very sharp 
lecture on the subject. Mme. Lehmann 
devotes her leisure to this work abroad, 
and is agitating the subject here during 
her present visit. She rightly Slid that, 
to inculcate kindness to animals, we 
must begin with the children. 
• 
* 
The Manila correspondent of Collier’s 
Weekly writes that the Filipino women 
have lustrous dark eyes and luxuriant 
black hair, in which they take great 
pride; it is long, thick and glossy, 
anointed with cocoanut oil, cleansed 
and washed with lime juice, and usually 
worn in a coil or knot held by a golden 
comb or ornamented pins. Hats aLd 
bonnets are unknown among the Filip¬ 
inos, so no doubt many an American 
husband wishes he lived there. The na¬ 
tive women have finely shaped feet that 
never knew a stocking ; they wear low 
slippers of an Oriental pattern, some¬ 
times wooden shoes. The dress of a 
Filipino woman usually consists of a 
single garment with wide sleeves; a 
Pina cloth handkerchief is generally 
worn around the neck, and every one 
wears a rosary or a crucifix. House¬ 
keeping in the native sections is quite 
primitive in its details. Love-making, 
courtship and marriage are there con¬ 
ducted in the manner common in Orient¬ 
al lands, the lover serving the father of 
his future wife. Fifteen years is the 
customary age for marriage in the Phil¬ 
ippines. 
* 
Cleaning upper windows often re¬ 
quires a steady head, but the household 
window cleaner takes small risks, com¬ 
pared with the men who do such work 
about the big office buildings, and we 
have often trembled for the cheery, 
flaxen haired Sweie who washed the 
windows by our desk, whistling “ Two 
Little Girls in Blue,” while he stood on 
the narrow sill above the busy Chicago 
street. 0_ce we were idly watching a 
man cleaning windows on the fourteenth 
floor of the big building opposite, 
when there was a sudden slip, and 
what looked like a bundle of clothes 
flashed down to the pavement below. 
We have never cared to watch such 
workers since. The deckhands of the 
New York ferryboats, however, furnish 
a daily spectacle for the morning pas¬ 
sengers, as they walk along a narrow 
ledge over the churned-up salt water, 
swabbing the cabin windows. One morn¬ 
ing recently, however, when crossing the 
ferry from Jersey City, a sudden series 
of excited whistles, followed by the 
stoppage of the boat, showed that some¬ 
thing was wrong. Every one rushed 
outside, to find four big ferryboats sta¬ 
tionary in a group, while ropes and life 
preservers showed that some one was 
taking an involuntary bath. It was a 
window-cleaner who had lost his foot¬ 
ing, and though the river was full of 
ice, he was seen swimming strongly, and 
was soon taken on board in safety, and 
rushed down to the engine-room to take 
the chill off. A trail of life preservers, 
which were thrown overboard by excited 
passengers, floated among the ice, as the 
sole reminder of the man’s escape. 
The Delicious 
Flavor of 
Is a Natural Property 
of the Entire Wheat. 
Compared with all other grain foods 
Wheatlet is unquestionably the best in the 
World. It is delicate but 
substantial, rich in gluten 
and phosphates; for weak 
stomachs or healthy appe¬ 
tites. Try it. Sold in 21 b 
packages. 
If your grocer does not 
keep Wheatlet have him 
order some for you,or send 
us his name andyour order 
—we will see that you are 
supplied. There is only 
one Wheatlet. Avoid substitutes. 
The Genuine ss made only by the 
Franklin Mills Co., Lockport, N. Y. 
1899 
GARDEN 
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vn Vick’S Magazine, enlarged, improved, and 
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JAMES VICKS SONS, R0C N HE Y S . T V’ * 
*33 933 344 Ft F (t F FFF 
