822 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 25 
[ Woman and Home j 
From Day to Day. 
Since Willie goes to school the days 
Are always full of peace, 
And in a hundred little ways 
The cares of life decrease; 
The halls are littered up no more 
With blocks and tops and traps; 
No marbles lie upon the floor. 
But are we happier than before?— 
Ah, well, perhaps—perhaps! 
Since Willie goes to school the cat 
Lies dozing in her nook; 
There are no startling screeches that 
Make all the neighbors look; 
His playthings all are piled away, 
No books bestrew the floor, 
But I have found a hair to-day, 
Deep-rooted, glistening and gray, 
That hid itself before. 
Since Willie goes to school I hear 
No pounding on the stairs, 
Nor am 1 called to help my dear 
Make horses of the chairs; 
A sense of peace pervades the place, 
And I may be a fool 
To shed the tears that streak my face, 
But a boy is in my baby’s place, 
Since Willie goes to school. 
—Chicago Time-Herald. 
* 
Cranberries sold by the pound, in¬ 
stead of by measure, were noted at a 
New York grocer’s recently. In Chi¬ 
cago, we used to buy sweet potatoes, tur¬ 
nips, and many other vegetables by 
weight, and it is surely the faiirest way. 
Half a peck of sweet potatoes, big, 
lumpy and irregular, makes a very elas¬ 
tic quantity. Early or hothouse toma¬ 
toes are usually sold by weight, though 
it would seem hardly worth the trouble 
when they become plentiful. Still, it 
may be considered, on the whole, that it 
is fairer to the consumer to sell most of 
these commoditiies in this way. 
* 
Uncle Sam has inaugurated the pub¬ 
lic-school system in Alaska, and, if we 
may judge by a report given in The 
Schoolmaster, teaching there is not en¬ 
tirely devoid of excitement. It is not 
uncommon for a bear to drop in casually 
during a school session. Twice the 
teachers have rescued children who had 
been condemned to death for witch¬ 
craft by native medicine men. At one 
of the schools the children, 68 in num¬ 
ber, travel four miles in the darkness 
of an Arctic Winter, with the tempera¬ 
ture from 27 to 57 degrees below zero. 
The teachers carry rifles, and one child 
was either blown out to sea on an ice 
floe, or eaten by bears, yet is is said that 
the attendance is always regular. 
* 
An English paper, the Lady’s Realm, 
recently held a competition to decide 
who were the 12 most notably good 
Englishwomen of the nineteenth cen¬ 
tury. The 12 finally selected were Her 
Majesty the Queen, Florence Nightin¬ 
gale, Elizabeth Fry, the Baroness Bur- 
dett-Coutts, 'the Princess of Wales, the 
Duchess of Teck, Sister Dora, Agnes 
Weston, Grace Darling, the Princess 
Alice, Lady Henry Somerset, and 
Frances Ridley Havergal. Some of these 
names will be almost or entirely un¬ 
known to American women. Sister 
Dora belonged to a nursing order of the 
Church of England, and devoted herself 
entirely to the roughest and most neg¬ 
lected class among miners, giving her 
life, finally, in the pursuit of her duty. 
Her statue has been erected, near the 
scene of her work, she being one of the 
few modern women, not of royal birth, 
who have been thus honored. Princess 
Alice of Hesse, younger daughter of the 
Queen, whose sweetness of character al¬ 
ways rendered her very popular, earned 
especial reverence by her pathetic death. 
Yielding to the entreaties of her dying 
child, she kissed her in farewell, thus 
contracting a fatal case of malignant 
diphtheria. The oldest daughter of this 
Princess is now Empress of Russia. 
Charles Reade says that not a day 
passes over the earth but men and 
women of no note do great deeds, speak 
great words, and suffer noble sorrows. 
This was exemplified when the ferry¬ 
boat Chicago, nearly cut in two by a 
steamer, began to sink in the North 
River recently. The engineer continued 
below, urging the sinking boat toward 
shore, until the water was above his 
waist, and the fires were put out. The 
truckmen and teamsters on the lower 
deck called out that the women and 
children were to have first chance. It 
requiires what the Duke of Wellington 
called five-o’clock-in-the-morning cour¬ 
age to think of others when confronted 
by a sudden plunge into a swift-flowing 
river at midnight. 
* 
Machine stitching has been used this 
Autumn as a trimming to an extraor¬ 
dinary degree, not only upon gowns and 
wraps, but also upon millinery. Skirts 
are often trimmed with many rows of 
silk stitching, either lighter or darker 
than the fabric. White silk stitching is 
very much used, and is particularly 
pretlty on brown or blue fabrics. Even 
velvet is thus decorated. Among hat 
trimmings, taffeta or velvet bands, bows 
and loops are almost covered with close 
rows of stitching. Stitched straps are 
noted among waist trimmings, and, 
where overskirts are used, this stitch¬ 
ing is the usual decoration. A style 
so pretty and so simple is sure to be 
very extensively used until Spring 
brings some more florid fancy. 
* 
According to the last census, 85 per 
cent of the housekeepers in the United 
States do their own work. They cer¬ 
tainly earn their living quite as fairly as 
those who go out into the world to work 
for wages. The fact that an industrious 
wife is legally entitled to something 
■more than mere support, is illustrated 
by the following incident, reported in 
the New York Sun: 
An old farmer died, down in the neighbor¬ 
hood of Cape Cod. His heirs were avarici¬ 
ous and grudged the widow her right to 
the use of a third of his real estate. They 
hunted out a flaw in the marriage. She 
had always supposed that it was all right 
and legal; but they proved that the hus¬ 
band had imposed upon her by an illegal 
ceremony. She was not legally his widow, 
and, of course, was not entitled to any 
share in his estate. It was a hard case; 
and the judge advised the old woman to 
bring in a bill for her services. She had 
been doing the dead man’s housework for a 
great many years. If he was not her hus¬ 
band he was not entitled to have her do 
his housework for nothing. She made out 
her bill for it accordingly, at so many 
dollars a week, the ordinary rate of wages 
that would have been paid to a domestic 
servant. The court allowed her claim. It 
took the entire estate to pay it; and the 
over-greedy heirs got nothing. Of course, 
she had been “supported" during all these 
years; but with the discovery that she was 
not the man's wife came the other dis¬ 
covery that her support alone was not a 
full equivalent for her labor. 
* 
Among the newer materials is a pretty 
stuff called lansdowne, which is used 
for making fancy waists. It looks like 
a fine silk cashmere, and is seen in 
charming colors, but one clever dress¬ 
maker warns us that it is not very satis¬ 
factory in wearing qualtlies, being decid¬ 
edly perishable. The most fashionable 
material other than silk, for separate 
waists, is French flannel, and it prom¬ 
ises to be worn extensively all Winter. 
At the present time polka-dotted flannel 
is the leading favorite. All sorts of deli¬ 
cate tints, as well as deeper ones, are 
seen, dotted with white or black. The 
flannel is also seen in very pretty com¬ 
binations of stripes and checks. Many 
of these bodices are simply made in the 
same shirt-waist style as those of Sum¬ 
mer fabrics, but a plain tight sleeve is 
preferable to the shirt sleeve with cuff. 
The plain sleeves are usually made long, 
flaring over the hand. Made of white 
flannel, with a fancy silk stock, such a 
waist is quite dressy, and very becoming. 
The popularity of the jacket suit is sure 
to make separate waists a necessity, for 
some t.me to come. 
Everyday Wisdom. 
In making pastry for pies it is often 
difficult to make just the right quantity 
needed, but if there be a surplus it need 
not be wasted. An exceedingly good 
cook tells me that pie crust is better if 
made a few days before using, and such 
leftovers ought never to be wasted. In 
very warm weather it might not be de¬ 
sirable to keep d't on hand, but most 
times of year it may be done. 
It is a waste of time, strength and 
material to cook as lavishly as is the 
habit of some housekeepers, even if 
there be fowls to eat what is left; they 
may be well fed far more cheaply. Such 
waste comes from want of thought. 
It is a convenience to have a box or 
drawer into which put all the strings 
that come around packages, and also 
with them to put a supply of linen hand¬ 
kerchiefs that are too badly worn to 
use for anything else but bandages for 
small wounds, cuts, and so forth, and if 
a roll of salve is kept in the same place, 
where it may be had at a minute’s no¬ 
tice, it will save needless bustle looking 
for them when they are needed. 
When ironing it is not necessary to 
have a heat intense enough to set the 
chimney on fire; as has been done many 
times. Some who 'have not a flat-iron 
heater, turn a sheet-iron pan over the 
irons, to heat them faster. The draw¬ 
back is that it heats the handles too, 
making them more uncomfortable to 
touch. 
It comes near being criminal careless¬ 
ness for a man to tie up a broken har¬ 
ness with strings, and then allow his 
wife, perhaps, to drive such an outfit 
away from home. Cases are on record 
where there has been a runaway, at¬ 
tended with serious consequences, the 
result of such heedlessness. 
What an accomplishment it would be 
to be able to dig potatoes with a hoe 
without making an unsightly gash in so 
many of them! It hurts one’s sense of 
propriety to prepare such vegetables for 
the table. Is it a lack of care, or is it 
unavoidable? aunt kachel. 
&he £est 
Paid yJgertts 
are the energetic ones who 
secure subscribers to 
The Ladies’ Home Journal 
AND 
The Saturday Evening Post 
We allow liberal commis¬ 
sions for all subscriptions, 
special rebates for large 
clubs, and at the end of the 
season (April 15, 1900) we 
shall distribute $18,000 
among the 764 best agents. 
As the Journal alone has 
over 800,000 subscribers, and as 
we allow a commission on re¬ 
newals, it is obvious that a part 
of an agent’s work is very easy, 
while, in view of our extensive 
advertising, none of it is “ up¬ 
hill” work. 
Write for full particulars. 
The Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia 
T HE plague of lamps is 
the breaking of chim¬ 
neys ; but that can be avoided. 
Get Macbeth’s “pearl top” 
or “ pearl glass.” 
The funnel-shaped tops are 
beaded or “pearled”—a 
trade-mark. Cylinder tops 
are etched in the glass — 
“MACBETH PEARL GLASS”- 
another trade-mark. 
Our “Index” describes all lamps and their 
proper chimneys. With it you can always order 
the right size and shape of chimney for any lamp. 
We mail it FREE to any one who writes for it. 
Address Macbeth, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
twvuuu\u%wtvnuwnw\ivtii 
What a Farmer’s Boy 
Gan Do 
He can qualify him- 
self for a position as 
a first-class Locomo¬ 
tive, Steam, Electri¬ 
cal or Civil Engineer 
without leaving the 
farm until lie is ready 
to enter his new occu¬ 
pation and 
EARN A GOOD SALARY 
Our system of teaching by mail will give any 
boy a technical education. Write for pamphlet , 
and state what you wish to study. < 
International Correa. Selioola, Box 18(6, Krranton, I*a. 
vtvmvtvtvmvtvtvttvM' 
THE EDISON 
PHONOGRAPH 
while 
(ONCFRT 
REDUCED 
*>$ 100 . 
NONE GENUINE WITHOUT 
THI8 
TRADl 
CL £dut 
MARK 
Buy an Edison Phonograph 
for the Family’s Christmas. 
It will entertain your guests 
it pleases you and 
amuses the children— 
and it lasts the year 
round. All popular, 
standard or classical 
music by bands, or¬ 
chestras and soloists, 
besides the amusing 
and pathetic sketches 
of the recitationist 
or the orator, are 
yours wheti you have an 
Edison Phonograph. 
$7.50 up. Catalogue from 
phonograph dealers. 
National Phonograph Co., N. Y. 
B. & B. 
get gifts early 
—now’s none too soon—will save 
you a lot of hurry later. 
Whether you get them now, or 
not for a week or so yet, remem¬ 
ber we’re working for and expect 
to get the preference with the 
greatest holiday assortments — 
beautiful gift goods of every va¬ 
riety—and prices that will save 
you good money. 
If you haven’t a copy of our 
late 250-page Dry Goods Price- 
Book, write for it—see what splen¬ 
did offerings of Dolls, Toys. 
Games, Umbrellas, Hosiery, Neck¬ 
wear and hundreds of other ap¬ 
propriate gift goods. 
Get a copy of “Holiday Glove 
Tips,” “a yard of Christmas 
Handkerchiefs,” and special Book 
catalogue. 
We’ve a Christmas Black goods 
special — 58-inch all-wool Black 
storm cheviotte, 75 c.—skirt or 
dress goods any woman will ap¬ 
preciate a pattern of. 
Nice line of Plaids for waists 
and girls’ dresses, 35 c. 
BOGGS & BUHL, 
Department C, 
ALLEGHENY, PA. 
Protect Your Feet From The Cold and Wet. 
All Knit “BALL-BAND” 
They are the most comfortable and will wear twice as long as others. “Ball-Band” 
Socks and Rubbers are the same high quality as the All-knit Boots. They have 
superior features not found in others. Be sure that the trade-mark “Ball-Band” 
is on every pair. There are more imitations and counterfeits this season 
than ever before. We make all our own rubbers and are not connected 
in any way with any Trust. Insist upon getting ‘‘Ball-Band” 
goods from your dealer and take no others said to be “As 
good as,” etc. Mishawaka Woolen Mfg. Co., Mishawaka, Ind, 
