502 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
July 8 
[ Woman and Home \ 
From Day to Day. 
LITTLE KINDNESSES. 
If you are toiling up a weary hill, 
Bearing a load beyond your strength to 
bear. 
Straining each nerve untiringly, and still 
Stumbling and losing foothold here and 
there; 
And each one passing by would do so much 
As give one upward lift and go his way, 
Would not the slight, reiterated touch 
Of help and kindness lighten all the day? 
There is no little and there is no much; 
We weigh and measure and define in vain; 
A look, a word, a light, responsive touch 
Can be the minister of joy to pain. 
A man can die of hunger, walled in gold, 
A crumb may quicken hope to stronger 
breath, 
And every day we give or we withhold 
Some little thing that tells for life or 
death. —Busan Coolidgc. 
Michigan has a woman deputy game 
warden, who met with her first rebuff re¬ 
cently when she rowed into an inland 
lake to arrest some men who were spear¬ 
ing fish. They took her boat in tow, 
rowed to the opposite side of the lake, 
and left her stranded, the spearers tak¬ 
ing leave very politely. 
* 
A New York woman who disciplined 
her husband by spanking him just as 
mother used to do, has been dismissed 
by the judge, before whom she appear¬ 
ed to answer a charge of assault. The 
unsympathetic judge says that she has 
his permission to use similar suasion 
whenever her husband proves refrac¬ 
tory. 
* 
A Brooklyn, N. Y., woman recently 
took a bicycle ride of 300 miles in 29 
hours. She has ridden a number of cen¬ 
tury runs, and now announces her in¬ 
tention to ride 400 miles in 48 hours. 
The Medical Record describes her as 
making work for the heart specialist. 
Probably, in these feats of endurance, 
this silly woman has achieved the only 
distinction of which she is capable. 
* 
A New Jersey man who married after 
two hours’ acquaintance with his bride, 
now seeks a separation, at the end of 
six months. His complaint is that his 
wife feeds him on a steady diet of to¬ 
mato soup, and he can’t stand this any 
longer. It would certainly seem wise 
for an expectant bridegroom to ascer¬ 
tain the views of his future wife on mat¬ 
ters of diet before taking so serious a 
step as matrimony. 
* 
A Lutheran church at Manheim, Pa., 
pays an annual ground rent of one red 
rose to the heirs of Baron Stiegel. In 
1773 and 1774, the church paid this un¬ 
usual rental to the eccentric owner of 
the ground, but after his death, the cus¬ 
tom lapsed until 1892, when the Baron’s 
heirs revived it. This year elaborate 
memorial services were held, the heirs 
and their representatives coming from a 
number of different States to partici¬ 
pate. A red rose was plucked by the 
vestry, and paid over as required, and 
this was followed by the memorial cere¬ 
monies, in which a number of speakers 
participated. 
* 
Among favorite ties to be worn with 
a shirt waist is ribbon brought around 
the neck once from the front, crossed in 
the back, and then brought around to 
the front again, to be tied in a small 
bow (loops about two inches long) with 
long ends hanging nearly to the waist. 
This cravat requires 1% yard of No. 16 
ribbon, either satin, moire or gros 
grain. What are called princess bows 
to be worn with a shirt waist, consist 
of a small bow with flaring ends, such as 
would be made by tying a Windsor 
scarf of ordinary width. This is at¬ 
tached to a plain stock collar of white 
pique, to which may be added small re- 
vers of material similar to the bow. 
When a ribbon stock is worn, the new 
style of fastening it with a clasp is 
pretty and convenient. The ribbon is 
long enough to go around the neck 
twice, the ends being fastened by the 
clasp in front. Ribbon belts are fas¬ 
tened in the same way, the set of clasps 
for neck and waist being made to 
match. 
* 
We have become so accustomed to the 
huge Sunday editions of the daily papers 
in this country, that many people look 
upon them as a necessity. Many readers 
are ready to own that some of them 
contain much that is worthless, if not 
demoralizing, their size often appearing 
to be in inverse ratio to their merit. 
Others are, of course, clean and whole¬ 
some, and the only objection to be 
made to them is that there are more 
profitable ways of spending Sunday than 
in reading them. It is interesting to 
note, however, that the British public 
does not desire Sunday papers. Two of 
the great London dailies recently tried 
Sunday editions, only to meet with total 
failure. People would not buy them, 
and the publishers lost enormously. 
Sunday papers are likely to stay dead in 
Great Britain for many years to come. 
• 
Tiie New York Vegetarian Society 
recently held a picnic, at which they re¬ 
galed themselves with refreshments 
prepared in accordance with their pe¬ 
culiar views. Some of the women 
brought egg sandwiches, made with pea¬ 
nut or almond butter, but these are not 
viewed with approval by the inner circle 
of true vegetarians, who do, not use eggs 
because, in an indirect way, that is the 
destruction of animal life. Some of the 
vegetarians hold to these views because 
they have scruples against the slaugh¬ 
ter of animals, while others avoid ani¬ 
mal foods chiefly for hygienic reasons. 
Some of them are advocates of “natural 
food,” and limit themselves to un¬ 
cooked vegetable food. Many vegetar¬ 
ians, so-called, use eggs, milk, butter 
and cheese, but the most ardent mem¬ 
bers of this cult do not use anything of 
animal origin. There are a number of 
vegetarian restaurants in London, but 
we do not know of any in New York. 
ik 
This season fashion is providing a 
number of attractive outing hats, in ad¬ 
dition to the always useful sailor. The 
walking hats with wide flaring brims, 
made of rough pliable straw, trimmed 
with eagle quills (which, we suspect, 
more often owe their origin to the hum¬ 
bler domestic turkey), gained an early 
popularity. They are often becoming to 
women who find a sailor hat trying to 
the face. Newer still are so-called golf 
hats, which began to make their appear¬ 
ance in June. These have a wide brim, 
rolled down slightly towards the front, 
and a square crown, a trifle higher at 
the back than the front, so as to give a 
suggestion of a slouched hat. The 
crown is slightly indented in a ring 
around its edge. These hats are trim¬ 
med with a band of dark velvet and 
folds of white chiffon or mousselaine de 
soie, having a twist at the left side, 
through which a long eagle quill is 
thrust. Sometimes the edge of the brim 
has a narrow binding of the dark vel¬ 
vet. Although known as the golf hat, 
the style has already become popular for 
city wear, and is very suitable for the 
country. Many of ine sailor hats are 
now trimmed in line manner, with chif¬ 
fon folds and eagle quills, but the per¬ 
fectly plain sailor is always in good 
taste; like the shirt waist, it is an ar¬ 
ticle of dress which seems to put all 
women on an equality. 
The Organization of a Home. 
The Cosmopolitan Magazine for June 
publishes a valuable article on organ¬ 
izing a home, embodying the sugges¬ 
tions of 50 young women, compiled by a 
committee. It is observed that, natur¬ 
ally, every organization must have its 
heads—president, vice-president, and of¬ 
ficers of the different departments, so to 
speak. It is so in the home. The fathei 
is the natural head of the home, and the 
mother his first and best helpmate, and 
by them all hard or doubtful questions 
must be finally settled. However, each 
adult of the household can and must 
have a part and some measure of respon¬ 
sibility in the complete organization, 
and in the decision of questions suited 
to the understanding and judgment of 
the child he, too, should have a voice. 
A purchasing department is a neces¬ 
sity in every home organization. Its 
duties are to select and inspect whatever 
comes into the house of food, clothing, 
house-furnishings, books or toys. The 
committee should study to buy the best 
material the family can afford for the 
least money. This purchasing committee 
should make frequent reports (in writ¬ 
ing, if possible) to the book-keeper, or 
account committee. A detailed account 
which shows how every penny has been 
spent in each department of the house 
is absolutely necessary to economical 
organized housekeeping. These ac¬ 
counts should be open to inspection by 
the family, and suggestions for improve¬ 
ment from time to time should be re¬ 
ceived. Each child should have an al¬ 
lowance, even though the amount of 
money be very small, in the manner of 
spending which he ought not to be too 
much restricted. His little account need 
not be open to the inspection of all the 
members of the home, but the experi¬ 
ences of the others will often help him 
in his own efforts to acquire business 
methods. 
Family meetings must be held, at 
which the interest of the family will be 
discussed, reports received from the 
chairmen of the various departments, 
and decisions made about affairs in 
which all the members of the family 
have a vote. These meetings may be 
held as frequently as desired or when 
it may be necessary, but additional im¬ 
portance will be given them and a great¬ 
er interest taken if a regular time and 
a certain place are given up to them. 
Some families have these meetings at 
the dining-table once a week at what¬ 
ever meal the family is most likely to 
eat together, and at one where some 
time can be given, if necessary, to the 
questions under discussion. These 
meetings should be the means of pro¬ 
moting harmony in all the affairs of the 
family, and the hearty co-operation of 
all the members in whatever will pro¬ 
mote the best interests of the whole. 
As much of the dissatisfaction in homes 
is caused by a failure to understand the 
intentions of other members of the 
household, and the selfishness found 
there is often caused by lack of knowl¬ 
edge of, and hence interest in, the af¬ 
fairs of the whole, the meetings will re¬ 
move many causes for dissatisfaction 
and selfishness, and promote the reign 
of peace and love. 
The children are to look to their par¬ 
ents always for good examples in con¬ 
duct and for training in judgment and 
the practice of the good principles in¬ 
culcated. In turn, the parents must 
themselves be as far as possible what 
they wish their children to become, and 
then in love, gentleness and wisdom, 
help them to reach the ideals they have 
set. 
Town and Country Boys. 
Enthusiasm is the spur to endeavor, 
and at the same time, it is the saver of 
life, says John Gilmer Speed, in the 
Woman’s Home Companion. The coun¬ 
try boy whose ambition has taken him 
to town comes filled with enthusiasms. 
Even the little things are novelties to 
him, and as he accomplishes this and 
that, he feels that he is doing something 
not only interesting, but valuable. His 
simple tastes have not been spoiled by 
a multiplicity of gratifications, and so he 
is glad of everything good that comes his 
way. At 30, if he lead a clean life, he 
has more of the boy in him than his 
city cousin has left at 15. The other fel¬ 
low is no match for him. He, with his 
sense of duty, does what is before him 
because it is his duty, while the other 
cynically questions the value of doing 
anything, and asks, “What’s the use?” 
One can get ready for a test of skill or 
strength in some athletic sport, and take 
pleasure in anticipating the glory that 
comes with the winning; the other does 
what he finds to do as a simple matter 
of course, and because the doing of the 
little thing is a preparation for the 
larger thing that will, also, as a matter 
of course, fall in his way later on. 
Of the men who have achieved great 
prominence and high influence in our af¬ 
fairs of state, the country-bred boys are 
at least as twenty to one over the city 
lads. I have not made a careful and exact 
computation in fixing this proportion, 
but I have taken up several eras in the 
history of the country, and the biograph¬ 
ical records of each bear me out. Nowa¬ 
days, indeed, our cynical young city lads 
look upon the men who take an interest 
in public affairs as rather low fellows, 
and quite beneath their association and 
notice. They look with some reverence, 
it is true, upon the men of the past upon 
whom history has placed the seal of 
greatness, but upon the men of the day 
they cast eyes of suspicion. In this they 
go as far as the cynical definition of 
Speaker Reed, who said that a states¬ 
man is a politician who is dead. 
Apart, however, from the affairs of 
state, the country boys have been just 
as successful. In finance, they are pre¬ 
eminent, and the great bank presidents 
to-day in the great cities of the land 
nearly all learned to read and to cipher 
in country schools, where birch and fer¬ 
ule had not succumbed to the civilizing 
influence of scientific pedagogy. Our 
great railroads, with a mileage equal to 
that in all the rest of the world, were 
in the main built by them, and to-day 
the administrators of these great com¬ 
panies are in great measure from farms 
and country villages, from places where 
work began in early infancy, and a sense 
of duty was developed while still the 
lisp of childhood lingered. These things 
are so true that it is not necessary to 
enumerate instances. In every line of 
effort, the country boy is in the van. 
....There is a politeness of the heart; 
this is closely allied to love. Those who 
possess this purest fountain of natural 
politeness find it easy to express the 
same in forms of outward propriety. 
_A supposed sea serpent was sighted 
by a ship in the Atlantic, and a most 
graphic description given of its enor¬ 
mous size, the tall neck and other pecu¬ 
liarities that always go with the typical 
sea serpent. The remarkable feature of 
it was that the serpent moved along the 
surface for 20 minutes, holding its 
head aloft, suggesting that it must have 
been an air-breathing animal. This 
same creature was sighted by another 
vessel, this time a whaler, and finally it 
was captured and found to be a large 
whale, which had growing from its head 
an extraordinary protuberance that re¬ 
sembled a neck. It was seven or eight 
feet in length, and a simple growth, the 
result of some injury to the head.—New 
York Sun. 
