868 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
DEC. 13 
“Rough on Royues.” 
LOOKOUT 
ALMANAC 
LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE. 
DECEMBER. 
Look out for bogus divorce law^ 
yers. They are getting very 
* 5* thick these days. Many people 
are now hunting anxiously for one “Gray” 
of New York, who pretended to obtain di¬ 
vorces for a small fee. The documents he 
furnished turn out to be forged, and lots 
of people who thought they were unmar¬ 
ried find themselves still married to their 
former partners as fast as ever they were, 
though some of them, relying on the bogus 
divorce papers, have married again and 
thus committed bigamy. Have nothing to 
do with any such frauds. Divorce is all 
wrong anyway. * * * * Look out for 
an advertisement of the “Home Guest,” 
which shows a picture of a pair of stock¬ 
ings, and seems to offer “ 1,000 dozen free.” 
If yon will read the advertisement care¬ 
fully you will see that the stockings are not 
offered]at all, but the “ ad.” is so cunningly 
worded that nine out of ten people will be 
deceived by it. Let the paper alone. If 
you depend upon these stockings to hang 
up at Christmas you will go without pres¬ 
ents. 
TnfiSdftV Book ou ^ that you do not get in 
^ the habit of playing 
ID. 
The Baby Act is about the smallest per¬ 
formance a man can give. Everybody 
knows that the baby is such a small and 
weak member of the family that we are all 
disposed to overlook his mischief and make 
excuses for him. A man “ plays the baby 
act ” when he dodges his responsibility and 
goes about full of excuses and explanations 
for faults and mistakes that are directly 
traceable to his own shortcomings. “ I 
didn’t know any better 1 ” That is the favor¬ 
ite excuse of the baby actor. Well, why 
didn’t you know better ? Reason, intelli¬ 
gence, strength—all these are yours by 
natural inheritance. Making use of these 
qualities constitutes the man act; dodging 
them is the baby act. Pray that your 
stocking this year may contain the will 
and the courage to enable you to be a man 
and not a baby. 
* « 
Wednesday Book out t, * iat you get on the 
• right side of public and pri- 
* 7* vate questions. The great 
trouble with many good people is the fact 
that they get iu the habit of taking cer¬ 
tain sides in family or political matters 
They are this thing or that more from 
habit than from any keen sense of justice 
or right. Several hundred years ago there 
lived a gentleman named William Shakes¬ 
peare. On one occasion he wrote: 
“ Thrice Is he armed who hath Ills quarrel just. 
And he hut naked tho’ looked up In steel, 
Whose conscience with Injustice Is corrupted.” 
If these words were true in Mr. Shakes¬ 
peare’s time, they are doubly true now, and 
there is no man so corrupt as to deny it. 
* * * Look out that you study the pic¬ 
tures under “Farm Politics ” this week 
As long as the “ middleman ” does our bus¬ 
iness for us, he is entitled to his honest 
share and no more. To “ drop into poetry ” 
for an instant: 
Drop a dollar In the slot, 
And It's Just as like as not 
That you’ll see our friend Producer take his dime. 
Ninety cents remain Inside, 
For the wheels are true and tried, 
And they'll reach Producer's limit every time. 
* • 
Thursday I J ° ok out that you do not de- 
o 1 spise any teacher that Nature 
t o. j H kind enough to send you. A 
spider inspired the pluck and courage that 
gave Scotland—freedom f No, but Scotch 
rule. Spiders are good teachers. Last 
week, in a Syracuse saloon dozens of men 
spent a day in watching a spider try to 
raise a kernel of pop corn from the bar up 
to its web, several feet above. The spider 
spun its own rope, made its own tackle, 
and did its own hauling. The high-minded 
men who watched him made bets on the 
result. What’s the lesson from them ? If 
that little spider can lift that big kernel of 
corn they ought to be men enough to drag 
themselves away from the saloon and its 
influences. That is their lesson plain and 
fair—haul yourself away from rum and 
tobacco and then make your family a 
Christmas present of yourself. 
• 
• * 
Priday ® on,t het. It is a losing business. 
A smart Chicago man, the other 
1 9- day, learned this truth. He was 
on the cars, as the Detroit Free Press tells 
us, when a man came up and told him that 
a fellow in the next car was trying to pass 
a counterfeit $30 bill. Soon the fellow 
came in with his bill. 
“No, no 1 you can’t cheat me,” said our 
friend. 
“ I’ll bet you $5 I can pass this bill,” said 
the stranger. 
“O. K.,” said our friend, and he put up 
his money. 
Just then the conductor came along and 
took the bill, saying that it was all right. 
It was a very smart game, don’t you see ? 
The bill was all right; the first man 
simply fooled our friend. 
Saturday Ij ° ok out to-day for the Cbrist- 
J mas turkey. He should be fat 
-‘- 0, ' by this time. Give him one 
more good meal. Give all the stock Christ¬ 
mas dinners this year. They are glad 
to provide you with the best there is in 
them; you should reciprocate. Reciprocity 
is all the rage now any way. Do not let 
South America have it all. Keep a good 
share for your own family. Get your stock¬ 
ing ready. 
SCRATCHINGS, 
The American Buff Cochin Club is about 
the liveliest poultry association In the coun¬ 
try. 
And now the Leghorn envies the Brahma 
her nice feather stockings. She would 
gladly trade her comb for the Houdan’s 
top-knot. Never mind, old lady, summer 
is coming again. 
Here you have the bill-of-fare for Tub 
R N.-Y.’s hens: 
Breakfast .—Bran with a sprinkling of 
oil meal, scalded and mixed into a tough 
dough. Served hot with potatoes, onions or 
celery tops chopped into it. A touch of 
pepper on very cold mornings. 
Dinner .—A light lunch of wheat, with 
hay chopped and steamed. Plenty of good, 
healthy scratching and dusting and abund- 
aice of water. Sour milk, if possible. 
Supper —Corn well parched in the oven 
and served hot. 
The hens like this and show their appre- 
ci ition In the proper manner. 
71 cv, 
1 The Story of 
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ELL-KNOWN SOCIETY WOMAN 
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