as shown. It should be within two 
inches of the ceiling, is attached at the 
two ends of the wall by “collars” 
screwed to the wall, and to the ceiling 
it is attached at the two bends in the 
rod. It can be attached here by stout 
wire and a couple of stout screw eyes. 
Let the fastenings all be secure, so 
that the rod cannot pull out and fall 
upon the bed. 
To this rod, on the sides and end of 
the bed, are gathered curtains of mos¬ 
quito netting or other filmy material, 
the top being allowed to project above 
the rod to touch the ceiling. It may be 
stiffened a little with starch, if neces¬ 
sary. The curtains should not be so 
thick that air cannot readily pass 
through them. w. D. 
such hard manual labor of cutting the 
lawn. Many people must do it by hand; 
but the machines ought to be lighter 
than any I have yet seen. Grass grows 
so quickly just now, and there is nothing 
more inviting about a home than a well- 
kept lawn, be it ever so small, while a 
weedy, ill-kept piece of grass, seems a 
slur on the occupants of the house. 
Hardy shrubs are in bloom. In this 
severe climate, we delight in the pos¬ 
session of a Magnolia stellata that 
gives us 30 to 40 blooms. It is a dwarf, 
and has a winter protection of a boarded 
shelter made for it. But we felt amply 
repaid when we could see its beauties 
from the kitchen window, Annie l. jack. 
THE HIRED MAN IN THE HOME. 
We wish to thank those who have 
responded to our request for directions 
for making pot cheese. The answers 
have been prompt, and careful attention 
has been given to details, which makes 
the information just what is desired. 
* 
Children' will put their feet on the 
rounds of the chairs, scratching them 
and making them unsightly. There 
seems to be no way to avoid it with the 
ordinary chair, but chairs are now made 
without any rounds in front near the 
bottom. This solves the problem. 
* 
As soon as the weather is warm enough 
for the outdoor window garden, which 
is all that the tenement dweller can 
have, the flower peddler may be seen, 
his wagon, filled with an assortment of 
plants, slowly wending its way along 
the dusty streets. As it pauses, here and 
there, the bright array of blossoms 
makes a more eloquent appeal to the 
hearts of the buyers than any words of 
the peddler. The prices range from 5 to 
25 cents, including pots, and the routes 
taken by some of the wagons indicate 
that purchasers are found in very poor 
districts. 
* 
A woman was burned to death the 
other day by pouring kerosene on a 
lighted gas stove. A family was burned 
out of house and home through an ex¬ 
plosion of naphtha used in cleaning in a 
room where there was tire. Similar 
cases occur frequently. Ignorance must 
pay the penalty every time. We are 
living in an age of wonderful inventions, 
and handling things whose creation re¬ 
quired great intelligence. We cannot 
afford to remain as ignorant as were the 
people of past generations who had much 
simpler conditions to deal with. The 
“good old times” were suited to the 
people. Nowadays, we must exert our¬ 
selves and suit ourselves to the times. 
UNCLE SILAS’S OPINION OF THE 
NEW WOMAN. 
LL this talk about new wimin, 
makes me tired,” said Uncle 
Silas Perkins, dropping into an easy chair 
on our shady porch the other morning. 
May paused in her work of shelling beans 
for dinner, to pass him a big palm-leaf 
fan. “ Thank ye, thank ye, May,” he 
ejaculated, taking off his straw hat and 
wiping his forehead with a big, red ban¬ 
danna. “ Nice beans ye’ve got there. 
Gardin doin’ well this hot weather ? ” 
“ Very well, thank you,” I answered, 
steadfastly refusing to meet May’s 
twinkling eyes. “I think we’ve never 
had a better garden.” 
“ That’s good,” he rejoined, heartily. 
“ Wall, I been up to the postoffice, and 
thought I’d git your mail; but there 
wa’n’t none fur ye.” 
“ I got ahead of you, Uncle Silas, for I 
went up early this morning and got 
ours.” 
“Did ye? Wall, I gut a letter from 
Tom. All well down there. Ye knew 
I’d been down there visitin’, didn’t ye ? ’’ 
he asked, sharply, peering over his big 
spectacles at me, anxious lest an event 
of so much importance to him should 
seem of no account to the rest of the 
community. 
“Oh, yes,” I hastened to assure him ; 
“ and we hoped that you were having a 
delightful visit there.” 
“ Wal, I was.” He was mollified by 
my prompt assurance, and beamed again. 
“ Ye know some folks think that Tom 
made a mistake when he married ; but I 
tell you, his wife’s smart. Ef she’s what 
they call a new woman, I wish there’s 
more of ’em, yes, I do ! ” he affirmed, set¬ 
tling back in his chair and fanning him¬ 
self vigorously. 
May glanced up with a satisfied smile. 
At last, Uncle Silas had got back to his 
starting point. He was just as good a 
neighbor as any one could have, but he 
was peculiar. Just now, he knew that we 
were anxious for his opinion of Tom’s 
city-bred,college educated, young second 
wife, and he took delight in prolonging 
our suspense. We were familiar with 
his ways, so we waited in silence. 
“ Why ! ” he went on, when he thought 
the pause had lasted long enough, “ I 
sat therein her kitchen one mornin’, and 
she was flyin’ around there in great 
shape. Bakin’ day, it was, and that four- 
year-old of Nancy’s, was underfoot 
askin’ questions stiddy at the rate of 
about four a minute. Marthy warn’t 
flustered a mite. She answered that 
young one’s questions, and washed dishes 
and baked cookies, and threw a chipper 
remark at me often enough so I didn’t 
feel lonesome, and dashed down a lot o’ 
pot-hooks on a bit o’ paper, all at once. 
How she did it I do’no. She never for¬ 
got to turn them cookies jest at the right 
rninit’, either, and when she took ’em 
out o’ the oven, they were browned jest 
as even, and, land sakes ! they’d melt in 
yer mouth ! I know, fer I sampled ’em. 
Aint a man in this township would a’ 
kep’ them things goin’, and most wimin 
would a burnt up them cookies or got 
nervous or mad at the child or me for 
settin’ around in the way ; but Marthy 
didn’t, and them pot-hooks o’ hern—I 
forgit what she called ’em,” scratching 
his head meditatively. 
“ Shorthand, may be,” I suggested. 
“P’raps. Guess’twould be longhand 
enough for me before I’d make it out,” 
chuckled the old man. “ Any way, she 
got $20 for ’em after she’d written ’em 
over on her typewriter. Twenty dollars ! 
It’s a pile o’ money. I’ve worked many 
a month for less. Tom’s mighty proud 
of her, and well he may be. She’s only 
a mite of a thing, don’t weigh over a 
hundred, and young, too ! Why, I don’t 
believe she’s a day over 25 ! She’s got 
yaller hair, and blue eyes, and she can 
fly around like all possessed. They’ve 
got hot and cold water fixed so all you 
have to do is to turn a spigot at the sink. 
It makes things real handy, but farmin’ 
folks in my day didn’t look to have no 
such arrangements. I was afraid Tom 
was spendin’ his money too free; but 
when I kinder hinted suthin’ o’ the kind 
one day, he said Marthy paid for them 
fixin’s. She believes in havin’ things to 
make her work easy, so she needn’t 
have a gal botherin’ around all the 
time.” GILLETTE M. KIRKE. 
(To be continued.) 
A MOSQUITO GUARD. 
N many country homes, it is almost 
impossible to keep mosquitoes out of 
the house in summer. They will find a 
way to get in despite screen doors and 
windows. Where screen doors must con¬ 
stantly be opened and shut, their pro¬ 
tection against the insect pests of sum¬ 
mer becomes slight. To get undisturbed 
sleep at night, therefore, requires a 
guard for the bed. 
An easily arranged protection is shown 
at Fig. 120. A light rod, inclosing on 
three sides a rectangle as large as the 
bed, is fastened to the wall and ceiling 
FROM THE KITCHEN WINDOWS. 
E have eaten our spring lettuce 
and radishes, have inhaled the 
perfume of our spring violets—and they 
were sweet—and, so, in swift succession, 
the beauty passes by. It is gone, and 
we feel that we have hardly had time to 
appreciate it. A young girl once said to 
me, “ 1 think housecleaning was sent so 
that we should not be too much carried 
away by the wonderful spring opening 
that Nature shows us ; if one had not 
something to keep us in mind of earthly 
things, we might not befit for our work.” 
Beyond the row of lilacs, I see from 
the kitchen window, a row of bottles 
and self-sealing jars and the lids and rub¬ 
ber rings, left in the strong sunshine for 
a day or two. This treatment sweetens 
and cleanses them thoroughly, and it is 
better to buy new rings than to trust to 
old ones, unless very perfect and free 
from taint. All must be carefully looked 
over, for many jars of fruit are wasted 
by an unnoticed flaw or crack in the 
glass. Rhubarb is very refreshing for 
pies or, stewed, for the table in winter, 
if cut up now and canned. Our method 
is not the cold-water plan, but a thin 
syrup. The first thing is to cut up the 
pieplant overnight, sprinkle sugar over 
it, and in the morning the juice will be 
extracted. This is put in the preserving 
kettle with a little water and sugar, 
according to quantity, and boiled a few 
minutes. The rhubarb is put in just long 
enough to scald, then skimmed out and 
put into the bottles and syrup poured 
over it. The tops are screwed on and, 
when cold, screwed down again. If the 
jars be turned upside down and no juice 
leak out, they are air-tight and safe. 
They should be at once put, and kept, in 
a dark place, as the light is likely to 
spoil some fruits. 
And so the work of the housekeeper 
commences again ; after the winter of 
hibernating, she must begin, like the 
bees, to store the honey in various ways. 
The sprayers are quite a figure in the 
landscape. From the kitchen window, 
I see them with a low cart and barrel 
going up and down the rows of apple 
trees. They call out to me that my hya¬ 
cinths and tulips will have a new varie¬ 
gation, but I know that they will not 
sprinkle them if they can help it. We 
have been four years now using the 
spray pump, and find it a necessity and 
a valuable help to perfect fruit. But 
nothing yet tried seems to cure the cur- 
culio on apple trees. Its ravages are-very 
hard to control. The fine spray goes 
along the row of plum trees, sprinkles 
the gooseberry and currant bushes and 
newly-set cabbages. It is added work, 
and one wonders if atmospheric changes 
have caused this need, so that we cannot 
grow fair fruit as in the olden times. Or 
has the excess planted generated and 
spread disease and fungus ? 
What hard work lawn mowing is ! I 
always wish that there was an easy, 
practical machine that would not make 
T HE first of this present month, my 
husband attended the farmers’ 
institute held in our pleasant little town, 
and while there subscribed for The R. 
N.-Y. We did not take it last year; 
times were hard, and we thought that 
we must do without some of our papers, 
but we had come to the conclusion that 
it was a mistaken idea ; so when the 
dear old Rural came this week, it 
seemed like an old friend. Had I been 
a boy, I would have tossed up my cap 
and shouted ; but being only a woman, 
I sat down and found the Woman and 
Home department and read it all. I was 
much pleased with Emma Fifield’s views 
of the home, and the hired man in the 
home. She is a sound and sensible 
young woman, will make a success in 
life, and what is far better, will help all 
that come in contact with her. 
I have had hired help all my married 
life, and can truly say that I have tried 
to use my influence for their good. They 
have sat at the same table with my 
family, have had pleasant rooms, and 
good reading furnished them, and after 
many years of experience, I can say that 
it has been a paying investment, for we 
have had good help, both men and girls. 
Sometimes we have city company, and 
at such times our help are both ready 
and willing to wait, and do not feel hurt 
or slighted. Patience Strong says that 
she would like to ask every woman and 
girl that reads The R. N.-Y., what they 
would like to be. I wish most of all to 
There are medicines which 
change the action of organs 
and tissues. When a part 
does not properly perform its 
work, they restore it to health. 
Such remedies are called “ al¬ 
teratives.” 
Scott's Emulsion of Cod- 
liver Oil, with Hypophos- 
phites, is one of these rem¬ 
edies. This is largely be¬ 
cause of certain drugs which 
naturally exist in the oil, as 
iodine and bromine. If you 
are neither hard sick nor real 
well; if you feel below your 
usual standard, these altera¬ 
tives will change your con¬ 
dition and bring back your 
health and strength. 
SCOTT'S EMULSION has been endorsed by the 
medical profession for twenty years. (.Ask your doc¬ 
tor .) T bis is because it is always palatable—always 
uniform—always contains the purest Norwegian 
Cod-liver Oil and Hypophospbites. 
Tut up in so cent and $i.oo sifts. The small sift 
may be enough to curt your cough or help your baby. 
