i89o 
359 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
WHAT OF YOUR GIRLS ? 
HE instance given iD the article en¬ 
titled, “ Is This Right ? ” of a lad of 
16 being allowed unlimited privileges of 
visiting and correspondence with a girl 
still younger, is one that should receive the 
earnest consideration of every mother. 
There is no one custom that works so much 
evil for our young people as the almost 
universal one in many rural districts of al¬ 
lowing them to go their own ways and 
choose their own associates without hin¬ 
drance, and in a great majority of cases, 
without counsel. Much is said of the 
ability of American girls to take care of 
themselves ; but to expect girls of from 12 
to 18 to do this without giving them even a 
warning of possible dangers ahead is more 
than careless ; it is criminal. A short time 
ago a lady physician of wide experience 
made this startling assertion: “ All the 
knowledge concerning lapses from virtue 
which my profession brings me, all the ex¬ 
perience I have gained, lead me to say that 
it is a difference in circumstances only that 
makes your virtuous daughter to differ 
from the fallen daughter of that other 
mother.” Think of this, careless mothers, 
and see to it that you make the circum¬ 
stances which surround your loved ones. 
A wise forethought, and a brave assum¬ 
ing of your neglected duties as wise and 
loving counselors of young daughters (and 
sons as well) can do this without making it 
the irksome surveillance which it becomes 
if left until interest has been aroused in 
some unfit or improper associate. The 
least evil which can rightfully be expected 
to ensue from the neglect of any mother to 
exercise a wise oversight in the matter of 
her children’s associates is imprudent, and 
ill assorted, hasty marriages which will be 
too surely repented of at leisure, and often 
with bitter reproaches for those who should 
have prevented them ; the worst evils of 
such a course can only be imagined—not 
described. Too many mothers are, in this 
respect, sowing the wind, to reap the 
whirlwind later on. One mother of two 
children was in the habit of laughing at 
them about their “ beaux,” teasingly call¬ 
ing her daughter, a girl of 14, “ Mrs. So- 
and-So,” and allowing her entire free¬ 
dom to come and go at will, and 
with whomsoever she would. The 
son began to visit another girl when 
scarcely in his teens. The result of this 
senseless and culpable course was that 
both children brought shame and grief to 
their parents, who wonder vainly why 
they should be thus made to suffer. A 
point which should touch those who dis¬ 
like to appear “ countrified ” is the fact that 
mothers in the cities are much more care¬ 
ful of their daughters. They are always 
present when young men call; and it is 
said that among the best families, no re¬ 
spectable young man would call where the 
daughters were allowed to receive gentle¬ 
men callers alone. There is sound worldly 
wisdom in this; but how many mothers in 
the country make it a point to receive their 
daughters’ callers ? How many even ap¬ 
point a time beyond which young gentle¬ 
men are not expected to stay ? One mother 
of girls only, made it a rule that young 
men should not be made welcome after 10 
o’clock P. M., and although the young 
people thought it a little severe at the time, 
they lived to see that the mother was wise, 
and to bless her for her care and watchful¬ 
ness of her daughters’ interests. 
A girl of 16 received an offer of marriage, 
and asked advice about accepting from a 
girl friend two years older, a cousin of the 
suitor. There was no thought of confiding 
in the mother, who exercised no control 
whatever in the matter of her childrens’ 
companions. The older girl, with no ex¬ 
perience of her own in love-matters, but 
with a girl’s eager interest in them, advised 
acceptance, as no doubt was hoped and ex¬ 
pected. Fortunately the engagement was 
to be a long one, and circumstances and 
Time’s changes mercifully interfered to 
prevent the consummation of the marriage. 
Now, happy wives, they both look back 
with amazement, almost with horror ; the 
one that she should have asked, the other 
that she should have dared to give “ ad¬ 
vice ” on so momentous a question—advice 
which they now see, if followed to its ex¬ 
pected end, would have resulted in misery 
for all concerned. Oh, mothers, do not all 
these instances pointinthe same direction? 
Shall they not arouse you to a more active 
sense of your responsibilities for the wel¬ 
fare of your girls ? 
Strawberries should be eaten within 
one hour alter being picked. Their ex¬ 
quisite flavor is never enjoyed to the full 
by those who depend upon “store” berries. 
APPETIZING BREAKFAST DISHES. 
HE lady who sends these recipes is of 
the opinion that the chief reason 
why breakfast is the most difficult meal of 
the day to make satisfactory lies in the 
fact that the housewife is so apt to depend 
on what is left from dinner, and to give 
little thought or preparation to this first, 
and therefore important meal. The writer 
of these recipes aims to help remedy this 
evil. 
Meat Souffl^.— Chop fine, cold beef, 
mutton, lamb, ham or tongue with a 
table-spoonful of sweet butter and stir into 
it a table-spoonful of flour, and season it 
with salt ahd pepper ; have a coffee-cupful 
of milk in which is boiling a slice of onion ; 
remove the onion and stir the milk into 
the flour and butter; when it boils add a 
tea-cupful of cold meat, stir thoroughly 
and draw to the side of the range before 
adding the well-beaten yelk of one or two 
eggs. Remove from the fire and when par¬ 
tially cool add the well-beaten white of the 
eggs; shape it into a mound, moisten with 
white of egg and bake 20 minutes. Serve 
with a border of boiled rice, fried potatoes 
or potato balls. The above preparation 
also makes excellent croquettes; when 
cold, shape to suit the taste, roll in egg 
and cracker or bread-crumbs, and brown a 
minute in hot lard. 
Cold bf.ef cut thin can be warmed in 
various ways so as to have an entirely dif¬ 
ferent flavor : Melt a heaping table-spoon¬ 
ful of butter and add to it two table-spoon¬ 
fuls of any sour fruit jelly, and a tea-spoon¬ 
ful of mixed French mustard, and salt and 
pepper. When all are thoroughly warmed 
together, dip the slices o‘ meat in one by 
one, and when all are warmed place on a 
warmed platter and turn the remainder of 
the sauce over them. 
Another method is to melt the same 
amount of butter, add to it a table-spoon¬ 
ful of chopped onion, a little chopped par¬ 
sley and a tea-cupful of soup-stock; cook 
slowly for 15 minutes, and then add the 
well-beaten yelk of an egg ; stir contin¬ 
ually for five minutes, then pour over 
sliced beef or mutton. 
Another nice breakfast dish is made by 
adding half the quantity of cold bam or 
sausage to a tea-cupful of cold, chopped 
beef; season with salt and pepper, and if 
the meat was wholly lean a table-spoonful 
of warm—not melted butter. When all 
are thoroughly mixed together, bind the 
mixture with one well-beaten egg. Press 
it into a bowl which had been previously 
wet in cold water; turn it out on apiece 
of buttered paper, rub it over with the 
white of an egg, sprinkle fine breadcrumbs 
over it, and bake until brown. 
Oysters on Toast.— Put one table¬ 
spoonful of butter into a frying-pan ; when 
melted add one table-spoonful of flour and 
a little salt and pepper; when smooth stir 
in a tea-cupful of milk and when this boils 
add one pint of oysters. Do not boil after 
the oysters are added. Remove the crust 
from six slices of bread, toast and place on 
a warm platter; pour the oysters over and 
serve hot. 
Oyster Omelet.—T his is a delicious 
dish for breakfast in conjunction with hot 
rolls. Stew half a dozen large oysters in 
their own liquor; remove from the fire as 
soon as they come to the boiling point. 
Drain them on a napkin; cut them in 
halves and spread over a plain egg omelet 
before it is turned. KATHERINE B. J. 
A PLEA FOR POOR RELATIVES. 
N an article in the Rural of March 22, 
the writer complains of unhappiness 
caused in families by relations, and closes 
with these words: “ Let us dispose of this 
cause of discord before we tackle some 
others, for 1 am persuaded it is quite as seri¬ 
ous as any.” 
It is very difficult to see how these rela¬ 
tives are to be disposed of, but we may per¬ 
haps obtain some light as to the best ways 
of bearing with them. No doubt there are 
instances of indolent or intemperate rela¬ 
tives who ought not to be endured, but 
should go and earn their own living and not 
be suffered to be a burden to their friends; 
but there are many aged parents and inva¬ 
lids, who must live with their children or 
others of their kindred and in my experi¬ 
ence, persons so situated, have usually 
been quite reasonable and humble. The 
poor wives or husbands, that had to bear 
with them, have not always been models of 
forbearance. It takes us a large part of our 
lifetime to learn that this world was not 
designed to be a place of perfect happiness. 
We still keep chafing under our yoke, feel¬ 
ing that earth might be almost a heaven, 
were it not for this person or that one,.or 
or some vexation or other. What is to be¬ 
come of aged parents when their homes are 
broken up by death, and they are left alone? 
Must they go to dwell with strangers, be¬ 
cause their ungrateful children cannot bear 
with them ? Such cases are far too com¬ 
mon ; I have known some whose own chil¬ 
dren have had very little patience with 
them, even when the parents seemed to 
others to be very good and kind. 
Let us, then who have homeless relatives 
to live with us, try to put ourselves in their 
places, and think how sad their condition 
is, and how dreadful it would be, if we did 
nothing tor them, remembering that “ even 
Christ pleased not Himself,” and that we 
cannot be his followers if we seek our own 
pleasure only. These poor persons have 
often been very unfortunate all their lives, 
and how can we help feeling for them. 
I remember a sad case of an invalid sister, 
who lived in the family of a brother. They 
did much for her, and never meant to be 
cruel, and yet the sister-tn-law, the mistress 
of the house, was seldom heard to speak 
kindly to her, and the children laughed at 
her, for she was odd in her ways. She was 
a kind-hearted creature, never showing any 
resentment; and kind words to her, would 
not have added to the cost of keeping her. 
She had also^other near relatives, who might 
have done much, more than they did for 
her comfort with little expense to them¬ 
selves, if they had thought of it in that way. 
I knew her in my early youth, and I wish 
that I had then known how to cheer and 
brighten her life, as it seems now, that I 
could have done. 
A lady, near us, married and went with 
her husband to live with his parents on a 
farm. She was so young that for years she 
did not think of taking the head of the 
table, or acting as mistress of the house; 
but she helped like a daughter of these 
parents, in doing the work, and thus they 
went on in one family, for about 25 years, 
when the aged mother died. The old 
father lived some years longer, when he 
too was called home. Many wives would 
have made themselves and others un¬ 
happy, by thinking it hard to care for old 
people so long, but they lived very pleas¬ 
antly together; no jealous thoughts or un¬ 
kind words disturbed their peace ; the aged 
parents greatly loved and admired their 
daughter-in law, and her seven children 
were never thought by the grandparents to 
be iD the way, or to cause trouble. In fam¬ 
ilies so situated, these relatives are often 
very useful, and as we all depend so much 
on each other, let us make the best of 
things, forgetting ourselves, and striving to 
make all around us happy, thus shall we 
find the greatest blessings for ourselves. 
'• AH common things, each hay’s events. 
That with the hour begin and end. 
Our pleasures and our discontents. 
Are rounds by which we may ascend ” 
MARIA. 
The friend who sends the above tells us 
that it was written in the hope that some 
of those who suffer for want of homes and 
friends, may receive some comfort from it, 
and that others besides herself may be 
moved to say something on the subject. 
There are few but have had experience in 
this line at some time in their lives, and it 
is certain that this “ cause of discord ” can 
never be put aside. There are without 
doubt two sides to the question ; but the 
root of the trouble is either selfish absorp¬ 
tion in one’s own concerns, or else pure 
selfishness. The chief point of the dis¬ 
cussion should therefore be to find how 
this may be overcome.—E ds. 
Pisscettancoujs Advertising. 
Advertisers treat all correspondents 
well if they mention the Rural New- 
Yorker. 
Each Season 
Has its own peculiar malady; hut with the 
blood maintained in a state of uniform vigor 
and purity, by the use of Ayer’s Sarsaparilla, 
the system readily adapts itself to changed 
conditions. Composed of the best alteratives 
and tonics, and being highly concentrated, 
Ayer’s Sarsaparilla is the most effective and 
economical of all blood medicines. 
“ For some years, at the return of spring, 
I had serious trouble with my kidneys. I 
was unable to sleep nights, and suffered 
greatly with pains in the small of my back. 
I was also afflicted with headache, loss of 
appetite, and indigestion. These symptoms 
were much worse last spring, especially the 
trouble with my back. A friend persuaded 
me to use Ayer’s Sarsaparilla. I began 
taking it, and my troubles all disappeared.” 
—Mrs. Genevra Belanger, 24 Bridge st, 
Springfield, Mass. 
Ayer’s Sarsaparilla 
FRKFAKKD BY 
DR. J. C. AYER & CO., Lowell, Mass. 
Sold by Druggists. $l,six$0. Worth $5 a bottle. 
CONTINENTAL. 
DISK 
PULVERISER. 
THE BEST IS THE CHEAPEST. 
Your land will be hard and need thorough culti¬ 
vation for the next crop. You will prepare for seed 
ing with less labor if you use our Pulver.zer. 
LABOR SAVED IS MONEY. 
You can get larger returns by using the Continental 
Larger crops mean mor« cash. Send for prices and 
circular, “How to Buy Direct.” 
THE JOHNSTON HARVESTER CO., *T?" 
GOLD MEDAL, PARIS. 1878. 
W. BARER* CO.’S 
Breakfast Cocoa 
Is absolutely pure and 
L Is soluble. 
No Chemicals 
are used in its preparation. It has more 
than three timet the strength of Cocoa 
mixed with Starch, Arrowroot or Sugar, 
and ia therefore far more economical, 
costing less than one cent a cup. It ia 
delicioua, nouriahing, atrengthening, Ea¬ 
sily Digested, and admirably adapted 
for invalids as well as persona in health. 
Sold by Grocers everywhere. 
Dairyman’s 
Account Book 
FREE. 
ccounfc Book is the most 
practical thing of the kind ever seen. It 
gives ruled pages for daily record of milk 
yield, butter made, and sales, for 12 months; 
convenient size, nicely printed and bound. 
Wells, Richardson & Co., Burlington, Vt,, 
manufacturers of the celebrated Improved 
Butter Color, the purest, strongest, and 
brightest color made, will send a copy free 
to any butter maker who writes enclosing 
stamp. Also sample of their Butter Color 
to those who have never used it, and a 
pretty birthday card for the baby, if you ask. 
DESKS, 
Chairs, 
Office Furniture 
SEND FOR CATALOGUE. 
k KILMER DESK CO. 
Salesrooms, 
opp. Lowell Depot, 
93 Causeway St., Boston 
$7 
PICKET FENCE MACHINE. 
No twisting of main wires: no sag to 
_ fence: pickets easilv removed and re- 
“ placed. Write for pric-ps and circular to 
AGENTS LANSING WHEELBARROW CO.. 
WANTED. Lansing. Michigan. 
C 0 | Q A 1,900 acre Virginia Farm, lo- 
r Ol OaiCa cated 55 miles above Richmond 
on the line of the Alleghany Railroad. One of the 
finest farms In the State. Price $60,000. which Includes 
stock, implements, growing crops, etc. For full par¬ 
ticulars address I. W. NORVELL, Island P. O., Gorch- 
land County, Va. 
£7t O0+ A C0i;n 00A MONTH can t>e made 
$ / y ZUU . —.working for us. Persons pre¬ 
ferred who can furnish a horse and give their whole 
time to the business. 8paremomentsmay be profitably 
emploved also. A few vacancies in towns ana cities. 
& p. Johnson t oo. uxs sum st Richmond. v» 
SALESMEN WANTED 
■ at once. A fewg^ 
j rnentosell our goods 
- ___ by sample to the 
wholesale and retail tra<ic. VVe are the largest manufacturers in our 
line. Liberal salary paid. Permanent position. Money advanced for 
wages, advertising, etc. For terms ad. Centennial Mfg. Co., Chicago 
SEED POTATOES 
Choice selected Houlton, Aroostook Co., 
Maine, Earlv Rose, Beauty of Hebron, and 
all other well known varieties. For sale by 
W. E. DURYEA’S SONS, 
Produce Commission Merchauts, 119 Warren St. N Y 
RARE BARGxVINS 
USEFUL ARTICLES 
In the course of trade we have obtained the follow¬ 
ing named articles which we will sell at a big discount 
from manufacturers' prices. We have no use for 
them and the prices named ought to take them off 
our hands In short order : 
A Weed Sewing Machine, Boudoir Cabinet of 
Black Walnut. Manufacturer’s price $T5. We will 
sell in New York for $30—a rare bargain for some 
one. 
A Wheel Hoe aud Cultivator; retails for $6. 
Our price $8. 
Several Curtiss’s Improved Needle Hay 
Knives, chisel edge teeth. Retail price $1.25 each. 
Our price onlyj75c. each. Order at once. Address 
N. E. FELLOWS, Box 4, Tenafly. N 
