646 
THE RURAL'NEW-YORKER 
September 0 
l Woman and Home \ 
From Day to Day 
A PRAYER. 
Lord, in thy abounding grace. 
Give to me one little place 
Where earth’s beauties I may see, 
With no man to envy me! 
Let my children breathe in health; 
Let them know the poor man’s wealth— 
To live free beneath the sky, 
Shunning, dreading no man’s eye. 
Let the dear wife of my heart 
Share with me the greater part 
Of my hours, and grant that we, 
Free from care, may worship thee. 
To our own give us true claim. 
Wronging none in right or name, 
Loving all things to their worth 
Till we leave thy blessed earth. 
But if It should be thy will 
We should strive and suffer still, 
Give us grace to keep unstained 
Till thy peace at last is gained. 
Fame and wealth to others, then; 
This to me and mine. Amen! 
—Tudor Jenks in The Outlook. 
* 
The swindling scheme lately reported 
in The R. N.-Y., whereby an alleged 
minister asks for a night’s lodging, to 
be followed by a strange couple whose 
marriage certificate turns up later as a 
promissory note, is now reported in 
Pennsylvania. Apparently these swin¬ 
dlers are headed for the West; it will be 
well to bear them in mind. 
* 
One of the literary periodicals recently 
printed an editorial directed against 
what was described as “literary scorch¬ 
ing”; that is, the rapid reading of nu¬ 
merous books and periodicals, without 
any idea of permanent impression. 
There is no doubt that the increase in 
the number of free libraries gives the 
opportunity for desultory but rapid read¬ 
ing of this class, and such a habit, 
formed in childhood, is a disadvantage 
in maturity. We believe that a love for 
reading is a most precious possession, 
which will add enormously to one’s per¬ 
sonal happiness, but this is distinct from 
a thirst for perpetual new story-books. 
The child who demands a new story 
from the library once a week or oftener, 
and receives credit for being “so fond of 
reading” in consequence, is often injur¬ 
ing memory and originality by so doing. 
Better fewer books, well read. There is 
a good deal of value in the opinion of 
that wise man who said that, whenever 
a new book came out, he immediately 
read an old one. 
* 
Two children were recently poisoned 
in New Jersey through eating seeds de¬ 
scribed as those of the Lobelia, which 
were given them by a playmate. The 
wild Indian tobacco (Lobelia inflata) is 
known to possess a poisonous property 
dn its leaves, which may also extend to 
its seeds, and it is quite likely that the 
Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) and 
common blue Lobelia would be nearly, 
or equally as undesirable internally, un¬ 
less medicinally prescribed. We cannot 
understand, however, why a child should 
eat such seeds, since all parts of the Lo¬ 
belia possess an acrid and disagreeable 
We Want Men 
to represent Tiie R. N.-Y. at fairs. 
We want every farmer who attends a 
fair in any part of the country this 
season to see a copy of The Rural 
New-Yorker. We want at least 
20,000 of those who are not now tak¬ 
ing it to become subscribers. We 
want to make arrangements with you 
to help in this result. Lastly, we 
want you to write us for terms and 
appointments. 
The Rural New-Yorker, 
New York. 
flavor. It is impossible to impress too 
strongly upon children the fact that they 
must not eat any portion of any plant 
with which they are not entirely famil¬ 
iar. Within a few days, we have read 
of two families who were poisoned by 
eating poisonous fungi, cooked in a dish 
of mushrooms. Most cases of toadstool 
poisoning may be traced to the Death- 
cup, or Deadly Amanita, which is so dis¬ 
tinct in its appearance from any whole¬ 
some mushroom that we cannot under¬ 
stand how a person with a particle of 
intelligence can make such a deadly er¬ 
ror. There is really no more excuse for 
cooking the Amanita for' a wholesome 
mushroom than there would be for serv¬ 
ing Poison hemlock in a dish of dande¬ 
lion greens. These fatalities impress us, 
every season, with the fact that informa¬ 
tion which would lead to the identifica¬ 
tion of all common poisonous plants 
would be a very valuable form of nature 
study. 
* 
A town in Maine has a Custard Pie 
Association, which meets annually in a 
hemlock grove, on the margin of a pond, 
and steeps itself in pie. It is said that this 
society grew out of a pie-eating contest 
held 39 years ago; this contest was a tie, 
but its influence has been maintained 
ever since. Secretary John D. Long is 
said to be a member of this association. 
Factory-made custard pie would not be 
very likely to hold such an association 
together, but the homemade article pos¬ 
sesses a powerful attraction for most 
pie-eaters. One dear old lady of our ac¬ 
quaintance had, among many other en¬ 
dearing qualities, a talent for making a 
particular variety of orange custard pie, 
which was always appreciated. Its chief 
distinction was the manner in which the 
ingredients were mixed; first, one cupful 
of sugar was put in a bowl, then the 
rinds of two oranges were grated into 
the sugar, the juice was added, and after 
this, four eggs were beaten in, and 
enough cream or rich milk added to 
make filling for two pies. The result 
was a rich custard with a delicious 
orange flavor. The old friend who first 
introduced us to these pies, after a youth 
spent on an American farm, settled 
down finally in Constantinople; we won¬ 
der has she initiated the land of Islam 
into a knowledge of her delicious orange 
pies ? 
* 
An ex-convict who was strolling along 
a New York street recently, entered a 
private house, and was helping himself 
to a handsome clock and a choice selec¬ 
tion of bric-a-brac when a young wo¬ 
man, armed with a needle and thread, 
came in and called for help. The house 
was a dressmaking establishment, and 
within a few minutes, the burglar was 
surrounded by a bevy of indignant 
young women, who prodded him with 
their needles until he resembled the hu¬ 
man pincushion in a Bowery museum, 
threatened his life with their scissors, 
and gave him such an enthusiastic re¬ 
ception generally, that he was overjoyed 
by the arrival of a policeman. The 
burglar says that he will steer clear of 
dressmakers dn future. After he was re¬ 
moved, the dressmaker and her assist¬ 
ants celebrated the occasion with a feast 
of icecream, and they express a readi¬ 
ness to make life interesting for any fu¬ 
ture burglar who may drop in in a busi¬ 
ness way. 
* 
A New York seedsman is now adver¬ 
tising Swiss cow bells, in sets of three, 
tuned to harmonize. One often reads of 
the picturesque Swiss herd and their 
mellow, musical bells; here is a chance 
to try the same effect on our well-kept 
American cattle. We have seen these 
Swiss bells bought by travelers as sou¬ 
venirs, used as dinner or call bells; still 
more picturesque are some of the big 
bronze cow bells used on the Campagna, 
the great marshes surrounding Rome. 
We have heard camel bells from Jeru¬ 
salem used in the same way, but most 
picturesque and musical of all are the 
strings of little bronze gongs, graduated 
in size, which come from Japan. They 
give out a sweet, mellow tone when 
struck, and are very ornamental. Such 
bells are often used to call the family 
to meals, in unpretentious houses; where 
a bell is required to call a waitress into 
the dining-room, an electric bell in the 
kitchen, having a wire terminating in 
the floor of the dining-room, so that it 
may be rung by pressure with the foot, 
under the table, is one of the newer con¬ 
veniences. 
A Summer Bathhouse. 
We live within five minutes’ walk of a 
river, where our men and boys can 
enjoy a swim any night, after a hard 
day’s work in the heat and dust of 
the field, and it is a luxury that is, evi¬ 
dently, appreciated by them. But rivers 
do not run by the doors of all farm¬ 
houses, so I feel moved to write of a 
Summer bathhouse which I saw at the 
home of a friend who lived in the irri¬ 
gated district. 
At the back of the yard under the big 
cottonwoods, runs a ditch, about two 
feet deep and three feet wide. About 
six feet of this ditch were floored, and 
the sides faced with smooth boards. At 
the lower end, a board was fitted into a 
groove so that, at any time, by damming 
the water with this board, its depth in 
the box could be increased. Over this 
primitive bathtub, was built a house or 
shelter, the framework of which was 
covered with sheeting or duck. This 
shelter took in a corner of the ditch 
bank large enough to make room for a 
chair, stand, towel-rack and looking- 
glass, also a broom, which was needed 
to sweep the grit from the floor of the 
tub before bathing there. The cost of 
■this was very little, yet how much it 
must have added to the comfort of the 
men who worked there. As I looked at 
it, I wondered whether it was because 
others had never thought to make a 
Summer bathhouse in that way, that I 
had never seen or heard of one like it 
before. s. e. h. 
From the Kitchen Window. 
The August sunshine gleams in upon 
a table full of canned fruit, all ready to 
be carried to the cellar. The raspberries 
have bottled up with them the true 
flavor of the fruit; its delicate aroma is 
very grateful to the taste when Winter 
winds blow, and storms surround us. 
Black currants are canned so that the 
berries may be secured for pies, and the 
syrup is valuable for colds and all bron¬ 
chial affections. Peaches, too, are pleas¬ 
ant to the taste when February comes 
in, and there is even a spice of enjoy¬ 
ment in a huckleberry pie. Altogether, 
we think the time well spent that stores 
away the surplus fruit for Winter use. 
A late R. N.-Y. lies on the window sill, 
and with a pang of regret we read of 
Mr. Carman’s retirement from the ed¬ 
itorial chair. Thought goes back to the 
time when, full of life and enthusiasm, 
he entertained us at that charming home 
where, “far from the madding crowd,” 
he studied his fruits and flowers, set out 
trees, and made improvements in that 
pleasant place his skull and taste had 
adorned. But one does get tired of writ¬ 
ing about it all, and of the tumult of 
the world. I always appreciate that line 
of Thackeray, “I lay the weary pen 
aside,” and have no doubt the Editor-in- 
Chief will enjoy the relaxation. 
From the kitchen window, I can see 
the Dahlias in bloom; they are a stiff 
and ungraceful sort of flower, but as a 
plant variety, are to be desired in a gar¬ 
den. Ours have done well this year, and 
we give the credit to the soapsuds of 
washing day, that we use every week on 
their roots; otherwise they would not be 
so full of flowers in this season of 
drought. 
Apples are fair and clear of spot, but 
it was a fight with the caterpillars and 
the fungus. How much of cost this 
spraying puts on the crop, yet apples are 
so much cheaper than when there was 
no need of sulphate of copper, for I can 
remember when the spotted apples 
brought more money in the market than 
the clear ones do now, and even thirds 
were sold for $1 per barrel. Now we 
feed better apples to the animals, that 
are unsalable. Public taste has grown 
more fastidious, and spraying has made 
better apples possible. 
I think the great drawback to farm 
life is the need of skilled labor—out¬ 
doors and in. It is not considered worth 
while to learn to be a farmer, as it is 
any other business, so there is a lack of 
knowledge among those who are willing 
to work at this occupation. If I engage 
a boy to weed, he does not know a tur¬ 
nip plant from a pig weed, and unless 
some one of the family is with him, he 
is sure to do mischief. Why are these 
things scorned in the public schools? 
Last week, some young women visited 
my garden, and they misnamed every 
flower they attempted to mention. A 
Canna they called Gladiolus, and all in 
that style. So it is not to be wondered 
at if little boys who have never learned 
what is called botany, pull up the mi¬ 
gnonette and leave the “pusley.” It 
would be better for the kindergarten to 
take up this naming of plants and dis¬ 
tinguishing leaves instead of so much 
weaving and plaiting. 
e Jones Umbrella “Roof 
Fits any/ 
Frame. 
Cover Your Own Umbrella 
Don’t throw away your old one—make it new for $1.00. 
Recoverin'' only takes one minute. No sewing'. A clumsy 
man can do it as well as a clever woman. 
TEN DAYS’ FREE TRIAL. 
Send us ($1 and we will mail you, PRE¬ 
PAID, a Union Twilled Silk, 26-inch 
“Adjustable Roof” (28-inch, *1.25; 
30-inch, *1.50). If the “Roof” is not all you expected, or hoped for, return 
AT OUR EXPENSE, and get your money back by return mail—no questions 
asked. 
WHAT TO 1)0.—Take the measure (in inches) of your old umbrella. Count the number of 
outside ribs. State if the center rod is of steel or wood. Full instructions for putting on the cover 
will be seut with ad orders. Our special price-list of different sizes and qualities mailed on request. 
Bend for our/rre book, *• Umorella Economy,” anyway. Your umbrella will wear out some day, 
and you will be glad that you know about 
THE JONES-MULLEN CO., 396-398 Broadway, New York. 
