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Hrke is a practical question for dis¬ 
cussion, and one that can’t be helped 
much by theories. Give us facts and 
figures: 
What is the most convenient, economical and 
comfortable fuel for the kitchen stove the year 
around, prices being as follows : 18-inch, dry, 
hard wood, 81.50 per cord; chestnut coal, $4.50 
per ton; gasoline, eight cents per gallon, by the 
barrel; kerosene, 160 test, five cents per gallon, 
by the barrel ? 
* 
Don’t write and ask a question with 
instructions to print the answer in the 
paper, and sign no name, only “ Sub¬ 
scriber” or “Reader.” There may be 
reasons why the editors prefer to send 
the information rather than to print it. 
No doubt the writers think that they 
have the advantage of the editor by 
omitting their names. However, time 
may reveal to some of them that there 
is at least one waste basket in every 
office. 
■* 
Some contributors wonder why they 
are slighted. That is their way of speak¬ 
ing of it. But, in truth, the last plhce 
for showing favoritism is in the editorial 
chair. In that position, the conscien¬ 
tious and sympathetic person constantly 
has to make decisions against which his 
sympathies rebel. To allow the personal 
side of the matter to appeal to one, is to 
be in danger of falling into a prejudiced 
way of doing the work. The person who 
is practical and prompt, who, when he 
sees a need of some little bit of informa¬ 
tion, or some niche which his thoughts 
would fill, straightway sends his contri¬ 
bution, is a cooperator with the editor ; 
and it is his adaptability to the needs of 
the paper that gives him an advantage, 
not favoritism on the editor’s part. 
THE FARM CHILD’S VACATION. 
HOW TO MAKE TIIE MOST OF IT. 
ANY countiy schools close about 
the middle of February, and do 
not open again till May. This long va¬ 
cation and others which occur in these 
schools, may be so used that the children 
will not suffer, in fact, they may learn 
as much as while they are in some 
country schools. First, have the child¬ 
ren read something every day. You 
have a Bible and The R. N.-Y. Well, if 
you have nothing else for the children 
to read, you are very well off. The 
Bible is a wonderful book ; there are 
stories and history and poetry in it ; 
wise sayings and wonderful truths. You 
might go the world over and not find 
a better book for the children to learn to 
read in. 
As to the paper, can you not see of 
how much benefit it will be to your 
children to learn to read a paper that 
will be a help to them in all they do on 
the farm ? It is vastly better to read 
such matter as you will find in The R. 
N.-Y., than to read the stuff that fills 
so many of the papers which go into 
farm homes. But what is needed in 
farm and other homes is the formation 
of the reading habit, and a taste for 
good reading by the children. Good 
reading is so low in price that poor 
people need not be without good books. 
In many towns, there are free libraries; 
farmers should patronize these. Whpre 
there are no free or good circulating 
libraries, let a few neighbors club to¬ 
gether and buy one, two, three, or more 
good books, and pass them around. The 
same can be done with papers and 
magazines. I would get some books on 
nature like Julia McNair Wright’s Sea¬ 
side and Wayside books, or Nature 
Readers as they are called. There are 
three volumes suitable for the children, 
and they are just what farmers’ children 
need. 
There are the classics, the old pieces 
and books that have lasted for years, 
literature that has stood the testof time, 
wheat that has been winnowed from the 
chaff. The farmers of to-day know too 
little of this literature. There are so 
many “ cheap” papers and magazines, 
and farmers do not know what the best 
books are. One way to get the cream of 
classical literature for the young is to 
get the Heart of Oak Books, edited by 
Charles Eliot Norton. There are five 
volumes containing about 1,400 pages of 
classic literature selected for the young 
of different ages. There are also several 
pages of notes, indexes, etc. These 
Heart of Oak books are just the thing 
for farm homes, the five volumes and the 
three Nature Reader volumes making a 
better library than some collections of 
hundreds of books. 
Reading is really the most useful part 
of education. The more good books you 
put in circulation among farm children, 
the better educated will they be. The 
series called Ginn’s Classics for Children 
supplies other famous books in excellent 
shape at a moderate price. Get books of 
this series, and you may be sure they 
will be the best of the kind. As to the 
other studies, spelling and writing are, 
perhaps, the most important, and with 
the modern copy books children may 
follow both at home. 
Many children do not learn to sing at 
school, as music is not taught in most 
rural schools, but many farmers and 
farmers’ wives know how to sing and to 
read music. Such ought by all means 
to teach their children at home. The 
great trouble is to find suitable books, 
as nearly all of the school music readers 
are accompanied by costly charts. But 
the John Church Company have lately 
published a series called the Model 
Music Course which requires no charts, 
and may be U3ed by any one having a 
slight knowledge of music. There are 
a primer and four readers, and by their 
use country mothers can easily teach 
their children to sing and to read music 
at sight. 
I would impress upon farmers the 
need of helping their children in every 
possible way to get a good education. 
If your child likes to read, do not count 
it a vice or a bad babit. If a child gets 
into a habit of reading cheap novels, 
that is bad, and the best way to prevent 
and cure such a habit is to supply good 
books. The information and mental 
power gained by right reading are of 
the greatest value. If the child desire 
to learn music or drawing, do not count 
it a weakness, but help them to it, if 
you can. A neighbor’s daughter or 
some one living nearby may be able to 
JSlpi 
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7/ 
TJ/ie ^Persona/ Side of 
Seorge t Ulashington 
It will be the man Washington—the son, the husband and 
neighbor—that will be presented in three popular articles 
by General A. \Y. Greely. No history will be interwoven. 
Washington will stand alone—not as a General, Statesman 
nor President, but as a man, showing his religious, moral 
and domestic side. One of the many features for 1896 in 
TJho jCcidies* jfcome Journal 
One ^Dollar per 2/ear 
¥ ¥ ¥ 
ff 
Sirls 20ho ffave {Push 
A twenty-eight-page illustrated pamphlet, tells the 
story of how forty bright girls won their college 
course and education in music, without expense. It 
will be mailed free to any girl sending her address to 
TJhe Curtis Publishing Company, Philadelphia 
COPYRIGHT, 1890, BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 
rtr_#_ * * » 
